# 1 zone agr tuscaloosa to chi via nol?



## bama (May 19, 2014)

I'd like to take a brief AGR 1 zone trip, tuscaloosa to chicago via new orleans purely for a train fix. The only routing offered on the website is on the nb crescent and wb cap ltd. Can I not do the sb crescent to nol and then the nb city of new orleans? I also tried starting in birmingham but it still did not offer the nol route. From the forum I think the overnight in nol is allowed on the same award if it would let me do that routing.

Any thoughts on the city of new orleans vs the sunset limited as to quality of equipment, obs, and such? tia


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## PRR 60 (May 19, 2014)

bama said:


> I'd like to take a brief AGR 1 zone trip, tuscaloosa to chicago via new orleans purely for a train fix. The only routing offered on the website is on the nb crescent and wb cap ltd. Can I not do the sb crescent to nol and then the nb city of new orleans? I also tried starting in birmingham but it still did not offer the nol route. From the forum I think the overnight in nol is allowed on the same award if it would let me do that routing.
> 
> Any thoughts on the city of new orleans vs the sunset limited as to quality of equipment, obs, and such? tia


According to the AGR redemption guidelines, you should be able to book the westbound Crescent to City of New Orleans connection, with the overnight stay in NOL at your expense. As long as the layover is less than 23-1/2 hours, it is valid for AGR redemption in the same reservation. Not all agents are aware of this guideline, so if you have an issue, ask the agent to check with a lead agent or supervisor and mention the posted guidelines.



> Where a published route contains a valid connection of 23 hours, 30 minutes or less, an overnight stay in the connecting city is permitted at the passenger's own expense. (Example: one-way travel from New York to El Paso, where the published route requires an overnight connection in New Orleans, would be permitted on the same redemption.)


AGR Redemption Guidelines


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## Ryan (May 19, 2014)

TCL-NOL-CHI isn't a published route, so the rule doesn't apply.

He'd have to pay to get to NOL and start the redemption there, assuming the agent actually follows the rules (not a given).


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## Bob Dylan (May 19, 2014)

Ryan has this one right! And going thru ATL and WAS on the Crescent makes this a 2 Zone AGR Award! As was said, you may want to pay for a Coach ticket to NOL, then do a One Zone Roomette Award to CHI on the CONO although for 5,000 more Points it is a better deal to have 2 nights on the Train in a Sleeper and 6 Meals in the Diner!

The Crescent runs Single Level Equipment, Viewliner Sleepers and Am fleet Coaches with Heritage Diner and Bag Car while the Cap Ltd has Bi-Level Superliner Equipment between Washington and Chicago! Most of us prefer Viewliner Roomettes over Superliner ones but the Sightseer Lounge and Coaches are nicer!


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## Ryan (May 19, 2014)

jimhudson said:


> Ryan has this one right! And going thru ATL and WAS on the Crescent makes this a 2 Zone AGR Award!


Yep. That's why I hinted that you may be able to find an agent to do it for you. The request to put you through NOL (on your dime) to save some points is a reasonable request.


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

RyanS said:


> TCL-NOL-CHI isn't a published route, so the rule doesn't apply.
> 
> He'd have to pay to get to NOL and start the redemption there, assuming the agent actually follows the rules (not a given).


Yeah this is the problem. Why would tcl-nol-chi not be a published route? It's no more wandering than the published route and tuscaloosa isn't all that far from new orleans. I don't understand. Is there a way around this without having to pay for the crescent segment? Thanks


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

Last posts crossed.

No way other than trying to talk an agent into it? I'm cheap I guess but I don't want to burn a 2 zone award or pay for the crescent segment.

Why aren't other routes offered?


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## the_traveler (May 19, 2014)

Actually you would have to talk to an AGR agent anyway. If an award involves a sleeping accommodation OR a connection, you must contact an AGR agent. Even if you went coach, you must connect in either WAS, CVS or NOL!


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

Thanks traveler. I don't mind talking with an agent, but apparently I've also got to talk him or her into breaking a rule about a non-published route (the NOL route).

I'm not getting why amtrak only allows the one routing, which isn't any more direct than the one I want to do and also turns a 1 zone trip into a 2 zone trip, maybe a 3 zone since it would start in the central zone, then eastern, then central again. Not willing to go that route, pun intended. And I don't want to pay cash for the first segment of it. This is not a circle route that would make sense to disqualify it.

I understand the NOL overnight is on my dime but doesn't end the award. No problem there. Problem is it wants me to go through WAS when I'd rather go through NOL and keep it a 1 zone award.

I don't like asking someone to break a rule even if the rule makes no sense. Guess I'll have to get over that and hope I get an agent who's willing to do it.


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## Ryan (May 19, 2014)

The only other option is to head over to Flyertalk and see if AGR insider is willing to try and get it added as a published route.

Seems like a logical request, that may make it published route for everyone.

As to "why isn't it published now", connections have to be manually entered. With hundreds of thousands of city pairs and many routes between them, it's a daunting task.


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## Dovecote (May 19, 2014)

I am under the impression AGR agents can submit "workable connections" not in the reservation system to their supervisors for review and possible inclusion for that traveler and future travelers. I have seen posters on FlyerTalk request plausible connections not permitted on the reservation system and with the assistance of Anthony from AGR Insider Flyertalk have the route approved. Just a thought to get this route into the system. Worth a try.

PS Edit - Ryan, Looks like we had same thought but your response was a little quicker! Also, sorry for your loss. I have been away for over a week and still catching up on threads.


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## RCBev (May 19, 2014)

Have you tried booking it using the multi-city function? I booked the BHM to NOLA to CHI before -- but yet again, I had the 14 day rail pass at that time.


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

Thanks, had not thought of that. Imo options that are not unreasonable are a good thing. Offering the NOL option on the site might gain a customer or two.

I asked this within another thread, but out of curiosity would the WAS routing be only a 2 zone, or a 3? central-eastern-central again

thanks


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## RCBev (May 19, 2014)

RCBev said:


> Have you tried booking it using the multi-city function? I booked the BHM to NOLA to CHI before -- but yet again, I had the 14 day rail pass at that time.


Or you can book 2 seperate segments.


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

RCBev said:


> Have you tried booking it using the multi-city function? I booked the BHM to NOLA to CHI before -- but yet again, I had the 14 day rail pass at that time.



Yeah that would work for a paid ticket but for agr awards you can't use the multicity thing.


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## Ryan (May 19, 2014)

Multicity routings aren't "published routes" for the purposes of AGR.

The routing though WAS seems to fall afoul of the "circle trips" rule, which is dumb. Here's the whole ruleset.



> Redemption Travel by Zone
> 
> A travel itinerary for a single redemption must follow a published route between the initial origin and final destination. A published route is an itinerary automatically generated by Amtrak's reservation system.
> 
> ...


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## bama (May 19, 2014)

RyanS said:


> Multicity routings aren't "published routes" for the purposes of AGR.
> 
> The routing though WAS seems to fall afoul of the "circle trips" rule, which is dumb. Here's the whole ruleset.
> 
> ...


First thanks for the FT suggestion. That's what I'd not thought of before.

About the above quote now I'm more baffled about the rules. It's the WAS route that *is* published, even though it requires central-eastern-central again. I wanted the NOL route which is totally within the central zone. Zone wise the published route is more complicated than the non-published one. I guess this is one of those things that fell through the cracks. Even starting in ATL the route I want would be 1 zone as opposed to 2 zones going through WAS. Maybe the NOL route does need to be added to arrow for everyone.

As someone pointed out the WAS route doesn't involve an allowed overnight but NOL is a fun place. Added options have the potential to attract more customers.


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## me_little_me (May 19, 2014)

RyanS said:


> As to "why isn't it published now", connections have to be manually entered. With hundreds of thousands of city pairs and many routes between them, it's a daunting task.


Only on Amtrak. Anyone else would have written a program to automate that process.


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## AmtrakBlue (May 19, 2014)

me_little_me said:


> RyanS said:
> 
> 
> > As to "why isn't it published now", connections have to be manually entered. With hundreds of thousands of city pairs and many routes between them, it's a daunting task.
> ...


Anyone with the money to pay for the programmers. Programming is not cheap, nor necessarily easy.


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## me_little_me (May 20, 2014)

AmtrakBlue said:


> me_little_me said:
> 
> 
> > RyanS said:
> ...


Especially for government, national rail corporations and their contractors. :giggle: :giggle:

Sorry, Amtrak. I didn't mean to throw an "Arrow" in your programming ability.


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## guest (May 28, 2014)

Update or non-update

I took Ryan's suggestion and pm'd Insider on FT a week or so ago, no reply as yet. Still hopeful because he has added the CZ to southbound CS emy connection according to a thread on FT. Said it would show up on the website in about 3 wks when maintenance is done.


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## Dovecote (May 28, 2014)

guest said:


> Update or non-update
> 
> I took Ryan's suggestion and pm'd Insider on FT a week or so ago, no reply as yet. Still hopeful because he has added the CZ to southbound CS emy connection according to a thread on FT. Said it would show up on the website in about 3 wks when maintenance is done.


Anthony, the founder of this site, is very busy in his AGR position but reliable. I am sure you will hear from him.


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## PaulM (May 31, 2014)

RyanS said:


> The only other option is to head over to Flyertalk and see if AGR insider is willing to try and get it added as a published route.
> 
> Seems like a logical request, that may make it published route for everyone.
> 
> As to "why isn't it published now", connections have to be manually entered. With hundreds of thousands of city pairs and many routes between them, it's a daunting task.


Logical, but not Amtrak. Over at Flyertalk, the AGR insider said they (AGR) were getting a lot of push back from Amtrak operations, the ones who have this daunting task of deciding which itineraries are offered to potential customers, whenever they try to get overnight connections published.

The reason given was the standard, namely Amtrak customers are little children who wouldn't understand that some stations don't stay open all night and that they would have to find some other accommodation.


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## me_little_me (Jun 1, 2014)

PaulM said:


> RyanS said:
> 
> 
> > The only other option is to head over to Flyertalk and see if AGR insider is willing to try and get it added as a published route.
> ...


And it would be too difficult to modify the web site or arrow to show that, I guess.


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