# Child's AGR points?



## City of Miami (Sep 13, 2014)

I am considering taking a friend's 5 year old son on a short train ride for a lark. I've never bought a child's ticket before? How does it work? Does he have his own separate ticket? Does it earn AGR points? Who gets the points? Is there any way to set it up so that *I :giggle: * get the points??


----------



## PRR 60 (Sep 13, 2014)

The child will be booked with your reservation. If you print your e-ticket at home or use the PDF or app display, both you and the child will be on the same e-ticket. The conductor scan will show both of you.

The child can have his own AGR account, and if so, the child will earn points for his ride. You cannot earn points for his ride.


----------



## JeffW (Sep 18, 2014)

This seems to confirm what I'm wondering...

Is there a lower age limit to an AGR account?

From what I read elsewhere, I suspect not, though it doesn't make much sense to have an AGR account for someone under the age of two! Our little guy just turned two, and we'll be going on a trip in a couple of months. And he's determined (read: I'm determined) to get double points!

I already recognize that one can only earn points on one's own ticket and travel.


----------



## AmtrakBlue (Sep 18, 2014)

JeffW said:


> This seems to confirm what I'm wondering...
> 
> Is there a lower age limit to an AGR account?
> 
> ...


Let him earn the points and at a future date he can transfer them to you.


----------



## the_traveler (Sep 18, 2014)

There is a lower age limit (13 maybe? :huh: ) to sign up online, but if you call you can sign up any age!


----------



## shelzp (Sep 18, 2014)

Don't forget to give him a referral so you both get the extra 500 points!


----------



## City of Miami (Sep 19, 2014)

I wonder if you can get the referral bonus(es) if you call to sign up because the new member is under 13 years of age.


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Sep 19, 2014)

AmtrakBlue said:


> JeffW said:
> 
> 
> > He's determined (read: I'm determined) to get double points! I already recognize that one can only earn points on one's own ticket and travel.
> ...


In my view the $10 per thousand points fee assessed by points.com makes all but the most minimal top-up transfers a really poor value.



shelzp said:


> Don't forget to give him a referral so you both get the extra 500 points!


In my experience the new account receives the bonus points when traveling within 90 days regardless if they're referred or not.


----------



## BCL (Sep 19, 2014)

City of Miami said:


> I wonder if you can get the referral bonus(es) if you call to sign up because the new member is under 13 years of age.


I referred my kid. In fact I handled everything and I don't even think my kid understands what AGR is. We both got 500 points for signing up and myself for the referral.


----------



## City of Miami (Sep 19, 2014)

:angry: I had not realized there was a $10 fee to give points to another account.


----------



## fairviewroad (Sep 19, 2014)

Unless you're trying to combine accounts to reach a specific award level, there's really no need to transfer a minor's points.

As long as s/he travels once every three years, the points won't expire. In the meantime, you can always redeem points

from your child's account for anyone in the family.

You paid for the tickets that generated those points...there really is no ethical or moral problem to redeeming those points

in whatever manner you choose. When the kiddo gets old enough to purchase his/her own tickets, you can give them the

keys to their account, as it were.


----------



## the_traveler (Sep 19, 2014)

City of Miami said:


> :angry: I had not realized that there was a $10 fee to give points to another account.


It's not a set $10 fee, it's something like $.01/point in 1,000 point increments.


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Sep 19, 2014)

the_traveler said:


> City of Miami said:
> 
> 
> > :angry: I had not realized that there was a $10 fee to give points to another account.
> ...


It's a set fee of exactly $10 per 1,000 points.


----------



## the_traveler (Sep 19, 2014)

True, but it would be $20 to transfer 2,000 points or $100 to transfer 10,000 points.


----------



## City of Miami (Sep 19, 2014)

So when AGR says to buy points for yourself or to give to others, it's gonna cost you more to give?!


----------



## AmtrakBlue (Sep 19, 2014)

City of Miami said:


> So when AGR says to buy points for yourself or to give to others, it's gonna cost you more to give?!


Not sure if there's any additional cost to buy points for someone else. The $10/1000 is for transferring points from one account to another. You could test this out by buying me some points. My AGR # is ......


----------



## JeffW (Sep 19, 2014)

Thanks for the comments. Of course, he's only two, and won't understand what AGR is, but he will understand that we get to go on the train again (we've been to the local train museum a couple of times and he won't stop talking about it).

I'll post more once everything comes together.


----------



## neutralist (Sep 19, 2014)

City of Miami said:


> So when AGR says to buy points for yourself or to give to others, it's gonna cost you more to give?!


If you buy directly for others (by entering the other party's AGR #) you pay the same as if you are buying points for yourself.

The transfer charge ($10 per 1000 pts) comes in when I want to move points that were already in an account to another account.

I think the transfer charge prevents someone to open hundreds of AGR accounts and circumvent the annual buy point limits by merging all those points into one account.


----------



## me_little_me (Sep 20, 2014)

AmtrakBlue said:


> City of Miami said:
> 
> 
> > So when AGR says to buy points for yourself or to give to others, it's gonna cost you more to give?!
> ...


Earlier this year I bought 10K+bonus for myself and 10K+bonus for my wife from my account. No charges other than the @275 purchase price.


----------



## DivMiler (Oct 1, 2014)

the_traveler said:


> There is a lower age limit (13 maybe? :huh: ) to sign up online, but if you call you can sign up any age!


When my daughter turned three and I had to pay for her ticket, I signed her up online, without indicating a birthdate (it wasn't required, at least then), and got the 500 referral points.

A few years later I called and got my name added as an authorized user, or whatever the term is.


----------



## TinCan782 (Oct 1, 2014)

If and when the child (or any other person) earns enough points, purchase the ticket for one direction with his/her points and the return with your points. There is no transfer fee to do that. That's what my wife and I do instead of purchasing (with points) a single round trip ticket.

For our next trip, outbound was her points redemption with the ticket in her name with me as traveling companion. The return with my points redemption in my name with her as traveling companion. No points transfer needed. We each, separately, had sufficient points for one leg of the trip.


----------

