# some clarification, please...



## HARHBG (Sep 25, 2015)

New to using Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards. Booked 2 tickets from PDX (Portland, OR) to SEA (Seattle, WA) on Coast Starlight.

Will I get ARG points for both tickets? I'm staying in Portland for two weeks with my brother and will be taking my brother to Seattle for a couple days and back to Portland. I'll be booking and paying for the tickets.


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 25, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> New to using Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards. Booked 2 tickets from PDX (Portland, OR) to SEA (Seattle, WA) on Coast Starlight.
> 
> Will I get ARG points for both tickets? I'm staying in Portland for two weeks with my brother and will be taking my brother to Seattle for a couple days and back to Portland. I'll be booking and paying for the tickets.


Assuming you sign up for AGR, include your AGR number when buying the tickets, ride those specific trains, and ensure the conductor lifts your tickets, then yes. Maybe there is another reason you're asking that I'm unaware of, but barring any more information those are the basics.


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## Eris (Sep 25, 2015)

You only get points for the tickets YOU use (and which are associated with your AGR number)- tickets in someone else's name would go into their AGR account (if they have one).


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 25, 2015)

D'oh! I sensed I was missing something but couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks for answering the actual question Eris.


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## HARHBG (Sep 25, 2015)

Thanks for the reply and answer. In my mind (opinion) ......Since my brother doesn't have/want or would use an Amtrak Rewards Account as he would never get on a train by himself, and since I'm paying for both, ..... tickets doesn't it seem reasonable that the points would/should go to me, the person who paid for the ticket?

I fully understand that MY opinion, etc. means absolutly nothing and what I think means even less, and reasonable????? HA!

This is a great site and I enjoy reading all the previous posts in all the forums. Really very informative. Thanks again to all the people who take the time and make the effort to write, give advice and are just there.


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## AmtrakBlue (Sep 25, 2015)

If you're booking a room for the two of you and you're the first person listed on the ticket, you'll get the points for your rail fare and the room charge. Your brother will only get points (if he's a member of AGR) for his rail fare portion of the ticket price.


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## HARHBG (Sep 26, 2015)

Thanks to all who responded. I "get it", now.


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## the_traveler (Sep 26, 2015)

You may still want to register your brother for AGR!

If you refer him, and he registers with the link AGR sends him, you both earn 500 points. And then with the 200 points he will earn with the trains to/from Seattle, his account will have 700 points. If he gets to 1,000 points, he can then transfer them to your account. If he doesn't take a train within 36 months, his points would be lost - but you would have still earned the 500 points for the referral!

My sister doesn't ride much either, but I still referred her. I think when she was going to lose her points for (the 36 months of) inactivity, she had something like 1,256 points. I transferred 1,000 points to my account!


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## jebr (Sep 26, 2015)

Also to note, 800 points is the minimum redemption under the new system, which would work up to about $23 or so. It's enough for a short ride, anyways.


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## HARHBG (Sep 26, 2015)

THANKS !! to all who take the time and make the effort to write. What a wealth of knowledge there is out there and people willing to share it. It's too late to do the referral thing with my brother as the reservations are made, tickets bought. But if I do something like this in the future, I'll "Be In The Know".

Right now I'm trying to help my neighbor book tickets from Harrisburg to Providence. A couple, they are in their late 80's and driving has become too taxing. I'm trying to explain how to book tickets online and trying to sign them up for Guest Rewards and explain how it all works. All while I barely understand any of it myself, especially when I'm only 20 years younger than they are and not at all competent in all things computer myself OR all thig Amtrak, etc.. But I have to admire them. At their age they are buying in to the "New Cyber World" full time. Their kids send them all their old IPhones, Kindles, etc. but aren't here to explain how to use them. They had tickets to Providence, scheduled to leave 2 days after the mess in Philadelphia happened. I ended up driving them to Providence in their car and one of their kids drove them back here to Harrisburg. And they're still willing to try Amtrak, even after the derailment mess. Great people.


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## Ryan (Sep 26, 2015)

There's still time, refer him, sign up, and call to add his new number to your existing reservation. Just has to be done before your trip.


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## TinCan782 (Sep 26, 2015)

I believe you can add an AGR number after a trip (within a specified amount of time).


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## HARHBG (Sep 26, 2015)

Again, THANKS to all who wrote for the information but.....I looked at Amtrak Rewards site and can't figure out HOW I would refer my brother. Sorry to be a pest, but how would I do that?


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## CHamilton (Sep 26, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> Again, THANKS to all who wrote for the information but.....I looked at Amtrak Rewards site and can't figure out HOW I would refer my brother. Sorry to be a pest, but how would I do that?


Click on My Account and log in. Click on My Promotions. Click the Refer a Friend link. It is rather buried.


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## me_little_me (Sep 26, 2015)

To keep his points under the new rules, all your brother has to do is have "activity" on the account within 3 years. Since walmart.com and homedepot.com are shopping partners, he can order online an item for a few bucks with free ship to store, get the points and that keeps the account active for 3 years from that point. You do NOT have to have rail travel as you did in the past.


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## HARHBG (Sep 26, 2015)

That's good to know. Does the purchase at Wallmart or Home Depot have to be on the new B of A Credit Card? How does Walmart or Home Depot know about your Amtrak Rewards Account? Do you input your Amtrak Rewards Account # when you order online at Walmart or Home Depot? Maybe simpler to ask, "How does that work?" Sincerly, would be most grateful for any reply and explanation. I've been all day reading this stuff, Amtrak Guest Rewards "fine print", etc. and my brain is beginning to complain, :wacko: HA!! However, I did find the spot for referring a new Guest Rewards member, and yes, it certainly is "hidden".


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## AmtrakBlue (Sep 27, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> That's good to know. Does the purchase at Wallmart or Home Depot have to be on the new B of A Credit Card? How does Walmart or Home Depot know about your Amtrak Rewards Account? Do you input your Amtrak Rewards Account # when you order online at Walmart or Home Depot? Maybe simpler to ask, "How does that work?" Sincerly, would be most grateful for any reply and explanation. I've been all day reading this stuff, Amtrak Guest Rewards "fine print", etc. and my brain is beginning to complain, :wacko: HA!! However, I did find the spot for referring a new Guest Rewards member, and yes, it certainly is "hidden".


Log into the Amtrak Guest Reward (AGR) website and there's a link somewhere to Shop For Points. Others can give you more details as I rarely shop online.


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## City of Miami (Sep 27, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> It's too late to do the referral thing with my brother as the reservations are made, tickets bought.


I don't think it's too late. With Amtrak the relevant date is the date of travel not the date of purchase. All the referring, sign-up, assigning account number, etc can be done _ex post facto_. You just have to dot those Is and cross those Ts.

I could very well be wrong (again), but I don't think so.


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## City of Miami (Sep 27, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> Does the purchase at Wallmart or Home Depot have to be on the new B of A Credit Card? How does Walmart or Home Depot know about your Amtrak Rewards Account? Do you input your Amtrak Rewards Account # when you order online at Walmart or Home Depot?


You have to do all your shopping through the AGR website - through the so-called "shopping portal' link on* that *website. That's how the vendor knows your AGR # etc. Doing that will get you the points/dollar that the vendor offers - eventually. If you make the purchase with the appropriate AGR cc you will also get 1 point/dollar separately from the cc company.

Recently I discovered that if you accept any "special" offers from the vendor and enter any kind of promotion code, that disqualifies the AGR shopping portal points and you lose them completely! :blink:


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## HARHBG (Sep 27, 2015)

Again, THANK YOU so very much to those taking the time and who make the effort to write, giving advice, even if thet aren't certain, but say so. All this information is valuable. NOW I understand better WHY America has an attorney office on almost every street intersection corner, like gas stations used to be, yeesh.............but actually fascinating...takes a lot of time to "Drill Down" into all of this.

*KNOWLEDGE IS POWER*


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## HARHBG (Sep 27, 2015)

Looked at Amtrak Guest Rewards site. Found the "Shop For Points". Once again, yeesh...........who woudda thunk it? :blink: I'll try to spend a bit more time "exploring"..........

I think S & H Green Stammps were much easier..........  ......


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## AmtrakBlue (Sep 27, 2015)

As to referring someone. If you refer someone and they travel within 90 days (I think) of signing up, you will both get bonus points. And, as mentioned, he can sign up now and add his AGR # to the reservation. Even if you've already traveled, there is a grace period to sign up and link your AGR # to the taken trip's reservation (so don't lose that reservation #). I don't recall the # of days for that.


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## City of Miami (Sep 27, 2015)

Make sure that you are logged onto your AGR account before you start clicking on vendors through the AGR website. Some folks even like to take a screenshot of the final transaction page to show (prove?) that they were logged in as required. I have done this myself but I haven't ever heard of it actually making a difference in a dispute about points not posting to an account.


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## TinCan782 (Sep 27, 2015)

City of Miami said:


> Make sure that you are logged onto your AGR account before you start clicking on vendors through the AGR website. Some folks even like to take a screenshot of the final transaction page to show (prove?) that they were logged in as required. I have done this myself but I haven't ever heard of it actually making a difference in a dispute about points not posting to an account.


When logged on to AGR and the shopping portal, if you click on "My Account" drop down, you will see "Click History": Date, Retailer and Click ID. Not sure what additional info that might provide but, it might be a good starting point if you have a dispute.

So far, I have never had a points dispute.


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## Bex (Sep 27, 2015)

I've never had a dispute either.

I know you're kidding, HARHBG, but it's super easy and there are some great deals. I do a lot of my drugstore shopping at drugstore.com which has 7 points per dollar and is very quick with delivery. If you're buying any type of Apple product, buy it online and get 2 points per dollar. My last Macbook Pro brought me 3800 points. Macy's, Home Depot, Target, and Staples are also there.


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## HARHBG (Sep 27, 2015)

It all makes sense. Your spending the money anyway, so with a bit of planning you can strech the dollar quite a bit it seems. Looking at the "on-line" mall along with all the other retail partners, I've realized IF I had known.....My first trip on Amtrak, Nov '14, I went round trip to Dallas and back. I spent two weeks in East Texas Panhandle visiting relations. Had a rental car from Enterprise all 2 weeks, had I known.............and with what I buy at Home Depot to keep up this house.....and so on. I'll definatly be studying this for the rest of the day and getting familiar with it all. Once again, Much THANKS to all for sharing all your knowledge and experience.


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## me_little_me (Sep 27, 2015)

City of Miami said:


> HARHBG said:
> 
> 
> > Does the purchase at Wallmart or Home Depot have to be on the new B of A Credit Card? How does Walmart or Home Depot know about your Amtrak Rewards Account? Do you input your Amtrak Rewards Account # when you order online at Walmart or Home Depot?
> ...


To make it clear for OP, let me elaborate on your comment. "You have to do all your shopping through the AGR website" makes it sound like you can't get any points if you don't do all your shopping there. The only way to get points is when you use their link. Going direct or through any other portal means you don't get points for that transaction.

For everyone, let's say you are searching and find what you want at a store then go to the portal. You are not likely to get your points because of previous cookies. For example, I use dealnews.com to find deals. If I find a deal at walmart.com and check the deal on Wally's site, cookies are placed by both wally and dealnews. I then clear all those cookies in my browser (or use a different browser) then go to Amtrak's portal, go to wally's site from there then order my item.


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## TinCan782 (Sep 27, 2015)

HARHBG said:


> That's good to know. Does the purchase at Wallmart or Home Depot have to be on the new B of A Credit Card? How does Walmart or Home Depot know about your Amtrak Rewards Account? Do you input your Amtrak Rewards Account # when you order online at Walmart or Home Depot? Maybe simpler to ask, "How does that work?" Sincerly, would be most grateful for any reply and explanation. I've been all day reading this stuff, Amtrak Guest Rewards "fine print", etc. and my brain is beginning to complain, :wacko: HA!! However, I did find the spot for referring a new Guest Rewards member, and yes, it certainly is "hidden".


You do NOT need an AGR credit card to use the AGR shopping portal. You can use any payment method accepted by the retailer. You will still get the shopping points, you'll just not earn the credit card points. If you do use the AGR credit card, you will get the shopping points PLUS the 1 point/$ earned by use of the AGR credit card. Going through the "shopping portal "will (should)" get your AGR info to the retailer.


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## HARHBG (Sep 28, 2015)

That's VERY IMPORTANT INFO to know, about clearing "cookies", etc. THANK YOU

Further clarification, if anyone knows for certain....I understand most of the previous post Frensicpic wrote... BUT...... if I buy an item thru the Amtrak Guest Rewards Mall "program", (or whatever it's called), and use a credit card OTHER THAN the "Amtrak" B of A rewards card, MY credit card, be it Citibank, Chase or....I'll still get whathatever points THAT credit card offers on purchases, ... correct or no???


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## Ryan (Sep 28, 2015)

Yes.


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## HARHBG (Sep 28, 2015)

Hello all and again Thank You to all who have contributed info to this series of postings. I, for one, am very grateful to all. I just completed my first purchase through the Amtrak Guest Rewards "Mall", booking a hotel in Seattle. Used my normal credit card. In all, I _think_ I got 7000 points for the transaction, 4,000 for the hotel & 3000 bonus for signing up with _Rocket-something .._don't know for certain until it all done appears on the Guest Rewards account.

....................."It ain't over 'till it's over." (Yogi B,, _rest in peace, brave man)_


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