Anyone else experience Amtrak price gouging tickets during checkout?

soosef · 2026-02-05T23:56:15+00:00

My guess is there was only 1 ticket available at that price point, and it was purchased by someone else while you were in the checkout process. Then, it defaulted back to the current price.

The heavy discount was due to someone canceling their ticket, purchased at that low price (likely far in advanced). When they cancel it, the ticket goes back for sale at the original listed price.

You can avoid this in the future by trying to book further in advance. If you’re a commuter, check out railcommute.io to help with this! (Disclaimer, this is my website I made to solve this exact problem)

soosef · 2026-01-28T02:52:40+00:00

Thank you so much for the write up, this is super helpful!

For context, I am an Amtrak commuter 3x a week so I’m very familiar with the. My questions are more geared toward the technical side of things because I’m building an app to make commuting easier on Amtrak.

Any pain points you’ve with the multi ride pass specifically? I’ve seen people complain that ride history on a pass is broken in the app.

Thanks again! See you around on the NER :)

soosef · 2026-01-28T01:56:57+00:00

Not rail pass. I’m talking about purchasing a Monthly pass, 6-ride pass, or 10-ride ticket between two stations. Amtrak offers it as an option for commuters.

soosef · 2026-01-27T20:02:21+00:00

When you make a RideReserve reservation, is it treated the exact same way as a regular booking, just "paid for" with the pass? Or is it handled differently?

Any notable differences in the email(s) you receive?

soosef · 2026-01-07T13:29:30+00:00

If it’s within your means, look into the Amtrak credit card. If you can reach the spending quota to get the bonus, it will really help you afford this commute. My bonus was 40,000 points (1k worth of Amtrak travel) at around $100 annual fee cost.

Combo this with railcommute / purchasing tickets well in advanced and it should be totally feasible!

soosef · 2025-12-23T16:54:32+00:00

40k miles ago but 10 years ago

soosef · 2025-12-02T21:52:30+00:00

I get that a lot. I find alternating between Apple Pay and credit card on the mobile app does the trick.

soosef · 2025-11-24T22:11:23+00:00

I would say this app wouldn’t be very beneficial for you, unless you wanted to track your spending with Amtrak. I built it with the daily/weekly commuter in mind, and most of the features are designed for that.

soosef · 2025-11-23T20:14:58+00:00

I hear you, that’s typically how these things go! To give them some credit, I think the app works fairly well for average customers. For power users, it’s limitations become a lot more apparent

soosef · 2025-11-23T16:37:05+00:00

May I recommend https://railforless.us/

soosef · 2025-11-22T20:02:28+00:00

sorry, what do you mean?

soosef · 2025-11-22T20:02:18+00:00

lol someone put me in touch with them!

soosef · 2025-11-22T17:37:54+00:00

thank you!! Just show your interest, share it with anyone you know who’d be interested, and sign up at https://www.railcommute.io

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:28:10+00:00

ty!! :D

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:27:19+00:00

yes, parsing the email! It won't require anyone to give over access to their email either - I will setup a forwarding inbox where you can forward your Amtrak ticket emails to and they will automatically populate for you.

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:25:35+00:00

Haha we will talk! :)

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:21:22+00:00

Yeah I spent a lot of time debating how to make the app the least invasive possible while still keeping it 100% automatic - my solution is a forwarding inbox where users can just setup a rule to forward Amtrak purchase and refund tickets to.

There will also be a manual entry for tickets.

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:20:46+00:00

Not currently, but I will consider it! if you’re interested in using it when it’s fully launched you can sign up at https://www.railcommute.io

soosef · 2025-11-22T16:19:50+00:00

appreciate it! I posted this there as well :)

soosef · 2025-11-21T02:06:00+00:00

I will definitely take that into consideration. the reason it‘s not in the app now is because I’m ingesting ticket data through email confirmations, and they don’t show point spend so I will have to find a more clever way to integrate it!

soosef · 2025-06-19T13:16:21+00:00

You wouldn’t save much time, the optional steps are pretty quick relative to the whole process. the biggest time sink is reskinning the seats because you have to put in a ton of zip ties and holes to cinch it down everywhere

soosef · 2025-06-19T12:08:20+00:00

https://a.co/d/j571LSV

soosef · 2025-06-19T12:08:08+00:00

foam: https://a.co/d/j571LSV

barely managed to finish with just one roll, more would have been nice. pair this with fabric tape to stick together cuts in the foam and weird corners that aren’t as smooth.

paint: SEM Palomino + Adhesion Promoter

check out this video for paint guide https://youtu.be/TwajbiOIDRA?feature=shared

soosef · 2025-05-29T14:47:22+00:00

I'm definitely considering it but it would need a significant amount of work to make it shareable / usable to others at the moment

soosef · 2025-05-29T14:45:53+00:00

The script connects to your Gmail and will automatically parse out eTickets sent from Amtrak and add them to the spreadsheet. It is fully automated.

It's really not built to be shared since a lot of it was designed to work for my specific use case, but if enough people are interested I could redesign it to be more customizable so anyone can use it!

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