# AGR Insider at FlyerTalk



## DivMiler (Mar 4, 2010)

Amtrak Guest Rewards has an official representative at the FlyerTalk AGR board, the AGR Insider. AGR Insider (who is actually a group of people from Amtrak Loyalty Marketing) posted its first post today, Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Even though I read Amtrak Unlimited more than I read FlyerTalk's AGR board, I'm happy to see AGR do this. The "Starwood Lurkers" are extremely valuable assets to FlyerTalk's Starwood Preferred Guest board.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2010)

I fear with them actually reading what people say, things like cheap buy points and loopholes may end up being a thing of the past.


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## Ryan (Mar 4, 2010)

I'm sure that they're aware of the loopholes, and given the fact that so few redeem them and those that do often "pay" for their ride by taking extra train rides and are positive about and act as "ambassadors" encouraging others to ride.


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## yarrow (Mar 5, 2010)

interesting. thanks for the link


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## RRrich (Mar 5, 2010)

Ryan said:


> I'm sure that they're aware of the loopholes, and given the fact that so few redeem them and those that do often "pay" for their ride by taking extra train rides and are positive about and act as "ambassadors" encouraging others to ride.


Well said Sir!


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2010)

Guest said:


> I fear with them actually reading what people say, things like cheap buy points and loopholes may end up being a thing of the past.


I agree. The spirit of flyertalk and most internet forums is a place to discuss how to legally maximize your bang for the buck. Large businesses have so many loopholes making this a fun game. It is only when these loopholes get exploited that they actually close them. With insiders seeing what we do, it will likely increase the speed with which loopholes are closed.

The loophole trips and buying points aren't really loopholes. There are other ones .


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## Roadfool (Mar 5, 2010)

Ryan said:


> I'm sure that they're aware of the loopholes, and given the fact that so few redeem them and those that do often "pay" for their ride by taking extra train rides and are positive about and act as "ambassadors" encouraging others to ride.


Exactly. If Amtrak closes the loopholes, it would lose out on a ton of word-of-mouth advertising from us diehard AGR members. And since it doesn't advertise much outside of the NEC, word-of-mouth is even more important for Amtrak than for most businesses. In the last week alone, I've probably had 5 people say "oh that sounds like fun, maybe I'll take the train somewhere too" when I've told them about my upcoming loophole trip. My mom even called today to ask me a bunch of Amtrak questions because her neighbors might want to take the train to Chicago. Without AGR and loopholes, I wouldn't even be riding the train in the first place, let alone telling people all over California how cool it is.

Also, as I said in another thread, I doubt there's a lot of people who would want to spend an extra 2-4 days to get somewhere. The loopholes are too inconvient for most people to be interested. Most of them leave you in a place that's really far from your departure point, so you have to add on the hassle of getting back home.

And Amtrak does already know about the loopholes, or at least the AGR reps do. The rep I talked to when I booked mine even used the word "loophole", so it's no big secret.


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## BigBlueBuddha (Mar 5, 2010)

Roadfool said:


> And Amtrak does already know about the loopholes, or at least the AGR reps do. The rep I talked to when I booked mine even used the word "loophole", so it's no big secret.


Yes, this little datum is quite telling. Its been nagging me since I read your original post. I wonder if the use of "loophole" is specific to this particular rep, who reads this forum, or whether "loophole" is common parlance at AGR, e.g.:

1st AGR rep: "How's your day going?"

2nd AGR rep: "Fine. Just got off the phone with an AGR member who booked a loophole trip. It's my third loophole booking this year."

1st AGR rep: "Oh lucky you. I haven't booked a loophole trip yet but I'm hoping someone calls for one soon."

They probably have AGR office betting pools to see who gets the most loopholes, see who gets to book a loophole trip for the_traveler, etc.


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## the_traveler (Mar 5, 2010)

Kwitchyerbelliakin said:


> They probably have AGR office betting pools to see who gets the most loopholes, see who gets to book a loophole trip for the_traveler, etc.




I agree that most people do not want to spend the extra time on "loophole trips". Most people would rather go cross country in 3 nights, unlike me when I spend 5-6 nights! When "a normal person" (I certainly don't qualify :lol: ) goes to STL from the east coast, they would take a train back home - with 1 overnight. I on the other hand will depart on Monday night, go via LAX and PDX and get home the following Monday morning!

During my last big trip, I met many people who were on their first train trip. My word of mouth advertising is worth a lot. And without my "loophole travel", I doubt I would have met these passengers on the TE out of LAX - when I was going PDX-KIN!

I'm sure Amtrak and AGR already know about these "loophole trips"!


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## GG-1 (Mar 5, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> When "a normal person" (I certainly don't qualify :lol: )


Aloha

Since we have met as part of the gatherings, I am proud to confirm that you and I are not normal  .


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## MrFSS (Mar 5, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> Kwitchyerbelliakin said:
> 
> 
> > They probably have AGR office betting pools to see who gets the most loopholes, see who gets to book a loophole trip for the_traveler, etc.
> ...


And, Dave has helped me with sort of a loophole trip. I had enough AGR to get a roomette from CHI to PDX and I was going to buy my trip back to CHI with cash. The_Traveler suggested I go out via LA and get to ride the CS up to PDX. So, for the cost of buying a PDX-CHI ticket, I have a six day never get off the train (except to change twice) trip for a very reasonable cost. Heck - I may even get to have breakast with Whooz in LA between trains!

Hope the weather is good in May!

And, yes, I know I could have gotten from Kansas to Columbus on one AGR ticket, but I feel more comfortable this way knowing it is all booked in the sleeper, etc.


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