# Last Years Point Purchase 50% Bonus Offer?



## Rail Freak (Nov 17, 2014)

When did Amtrak make this offer? Just curious!

Thanx


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## the_traveler (Nov 17, 2014)

I'm not sure, but it was targeted (not a general open offer). I did not receive it, but others did.


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## Rail Freak (Nov 17, 2014)

the_traveler said:


> I'm not sure, but it was targeted (not a general open offer). I did not receive it, but others did.


OOOHHH! I didnt remember that it was targeted, but I got the offer & took it!!! I guess I shouldnt count on seeing it again anytime in the near future!

That was a sweet deal, I used it for last month's roomette trip, PDX - DEN!!!


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## George K (Nov 17, 2014)

I got it too. Sadly I've already bought 10K this year. :angry2:


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## benale (Nov 17, 2014)

Wonder if we'll ever see that offer repeated? I used it to get to 40.000 points quickly when I had 37,000 or so for our trip for next June. 50 percent on every transaction, I bought 2,000 points and got that 1000 point bonus. This was the only time it was better than taking The Keystones during Double Days,which I normally do.


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## Rail Freak (Nov 17, 2014)

I guess it wasnt last year, it was this year!

How do you spell Old Age Memory???   :hi:


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## D.P. Roberts (Nov 17, 2014)

I got that offer in June, and bought 10,000 points on my wife's account. At the time, they offered a 50% bonus of 5,000 points if you purchased the full 10,000 points, and a lesser bonus (20-30%, I believe) if you purchased points in smaller increments.

I just received an e-mail today with a similar offer, but it's capped at 30%.

I have a related follow-up question - did anyone else here participate in that offer? If so, do you remember seeing a different expiration date for those points?

I'm wondering because the Terms and Conditions on the AGR site says that points will expire after 36 months if no Amtrak travel is taken. However, my wife just got a statement in her e-mail saying that her points all expired at the end of September, and she now has a balance of zero.

Needless to say, we're very upset. Why in the world would the points expire in three months instead of 36?

Edit: Here's the extra weird point, in case anyone is curious. My wife has had her account since 2007. She earned a small amount of points in 2007, but they expired 36 months after that. We have not touched her account since 2007, until this past June when we bought these points. I cannot figure out why they expired.


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## Bob Dylan (Nov 18, 2014)

DP: you need to call AGR and get this corrected! This is clearly an error on the part of AGR and that's too many points to give away! ( and remember if you have the Chase AGR MC your points don't expire!)


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## Anderson (Nov 18, 2014)

Charlie and I got the 50% offer last year. We both, IIRC, dove at it since we crested into SE after the offer went out.

I rather doubt that a 50% offer would be repeated for SE members...that would lead to some of us walking away with the store.


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## Rail Freak (Nov 18, 2014)

DP,

I bought 10K also & got the 5K Bonus, But made my reservation within a couple of weeks for October.

Good Luck!!!


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## D.P. Roberts (Nov 18, 2014)

jimhudson said:


> DP: you need to call AGR and get this corrected! This is clearly an error on the part of AGR and that's too many points to give away! ( and remember if you have the Chase AGR MC your points don't expire!)


Thanks for the vote of confidence - we sent an e-mail last night, hopefully we'll get good news soon...

We do have a Chase AGR card, but it's tied to my AGR account, instead of my wife's. We rarely even use her AGR account, since almost all of our travel is on AGR points on my account (purchased, earned on the AGR card, or my personal favorite, points for shopping). We only used her AGR account this time because of the 50% bonus. Even if we get this worked out, I'll be wary of using hers again...


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## Stevestx (Nov 18, 2014)

Why not just open a chase account for her too? If you could manage the $500 spend it would get you 12K points. In any case $0 annual fee seems worth the price to protect those AGR points.


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## AmtrakBlue (Nov 18, 2014)

D.P. Roberts said:


> jimhudson said:
> 
> 
> > DP: you need to call AGR and get this corrected! This is clearly an error on the part of AGR and that's too many points to give away! ( and remember if you have the Chase AGR MC your points don't expire!)
> ...


When was the last time your wife was on a paid trip. Just wondering.


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## the_traveler (Nov 19, 2014)

Stevestx said:


> Why not just open a chase account for her too? If you could manage the $500 spend it would get you 12K points. In any case $0 annual fee seems worth the price to protect those AGR points.


Plus, any points in her account will not expire! You don't even have to use that card. (But I would use it like once a year to buy something small like coffee or a paper just to keep it active.)


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## George K (Nov 19, 2014)

If my wife is already on my AGR MasterCard, can I get *another* card for her? Do I have to remove her as an authorized user first?


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## the_traveler (Nov 19, 2014)

No, my BIL is an authorized user on my card but has an account in his name also! (Just for that reason - with the sign up bonus and travel years ago, he had 63K he didn't know about!)


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## Long Train Runnin' (Nov 19, 2014)

I had the 50% bonus this year bought 10k points on 5/20 and got a bonus 5k.


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## Mr Thrifty (Jan 21, 2015)

I will wait for the 50% bonus offer. I am very patient. if they offer I buy, and if not, I walk . IIRC the 50% offer was only made twice, once in 2014 and once in 2012. Its still an expensive outlay at $279.00 or is it $259.?


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## TinCan782 (Jan 21, 2015)

Mr Thrifty said:


> I will wait for the 50% bonus offer. I am very patient. if they offer I buy, and if not, I walk . IIRC the 50% offer was only made twice, once in 2014 and once in 2012. Its still an expensive outlay at $279.00 or is it $259.?


Its $275 for 10k. Never received the 50%, only 30% past several years. Same with my wife...only 30%. Already made my 13,000 purchase this year.


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## SarahZ (Jan 21, 2015)

George K said:


> If my wife is already on my AGR MasterCard, can I get *another* card for her? Do I have to remove her as an authorized user first?


Nope. "Account holder" and "authorized user" are two very different things.


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## Bigval109 (Jan 25, 2015)

the_traveler said:


> I'm not sure, but it was targeted (not a general open offer). I did not receive it, but others did.


How do you get on this list? I could use a 50% bonus.


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## Everydaymatters (Jan 26, 2015)

I don't recall getting an email on this, but when I looked into AGR's site and started the process of doing a purchase of points, I got a 30% offer.


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## the_traveler (Jan 26, 2015)

My friend is an authorized user on my AGR credit card and also has his own credit card and AGR account. Thus his 60K points will never expire! (And I just discovered he has 60K in his account - even though his last ride was like 4-5 years ago or more.)


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## Railroad Bill (Jan 26, 2015)

I do not believe we have ever received an email about buying points but when I check the buy points area there have been chances to buy at 30% bonus a couple times during the year. I do not expect to receive a 50% offer and so we grab the 30% and are happy with that.

Which reminds me, its time to buy some points before the Feb deadline runs out..


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## Anderson (Jan 26, 2015)

I think 50% is probably limited away from higher-end members...an SE user with a 50% offer that didn't have a limit would be a serious risk to the program. Can you imagine someone hauling in 55.5 points per dollar on a buy like that (you'd get 15275 points: 10000 from the base buy, 5000 from the bonus, and 275 from the credit card)? Moreover, consider the possible use of those points on a one-zone from NYP-MIA...after the 750 point rebate comes into play you're looking at an effective cost for such a ticket of $256.55 one-way (I believe that low bucket is $360.60 in a roomette with an AAA discount for one person, and $490.20 in a roomette with an AAA discount for two people). High bucket for two goes for $837.20, and extending that to Boston for two would run $913.20.

The risk of a group of members buying out 300,000 points apiece ($5500), doing 20 one-way trips for two in roomettes like the NYP-MIA example (median value $663.70, total median value $13,274) and still having 20,500 points in the bank...well, let's just say that I can see how such a move (which absent a devaluation would basically mean free annual Florida vacations for five years for a family of four) would seriously risk the stability of AGR. AGR would basically be on the hook for over twice the paid cost of those points.

Now imagine that ten or twenty members do that...and suddenly you're looking at in excess of $150k in net losses from such an offer. Even as things stand, buying points at base value can still be cheaper than actually buying a sleeper ticket...going to a 50% bonus just seems like a recipe for disaster (and a probable trigger for a major devaluation).


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## Rail Freak (Jan 26, 2015)

What Feb deadline would this be?


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## AmtrakBlue (Jan 26, 2015)

Some of us received an email with a 30% promo which ends 2/16/15. You could pretend you're buying points to see if they're offering you the 30% also.


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## TinCan782 (Jan 26, 2015)

I'm guessing the if you regularly buy points (especially the max) you will only get the 30%. That seems to be the case for my wife and I. If someone infrequently purchases points, they might get the 50% "incentive" to start making purchases and hopefully more frequently.


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## Bjartmarr (Jan 26, 2015)

AmtrakBlue said:


> Some of us received an email with a 30% promo which ends 2/16/15. You could pretend you're buying points to see if they're offering you the 30% also.


How far do you have to go before it makes the 30% offer?

I got as far as the "how many do you want to buy" screen, but no 30%.


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## AmtrakBlue (Jan 26, 2015)

Bjartmarr said:


> AmtrakBlue said:
> 
> 
> > Some of us received an email with a 30% promo which ends 2/16/15. You could pretend you're buying points to see if they're offering you the 30% also.
> ...


I think when you click on the drop-down box it shows the bonus, if you're targeted to get it (something like 10,000 + 3,000). Not sure, I haven't bought mine yet - will probably do it this weekend.


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## the_traveler (Jan 26, 2015)

It will show in the drop down box. The 30% (or 50% or whatever) is usually limited to the max, lower amounts usually give a lower bonus.

Example: It may say like

500 + 50 = $$

1,000 + 100 = $$

...

5,000 + 750 = $$$

...

10,000 + 3,000 = $275


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## TinCan782 (Jan 26, 2015)

After "Buy Points for Yourself" and "Please enter your name and Amtrak Guest Rewards member number to get started."

you will see this...


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## willem (Jan 27, 2015)

FrensicPic said:


> After "Buy Points for Yourself" and "Please enter your name and Amtrak Guest Rewards member number to get started."
> 
> you will see this...


I don't mean to hijack this thread, but when I click on the JPG link following the quoted text, I get the message "Sorry, you don't have permission for that!" This has happened often with other, similar links. Do I have something set incorrectly?


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## Long Train Runnin' (Feb 3, 2015)

willem said:


> FrensicPic said:
> 
> 
> > After "Buy Points for Yourself" and "Please enter your name and Amtrak Guest Rewards member number to get started."
> ...



Could be something to do with number of posts.

More on topic I was a first time buyer of points last year with the 50% points bonus this year they only offered me 30%. Still thinking about going for it.


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## Bigval109 (Feb 8, 2015)

I'm getting the same error message. I'm unable to buy points also, would it have anything

To do with me using my iPad?


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## the_traveler (Feb 8, 2015)

Just sign into your own AGR account and then click on the "buy points" tab.


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## TinCan782 (Feb 8, 2015)

willem said:


> FrensicPic said:
> 
> 
> > After "Buy Points for Yourself" and "Please enter your name and Amtrak Guest Rewards member number to get started."
> ...


That is just a jpg image attached to my post...it doesn't go anywhere except to display the image by itself.


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## rrdude (Feb 8, 2015)

I got no option for any bonus when I check, yet. Just have to wait I guess


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## Rail Freak (Feb 8, 2015)

Me Too!!!


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## willem (Feb 9, 2015)

FrensicPic said:


> willem said:
> 
> 
> > FrensicPic said:
> ...


That is what I would expect. It would be nice to be able to see the image rather than the message "Sorry, you don't have permission for that!" And that's why I asked if I have something set incorrectly.

Since Long Train Runnin' speculated that it is related to the number of posts, I suppose I could start submitting many more posts. Is that really a desirable thing?


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## tomfuller (Feb 10, 2015)

Last year I bought my 10K points in January and got the 5K bonus. If you bought less than 10K points in one purchase, you got less than a 50% bonus (30 or 40%?).

This year I bought my 10K points in January and got a 3K bonus. This brought my point total to slightly over 40K points. I have 2 two zone Roomette trips coming up next month and less than 800 points in my balance. I will do some online shopping after my March trip on the AGR website. I'm also getting AGR points for my one week car rental. I'm also getting some points for using Choice hotels.

I don't expect to see a 50% bonus after the 30% current bonus this year.

This reminds me that I have to buy my wife her 10K points before February 16 so she can get her 3K bonus.


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## dlagrua (Feb 11, 2015)

I seldom purchase points but if offered the 50% bonus, I will make the buy. Did take advantage of last years offer and will wait and see if it is repeated. In any case it is likely that AGR members buying points is a better deal for Amtrak than selling them to a shopping portal retailer for one cent each (my estimate).


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## Bigval109 (Mar 21, 2015)

dlagrua said:


> I seldom purchase points but if offered the 50% bonus, I will make the buy. Did take advantage of last years offer and will wait and see if it is repeated. In any case it is likely that AGR members buying points is a better deal for Amtrak than selling them to a shopping portal retailer for one cent each (my estimate).


 I never seem to get the 50% bonus offer. How do you get on the list?


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## benale (Mar 28, 2015)

I got the offer last year. Probably the best they offer. It was 50% more,no matter how many points you buy, unlike the other offers where it's 10 to 30% depending on the amount of points. I am awaiting that offer, Hope it comes back. As far as getting on the list, I have no idea. I ride Amtrak quite often,so maybe that has something to do with it.


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## iggy (Mar 29, 2015)

Finally got 30% bonus offer - never got an email heads up - just kept checking account. Bought 10K points with 3K bonus. I'm just under 35,000 total now. Granted 20K of that comes from points buys. Had a long distance redemption late last year.


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## Bigval109 (May 3, 2015)

Rail Freak said:


> DP,
> 
> I bought 10K also & got the 5K Bonus, But made my reservation within a couple of weeks for October.
> 
> Good Luck!!!


How do you get on the list for the 50% bonus? I would love to have it once in a while to help with my trips.


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## the_traveler (May 3, 2015)

There is no "list" to get on. It's the "luck of the draw" - some get them over and over but I never have.


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