# AGR and Points.com



## MrEd (Jun 7, 2010)

TORONTO and WASHINGTON, DC, June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Amtrak and Points International (TSX: PTS; OTCBB: PTSEF), owner and operator of Points.com, the world's leading loyalty program management Web site, are pleased to announce the expansion of their partnership which now gives Amtrak Guest Rewards® members the ability to Share points on amtrakguestrewards.com.

Under the existing agreement with Amtrak, Points.com offers Amtrak Guest Rewards members the opportunity to Buy and Gift points to other members via Points.com's industry-leading miles and points purchase platform. This new expanded partnership allows for program members to Share points from one Amtrak Guest Rewards® member to another.

"Points.com is pleased to partner with the nation's premier rail operator, Amtrak, and offer Amtrak Guest Rewards members another valuable reward travel option," said Points.com CEO Rob MacLean.

"Points.com gives us additional means to distribute awards as well as making them more valuable and easier to use for Amtrak Guest Rewards members," said Michael Blakey, Amtrak's senior director, loyalty marketing. "We are always looking for innovative ways to promote rail travel and this partnership with Points.com is one of the many ways we can do just that."

To Share points, Amtrak Guest Rewards members should log onto amtrakguestrewards.com on or after June 1 when the site officially launches the Share product (powered by Points.com).

Amtrak joins existing partners including Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, American Airlines AAdvantage®, Delta Air Lines SkyMiles®, British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, Midwest Airlines' Midwest Miles, US Airways® Dividend Miles®, Starwood Preferred Guest® and InterContinental Hotel Group's Priority Club® Rewards.

..

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Points-Inter...ml?x=0&.v=8


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## RRrich (Jun 7, 2010)

Is this the penny a point share deal? How much to just buy points?

OOPS, can't buy points - but if you could a penny a point is not far from the price!


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## rrdude (Jun 7, 2010)

"..........is pleased to partner with the nation's _*premier*_ rail operator,..........."

Like they had _other_ options..........."I'll trade you my Strasburg RR points for two trips on the Hobo RR........or how about a one-way on the Potomac Eagle............."

Glad it's happened though.


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## MrFSS (Jun 7, 2010)

So, I went to the Points.com site and signed up. I have a bunch of programs I belong to that will never have enough points to use.

No way to add AGR to the Points.com site.

They had a CHAT function and I just finished doing that.

Points.com and AGR's only relationship is that points is handling the selling/buying between AGR members. You can't transfer back and forth with any other Points.com members (airlines, hotels, etc)

Don't bother trying to sign up so you can transfer out of the AGR environment. Won't work


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## AlanB (Jun 7, 2010)

Tom,

See if you can use Points.com and/or the other program's sites to transfer those errant miles to Continental. If you can, once they are in Continental, you can transfer them into AGR, assuming that you have blocks of 10,000.


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## alanh (Jun 7, 2010)

Be aware that transfers between programs usually involves a severe devaluation -- 80% or more.


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## MrFSS (Jun 7, 2010)

AlanB said:


> Tom,
> See if you can use Points.com and/or the other program's sites to transfer those errant miles to Continental. If you can, once they are in Continental, you can transfer them into AGR, assuming that you have blocks of 10,000.


I had thought of that, but most only involve a few hundred points.


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## rrdude (Jun 10, 2010)

OK, so I have four OTHER family members who have AGR accounts, three kids and my wife. I'm thinking it makes sense to "pool" as many of these points as possible into my main account.

I just "shared" 3000 points for $30 from my wife to me, so a .01 per point, right?

It seems that I'm also that you can "Buy Points" for SOMEONE ELSE at 10,000/13,000 with current bonus for $275 or .0211 per right?

But does anyone know if the receipient, in this case ME, already purchased 10,000/13,000 points myself, will AGR allow another member to BUY POINTS for the member who has already bought the 10.000/13,000? *See EDIT below.*

I guess my wife could BUY the points 10,000/13,000 for herself, and then SHARE, instead of buying as a gift, but that would make the total cost go up to .0311 per point, correct? (.0211 for buying, then another .01 to SHARE)

Advizzzzzzzzzze from the AGR GURUs please!

BTW, the "SHARE" I just did from my wife's account to my account posted IMMEDIATELY to both accounts. JP

*EDIT*: Tried to GIFT PURCHASE 10,000/3000 points from my daughter's account to mine, and it gave the message: *"Please correct the following errors: The recipient has already received the maximum limit for the calendar year."*

However, if one WANTED to buy points for their own account, and then SHARE them (at an additional .01 per point) I THINK you could do that.

*SECOND EDIT*: Yes you can BUY points for yourself, and then SHARE them with someone else, even if that other person has already bought their maximum level. However, it will cost you a PENNY A POINT MORE to do this. But for some that may be worth it.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 13, 2010)

Boy, this thread made me look at points.com for the first time in almost a year, and, sure enough, Alanh's warning is true. Last summer I traded 23k marooned Delta miles for 21k Continental miles, which I quickly transfered to AGR. It cost about $230 dollars, say a little more than 1 cent a point. Now, 30k Delta miles gets you 6k Continental miles, plus you pay $300.

Put not your faith in frequent flyer programs!


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## H'burgRiders (Jun 15, 2010)

Ispolkom said:


> Boy, this thread made me look at points.com for the first time in almost a year, and, sure enough, Alanh's warning is true. Last summer I traded 23k marooned Delta miles for 21k Continental miles, which I quickly transfered to AGR. It cost about $230 dollars, say a little more than 1 cent a point. Now, 30k Delta miles gets you 6k Continental miles, plus you pay $300.
> Put not your faith in frequent flyer programs!


I have 20K of Delta points that I would like to get into AGR. Is Points.Com to Continental to AGR the only way this can be done now?


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## alanh (Jun 16, 2010)

Yes, but 14K Delta miles + $140 for 3,000 miles is a terrible deal. You can outright buy 3000 points for Amtrak for $82.50, and get a 900 point bonus too.


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## H'burgRiders (Jun 16, 2010)

alanh said:


> Yes, but 14K Delta miles + $140 for 3,000 miles is a terrible deal. You can outright buy 3000 points for Amtrak for $82.50, and get a 900 point bonus too.


Thanks. I guess I'll just give the Delta points to a charity and accumulate Amtrak points in other ways.


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## Bigval109 (Jun 29, 2010)

I tried to buy my friend some points on saturday but I kept getting error messages that he had purchased his limit when he hadn't purchased any at all. So I just brought them in his name with my credit card because their system seemed to be in error. That did work but he had to transfer them to me himself plus the fee. I thought maybe he had gone pass his three years but that turned out to not be the case. We still have a long ways to go from getting the 12,000 points we need for the up coming trip. :help:


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