# Best Use of Points



## Marija (Jun 18, 2012)

Hi there, I have a paltry 3500 points at this time but we are thinking of going to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the coming year and I'm trying to figure out how to best accumulate points and best use. In my initial research, I figured it will take 105,000 points to get a superliner bedroom from Chicago to San Francisco, SF to L.A., then L.A. back home to Chicago.

Taking CZ to SF then SF to LAX, then Southwest Chief home will cost about $3232. I casually checked with Amsnag and I ?think? I got the best rates for those routes. Empire Builder was suggested by the Amtrak site as well, but I wanted to compare with the cheapest cash route. I figured if I purchased the points when I had promotions, I would pay about $2221.15 out of pocket, assuming I can purchase that many points in my given time and the current 30% extra. I figure if they have more promotions and between shopping through AGR it might wash out.

We will be 2 adults and one 5 year old. My husband is 6'1" and he MUST be as comfortable as possible or it will never happen again 

My questions are:

1. Am I missing something here that might save/cost more than I think?

2. Which is better: CZ or EB. I like scenery (obviously), but I would want to minimize ups/downs & cliff edges/far drops unless it's worth it to see spectacular scenery. Going way up high around a mountain in the middle of the night might cause me considerable anxiety. Of course, there's always mama's little helpers (legal, of course).

3. Any particular station suggestions for the cities I'm going to? We will want to do some sight-seeing in San Francisco and would prefer not to use a car. In L.A. we are mostly visiting family living in Hollywood and realize we may have to get a car. Is there car rental at the LAX stop?

Thanks for reading!


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## amamba (Jun 18, 2012)

So to clarify, you want to do three separate award trips.

Trip 1: Chicago to San Fran, in a bedroom, would be 40,000 points

Trip 2: Emeryville to Los Angeles, in a bedroom on the CS, would be 25,000 points

Trip 3: Los Angeles to CHI (SWC bedroom) would be 40,000 points.

I am assuming that you will be doing multi night stopovers in both San Franciso and Los Angeles.

I would definitely do the California Zephyr to Emeryville from Chicago as the scenery is definitely breathtaking. Then you will get great views on the CS between Emeryville & los Angeles. I personally enjoyed the landscape on the SWC as well, plus this is a route that is "endangered" as it might be rerouted at some point in the future.

One thing that you might consider is just paying out of pocket for the fairly short second segment from EMY to LAX on the CS. I am not sure it is a great use of 25,000 points for a bedroom for such a short trip.

In terms of acquiring points, you can only buy up to 10,000 points per year. Even with the 3,000 bonus, you can buy 10K points (netting 13K), and your husband can buy 10K points (netting 13K) and your child can buy 10K points (netting 13K), but you are still pretty far off from your target of 105K points. I would highly suggest seeing if you can open up an AGR mastercard with a bonus of 32,000 points. If you did one card, and your husband did a card, then you can each buy points to get you up to at least enough for the 40K redemptions to/from CHI.


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## Texan Eagle (Jun 18, 2012)

amamba said:


> I would highly suggest seeing if you can open up an AGR mastercard with a bonus of 32,000 points. If you did one card, and your husband did a card, then you can each buy points to get you up to at least enough for the 40K redemptions to/from CHI.


Yes, I would second this suggestion. If you have a decent credit score, you might want to seriously consider applying for a Chase AGR credit card. The card is free (No annual fees, even after first year) and at times they have a promotion running that gives you 32,000 points for just applying for the card and making a small first purchase (can be anything, even a soda worth a dollar). If you and your husband both apply for the card during the promotional offer, you have 64,000 points right there. You said you already have 10,000 points so you are up to 74,000 points. Now you need to buy only 6,000 points and you are good to go with sleeper from Chicago to San Francisco and LA to Chicago, and as suggested above, purchase the Emeryville to LA section on CS by cash.

BTW, I hope you know if you want to only ride the train without stopping over in San Fran, you can do Chicago to Emeryville on Zephyr AND Emeryville to LA on Starlight together for 40,000 points.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 18, 2012)

If you're going to apply for one Chase credit card for AGR points, apply for the AGR card. It not only has a hefty initial bonus, but you get a 5% discount on AGR awards. If you can apply for a second Chase card, I'd get the Chase Sapphire Preferred. 40k bonus points (after a $3k in 3 months minimum spend), double points of restaurants and travel, all points can be transferred to AGR.



> I would want to minimize ups/downs & cliff edges/far drops unless it's worth it to see spectacular scenery.


 I'd say its worth it to take the California Zephyr, but I've never been bothered by cliff edges on a train.
If you haven't traveled overnight by train before, I'd try that first. An overnight trip to Memphis from Chicago, for instance. Train travel really isn't for everyone, and I'd think that it would increase marital harmony to make sure this is something you are both on board for.

Also, consider train one direction, flying the other.


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## Marija (Jun 18, 2012)

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I've traveled overnight a few times and love it! I took the Texas Eagle CHI to AUS a few years ago with my son and mom and had a great time....despite that my son had a fever and tossed his cookies on the way there, poor babe. The car attendant was marvelous!

I probably can't get the card right now, but maybe in a year or so. I didn't know about the 10K point limit, but if we want to go sooner rather than later, we can still purchase points to help offset at least some of the cost, and pay cash for EMY to LAX. Just dreamin'!

Sometimes I wonder if all the points rigamarole is worth it. I've gone to Milwaukee on points and one time got a CVS card. Boring, huh?


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## jebr (Jun 18, 2012)

Marija said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I've traveled overnight a few times and love it! I took the Texas Eagle CHI to AUS a few years ago with my son and mom and had a great time....despite that my son had a fever and tossed his cookies on the way there, poor babe. The car attendant was marvelous!
> 
> I probably can't get the card right now, but maybe in a year or so. I didn't know about the 10K point limit, but if we want to go sooner rather than later, we can still purchase points to help offset at least some of the cost, and pay cash for EMY to LAX. Just dreamin'!
> 
> Sometimes I wonder if all the points rigamarole is worth it. I've gone to Milwaukee on points and one time got a CVS card. Boring, huh?


I have an AGR card, but I don't try to maximize points earned...basically, I just do my normal travel (along with buying things through the AGR portal when available) and get whatever points they give me. However, I signed up in February, and between my current points (500 initial bonus, 500 point referral bonus, 100 points for a trip SCD - MSP, 100 extra on that trip due to a promotion, 513 points expected on an upcoming trip, 200 points for a RT Hiawatha ride coming up, another 400-500 from bonuses, and possibly another 500 from Student Advantage once I get my first RT in, and 15 points from a Groupon I bought), I'll have earned 2328 - 2928 points in a half-year...which is getting close to a RT on a Chicago corridor line! (Of course, I'd love to get enough points to earn an Acela ticket at some point, but we'll see.)


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## sechs (Jun 18, 2012)

amamba said:


> Trip 1: Chicago to San Fran, in a bedroom, would be 40,000 points


I would suggest going on the Empire Builder via PDX for a little more bang for your buck.


> Trip 2: Emeryville to Los Angeles, in a bedroom on the CS, would be 25,000 points


You should consider paying for this portion of the trip. Unless you have toilet issues, it's not worth getting a bedroom just to go down the coast. You could also redeem the special route and add a bus somewhere.


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## alben (Jun 18, 2012)

As Ispolkom mentioned, to get a lot of AGR points, the best way to get them is with credit card sign up bonuses. The first thing is to be sure you have an excellent credit rating and to pay off the cards in full every month. There are a lot of websites out there that describe how to get the maximum amount of sign up bonuses.

As an example, I got the Continental Airlines card (before they merged with United). I took took all my United miles (15K), merged them with the Continental sign up bonus (50K), and them moved them all to Amtrak.

Then signed up for Chase Sapphire Preferred card which had a 50K sign up bonus at the time and met my 3K minimum spend. $95 annual fee waived first year. This card is the "gateway" card to move Ultimate Rewards points from other Chase cards into the Amtrak AGR program. Also you can buy 5K Ultimate Rewards points for $125 every calendar month.

Then I signed up for the Chase Amtrak AGR card which has a 32K sign up bonus.

Later on I will probably sign up for a Chase Sapphire card and get maybe another 25K sign up bonus.

Later on I might get a Chase Freedom card that has had sign up bonuses as high as 35K points.

And put ALL your spending that you possibly can on the card to get points.

So far I have a 150K points in waiting, and I could easily get another 60K points by getting the last two cards mentioned.


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## amamba (Jun 18, 2012)

It's not really rigamarole to get an AGR card. With just regular Amtrak travel and my AGR card I have gotten:

-a 3 zone bedroom trip (march 2011

-acela FC (bos-was aug 2011)

-2 zone bedroom trip (July 2012 sea/chi)

-2 zone bedroom trip (July 2013 chi-bos)

-1 zone roomette (nov 2012 bos-dfb)

-1zone roomette (nov. 2012 dfb-bod)

All for free with points. That is easily $7500 worth of travel in 18 months.


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## Texan Eagle (Jun 18, 2012)

I might be the customer that Chase and AGR hates. I live in Texas with almost no Amtrak journeys anywhere in sight, yet I wanted AGR points just to be able to do that one dream long sleeper journey for free so I signed up for the AGR credit card under promotion, once I got the card I used it only once to get a Subway sandwich, that got me the 32,000 points into my account. I paid off that sandwich bill right away and have stored away the AGR credit card safely with 0 balance pending. I have also preciously saved those 32K points for use someday for a vacation, and gone back to my normal ways of using my Bank of America cash back card for regular purchases since I prefer getting straight cash back rather than small trickling of more AGR points. I am content with my 32K points and after I am done taking one nice long sleeper journey with it I will think if I want more points. The only "cost" of applying for the AGR card was a small dent on my credit score which will improve in sometime since I never let my payments lapse, so essentially I got enough points to take a $1000+ journey for free with almost zero effort


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