# 30% bonus on purchased points



## Meat Puppet

Special offer: 30% more points!

Now there is even more reasons to top up your Amtrak Guest Rewards account! Buy Amtrak Guest Rewards points between March 1 and April 30, 2010 and automatically receive a 30% bonus on the number of points purchased.


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## rrdude

Meat Puppet said:


> Special offer: 30% more points!Now there is even more reasons to top up your Amtrak Guest Rewards account! Buy Amtrak Guest Rewards points between March 1 and April 30, 2010 and automatically receive a 30% bonus on the number of points purchased.


Thank you, thank you, thank! Easiest 3,000 bonus points I've ever earned!


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## AAARGH!

Meat Puppet said:


> Special offer: 30% more points!Now there is even more reasons to top up your Amtrak Guest Rewards account! Buy Amtrak Guest Rewards points between March 1 and April 30, 2010 and automatically receive a 30% bonus on the number of points purchased.


Am I glad that I waited to buy points!  I was considering not buying this year, but this promotion put me (well) over the edge. Instead of a points costing 2.75 cents, they effectively cost 2.11 cents each.

As rrdude said, the easiest 3000 points ever!


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## the_traveler

Time to buy! 

I could always use a few more points! I never seem to have enough! :lol:


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## Roadfool

Aww....I just bought 2000 points last week so I'd have enough for my loophole trip. Oh well, at least I can get the bonus on the next 8000.


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## MJL

So, does this mean you can buy up to 10,000 miles, then get 3,000 miles free? Or does it mean the most you can purchase under this plan is 7,692 which equals 10,000 with a 30% bonus? LOL


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## Ryan

Buy 10,000, get 3,000 bonus points. Bonus points aren't purchased points, so they don't count towards the total.


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## the_traveler

I pulled up the prices, and it *SPECIFICALLY* stated "5,000 points + 1,500", "10,000 points + 3,000", etc...! So I take it that you can get a total of 13,000 when you buy 10,000 points!


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## Guest

Glad I waited


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## Cascadia

Wow I'm going to have to seriously consider this. Thanks for the heads up!


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## JayPea

Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!


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## rrdude

rrdude said:


> Thank you, thank you, thank! Easiest 3,000 bonus points I've ever earned!


Well, my purchased 10K posted quickly. Do bonus points, when making a point purchase, normally post in a separate transaction?


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## the_traveler

I have never done it during a bonus period, so I'm not sure, But I would say yes! The purchase is actually thru Points.com, while the bonus is thru AGR.


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## yarrow

thanks. i had been waiting for a promotion to purchase my 10k for the year


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## Guest_gercohen_*

the_traveler said:


> I have never done it during a bonus period, so I'm not sure, But I would say yes! The purchase is actually thru Points.com, while the bonus is thru AGR.


I bought 3,000 last night as the 900 bonus would bring me to 50,000. The terms of service say the 3,000 would post within 72 hours, they in fact posted in 8 hours. the terms for the bonus say they will post within 72 hours of "completion of the transaction". I am now at 49,552 waiting the 900 so I can book a 3-zone bedroom trip. If the 900 does not post by tomorrow morning I may go ahead and buy another 500, the 900+150 bonuses will just restock my cupboard.


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## Bigval109

JayPea said:


> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!


Is there a limit you can buy during this event?


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## AAARGH!

Bigval109 said:


> JayPea said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a limit you can buy during this event?
Click to expand...

The limit is 10,000 per year. Other than that, no limit!


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## Bigval109

AAARGH! said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JayPea said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a limit you can buy during this event?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The limit is 10,000 per year. Other than that, no limit!
Click to expand...

The only thing that could make it better would be to remove  the 10,000 point limit for points purchased during this period.


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## AAARGH!

Bigval109 said:


> AAARGH! said:
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> Bigval109 said:
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> JayPea said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a limit you can buy during this event?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The limit is 10,000 per year. Other than that, no limit!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The only thing that could make it better would be to remove  the 10,000 point limit for points purchased during this period.
Click to expand...

Now that would be a hot deal! I could see The_Traveler hocking everything he owns!


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## GG-1

AAARGH! said:


> Bigval109 said:
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> AAARGH! said:
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> Bigval109 said:
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> JayPea said:
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> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a limit you can buy during this event?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The limit is 10,000 per year. Other than that, no limit!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The only thing that could make it better would be to remove  the 10,000 point limit for points purchased during this period.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Now that would be a hot deal! I could see The_Traveler hocking everything he owns!
Click to expand...

I can't see him hocking is key to the penthouse :lol:

Aloha


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## the_traveler

GG-1 said:


> AAARGH! said:
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> Bigval109 said:
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> AAARGH! said:
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> Bigval109 said:
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> JayPea said:
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> Dang! :angry: I jumped the gun and bought 10,000 a month ago or so. That'll teach me not to be so impatient!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a limit you can buy during this event?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The limit is 10,000 per year. Other than that, no limit!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The only thing that could make it better would be to remove  the 10,000 point limit for points purchased during this period.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Now that would be a hot deal! I could see The_Traveler hocking everything he owns!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can't see him hocking is key to the penthouse :lol:
Click to expand...

You got that right! I'd get rid of Chez Traveler, since I'm not there much and it doesn't get much use anyway!


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## RRrich

If they would make them RAILPOINTS.........


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## Bigval109

Roadfool said:


> Aww....I just bought 2000 points last week so I'd have enough for my loophole trip. Oh well, at least I can get the bonus on the next 8000.


I just brought 2000 points last week but that's ok. I just brought 4000 today and I'm going to get another 4000 next month to complete my limit for the year. If only there was no limit for this promotion. Hey better than nothing.


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## jmbgeg

Meat Puppet said:


> Special offer: 30% more points!Now there is even more reasons to top up your Amtrak Guest Rewards account! Buy Amtrak Guest Rewards points between March 1 and April 30, 2010 and automatically receive a 30% bonus on the number of points purchased.


Darn. I had already purchased the 10k annual maximum.


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## jim55

jmbgeg said:


> Meat Puppet said:
> 
> 
> 
> Special offer: 30% more points!Now there is even more reasons to top up your Amtrak Guest Rewards account! Buy Amtrak Guest Rewards points between March 1 and April 30, 2010 and automatically receive a 30% bonus on the number of points purchased.
> 
> 
> 
> Darn. I had already purchased the 10k annual maximum.
Click to expand...

Well so did my wife and I (purchase 10k in Jan} but a few days ago I and my wife had an "Heart CT Scan"and my wife did well but I Flunked! (Guess iI did not study hard enough) . I had a cardiogram where they stick some wire up through your groin and up through your heart and shoot dye. They said I was OK but need to modify my diet. I'm still happy, bonus or not. Where in the heck do turnups come from? Hope you all see a skinnier Jim55


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## rrdude

Uh oh, you mean you'll have to start eating healthy, and exercising? Dang. Do what I did when the doc gives you report you'd rather not hear. Bump up you life insurance, and don't visit the doctor again........


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## AAARGH!

Weird...

I bought 10,000 (+ 3,000 bonus) points on Tuesday. Yesterday (Wednesday) 10,000 posted, but not the 3,000 bonus. They didn't post today either. What gives?


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## Cristobal

Are promotions like this fairly common with AGR or is this one of those "best deal ever, I'm all in" kinda things?

I'm just asking because I'm looking at putting together enough points for an AGR 2-zone trip next year but I'm a little hesitant to purchase 10K right now. I could break it into 2 buys of 5K each before 4/30 but I'm just wondering if I really need to do that right now.

What do y'all think?


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## BeckysBarn

Cristobal said:


> Are promotions like this fairly common with AGR or is this one of those "best deal ever, I'm all in" kinda things?
> I'm just asking because I'm looking at putting together enough points for an AGR 2-zone trip next year but I'm a little hesitant to purchase 10K right now. I could break it into 2 buys of 5K each before 4/30 but I'm just wondering if I really need to do that right now.
> 
> What do y'all think?


Last year, there was a 10% bonus. I believe it ran late summer to early fall. This is the best bonus I've seen, which is why I went all in. Last year's promo, I broke up the point buy over several months. Do whatever your pocketbook dictates


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## RailFanLNK

Ok folks, do you want to save yourself a migraine? This is what happened to me tonight. When I went to purchase the 10,000 points and the site asked what type of credit card you are using, the first choice was "Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase World" so that is the CC I used and each time it said, "invalid credit card number". This perplexed me so much that I spent one hour on the phone with every Chase Rep that this country has, answered numerous times, "what was your doggies name in 1967?" and "what was the kind of car you were driving in 1983" types of questions and wondering why my card wouldn't work. So......I go to Brenda's and we decide to try once more but we clicked on "MasterCard" instead of "AGR Chase World" and wallah!!!!!! :blink: We had our transaction. This is so stupid! I blew almost 2 hours tonight with the stupid AGR site not letting me use the window "AGR Chase World". Did this happen to any of you guys/gals?


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## PetalumaLoco

RailFanLNK said:


> Ok folks, do you want to save yourself a migraine? This is what happened to me tonight. When I went to purchase the 10,000 points and the site asked what type of credit card you are using, the first choice was "Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase World" so that is the CC I used and each time it said, "invalid credit card number". This perplexed me so much that I spent one hour on the phone with every Chase Rep that this country has, answered numerous times, "what was your doggies name in 1967?" and "what was the kind of car you were driving in 1983" types of questions and wondering why my card wouldn't work. So......I go to Brenda's and we decide to try once more but we clicked on "MasterCard" instead of "AGR Chase World" and wallah!!!!!! :blink: We had our transaction. This is so stupid! I blew almost 2 hours tonight with the stupid AGR site not letting me use the window "AGR Chase World". Did this happen to any of you guys/gals?


Yeah, I did that last nite. Not the calling Chase for an hour part, but inadvertently picking the default card. 3rd try was the charm, I saw what they were doing to me.

Karma got me anyway, I spent 1/2 hr on the phone with Comcast trying to figure out why the cable modem had lights flashing like a Christmas tree; power cord unplugged. :blink:

And they say the first thing to go is the knees...


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## Guest_Mark_*

I called first to ask about some details of the promotion and the rep told me to use the regular card not AGR.


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## pennyk

RailFanLNK said:


> Ok folks, do you want to save yourself a migraine? This is what happened to me tonight. When I went to purchase the 10,000 points and the site asked what type of credit card you are using, the first choice was "Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase World" so that is the CC I used and each time it said, "invalid credit card number". This perplexed me so much that I spent one hour on the phone with every Chase Rep that this country has, answered numerous times, "what was your doggies name in 1967?" and "what was the kind of car you were driving in 1983" types of questions and wondering why my card wouldn't work. So......I go to Brenda's and we decide to try once more but we clicked on "MasterCard" instead of "AGR Chase World" and wallah!!!!!! :blink: We had our transaction. This is so stupid! I blew almost 2 hours tonight with the stupid AGR site not letting me use the window "AGR Chase World". Did this happen to any of you guys/gals?


Same thing happened to me Thursday. I tried re-entering my number several times, then phoned Chase to make sure my card was ok and it was. I then tried a couple of more times and then changed from the default "World" card to Master Card and it worked. I believe before Chase took over the AGR card several years ago, it was called World card with another credit card company. Maybe points.com has not updated their information. Yesterday was the first time I had purchased points and I am so excited about it. This forum brought the benefit of purchasing points to my attention. Thanks a bunch!!


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## AAARGH!

RailFanLNK said:


> Ok folks, do you want to save yourself a migraine? This is what happened to me tonight. When I went to purchase the 10,000 points and the site asked what type of credit card you are using, the first choice was "Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase World" so that is the CC I used and each time it said, "invalid credit card number". This perplexed me so much that I spent one hour on the phone with every Chase Rep that this country has, answered numerous times, "what was your doggies name in 1967?" and "what was the kind of car you were driving in 1983" types of questions and wondering why my card wouldn't work. So......I go to Brenda's and we decide to try once more but we clicked on "MasterCard" instead of "AGR Chase World" and wallah!!!!!! :blink: We had our transaction. This is so stupid! I blew almost 2 hours tonight with the stupid AGR site not letting me use the window "AGR Chase World". Did this happen to any of you guys/gals?


This is a known bug with the buy points site. When I tried last year and had the same issue, I called AGR. They told me to just choose the regular (not AGR card) option, then USE my AGR card. It worked AND I got the Chase AGR 2X points I deserved on top of the points I bought.

BTW, I still don't have the 3,000 point bonus yet. I'll wait until Monday to raise the red flag.


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## the_traveler

When I bought points last year, the same thing happened to me. Then I got smart and chose "MasterCard" - and it went right through!

I didn't buy them yet, as I'm waiting for my credit card to close on the 10th. That way, I can have 1 1/2 months until I have to pay the bill! h34r:


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## Bigval109

Guest_Mark_* said:


> I called first to ask about some details of the promotion and the rep told me to use the regular card not AGR.


Is anyone else having trouble with your buy points posting :unsure: ? I brought mine on wednesday but nothing yet. I was concerned. Maybe this promotion was more popular than :blink: anticipated. I still think that removing the limit  for the promotion would be the right thing to do.


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## Long Train Runnin'

RRrich said:


> If they would make them RAILPOINTS.........


You and me both!

Id gladly buy my way to the glorious benefits of Select +


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## dart330

I purchsed the points on the 5th, the 10k posted on the 6th, and the 3k bonus posted on the 8th.


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## kevin

dart330 said:


> I purchsed the points on the 5th, the 10k posted on the 6th, and the 3k bonus posted on the 8th.


I bought on Thursday 3/4. It's Monday 3/8. Nothing posted yet.


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## gercohen

My bonus from the 03/05 transaction posted Saturday, but no bonus points from the 03/03 transaction.

03/06/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 150

03/05/2010 Bonus Buy Points 500

03/03/2010 Bonus Buy Points 3,000

The 500 points put me over 50k and I booked a three zone bedroom award LAX-RMT via PDX , CHI and WAS ! (CS, EB, CL, and SM) The 1050 bonus will start me towards my next award.


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## AAARGH!

AAARGH! said:


> RailFanLNK said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok folks, do you want to save yourself a migraine? This is what happened to me tonight. When I went to purchase the 10,000 points and the site asked what type of credit card you are using, the first choice was "Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase World" so that is the CC I used and each time it said, "invalid credit card number". This perplexed me so much that I spent one hour on the phone with every Chase Rep that this country has, answered numerous times, "what was your doggies name in 1967?" and "what was the kind of car you were driving in 1983" types of questions and wondering why my card wouldn't work. So......I go to Brenda's and we decide to try once more but we clicked on "MasterCard" instead of "AGR Chase World" and wallah!!!!!! :blink: We had our transaction. This is so stupid! I blew almost 2 hours tonight with the stupid AGR site not letting me use the window "AGR Chase World". Did this happen to any of you guys/gals?
> 
> 
> 
> This is a known bug with the buy points site. When I tried last year and had the same issue, I called AGR. They told me to just choose the regular (not AGR card) option, then USE my AGR card. It worked AND I got the Chase AGR 2X points I deserved on top of the points I bought.
> 
> BTW, I still don't have the 3,000 point bonus yet. I'll wait until Monday to raise the red flag.
Click to expand...

So I called AGR because my bonus points have not yet posted. They told me it would take up to 6 days after the buy-points post for the bonus points to post. I reminded them about the 72 hours it states on the site. They said that is only for the main points, not the bonus points.

I said others have received all ther points within a few days. He said that doesn't matter and I need to wait to the end of the 6 days before I can call back (which is tomorrow).

Grrrrr.


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## BeckysBarn

AAARGH! said:


> So I called AGR because my bonus points have not yet posted. They told me it would take up to 6 days after the buy-points post for the bonus points to post. I reminded them about the 72 hours it states on the site. They said that is only for the main points, not the bonus points.
> I said others have received all ther points within a few days. He said that doesn't matter and I need to wait to the end of the 6 days before I can call back (which is tomorrow).
> 
> Grrrrr.


I'm on the same boat train. Purchased on 03/03/10 & not posted yet. I'll be calling AGR tomorrow, too.


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## Bigval109

BeckysBarn said:


> AAARGH! said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I called AGR because my bonus points have not yet posted. They told me it would take up to 6 days after the buy-points post for the bonus points to post. I reminded them about the 72 hours it states on the site. They said that is only for the main points, not the bonus points.
> I said others have received all ther points within a few days. He said that doesn't matter and I need to wait to the end of the 6 days before I can call back (which is tomorrow).
> 
> Grrrrr.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on the same boat train. Purchased on 03/03/10 & not posted yet. I'll be calling AGR tomorrow, too.
Click to expand...

Just got off the phone with agr and it appears that they are having some problems :blink: with the points posting. I brought my points on this pass wednesday and as of today none of my points have posted. Not the buy points nor the bonus points. :angry:


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## Bigval109

Bigval109 said:


> BeckysBarn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> AAARGH! said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I called AGR because my bonus points have not yet posted. They told me it would take up to 6 days after the buy-points post for the bonus points to post. I reminded them about the 72 hours it states on the site. They said that is only for the main points, not the bonus points.
> I said others have received all ther points within a few days. He said that doesn't matter and I need to wait to the end of the 6 days before I can call back (which is tomorrow).
> 
> Grrrrr.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on the same boat train. Purchased on 03/03/10 & not posted yet. I'll be calling AGR tomorrow, too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just got off the phone with agr and it appears that they are having some problems :blink: with the points posting. I brought my points on this pass wednesday and as of today none of my points have posted. Not the buy points nor the bonus points. :angry:
Click to expand...

Good news after my call an hour ago  all my buy points plus bonus points have posted to my account  .


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## BeckysBarn

My 10K posted sometime after midnight (3/9/10). So that took 6 days for them to post. Now for the 3K bonus...


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## Shanghai

My points posted quickly but nothing on the bonus yet. It has been 5 days so far.

I also have 850 points from Hilton Honors that Hilton advises they have sent to AGR,

but AGR has not posted to my account. I have called but still waiting for the points.


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## gercohen

gercohen said:


> My bonus from the 03/05 transaction posted Saturday, but no bonus points from the 03/03 transaction.
> 03/06/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 150
> 
> 03/05/2010 Bonus Buy Points 500
> 
> 03/03/2010 Bonus Buy Points 3,000


my missing 900 point bonus posted this morning


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## RailFanLNK

My points posted on the 5th and the bonus 3000 points posted on the 6th.


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## amamba

Where are you guys seeing this offer to get the 30% bonus points? I have been wavering but I think I am gonna buy them now so I can get the 5 upgrade coupons.

EDIT: nevermind, found it!


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## AAARGH!

gercohen said:


> gercohen said:
> 
> 
> 
> My bonus from the 03/05 transaction posted Saturday, but no bonus points from the 03/03 transaction.
> 03/06/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 150
> 
> 03/05/2010 Bonus Buy Points 500
> 
> 03/03/2010 Bonus Buy Points 3,000
> 
> 
> 
> my missing 900 point bonus posted this morning
Click to expand...

My missing 3,000 points posted this morning also.

So in the end...

03/02/2010 Buy Points (10K purchased)

03/03/2010 10,000 points posted

03/09/2010 3,000 bonus points posetd


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## alanh

amamba said:


> Where are you guys seeing this offer to get the 30% bonus points? I have been wavering but I think I am gonna buy them now so I can get the 5 upgrade coupons.EDIT: nevermind, found it!


Just to answer the question in case someone else wonders, it's on the Hot Deals page at the AGR website under "Buy Points".
Just curious -- does the AGR card earn double points for buying miles?


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## Ryan

No, because you're not buying them from Amtrak.


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## AAARGH!

Ryan said:


> No, because you're not buying them from Amtrak.


You know, I thought we did get 2X on that. But when I looked back to last year, I only got 1X.

It SHOULD be 2X! They are Amtrak points, no matter who they are bought through!


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## Ryan

Yes - they show up as "BUY REWARD POINTS(Services and Merchandise)" on my AGR card statement.


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## AAARGH!

Ryan said:


> Yes - they show up as "BUY REWARD POINTS(Services and Merchandise)" on my AGR card statement.


You know, that STINKS! I would assume when you use your AGR credit card to buy points through the Amtrak (AGR) site, you *ARE* purchasing something *FROM* Amtrak and *THUS* should get 2X points per $$$ spent.

So I called AGR and they state it is not "Amtrak travel" and thus only gets 1X points. I pointed out to her that I bought meals on the train and I got 2X points and that others have bought from the Amtrak store and received 2X points (or at least I thought they did). She simply repeated what her supervisor told her, that it is not considered Amtrak travel and thus only gets 1X.

I'm miffed. :angry: :angry: :angry: This *SHOULD* be at 2X! Does anyone else agree? Should we stand outside AGR's headquarters (wherever that is) with pitchforks and flaming torches until this is recitified? :huh:


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## Ryan

I wouldn't care that much - as you said, it works both ways. I've started buying my monthly MARC ticket at a QuikTrak machine at WAS because it goes through as "Amtrak" and gets me the extra points (125 points a month isn't too much, but it all adds up!). Amtrak isn't in the busniess of selling points, so it's perfectly understandable that the transaction goes through a third party.


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## Bigval109

BeckysBarn said:


> My 10K posted sometime after midnight (3/9/10). So that took 6 days for them to post. Now for the 3K bonus...


Did anyone get the email that tells you that your points have posted? I didn't. I just kept looking each day. When they deviate from normal procedure I think something is wrong.


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## boxcar479

AAARGH! said:


> gercohen said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gercohen said:
> 
> 
> 
> My bonus from the 03/05 transaction posted Saturday, but no bonus points from the 03/03 transaction.
> 03/06/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 150
> 
> 03/05/2010 Bonus Buy Points 500
> 
> 03/03/2010 Bonus Buy Points 3,000
> 
> 
> 
> my missing 900 point bonus posted this morning
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My missing 3,000 points posted this morning also.
> 
> So in the end...
> 
> 03/02/2010 Buy Points (10K purchased)
> 
> 03/03/2010 10,000 points posted
> 
> 03/09/2010 3,000 bonus points posetd
Click to expand...


Ditto for me. same day same thing now if they will raise the limit


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## BeckysBarn

I guess AGR is catching up. My 3K posted this morning.

03/10/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 3,000

03/09/2010 Bonus Buy Points 10,000

03/03/2010 Purchased points

So when they tell you it may take 6 days, AGR may not be stalling after all.


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## alanh

Thanks. Although the site is customized with the AGR look, if you look at the URL the points purchase is actually being handled by Points.com. So for $275 you get 13,275 points (if using the AGR Mastercard) which is 2.07 cents per point (vs. 2.68 normally).

I'm redeeming 30,000 points for a two-zone bedroom award (SEA-ATL) which prices out at $2218, or 7.39 cents per point.


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## Ryan

alanh said:


> I'm redeeming 30,000 points for a two-zone bedroom award (SEA-ATL) which prices out at $2218, or 7.39 cents per point.


Nice!!!


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## AAARGH!

alanh said:


> Thanks. Although the site is customized with the AGR look, if you look at the URL the points purchase is actually being handled by Points.com. So for $275 you get 13,275 points (if using the AGR Mastercard) which is 2.07 cents per point (vs. 2.68 normally).
> I'm redeeming 30,000 points for a two-zone bedroom award (SEA-ATL) which prices out at $2218, or 7.39 cents per point.


I'm redeeming two 30,000 two-zone bedroom awards, and two 1,000 special route awards for a multi-cross-country trip in May (62,000 total). The purchase price would have been $4,738, so that equals 7.64 cents / mile. COOL BEANS!


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## Bigval109

boxcar817 said:


> AAARGH! said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gercohen said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gercohen said:
> 
> 
> 
> My bonus from the 03/05 transaction posted Saturday, but no bonus points from the 03/03 transaction.
> 03/06/2010 Bonus Buy Points Bonus 150
> 
> 03/05/2010 Bonus Buy Points 500
> 
> 03/03/2010 Bonus Buy Points 3,000
> 
> 
> 
> my missing 900 point bonus posted this morning
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My missing 3,000 points posted this morning also.
> 
> So in the end...
> 
> 03/02/2010 Buy Points (10K purchased)
> 
> 03/03/2010 10,000 points posted
> 
> 03/09/2010 3,000 bonus points posetd
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ditto for me. same day same thing now if they will raise the limit
Click to expand...

I have a great idea, AGR could have a held over offer because of popular demand for the month of May with no limit or a limit of say 20,000 points during this 30% bonus offer.  Now that would make a bunch of folks happy  and that would sell a lot of points to boot. I'm thinking a win win for everyone interested.  What do you think? Is there any way we can influence AGR into doing this? Maybe if everyone emailed them this suggestion we could make a difference. What do you think? :huh:


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## GG-1

Aloha

On the 8th I bought enough points to have a sleeper on CS#11. They posted today, and are spent, my First Award travel.  Watch out Traveler here I come.  Part of this trip will be my Granddaughter's first overnight sleeper trip.

Interesting to note from all the discussion about how slow to post, that it only takes 3 minutes to remove used points from the AGR listing.


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## the_traveler

GG-1 said:


> my First Award travel.  Watch out Traveler here I come.  Part of this trip will be my Granddaughter's first overnight sleeper trip.
> Interesting to note from all the discussion about how slow to post, that it only takes 3 minutes to remove used points from the AGR listing.


Good for you Eric!  She will love you for it! (So I guess anyone can have a good side! :lol: )

My account is still red hot with all the points coming out so fast - and the rails are too, with all my traveling!


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## Guest

Bigval109 said:


> I have a great idea, AGR could have a held over offer because of popular demand for the month of May with no limit or a limit of say 20,000 points during this 30% bonus offer.  Now that would make a bunch of folks happy  and that would sell a lot of points to boot. I'm thinking a win win for everyone interested.  What do you think? Is there any way we can influence AGR into doing this? Maybe if everyone emailed them this suggestion we could make a difference. What do you think? :huh:


LOL, you must be smoking some good stuff.


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## Roadfool

Congrats, Eric. That sounds like a fun trip, especially if your granddaughter's never ridden in a sleeper.

And I would love it if they expanded the limit to 20,000, but I really don't want unlimited buy points. I'd end up borrowing money from everyone I know just to take full advantage of the promotion. "Aw come on Uncle Bob, I can get AGR points for 2.11 cents each if I buy before May." :lol:


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## kevin

kevin said:


> I bought on Thursday 3/4. It's Monday 3/8. Nothing posted yet.


Bought points posted yesterday, bonus points posted today.

Points all but gone, booked to leave Chicago on National Train Day to Portland and then to Los Angeles in a sleeper all the way!


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## Bigval109

Guest said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a great idea, AGR could have a held over offer because of popular demand for the month of May with no limit or a limit of say 20,000 points during this 30% bonus offer.  Now that would make a bunch of folks happy  and that would sell a lot of points to boot. I'm thinking a win win for everyone interested.  What do you think? Is there any way we can influence AGR into doing this? Maybe if everyone emailed them this suggestion we could make a difference. What do you think? :huh:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, you must be smoking some good stuff.
Click to expand...

ah come on don't dis me like that.  I don't smoke but I have been known to take a whipth of diesel fuel :blink: from a passing amtrak train. Hey just wishful thinking.


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## the_traveler

Bigval109 said:


> I don't smoke but I have been known to take a whipth of diesel fuel :blink: from a passing amtrak train. Hey just wishful thinking.


I just open the window of the penthouse suite while I'm *traveling* on said train! :lol: Or I just stand on the smokestack of a steam locomotive! (Them there is some *GOOOOOD* stuff!  )


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## Shanghai

My bonus points posted yesterday, four days after I purchased points.


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## the_traveler

I bought the 10K on 3/11, they posted 3/12 and the 3K posted on 3/14!


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## nomis

I just purchased the 10k points as the first purchase on my newly acquired AGR Card ... 10k + 3k + 275 + 18k = PHL to LAX with 3 button clicks  (10k+3k posted within 3 days)


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## Bigval109

the_traveler said:


> I bought the 10K on 3/11, they posted 3/12 and the 3K posted on 3/14!


has anyone yet tried to purchase more that the 10000 points allowed just in case there is a surprise yes answer? Say maybe a week later?


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## Bigval109

Bigval109 said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought the 10K on 3/11, they posted 3/12 and the 3K posted on 3/14!
> 
> 
> 
> has anyone yet tried to purchase more that the 10000 points allowed just in case there is a surprise yes answer? Say maybe a week later?
Click to expand...

Well I just purchased the last of my buy points for this year's limit. I bet the website goes silent for the next 6 months. If they have another bonus sale  in a few months with 20,000 or 30,000 points limit things will come back to life  .


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## OlympianHiawatha

I took the plunge Friday night and punched in for 10,000 Points, and they posted within a few hours. By Sunday morning the 3,000 Bonus Points showed up; so I have no complaints on slow service here.


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## Bigval109

Bigval109 said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought the 10K on 3/11, they posted 3/12 and the 3K posted on 3/14!
> 
> 
> 
> has anyone yet tried to purchase more that the 10000 points allowed just in case there is a surprise yes answer? Say maybe a week later?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well I just purchased the last of my buy points for this year's limit. I bet the website goes silent for the next 6 months. If they have another bonus sale  in a few months with 20,000 or 30,000 points limit things will come back to life  .
Click to expand...

If you have already bought your 10,000 points can say my sister buy some points for me to add to my total?


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## AlanB

Bigval109 said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought the 10K on 3/11, they posted 3/12 and the 3K posted on 3/14!
> 
> 
> 
> has anyone yet tried to purchase more that the 10000 points allowed just in case there is a surprise yes answer? Say maybe a week later?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well I just purchased the last of my buy points for this year's limit. I bet the website goes silent for the next 6 months. If they have another bonus sale  in a few months with 20,000 or 30,000 points limit things will come back to life  .
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you have already bought your 10,000 points can say my sister buy some points for me to add to my total?
Click to expand...

As I understand the rules, only 10,000 points can be brought for one account in a year. It doesn't matter who brought those points, you or someone else, the limit is 10,000 period.


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## AAARGH!

AlanB said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you have already bought your 10,000 points can say my sister buy some points for me to add to my total?
> 
> 
> 
> As I understand the rules, only 10,000 points can be brought for one account in a year. It doesn't matter who brought those points, you or someone else, the limit is 10,000 period.
Click to expand...

BUT, If she has an AGR account, she can buy points for herself and in the future (or now if she already has enough) can buy you a reward ticket with her points.


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## sechs

I received an e-mail today from Starwood Preferred Guest. They are offering 20% off of their points, which transfer 1-to-1 into AGR. Over there, 10k points is $280, but you can buy 20k for $560. With the AGR offer, that's a two zone bedroom for $825 -- less if you have the rebate and count the credit card points.

Somebody has got to be losing money on this.


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## Bigval109

sechs said:


> I received an e-mail today from Starwood Preferred Guest. They are offering 20% off of their points, which transfer 1-to-1 into AGR. Over there, 10k points is $280, but you can buy 20k for $560. With the AGR offer, that's a two zone bedroom for $825 -- less if you have the rebate and count the credit card points.
> Somebody has got to be losing money on this.


How can someone be losing money when I read somewhere that they pay less than a penny a point and sell them for almost 3 cent a point?


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## sechs

If, for example, points.com buys then at a penny each and sells them at three cents, and then I redeem them for an award at six cents each, where does the three cents go?

Better yet, how does the program come out ahead on a difference of five cents on the sell price versus the redemption value?


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## Bigval109

sechs said:


> If, for example, points.com buys then at a penny each and sells them at three cents, and then I redeem them for an award at six cents each, where does the three cents go?
> Better yet, how does the program come out ahead on a difference of five cents on the sell price versus the redemption value?


never thought of that. However it does keep the loyal customers interested when thihgs have slowed down. Also it helps with filling empty seats from time to time and boost ridership numbers. Remember sometimes the 6 cent redemtion rates are due to very high buckets rates For example $1300 for a bedroom in a two zone reward. Not to memtion it is a small price for all the free  advertising and information we AGR members give when we ride to others who in turn pay cash for such a wonder experience. You would be surprised the number of people who didn't know  or nrver considered of traveling cross country by train and that they would see how beautiful America is.  Maybe it's time to slow down and take in the sights that make up our great country.


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## Ryan

Bigval109 said:


> You would be surprised the number of people who didn't know  or nrver considered of traveling cross country by train and that they would see how beautiful America is.  Maybe it's time to slow down and take in the sights that make up our great country.


You've got that right - one of the mandatory wedding questions is "What are you doing for your honeymoon", and when I tell them about out WAS-CHI-PDX-SEA-LAX-CHI-WAS trip, they all think that it's an awesome idea, and a few have shown a real interest in planning a similar trip themselves.


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## Guest

Bigval109 said:


> sechs said:
> 
> 
> 
> If, for example, points.com buys then at a penny each and sells them at three cents, and then I redeem them for an award at six cents each, where does the three cents go?
> Better yet, how does the program come out ahead on a difference of five cents on the sell price versus the redemption value?
> 
> 
> 
> never thought of that. However it does keep the loyal customers interested when thihgs have slowed down. Also it helps with filling empty seats from time to time and boost ridership numbers. Remember sometimes the 6 cent redemtion rates are due to very high buckets rates For example $1300 for a bedroom in a two zone reward. Not to memtion it is a small price for all the free  advertising and information we AGR members give when we ride to others who in turn pay cash for such a wonder experience. You would be surprised the number of people who didn't know  or nrver considered of traveling cross country by train and that they would see how beautiful America is.  Maybe it's time to slow down and take in the sights that make up our great country.
Click to expand...

But the thing is that train nuts would give that free advertising even if they paid for all their tickets so they are not actually getting anything for the AGR losses. That argument was used as why they allowed the AGR trips from Omaha to Columbus and guess what, it is gone.


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## Ryan

Not so much, if it weren't for AGR I wouldn't be taking this trip for my honeymoon, therefore there wouldn't be all that free advertising from me.

The fact that they charge more for one ridiculously long routing doesn't really factor into it (and really you need to get over it).


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## Bigval109

Ryan said:


> Bigval109 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You would be surprised the number of people who didn't know  or nrver considered of traveling cross country by train and that they would see how beautiful America is.  Maybe it's time to slow down and take in the sights that make up our great country.
> 
> 
> 
> You've got that right - one of the mandatory wedding questions is "What are you doing for your honeymoon", and when I tell them about out WAS-CHI-PDX-SEA-LAX-CHI-WAS trip, they all think that it's an awesome idea, and a few have shown a real interest in planning a similar trip themselves.
Click to expand...

How many points did that cost?


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## Ryan

I paid for WAS-CIN (zone border on the Cardinal), I think it set me back about $500 (I bought it a long time ago).

CIN-PDX was a 2 zone bedroom for 30,000

PDX-SEA in business class on the Cascades was 3,000 for each of us (I think!)

SEA-LAX was a 1 zone bedroom for 15k

LAX-CHI was another 2 zone bedroom for 30k

CHI-WAS paid (about $400)

So, for a little under a grand and about 80k points (almost entirely earned through doing things like buying gas and groceries on the AGR card) I get 7 nights on the train, and get to ride 5 LD routes from end to end plus the Cascades. Pretty sweet deal.


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## Bigval109

Ryan said:


> I paid for WAS-CIN (zone border on the Cardinal), I think it set me back about $500 (I bought it a long time ago).CIN-PDX was a 2 zone bedroom for 30,000
> 
> PDX-SEA in business class on the Cascades was 3,000 for each of us (I think!)
> 
> SEA-LAX was a 1 zone bedroom for 15k
> 
> LAX-CHI was another 2 zone bedroom for 30k
> 
> CHI-WAS paid (about $400)
> 
> So, for a little under a grand and about 80k points (almost entirely earned through doing things like buying gas and groceries on the AGR card) I get 7 nights on the train, and get to ride 5 LD routes from end to end plus the Cascades. Pretty sweet deal.


I see. I usually think of a roomette. You are talking a bedroom. I always take coach to cin from rvr for about $50 but since this is a very special time for you I can see where a bedroom would be needed. Congrats.


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