Amtrak’s Student Discount Is Back, With a Catch

The discount requires a verified student account and applies to Coach fares only, which excludes Acela and every business-class upgrade. Fifteen percent off a Northeast Regional fare between Boston and New York is real money, but only on the trains nobody is fighting over.

The blackouts are the catch. Friday afternoons, Sunday evenings, and the fortnights around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are all excluded, which is to say the discount is unavailable on precisely the departures students use it for. Booking midweek is the only way to see the full reduction.