By Austin Lagesse, NEWS 3 Reporter
MACOMB, Illinois (NEWS 3) – As the holidays approach, many Western Illinois University (WIU) students will rely on the Amtrak to get home. However, limited ticket availability and high ticket prices present challenges for many travlers.
Students said they have to buy tickets weeks or months in advance in order to be guaranteed a seat. Even if they are able to get a seat, available tickets may have inflated prices.
“I would have to buy these tickets sometimes three months beforehand to be guaranteed a seat,” says Guadalupe Villagomez, a WIU student. “For on the way home and back, tickets were typically something like 100$.”
Michael Carter is another WIU student who travels via train. He says that for ticket prices, “It honestly depends on when you get them, because I’ve seen tickets as low as 26$ and as high as 70$. I’d say you have to buy tickets at least three weeks ahead, because any less than three and then you don’t know if you’ll be able to get tickets or not.”
Current ticket availability for Thanksgiving break is already limited. Some trains are already up to 90 percent capacity, with trains leaving on the Friday before break and returning the Sunday before classes start again reaching prices of up to 58$ for a coach class seat and $75 for a business class seat.
In order to get cheaper ticket prices, students may have to miss class by leaving campus early or coming back to campus late to take a train with available seats. However, just because a train has plenty of seats available may not mean it is any cheap. A train heading back from Chicago to Macomb on the evening of Monday, November 27th, the Monday classes begin again, have ticket prices starting at 43$ for coach class seats and 64$ for business class seats despite the train being only 10 percent full at the time of writing.
For those still searching for tickets, check availability at amtrak.com.
