# 500 point new member bonus on award travel?



## sakana (Oct 4, 2013)

Hello all,

So, I had my plan laid out. On December 2, I was going to book tickets including a roomette for my husband and I on the Coast Starlight - traveling one way from ANA to SEA on November 2, 2014. Our plans have changed now because my mom, who'll be traveling with us to Disneyland, wants to take the train to Seattle with us. Yes, we're happy about that!

My mom has a gajillion Starwood points and even after burning through a large number of them on WDW Swan ressies for us (10 free nights for us in WDW, December 2014!), she still has enough to transfer to AGR for two free roomettes on the Coast Starlight (cost: 60k points as near as I can tell). My mom signed up for AGR -- had to in order to transfer Starwood points to AGR -- so she won't get the 500 point bonus. What about us, though? Can my husband and I still sign up 90 days before the trip and have this award trip count for 500 point bonus? Thanks for letting me know.

PS When I book the award online for my mom on December 2, will I be able to specifically select our roomettes? I'd like to pick 2 across from each other so we have views out both sides of the train!


----------



## SarahZ (Oct 4, 2013)

I'm not sure about the point bonus, but if you're using points for a roomette, it has to be booked over the phone. When you speak to the agent, you can ask for roomettes across from each other. You can even ask for specific room numbers.


----------



## sakana (Oct 4, 2013)

Good to know about the phone thing! I just assume I could book the trip online. Ugh. That means I have to plan to be in our shopping town at a place with wifi to call and book the award (the only way I have of calling internationally from SA is with Google voice -- my USB modem's speed isn't adequate for calls). That's not going to be easy to do on a school day. I guess I could have my mom try and call and do it herself. I think she could probably handle it, she just doesn't want to. Do you have any suggestions as to which room numbers to book? I thought roomettes in the middle of the coach seemed like a good plan.


----------



## SarahZ (Oct 4, 2013)

You can book roomettes online, but only if you're paying with a credit card. If you're redeeming points, it has to go through Amtrak Guest Rewards. They're very kind and easy to deal with, though, so it'll be easy. It takes me about two minutes to book our roomettes. They'll ask for her AGR number, travel dates, train (she can just give them the cities if she doesn't know the train number), and which roomette numbers she prefers.

Rooms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are in the middle of the car on the upper level. I find we experience the least amount of door/stairs noise (not that there's much) in rooms 5 and 6 since they're truly in the middle. I'm trying to find a car diagram. I know we have some around here somewhere. I'll link it once I find it. 

If your mom refers you through the website (she'll have to put in your email address), you'll both get your 500 points after your first trip.


----------



## SarahZ (Oct 4, 2013)

Here's the link:

http://s4.zetaboards.com/amtkz/pages/cars/

You'll be in a standard sleeping car on a Superliner train.


----------



## AlanB (Oct 4, 2013)

sakana said:


> My mom signed up for AGR -- had to in order to transfer Starwood points to AGR -- so she won't get the 500 point bonus. What about us, though? Can my husband and I still sign up 90 days before the trip and have this award trip count for 500 point bonus? Thanks for letting me know.


Since you are using points to pay for the trip, no bonus will be awarded. It must be a paid trip to earn points, and earning points is what will trigger the bonus.

So the simple answer is, don't sign up for AGR until you know that you're going to take a paid trip.

Ps. Unless you know all of your Mom's info (address, etc), you can't book a trip using her points. That is unless, she first calls AGR to make you an authorized user on her account. So no matter what she must make at least 1 phone call, either to book the trip, or to make you an authorized user so that you can call to book the trip.

Probably just as easy for her to call and book the trip. Also, please no that there is no urgency to call and book the trip. If you do end up making the call, you can wait until the weekend or a better time to call. The train won't sell out in the first few days and you don't care about price when you are using points. There are no capacity controls, as long as there are 2 rooms left, you can still book them. Granted they might not be next to each other if you wait until the last second. But again, waiting a week or two to book things wouldn't be an issue.


----------



## PRR 60 (Oct 4, 2013)

AlanB said:


> sakana said:
> 
> 
> > My mom signed up for AGR -- had to in order to transfer Starwood points to AGR -- so she won't get the 500 point bonus. What about us, though? Can my husband and I still sign up 90 days before the trip and have this award trip count for 500 point bonus? Thanks for letting me know.
> ...


Not to be a wise guy, but wouldn't you expect someone to know her mother's address, phone number, and other information?


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 4, 2013)

None of you will get the bonus points for joining AGR UNLESS you take a PAID trip on Amtrak within 90 days of registering for AGR. But it doesn't have to be a big trip, nor does it have to be round trip! Examples: take Amtrak from Anaheim and take Metrolink back or take Amtrak from Seattle to Tuwilika (sp?) and take Sounder back!


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 4, 2013)

PRR 60 said:


> Not to be a wise guy, but wouldn't you expect someone to know her mother's address, phone number, and other information?


I have enough trouble knowing my own! I never call myself! :giggle:


----------



## sakana (Oct 5, 2013)

Thanks for all the good information! Especially for the diagrams. I am going to tell my mom (whose information I do know, BTW  ) to call. It sounds simple enough. I'll tell her to request roomettes 5 & 6, with 7 & 8 as a second choice.

My mom lives in NYS, so it's unlikely she'll be riding the train in the next 2 and half months for bonus points -- only the Lakeshore Limited goes anywhere near her and it rolls through a city an hour's drive away at around 3AM (If I remember right, I took this train over a decade ago) . She did get the Amtrak CC, so she'll get 12k bonus points from that.

I am going to wait until we get back to Seattle (9/2014) to sign my husband and I up. We'll take a Cascades trip somewhere to get our points, I guess. Maybe a weekend in Vancouver BC is on order  . I also plan to get the credit card when we return. It's not the most rewarding credit card out there, but it's fee free and getting 5% back on award redemptions seems a pretty good deal.


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 5, 2013)

sakana said:


> My mom lives in NYS, so it's unlikely she'll be riding the train in the next 2 and half months for bonus points -- only the Lakeshore Limited goes anywhere near her and it rolls through a city an hour's drive away. ... I also plan to get the credit card when we return. It's not the most rewarding credit card out there, but it's fee free and getting 5% back on award redemptions seems a pretty good deal.


Where in NYS does she live.? :huh: (Not to be prying, but I lived in NYS for 34 years, and maybe I can tell you a closer station. If you don't want to post that information on AU, send me a PM - Private Message. Click on my photo on the left and then click on "send me a message". It will come to me and me alone - thus the word "Private")
And you say the AGR credit card "is not worth it"? :huh: I basically buy " luxuries" with it - like food and gas- but I also use it whenever I can - like to buy a newspaper (remember those?) or pay my Internet Bill ( if there's no extra fee), etc... - and I usually earn 1,000-2,000 AGR points a MONTH! And guess what that adds up to in a year? :huh: A FREE trip on Amtrak in a room for 2 every year!


----------



## sakana (Oct 5, 2013)

The closest station to my mom would be Erie PA. The next closest would be Buffalo.

I did not say the AGR credit card was not worth it. I am re-reading my post to make sure I did not say that, since you put "is not worth it" in quotes like I said those words, but I did not. What I said is that it is not the most rewarding card out there. It doesn't offer any more points for booking Amtrak tickets than you can get as an AGR member using any other credit card. I did say that the fact it was fee free and has a 5% back offer on award travel were good points for the card. I also said that I will actually be getting the card when I get home. I just probably won't use it for my everyday spending. I have other cards that reward me more than 1 point per dollar. Using those cards and transferring rewards to my AGR account when I need them makes more sense for me.


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 5, 2013)

While true that you do not earn extra points (per se) for booking Amtrak travel with the card, consider this. If you book a $100 food bill on your AGR credit card,you earn 100 AGR points (1 point per $). But if you spent $100 on Amtrak travel, you earn 200 AGR points (2 points per $)! And that 2/$ also includes anything classified as "Amtrak" - like meals in the Dining Car, things from the café car, things bought on board, etc...!


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 5, 2013)

Yes, Erie only has the LSL, but from Buffalo they could do a round trip for the day to like Niagara Falls or Rochester, these routes have I believe 3-4 trains per day!


----------



## PRR 60 (Oct 5, 2013)

the_traveler said:


> Yes, Erie only has the LSL, but from Buffalo they could do a round trip for the day to like Niagara Falls or Rochester, these routes have I believe 3-4 trains per day!


If that is just to get the 500 points for sign-up, how much is it worth to pay for a nonsense trip? Considering you can buy 500 points for $13.75, that would be the upper limit for a trip just to get those points. Buffalo to Niagara Falls is $13 one way, so it does not seem to be worth a trip to nowhere to get the bonus.


----------



## SarahZ (Oct 5, 2013)

the_traveler said:


> While true that you do not earn extra points (per se) for booking Amtrak travel with the card, consider this. If you book a $100 food bill on your AGR credit card,you earn 100 AGR points (1 point per $). But if you spent $100 on Amtrak travel, you earn 200 AGR points (2 points per $)! And that 2/$ also includes anything classified as "Amtrak" - like meals in the Dining Car, things from the café car, things bought on board, etc...!


She said she's getting the AGR card, and I concur that it isn't the most rewarding card out there. I get better rewards (cash back, points for flights/hotels) from my other major credit card, and I use those rewards much more often than I use my points.


----------



## Kat (Oct 30, 2013)

Is this scenario true? If I buy my Amtrak ticket with the AGR Mastercard next week, and get double points with Double Days until Nov 22, do I effectively get quadruple points?

Don't have the AGR card yet, but I'm thinking about it for the points.


----------



## Ryan (Oct 30, 2013)

Check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Earns double on travel and dining, points transfer 1:1 to Amtrak, but can also be transferred 1:1 to Southwest, United, and a bunch of hotels, so you have far more opportunities to use them.


----------



## the_traveler (Oct 30, 2013)

Fife timely yes! But if you don't yet have the AGR MasterCard in your possession right now, I very highly doubt that you'll get it in time to receive the card, book your reservation and then travel on your trip before the double points promotion end in November!


----------



## Kat (Oct 30, 2013)

There's always next spring


----------



## NW cannonball (Oct 31, 2013)

RyanS said:


> Check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Earns double on travel and dining, points transfer 1:1 to Amtrak, but can also be transferred 1:1 to Southwest, United, and a bunch of hotels, so you have far more opportunities to use them.


Sounds good - I'm sitting with 18000 Amtrak points and 16000 (mostly worthless because not enough) United points that expire next May. Wondering what card to get. I get offers all the time for this that and other card from United, Chase, and such.

Look at the "card comparison sites" but it's so confusing - double this, 1.5 that, lounge privileges, free bag, priority boarding here, there.


----------



## Ryan (Oct 31, 2013)

Yeah, there's a lot to it. I've found that the CSP card gives me the most flexibility. I've got like 70,000 United miles laying there with no plans to use them in the near future that I'd much rather have in Amtrak or hotel points, so the flexibility is a big selling point for me.

There's also a 7% bonus on points that you've earned once a year - a nice chuck of points deposited every year is nice!


----------

