No-Lunch4249 t1_ir3lu75 wrote on October 5, 2022 at 2:06 AM

Amtrak, best deals are buying a few months in advance.

The Northeast Regional is amtraks best on-time performing route nationally, and DC is also a major hub for trains headed to the south and upper Midwest. Tons of great options to pick from

Edit to add: you say Amtrak is more expensive but it’s not really. The way they structure ticket prices is the fewer available seats, the higher the price, very similar to what airlines do.

I travelled to Philadelphia, 2 people, round trip, for $64 recently. Hard to find any means of traveling that far cheaper than $16/person/trip. But I bought the tickets like 2 months before the trip, that’s what you gotta do to get the good deals.

Birdytaps t1_ir4pu7g wrote on October 5, 2022 at 9:48 AM

And keep an eye out because Amtrak regularly has 2-for-1 sales or other discounts

Worldtravelerec t1_ir4sosx wrote on October 5, 2022 at 10:27 AM

Ohhh

greentotoro3 t1_ir43zuy wrote on October 5, 2022 at 4:51 AM

Same here. Went to Philly with my partner, spent $76 for 2 people round trip ($19 per person each way). We booked about 1-1.5 months in advance.

thekingoftherodeo t1_ir5mtgl wrote on October 5, 2022 at 2:49 PM

Close in Amtrak bookings (< 4 weeks) are more expensive than flying these days on the NE corridor. You can't really do a spontaneous Amtrak trip to NYC/PHL.

No-Lunch4249 t1_ir5ok71 wrote on October 5, 2022 at 3:01 PM

Idk if I totally agree. Yes the cheapest seats start to evaporate a month or so out, definitely agree there.

But looking at this Saturday, there are some 1-way NER tickets from DC Union to NY Penn for $82 still available. Super quick google flights search shows the only airlines that can even come close to matching that involve weird connects/layovers. Plus Amtrak is more comfortable and you can avoid the TSA anal probe.

For last second impromptu trips, I think the bus becomes the real competitor, not flights.