# Multi-zone travel and choosing your route



## wayman (Nov 29, 2007)

This is all theoretical for now--I'll be at about 13k points at the end of 2007, but I should hit 20k easily by summer 2008, which is enough for a two-zone roomette. (Or perhaps 40k--two two-zone roomettes--as a target for summer 2009.)

LD routes I'd most love to take, in a sleeper to take full advantage of the perks: EB, CS, and CONL. The VIA Toronto-Vancouver route holds appeal (but obviously AGR doesn't get me that), and the SL is the other cross-country route I haven't taken (but it's definitely fourth after the EB, CS, and CONL). As I said, this is theoretical for now, but I'd like for my dreams to be as accurate as possible 

I gather that a two-zone roomette allows me to take multiple trains to get from City A to City C via City B (provided I go directly from Train 1 to Train 2, without touring any in City B ). But how much flexibility does AGR/Amtrak give in selecting a route between City A and City C? For instance, if I say "I want to go from Seattle to New Orleans", there's no direct route--I'd have to take two trains no matter what. It's all within two zones, and I could do either Coast Starlight-to-Sunset Limited or Empire Builder-to-City of New Orleans. Would they let me choose either of those, and have a roomette the entire way for 20k points?

What about "Seattle to Houston", by EB-CONL-SL, all for 20k? Would they force me to take CS-SL (just two trains) for this itinerary? What if I say "I want to go from Chicago to Los Angeles", where the SWC is a direct route? Would they only allow me to take the SWC, or could I still choose EB-CS or CONL-SL instead? I'm guessing this is a "no", which simplifies my options.

And if I say "I want to go from Los Angeles to Seattle", where the CS is a direct (one-zone, even) route? Would they only allow me to take the direct CS, or could I choose the extremely circuitous (still two-zone) SL-CONL-EB? I'm almost certain this is a "no", but figured it's worth asking.

If I wanted to save up and collect 40k points to spend at once and "travel the square" in one vacation--take all four routes and wind up in the same city I started in--I'm sure they wouldn't let me do it all for 20k. But I'm assuming I could do it for 40k. For instance, start in Seattle, train EB-CONL to New Orleans (20k AGR), see New Orleans for a bit, train SL-CS back to Seattle (another 20k AGR) to take the other route? I'm guessing the answer is "yes", though I'm not sure. But I'm guessing I might not be able to start in Chicago, because they'd force me to take the diagonal SWC to LA?

Are there clear basic guidelines to AGR redemption that I can use for sketching out ideas involving efficient point usage?

Thanks!


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## AlanB (Nov 29, 2007)

Wayman,

As a general rule, if you can put in a start destination and an ending desitination into the normal reservations site and get the route that you want, then you can request it from AGR. Overall if it requires you to spend the night and there is no other choice, then AGR can book it for you as one reward. However, if there is an alternative, then they cannot book the trip that requires a night on the ground.

Also know that the Sunset to CS connection is a bus and you will have no choice but to ride the bus, missing one of the best parts of the CS, the run up the coast.


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## wayman (Nov 29, 2007)

AlanB said:


> As a general rule, if you can put in a start destination and an ending desitination into the normal reservations site and get the route that you want, then you can request it from AGR.


Gotcha. Thanks!

That's simple to follow, and it turns up a surprising result. Deliberately selecting a departure date when the SL isn't running, the reservations site says I could do

dep. NOL 13:45, 8 Apr 2008 (CONL), arr. CHI 09:00, 9 Apr 2008

dep. CHI 14:15, 9 Apr 2008 (EB), arr. PDX 10:10, 11 Apr 2008

dep. PDX 14:25, 11 Apr 2008 (CS), arr. LAX 21:00, 12 Apr 2008

on a single reservation for NOL to LAX, which would cost $873 ($340 + $92 + $206 + $235 for coach plus roomette upgrades on all three routes), or just 20k AGR (two-zones), for a value of $0.04365 per point. I'm guessing that's extremely good value, especially since I'm "buying" the AGR points for about $0.027 per point right now (going to the grocery store and back during the double-points special) and would be buying them in 2008 for about $0.0432 per point (Select)?

Potential drawbacks: the east-bound EB has better odds of daylight for the best scenery, doesn't it? Is the SEA-PDX scenery on the CS something I'll miss? And someday I'd like to visit Portland. Of course, paying cash for "road trip LA to PDX, then Cascades and EB back to Chicago" would cover both of those, and give me time to see northern California and Chicago too....

It's a lot to play around with, but now I know the rules, and it's fun to dream


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## wayman (Nov 29, 2007)

Oh, and a followup question: when I spend AGR for a two-zone roomette, I get everything (coach plus roomette upgrade) for free. If I travel with a friend who will share the roomette, he'll get the roomette benefits (ie, meals) free but he'll still have to pay his own coach fare, right?

EDIT: Egads, just read the "capacity of a bedroom" thread here, and it looks like the friend would _not_ have to pay coach fare. So the NOL-CHI-PDX-LAX itinerary (which is reservable as one itinerary!) in roomettes would cost $1213 for the two people paying cash, but still only 20k in AGR... a value per point of over six cents (almost three times what the points are costing me right now). Unbelievable.

(And airfare PHL-MSY is $136 apiece, one-way Avis rental car LAX-PDX is ~$300+gas, and airfare PDX-PHL is $154 apiece. With friends in LA, SF, and PDX, lodging's largely taken care of. Wow.)


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## AlanB (Nov 29, 2007)

wayman said:


> Oh, and a followup question: when I spend AGR for a two-zone roomette, I get everything (coach plus roomette upgrade) for free. If I travel with a friend who will share the roomette, he'll get the roomette benefits (ie, meals) free but he'll still have to pay his own coach fare, right?
> EDIT: Egads, just read the "capacity of a bedroom" thread here, and it looks like the friend would _not_ have to pay coach fare. So the NOL-CHI-PDX-LAX itinerary (which is reservable as one itinerary!) in roomettes would cost $1213 for the two people paying cash, but still only 20k in AGR... a value per point of over six cents (almost three times what the points are costing me right now). Unbelievable.
> 
> (And airfare PHL-MSY is $136 apiece, one-way Avis rental car LAX-PDX is ~$300+gas, and airfare PDX-PHL is $154 apiece. With friends in LA, SF, and PDX, lodging's largely taken care of. Wow.)


Just to confirm what you've since discovered, your friend will *not* have to pay anything to travel with you on a reward reservation. You do have to supply his/her name at the time you make the reservation, so that AGR sends you a ticket for your friend. But beyond that, he/she needs to do nothing more than show up at the appointed time in order to ride the train with you.


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## the_traveler (Dec 3, 2007)

Slightly OT, another routing that will get you *MANY* more rail miles (although you will not get the CONO  ) is from SDL-LAX. This is still (for now) a 2 zone award, but it routes you to WAS (on the Crescent) and CHI (on the CL), before you take the EB to PDX and CS to LAX!  You will have to pay the coach fare from NOL-SDL (~$10 or less), but you will get ~6 day of trains and 3.5+ zones for a 2 zone award!


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