# "Hats Off" Promotion: free bonus points



## gatelouse (Jun 29, 2011)

Visited the AGR site just a couple of minutes ago to check point balances and found a "free gift" banner on the front page that I hadn't seen before. From the wording (something about "our most frequent customers") it appeared to be some sort of bonus targeted to elites. So I clicked it. Out popped a Flash animation of a conductors' hat, and sure enough, out of the hat popped 1000 bonus points. So log into the AGR site to see if you've been targeted. Look for the conductor's hat. And let us know how many bonus points you got!

This appears to run from June 29 (12am CST) to July 15. By luck, I appear to have come across this literally minutes after it became effective.


----------



## Jim G. (Jun 29, 2011)

Very nice idea from AGR. My wife and I each received 1000 bonus points and they posted to our accounts immediatly. My "hat's off" to AGR for a very nice gift.


----------



## HotlantaAl (Jun 29, 2011)

Nope, not showing up on mine


----------



## the_traveler (Jun 29, 2011)

My "hats off" promotion was something else.(Plus I had to look for it. Without thus thread, I would not even look under "My Promotion" to find it.) I forget the working, but it said either double points and double my Select bonus (of 25%), Or double my Select bonus.

So does that mean I get a 50% bonus?






And the dares were July 1 to August 31!


----------



## Ryan (Jun 29, 2011)

The only thing I have under "My Promotions" is a double points for the midwest trains. Not real valuable here in Maryland.


----------



## rrdude (Jun 29, 2011)

When I shook the hat I got a stoopid rabbit, goldfish, ball, etc., etc., and 50% bonus, but no 1,000 points.


----------



## City of Miami (Jun 29, 2011)

Nothing for me :angry:


----------



## Dovecote (Jun 29, 2011)

the_traveler said:


> My "hats off" promotion was something else.(Plus I had to look for it. Without thus thread, I would not even look under "My Promotion" to find it.) I forget the working, but it said either double points and double my Select bonus (of 25%), Or double my Select bonus.
> 
> So does that mean I get a 50% bonus?
> 
> ...


My promo info stated after registering "Double your 25% Select Bonus between 7/1 - 8/31". Thanks to the OP who informed us of this.


----------



## rrdude (Jun 29, 2011)

Yes, thanks "gatelouse". Are you "the" gatelouse from FlyerTalk forum?


----------



## Bob Dylan (Jun 29, 2011)

:hi: Thanks for the Heads Up! When I Checked my Account I only received the 50% Bonus Points for Rail Travel like the_traveler did!(and a Beach Ball, an Amtrak Engine, Some Balloons and a Rabbit Out of the Hat!  ) Must be Targeted but Just How seems to be a Mystery?? :unsure:


----------



## AmtrakBlue (Jun 29, 2011)

jimhudson said:


> :hi: Thanks for the Heads Up! When I Checked my Account I only received the 50% Bonus Points for Rail Travel like the_traveler did!(and a Beach Ball, an Amtrak Engine, Some Balloons and a Rabbit Out of the Hat!  ) Must be Targeted but Just How seems to be a Mystery??


 Maybe its for those who have their profiles 100% complete. :unsure:


----------



## MJL (Jun 29, 2011)

No Soup For Me! :angry2:


----------



## pennyk (Jun 29, 2011)

rrdude said:


> When I shook the hat I got a stoopid rabbit, goldfish, ball, etc., etc., and 50% bonus, but no 1,000 points.



I got the same thing - double my 50% bonus on travel between July 1 and August 31st. I had not planned to travel this summer, but I might have to now.


----------



## rrdude (Jun 29, 2011)

AmtrakBlue said:


> jimhudson said:
> 
> 
> > :hi: Thanks for the Heads Up! When I Checked my Account I only received the 50% Bonus Points for Rail Travel like the_traveler did!(and a Beach Ball, an Amtrak Engine, Some Balloons and a Rabbit Out of the Hat!  ) Must be Targeted but Just How seems to be a Mystery??
> ...


Nah, it might actually be random, my profile is 100% complete. I guess I didn't shake the hat hard-enuff!


----------



## jmbgeg (Jun 29, 2011)

rrdude said:


> AmtrakBlue said:
> 
> 
> > jimhudson said:
> ...


Nothing for me.


----------



## Shanghai (Jun 29, 2011)

*I'm a Select Plus and have a 100% Profile and I didn't get anything.*

*I must have made a Wrong Turn!!*


----------



## gatelouse (Jun 29, 2011)

rrdude said:


> Yes, thanks "gatelouse". Are you "the" gatelouse from FlyerTalk forum?


Yes indeed. I am now infesting your sleepers, coaches, and high-speed trainsets.

Surprised that so many elite members got nothing. You'd think that AGR would know about this whole social media thing where people share and talk. Maybe give them a few days to target everyone. I suspect a link will go out in the next monthly summary.

If we want to look for patterns, we can try posting our 2010 and current rail points and the promotion code (if any) that you received following the hat shake. (Mine was emailed to me; it's probably under "My Promotions" as well.

For instance, I had under 1000 rail points last year, 6500 today, and my 1000 point bonus promo was from code 629118.


----------



## pennyk (Jun 29, 2011)

Shanghai said:


> *I'm a Select Plus and have a 100% Profile and I didn't get anything.*
> 
> *I must have made a Wrong Turn!!*


I cannot believe that YOU would make a wrong turn! :lol:

I also am Select Plus and have a 100% profile (however, I am pretty low on rail points so far this year - less than 5,000). I did not get an email, but I found the hats off promotion by going to "my profiles."

Dick - maybe they are saving the best for last.


----------



## Acela150 (Jun 29, 2011)

Nothing for me... :angry2:


----------



## amamba (Jun 29, 2011)

H is select right now, last year he got around 9000 rail points and this year has about 3500. I shook the hat for him and he immediately got the 25% bonus through August 31st. I continued to shake and got a bunch of junk like an acela train set, a bunny, a beach ball, goldfish, etc. Then I got a message saying "thanks for playing, book your next trip."

I am at 4800 rail points for the year but am NOT select - no promotion for me.


----------



## jmbgeg (Jun 30, 2011)

pennyk said:


> Shanghai said:
> 
> 
> > *I'm a Select Plus and have a 100% Profile and I didn't get anything.*
> ...



I am Select Plus with nearly 30k rail miles last year. I am only at 5k YTD. No hats off promo yet. They must be tying it in to 2011 YTD miles, not historical.


----------



## AlanB (Jun 30, 2011)

I just shook a 2,000 point bonus out of my hat.


----------



## the_traveler (Jun 30, 2011)

jmbgeg said:


> They must be tying it in to 2011 YTD miles, not historical.


Nah! That can't be!





I am Select, but only have 900 rail points this year!


----------



## gatelouse (Jun 30, 2011)

AlanB said:


> I just shook a 2,000 point bonus out of my hat.


Whoa. Color me impressed. Do you have a lot of 2011 rail points compared to the rest of us?


----------



## AlanB (Jun 30, 2011)

gatelouse said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > I just shook a 2,000 point bonus out of my hat.
> ...


I've got 12,260 so far this year.


----------



## jis (Jun 30, 2011)

AlanB said:


> I just shook a 2,000 point bonus out of my hat.


Me too. I have 10,200 or so rail points this year.


----------



## Anderson (Jun 30, 2011)

I got a 25% (extra) select bonus. This is going to be _very_ nice once I figure in my usual DC trips and the like...it might not be quite 2000 points, but it might well be 500 or 1000 points when the dust settles (and it might get me to use points for a later trip instead of going to Dallas for that wedding).

Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes _do _you rack up that many points?


----------



## AlanB (Jun 30, 2011)

Anderson said:


> Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes _do _you rack up that many points?


One round trip in Acela First is 1,500 points. Only takes a few rides like that to make Select Plus.


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Jun 30, 2011)

AlanB said:


> Anderson said:
> 
> 
> > Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes _do _you rack up that many points?
> ...


Out here on the LD network Select Plus is a minimum of $5,000 correct?


----------



## AlanB (Jun 30, 2011)

Texas Sunset said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Anderson said:
> ...


Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be that much. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Jun 30, 2011)

AlanB said:


> Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.


Has anyone ever bought 50+ tickets to/from Temple TX just to get Select Plus? Maybe Jim? :giggle:


----------



## Jim G. (Jun 30, 2011)

Email today advising of the promotion.


----------



## Long Train Runnin' (Jun 30, 2011)

I got the email this morning and the hat dropped out a 50% bonus. I really need to make my way out along the keystone corridor.


----------



## AlanB (Jun 30, 2011)

Texas Sunset said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.
> ...


I don't know about that routing, much less if Jim has done it. But there are people who've done similar ride patterns like that on the state sponsored routes. Granted they're easier to do and in many cases even cheaper. For example, taking a short ride every day on the Keystones or the Hiawathas can really rack up the points rather cheaply.

And while it is cheaper than what you'd be facing just riding LD's for longer distances, it's not exactly cheap to earn those points on Acela. Especially if one goes south on Acela to DC. It's better going north, but even there a rround trip in FC on Acela to Boston is $340 assuming low bucket and weekdays when no discounts can be used. That price jumps to $482 if the trip is NY to DC. So seven RT's which would earn Select Plus would cost $2,380 and $3,374 respectively.

Yes, still cheaper than doing it the LD way, but again that also assumes one only travels on low buckets. Hitting the high buckets could easily double things.


----------



## gatelouse (Jun 30, 2011)

So I presume that all elites have received the email by now. My working hypothesis is that there's some logic to the gift selection: double elite bonus for <5000 YTD rail points (to incentivize more rail travel), 1000 bonus points for 5000-10,000 rail points (already on track for S+), and 2000 bonus points for 10,000+ rail points (super-elite bonus).

Any counterexamples?


----------



## jis (Jul 1, 2011)

I have heard of a 1500 point bonus from a friend of mine, though I don't know how many YTD points he has. My assumption is he should be very very close to Select plus but not quite there yet.


----------



## hessjm (Jul 1, 2011)

All I received was the 50 percent bonus and I have 6,968 rail points so far.


----------



## jmbgeg (Jul 1, 2011)

pennyk said:


> rrdude said:
> 
> 
> > When I shook the hat I got a stoopid rabbit, goldfish, ball, etc., etc., and 50% bonus, but no 1,000 points.
> ...



My hat just arrived this morning and I too got the double Select Plus bonus.


----------



## Bob Dylan (Jul 1, 2011)

Texas Sunset said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.
> ...


I Resemble that Remark! :lol: Actually I Usually do AUS-TAY-AUS on My Point/Bar-B-Q Runs. (There's a Good Mexican resturant and Beer Joint with great Cheesburgers there Also! :wub: )Low Bucket it's $11.90 Return for 200 Rail Points Plus 50% Current Bonus and any other Promo Points, so Most of my Select Status Points have been Racked Up doing the AUS-TAY-AUS Turn. I do Like Going to TPL, but it's Twice as Much for the Same # of Points, so Usually go about Twice a Year like the Weekend I met Chris for the BNSF Special/Rail Museum Day in TPL!


----------



## Steve4031 (Jul 3, 2011)

I got the 50 percent bonus and I'm select plus. Since i am already booked on a a big trip for July I'm gonna rake in extra points.


----------



## jacorbett70 (Jul 3, 2011)

I got the email sometime in the past week. It was the doubled 50% bonus through 8/31. S+ (~10300 base points last year). Just cleared 7000 base points this year although only about 6700 had posted when the email went out. I could have booked a big July trip (like Steve above) but instead I had a few little trips planned including two PHL-NYP round-trips on the earlier 3-day sale.


----------



## gatelouse (Jul 3, 2011)

hessjm said:


> All I received was the 50 percent bonus and I have 6,968 rail points so far.





jacorbett70 said:


> I got the email sometime in the past week. It was the doubled 50% bonus through 8/31. S+ (~10300 base points last year). Just cleared 7000 base points this year although only about 6700 had posted when the email went out. I could have booked a big July trip (like Steve above) but instead I had a few little trips planned including two PHL-NYP round-trips on the earlier 3-day sale.


Interesting. I'd assumed, given that I had about 6500 rail points, that the cutoff for receiving actual bonus points (vs. double elite bonus for future travel) was lower.

Three possibilities. The first is that S+ members are being held to a higher standard than Select. Possible. The second is that there's a bit of randomness to the gifts. (I'm still not convinced of the second.)

The third possibility is that AGR captured the rail point balances well before the promotion, say, in early to mid June, and doled out the goodies based on this earlier value. Keep in mind that the actual promotion was finalized on June 29—e-mail notifications went out later—so rail points posted from that day forward don't count for sure. Perhaps those with over 6000 rail points had a good number of them post in the past 2-3 weeks?


----------



## the_traveler (Jul 4, 2011)

jmbgeg said:


> My hat just arrived this morning


Maybe it got bus-tituted!


----------



## jmbgeg (Jul 4, 2011)

the_traveler said:


> jmbgeg said:
> 
> 
> > My hat just arrived this morning
> ...


Doubtful, as advance scheduled bustitutions as in the case of the current EB bussing, often arrive early. hboy:


----------

