Kevin Standlee (kevin_standlee) wrote,
Kevin Standlee
kevin_standlee

What It Was Worth

When telling people about my transcontinental train trip to Worldcon this year, and very common question was, "How much did it cost?" Of course, it cost me a bunch of Amtrak Guest Rewards points, but they want to know how much cash money. I don't know how much, because I didn't pay money for it, just points. So, in order to have some figure to give to people, I worked out how much the trip would cost for comparable dates next July. (You can only book about 11 months ahead, so I can't put in August dates.) This would be about the least-expensive "bucket" of fares.

Prices are for two people and include no discounts. We would have been eligible for the 10% NARP discount or the 10% AAA discount, but those only apply to the rail fare, not the room charges, and most of the cost is in the rooms. Prices shown are the total rail + room cost.

  • SLM-EMY, Roomette: $326 (We paid cash for this leg, not points)

  • EMY-CHI, Bedroom: $1,667 (30K points)

  • CHI-SDY, Roomette: $434 (20K points)

  • SDY-MTL, 2 coach seats: $90 (paid cash, not points; it would have been 11K points, which is uneconomical)

  • MTL-SDY-LAX, 2 coach seats, then bedroom on the overnight legs: $1,425 (50K points)

  • LAX-SLM, Bedroom: $716 (20K points)


Total: $4,658 before any discounts, which would probably not exceed $200.

What we paid: Just under $400 (remember, we got the NARP discount) and 120,000 AGR points.
Tags: lisa, trains, travel, worldcon
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