Passenger Trains > Does the emperor wear no clothes?

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/does-the-emperor-wear-no-clothes/

The author of this article is demonstrating what he doesn't know about the travel industry and family travel.

First, let’s understand the guys in charge of Amtrak advertising right now are guys who were successful in airline marketing and advertising before. Delta has been known for some of the travel industry’s best advertising campaigns in the past. No matter what your opinion is of airline folks invading Amtrak, in the particular area of fare sales, there has been great improvement.

The improvement in corporate communications began under Wick Moorman, and has continued under Richard Anderson. Amtrak’s style and level of communications has never been better, from a corporate standpoint.

The opening statement about any prior media announcement or tip-off to diehard advocates about the sale really has no meaning. Rarely do advertiser do any “pre-advertising” before a sale is announced. To do so only dilutes the effect of the sale. This was learned the hard way by Braniff when it had some of the original airfare sales over 40 years ago. If a pattern of sales becomes known, then customers don’t book any tickets until the next sale date. In other words, you eliminate the impact of a sale with a pre-announcement.

Amtrak marketing made the sale known through their usual channels. Since most of us believe this is something of a first, they launched the sale and surely they are tracking results. It's airline guys who are doing this, and they know how to do fare sales. That's probably the main reason we're seeing sleeping car sales for perhaps the first time; they understand how to do a sale better than the old hands at Amtrak.

The next issue raised is the timing of the travel dates available through the sale. In many states, schools now begin well before Labor Day, at times as early as August 10th. Most of the travel industry has come to realize this, and have adjusted their sale promotions accordingly. This sale starts towards the end of August and goes well into the shoulder season. Amtrak is merely recognizing trends. The argument about putting holiday travel dates on sale doesn’t wash, either. Anyone in travel marketing will tell you a lot of holiday travel has already been booked by this time of the year. Amtrak may have seen some softness in that, and included holiday travel to bolster bookings. That’s good marketing and yield management, not a sign of weakness.

Also, the window for the sale is brief. It’s most likely testing the waters more than anything nefarious.

Many have noted the sale was only for roomettes, the lowest cost category of sleeping car travel. The bedrooms always sell out first and have the highest cost of fare return. By giving away a second slot in a roomette only means in reality what is being given away is a few meals in the dining car and cost of linens. That’s smart marketing, because at the minimum the cost of the roomette is being paid for by the first passenger at full fare, and everything beyond that is gravy.

The rather ignorant remark about a “canary in the coal mine” is a trite, overused phrase, trying to insert some sort of conspiracy where none exists. In the past few months Amtrak has just about completely scrapped the way it structures sales and promotions and has gone to a better model. Reading more into it like a lack of cash flow to simply survive is only adding to conspiracy theories that hold no validity.

This article is a false theory looking for a conspiracy where probably none exists. It’s just marketing testing new ways to have a sale; nothing more complicated than that.

I was only the messenger. Agree for most of it. Ed

I haven't begun to track AutoTrain fares for the winter season yet, but I see this as ripe for fun and games.

SB, Thursday, Friday are always in high demand. Monday, Tuesday are often light. Expect to see some special deals.

Northbound is often empty, and ripe for promotions.

Posted from Android

I don't really care about the marketing approach. I do care about the comments on Amtrak's accounting practices. The writer is spot on. Congress should look at their accounting an an independent audit is very much in order.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/18 14:49 by px320.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/18 10:32 by darkcloud.

It seems to be just a "bitching" article, confusing mess of sleeping car sales timings, and accounting techniques. Yes, the latter needs to be gone through with a fine tooth comb, especially with overhead cost allocations.

I think the point he was making was he thought it suspicious that such rates fall with summer demand so as to plow the extra cash into the NEC.

Posted from Android

Mr. Singer doesn't seem to understand how airline sale deals work.  I can speak for American,  where a spot sale can pop up and last for an hour, a day or even a bit longer.  They usually appear around midnight and a normal $4000 business class fare can drop to around $2500,  although my record is getting one for $1385.  Again, they sell a couple of seats and the fares go right back to $4000.   There seems to be no particular reason for when they come up or for what dates they are good for.  I've never seen one of these deep discounted fares advertised in media,  nor on the AA website per se.  You just need to check nightly and see what your projected trip might cost.   Also, at times the same more or less normal $4000 fare can be quoted as high as $7500.  Who knows what Amtrak is doing,  testing the waters, trying the airline model, or something nefarious.  We shall see.

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/financial/Amtrak-Audited-Consolidated-Financial-Statements-FY2017.pdf <phorum break> <phorum break> Copy of Amtrak's latest financial statements and report of independant auditor...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Bill --
Your link did not work -- got a 404.

This works:

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/financial/Amtrak-Audited-Consolidated-Financial-Statements-FY2017.pdf

Some browsers do not work for the Amtrak sites.

Example Mine does not work in firefox. 

I go to other sites for Amtrak.

Thanks, mundo.  I should have said I use Chrome.  Works in Chrome.  

Computers.....

You can look at Amtrak's numbers all day long and you will never see what things really cost. The fact that they don't use GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) lets them put what they want where they want.

This was a major point in the article. Auditors verify their numbers add up the way they are reported, but don't analyse true costs and associated revenues.

Congress needs to address this issue.

Here is an interesting story about the SW Chief and its dilemma.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/heinrich-balks-at-amtraks-plan-to-abandon-nm-route/4961142/?cat=500



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/18 17:41 by px320.

C corps are also required to certify that their controls, monitoring, and procedures are effective. And the CFO is subject to criminal penalties if that is not true.

Posted from Android

johnpage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This article is a false theory looking for a
> conspiracy where probably none exists. It’s just
> marketing testing new ways to have a sale; nothing
> more complicated than that.

Conspiracy theories are born from lack of transparency and incomprehensive decisions, usually of the negative kind. Mr. Anderson and his lieutenants certainly deserve to be second-guessed. I do agree that it's as simple as them trying something "new." I've seen plenty of senior managers try something "new" and fail, instead of taking the time to understand why things have been done the way they have for years.

In fact, many emperors wear no clothes, not just Mr. Anderson, but there are too many suck ups/kiss asses to obscure that fact.

Come on. Congress cannot even address major issues facing the country, like immigration, trade, or foreign conflicts, or social security reform.

How can we expect them to take on Amtrak accounting?