Passenger Trains > Increased Points For AGR Awards

In the event that you did not know effective April 1st the number of points to redeem certain Amtrak Travel using your Amtrak Guest Rewards Points will increase. Also on a side note I received my new Amtrak Guest Rewards Select Plus card in the mail as I do every year. Now for the past 5 years Amtrak has given us Select Plus members two free luggage tags with our name and address imprinted on the same type of material as the card. This year no luggage tags. Not a big deal but they were a nice touch. I just wonder how much money was spent in meetings and such to calculate the cost savings of not providing the luggage tags? But in any event you may want to book that AGR trip now to take advantage of the current lower point requirements. The information below came from the Amtrak Guest Rewards website.

Effective April 1, 2012, a few of our Amtrak travel redemption items will require additional points. Points required for free Amtrak travel have not increased since January 2006 and it is necessary to make some adjustments in order to stay in line with today’s costs. Amtrak redemption reservations that are made prior to April 1, 2012 for travel beginning on or after April 1, 2012 will not incur additional point costs unless the member requests a modification to the itinerary.

Below is a list of Amtrak travel redemption items that are changing on April 1, 2012.

REDEMPTION ITEM CURRENT POINTS REQUIRED FOR AWARD NEW POINTS REQUIRED FOR AWARD
Acela Express First Class 10,500 12,000
Business Class - Northeast Zone 6,500 7,500
Coach Class - Northeast Zone 3,000 4,000
Business Class - Special Route 1,500 2,000
Coach Class - Special Route 1,000 1,500
Bedroom - One Zone 20,000 25,000
Bedroom - Two Zones 30,000 40,000
Bedroom - Three Zones 50,000 60,000

The number on the left is the current requirement and the number on the right is the new requirement as of April, 1st 2012

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/12 15:45 by houstonguy2010.

I don't know how much money was spent in meetings to make these changes, but it all proves the old rule:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know how much money was spent in meetings
> to make these changes, but it all proves the old
> rule:
>
> THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

No, not a free lunch at all. To earn select plus status I have to earn 10,000 rail points per year. And that does not include any bonus points or partner points. That means that I must spend at least five grand myself. Not including my wife or children. None of these points are free. However they do create an incentive for me to ride as often as possible.

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA

Not free in terms of what you have to spend to get the points, but in terms of what they give you,
as a frequent traveler, over what less-frequent travelers or non-Guest Rewards members would get
for spending the same amount of money on tickets or on credit card purchases.

Those rewards never have been REALLY "free" and never will be. But now, they'll be a bit farther from
being so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/12 17:02 by GenePoon.

Still a good deal especially in the rail progressive and highly evolved state of Ca, which is also famous for horribly unequal property tax burdens, whereby a long time property owner may pay a quarter as much as a new owner. Using my points has enabled me to save up to $300 when flying from airports that I otherwise would drive to. I live a long way from any big airport, but close to Amtrak bus and train combo connections.

Is this in addition to the changes made just last year? That's quite a big jump on the sleeper fares.

Posted from BlackBerry

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is this in addition to the changes made just last
> year? That's quite a big jump on the sleeper
> fares.
>
> Posted from BlackBerry

I agree. A 25% increase to be exact. Seems a bit steep to me. Last year Hilton Hhonors did the same thing with it's point system. In one day my point value decreased by 20%. My response was to transfer those points to Amtrak and I have not stayed at a Hilton property since. I really like to take the Pennsylvanian between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg however this is going to make Megabus look just a bit more attractive on that particular route for my travels.

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA

Thanks for the heads-up. Glad I already got my AGR award reservations for next January. May have to get some others before April 1 for other travel dates as well.

korotaj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still a good deal especially in the rail
> progressive and highly evolved state of Ca, which
> is also famous for horribly unequal property tax
> burdens, whereby a long time property owner may
> pay a quarter as much as a new owner. Using my
> points has enabled me to save up to $300 when
> flying from airports that I otherwise would drive
> to. I live a long way from any big airport, but
> close to Amtrak bus and train combo connections.

Thanks to AGR, got a few Roomette trips under my belt, and also a few "free hops" on Capitol Corridor trains. I'm going to try to get few more of those hops before they cost 1500 instead of 1000 points each.

I use my AGR card for everything but newspapers and haircuts and
the points really build up. Therefore, my points really do seem to
give me free trips.

chakk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the heads-up. Glad I already got my
> AGR award reservations for next January. May
> have to get some others before April 1 for other
> travel dates as well.

If you wish to buy some points they are offering a 30% bonus until March 31st....a pretty good deal if you ask me. Buy 10,000 points and get 13,000. I just did. And the bonus points do not count towards your 10,000 per year buying limit. So you actually do get 13,000 points.

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA

Did that last year when AGR was providing 15,000 points for the cost of 10,000. Might do it again next month albeit at the lower, 30% bonus.

I read this thread with interest. I use my AGR card like raytc1994; I use it for virtually all purchases. But what's this about a 10,000 per year buying limit, houstonguy2010? Wasn't aware of any kind of limit like that. Can anyone explain?

In looking at the email sent to me as an AGR member, the terms and conditions (copied below) clearly state a purchase limit of 10,000 points per year. Although I'd like to get 26,000 points this way, the limit is 10,000, and the 3,000 point "bonus" is just that, a bonus, not a purchase.

I suspect this was done to effectively prevent someone from buying say, enough points for a 2 zone bedroom for less cost than paying cash or credit for the same bedroom. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they allowed that. But, using the 13,000 points towards multiple NEC trips or something like that, you're still way ahead buying the points and using them than paying full-tilt for the trip and accumulating the points...But, and I haven't done the math, once AGR "SELECT" status is reached, you could be better off paying for the trip and getting the double-points for the trip!

Here's part of the terms and conditions from the email:

"Transactions must be completed between 12:01 AM ET February 14, 2012 and 11:59 PM ET March 31, 2012 to be eligible for the 30% bonus..... Amtrak Guest Rewards buy/gift points can be purchased in increments of 500 points, and you can buy or receive up to a total of 10,000 point in your account in a calendar year and your 30% bonus does not count towards the 10,000 limit."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/12 20:42 by BRAtkinson.

OK, I get it. The 10,000 point limit is only for buying points directly from Amtrak. No limit for making normal merchandise purchases with the credit card, right?