# Pleasantly surprised about special route rewards



## RTOlson (Dec 3, 2008)

I'm heading home to San Diego for the holidays and was planning to redeem some rewards points for the trip. Since my trip from Chico (CIC) to San Diego (SAN) required that I use two special routes (San Joaquins and Surfliner) and two of their feeder buses, I had assumed that I would need 2,000 to use two special routes rewards.

I had to call Amtrak Guest Rewards to book the trip and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was treated as one trip and thus only used 1,000 points.

What a deal! I could use the other 1,000 points to take the train/bus on my return trip if I wanted to be on the ground for another 14 hours (Southwest flies SAN-SMF in 90 minutes).

The special routes rewards has got to be one of the best deals in travel incentive programs. It's sweet.


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## Ispolkom (Dec 3, 2008)

7.4 cents per point is great! Fourteen hours and three connections, though. . .


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## the_traveler (Dec 3, 2008)

I only got 5.8¢/point - but it still took almost 11 hours and only *ONE* connection!  (Of course, there was also a bus breakdown, a missed connection and freight interference involved.)

But I agree, the special route awards are great!


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## Long Train Runnin' (Dec 3, 2008)

the_traveler said:


> I only got 5.8¢/point - but it still took almost 11 hours and only *ONE* connection!  (Of course, there was also a bus breakdown, a missed connection and freight interference involved.)
> But I agree, the special route awards are great!


Was that on your horror trip on 50?


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## the_traveler (Dec 3, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > I only got 5.8¢/point - but it still took almost 11 hours and only *ONE* connection!  (Of course, there was also a bus breakdown, a missed connection and freight interference involved.)
> ...


You betcha ya!  That's how my trip from LA back east *STARTED*! :angry: (A Thruway bus breakdown on I-5 on the Grapevine, a missed connection in BFD, freight interference around Lodi, a late arrival *into* SAC, a late departure *from* SAC, a 2 hour hold at KFS and a 3 hour late arrival into PDX!)

The #50 debacle was not until 4 days later!


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## Long Train Runnin' (Dec 3, 2008)

the_traveler said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > the_traveler said:
> ...


Yikes lol thats pretty wild well in a bad way but glad to see ur still giving Amtrak a chance lol some people would have walked away flat out after something like that happened lol


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## ralfp (Dec 3, 2008)

Ispolkom said:


> 7.4 cents per point is great! Fourteen hours and three connections, though. . .


If you value your time at minimum wage the deal is a lot worse.

A direct train is one thing; it's easy to get stuff done, sleep, whatever. 14 hours on a train, bus, train... not so much.


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## RTOlson (Dec 3, 2008)

Actually, the trip is bus-train-bus-train. It has the potential to be a pretty big time-waster, but it's only slightly longer than driving (without actually driving). Each leg of the trip is long enough to do some reading, napping, sight-seeing, etc.

I also haven't traveled down the Central Valley in eight years so I wanted to see that part of California. It's something new and I can't beat the price. I think the time spent is worthwhile (although I wouldn't do the trip a lot).


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## sechs (Dec 4, 2008)

Sadly, taking the San Joaquin down the Central Valley is quicker than taking the Coast Starlight.

When I went from San Jose to Anaheim this summer, I left on the ACE train about two hours after the CS came through and still caught the same connecting Pacific Surfliner in Los Angeles. This was after my San Joaquin train was delayed due to a grass fire near the tracks.


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