# Amtrak to Take Over AGR



## PRR 60 (May 12, 2010)

Reported on another site by a highly reliable poster, Amtrak will bring operation of the AGR program in-house on October 1. This follows the expiration of the current contract with Carlson for operation of AGR. What this means to AGR members (I assume) is the end to the firewall between AGR and Amtrak. AGR reservations, changes and other business will conducted by Amtrak agents, hopefully with 24/7 availability. Any station agent will be able to change an AGR ticket.

Assuming this is true (and, considering the source, I assume it is), this change would eliminate a major negative of the AGR program - the limited customer service access. Stay tuned.


----------



## Bob Dylan (May 12, 2010)

PRR 60 said:


> Reported on another site by a highly reliable poster, Amtrak will bring operation of the AGR program in-house on October 1. This follows the expiration of the current contract with Carlson for operation of AGR. What this means to AGR members (I assume) is the end to the firewall between AGR and Amtrak. AGR reservations, changes and other business will conducted by Amtrak agents, hopefully with 24/7 availability. Any station agent will be able to change an AGR ticket.
> Assuming this is true (and, considering the source, I assume it is), this change would eliminate a major negative of the AGR program - the limited customer service access. Stay tuned.


Well, to quote an old saying; "there's good news and there's bad news.."You are correct about improved service, and probably the agents will be more knowledgable since they will be Amtrak employees rather than Canucks! :lol: The possible bad will be the elimination of more loophole trips and even more blackout dates due to seasonal and other heavy ride periods on the LD trains. Other possibilities could include less promos (like the current 10%rebate)and even an increase in the number of points that are needed for awards! Id say take your loophole trips ASAP, take advantage of the 10% rebate (drops to 5% after July)and build up as many points as you can during the current triple points promo! Hope I'm wrong but based on experience with mergers, changes in award programs etc. one has to wonder? Please keep us informed of any new info! Thanks! :unsure:


----------



## AlanB (May 12, 2010)

I don't think you'll see much in the way of changes to the promos, since that has always been controlled by the small AGR department at Amtrak. Carlson, the vendor, never picked or decided upon the promos. That's always been Amtrak, Carlson just had to deal with the terms & conditions of any promo.


----------



## Bob Dylan (May 12, 2010)

AlanB said:


> I don't think you'll see much in the way of changes to the promos, since that has always been controlled by the small AGR department at Amtrak. Carlson, the vendor, never picked or decided upon the promos. That's always been Amtrak, Carlson just had to deal with the terms & conditions of any promo.


Just saw a post on trainorders that Amtrak will hire 50 additional agents to be trained for AGR duty! Wonder if it"ll mean 24/7 calls/service for AGR?

Also will ALL agents be AGR or will there still be Special 800 numbers for members? and will "Julie" be an AGR Agent also? :lol:


----------



## the_traveler (May 13, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> and will "Julie" be an AGR Agent also? :lol:


It might be her twin sister "Juliet"! :lol:


----------



## saxman (May 16, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> PRR 60 said:
> 
> 
> > Reported on another site by a highly reliable poster, Amtrak will bring operation of the AGR program in-house on October 1. This follows the expiration of the current contract with Carlson for operation of AGR. What this means to AGR members (I assume) is the end to the firewall between AGR and Amtrak. AGR reservations, changes and other business will conducted by Amtrak agents, hopefully with 24/7 availability. Any station agent will be able to change an AGR ticket.
> ...


I would think Amtrak already sets all those rules anyway. So I don't think anything will change for the worse. Hopefully this means we can soon book sleepers or connections online too. But I think some software would have to be written to figure out how many points to redeem. Another good thing, no more having to send tickets into AGR and waiting several weeks before getting the points back.


----------



## RRrich (May 16, 2010)

I sometimes go to Amtrak.com to check the timing/routing/cost of a trip. It would be nice to put in a destination (KWD - CBS???) and see how many points it would cost me


----------



## the_traveler (May 16, 2010)

I agree! As much as I hate to compare the, airlines  and hotels, let you chose by price or reward! It may say $350 or $1,874, or it will say 25,000 points or 30,000 points or 50,000 points.

This way you know if KWD-CBS or BHM-PDX is a 1, 2, 3 or 4 zone award! :blink:


----------

