Travel booking site adds Amtrak alongside airlines

The next time you go to book a flight on CheapAir.com, you might also consider the train.

The booking site is now also offering reservations on Amtrak, the first online travel portal in the U.S. with that option, says CheapAir.com's CEO Jeff Klee.

Passengers who click onto the website to search for flights will see potential trips on Amtrak pop up as well. Currently, train tickets are only available for trips between New York and Boston, Boston and Washington D.C., and New York and Washington, busy East Coast routes where corporate trekkers and other travelers may be as likely to hop a train as take a plane.

Putting train rides into the travel mix can appeal to some travelers who are trekking a relatively short distance and don't want to deal with long airport security lines or other potential stresses when flying.

"For many markets, and these three are the big ones, it does make a lot of sense to consider rail instead of flights, especially when you factor in all the hassles and transport time to and from the airport,'' KIee says.

But Klee says that having the option of booking a seat on Amtrak may also pull in customers who normally would never consider traveling by train.

"If you're coming from out of town and not used to even thinking of rail, all of a sudden, when it's presented there and you see it's significantly less expensive and not that much longer . . .you'll see a great option you didn't know existed,'' Klee says.

Passengers can create travel combinations, taking a train one way, and then a flight back home. Or, Klee says, a passenger traveling east from California could book a flight from Los Angeles to New York, then reserve a seat on Amtrak for their final hop from New York to Washington.

"You can do it all in one transaction'' he says. "It makes it easier than going to separate sites and piecing together the itinerary.''

Amtrak is happy about the new listings, but hopes that the advantages of taking the train can be better showcased, says Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz

"We're very pleased to be shown there alongside all the flight options but we're still working with them to refine how we're presented,'' Schulz says. "It's not always easy to communicate all the differences between air and rail travel, so it's a work in progress.''

Klee expects the site to eventually add additional Amtrak destinations.

Of course, a train ride is not always cheaper than a flight, or as convenient.

"I still think that most of our business will continue to be air,'' Klee says, "and on most routes, air is really the only thing that makes sense. However, there are certain markets where we look at rail as a very viable option that is in many cases just as convenient and less expensive than air. So in those cases, we want to be as thorough as we can.''