# Rookie + AGR = disaster



## rxw (May 27, 2009)

Well, I thought I had read all the rules, but I manged to shoot myself in the foot.

This was my first AGR trip: round trip from KIN (Kingstown, RI) to PDX. I booked the westbound trip through ABQ so I could take the Coast Starlight from LAX to PDX , then booked a straightforward return PDX, CHI, WAS, KIN.

Since I had read this forum, I knew to ask the agent for business class on the Northeast Regional segments. So I said to the agent, "I understand I am eligible for business class on the KIN/NYP and WAS/KIN segments?" From this I learned my first lesson, the answer "Yes you are" does not mean the agent actually books the BC segments.

When the agent read the trip back to me I got a bit flustered because she had booked me on the Capitol Limited from WAS to CHI on the westbound segment rather than on the Lake Shore Limited from NYP/CHI as I had requested. We finally got that straightened out, she seemed to be rushed, so I didn't make her go over everything again.

Next surprise was that my confirming email did not have an itinerary, just a summary of departure dates. I wasn't too comfortable with this, but I said, "oh well, they must have it under control", and spent the rest of my time trying to figure out if we should stay in Albuquerque or Santa Fe for our one night layover.

The next mistake was not picking up our tickets right away. Since I had paid for a couple of long distance trips, I had the idea in my head that the trip could be canceled until such time as I pick up the tickets. My wife has some disability issues so that I really don't like committing to anything too far in advance. So this, of course, turned out ot be a big big mistake, since I can apparently exchange the tickets anytime -so the earlier the better for AGR trips.

Anyway, when I picked up the tickets, just a week in advance, I realized that I had not gotten business class on either of the regional segments. Now I am a big guy, and the extra room in business class makes a difference. Plus, I like the free coffee. This was last Friday, the day before Memorial Day Weekend, so I rushed home and called the AGR reservations number.

So the agent, who I will name Ted, explained to me that I could return the tickets, the points would be credited and I could rebook the trip. So I said to Ted, well, since I leave June 1 to go to PDX it is not likely I am sending those tickets back! But, do you think we have the time to get the return leg tickets to Minneapolis, credit the points, and rebook the trip? So, again, another big mistake because the whole conversation thereafter was whether or not there was enough time to exchange the tickets. We decided there was, so Saturday I express mailed my tickets to Minneapolis to be credited and rebooked.

So of course, you know how that ended. Later Saturday afternoon I idly looked into getting the Cardinal back instead of the Capitol Limited. I was kind of surprised to see all the roomettes were booked. Gee, same on the Lake Shore Limited. Then, BAM, it hit me, and in an absolute panic I discovered, yes indeed, all roomettes on the Capitol Limited were booked too! The entire Memorial Day Weekend I fussed and fumed over my return trip, and a call to the AGR center confirmed my worst fears, there was no way to stop the cancellation process, I even requested and spoke to a supervisor, but to no avail.

So I can get back, maybe. It seems that if I pay for PDX to LAX, I can book LAX to ATL, and then ATL to KIN and get a roomette all the way - of course I now have $440 dollars for CS plus a night in LA - so much for my free trip. Or, oddly enough I can still book PDX to BBY (Boston) in a roomette and then try to catch the Last NE regional from BBY to KIN. But there is only an hour between trains, and last year the Lake Shore on time record was terrible!

And, we will have to see what is available when those points finally get credited - I might not have a choice.

Next time I will be smarted, but I sure screwed up this time.


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## AlanB (May 27, 2009)

Ouch, yes, that wasn't good.

Next time though, after you're done with AGR. Call up a regular Amtrak agent and give them the reservation number and ask them to email you the actual itinerary. The regular agents can't change anything with the reservation, but they can email you the full itinerary, including classes of service and room numbers assigned.


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## the_traveler (May 27, 2009)

Welcome from another from KIN! 

Sorry to hear of your problems. I have done that KIN-PDX trip twice since October, and will do it again in July/August! 

The first rule to AGR award redemption is to have the agent read the reservation they made back to you. Even if they don't, call the regular Amtrak line and have them email you a copy of your reservation.

The 2nd rule is *DO NOT* print your tickets until you know what is on it. The ticket agent at KIN can print out a copy of your reservation before he or she prints the tickets.

The 3rd rule I made is to make separate reservations for each segment, and then once you're sure of each, you can print them when you need to. Since you want to stop in ABQ, I would make 3 reservations (KIN-ABQ, ABQ-PDX and PDX-KIN). This way, you could also print your return PDX-KIN tickets in PDX and not have to hold on to them from the day you depart KIN, all thru the trip out and the 2 weeks in PDX.

The 4th rule is if the tickets are printed, if you have enough points, make a new reservation immediately. (If the tickets were not printed, the points would have been immediately added back it to your account.)


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## PaulM (May 28, 2009)

Two questions.

1. As I understand it, the west bound trip was KIN to PDX via LAX with a stop over in ABQ or LMY (Santa Fe station). The stop over would require two rewards? Right.

2. The Traveler's suggestion of making separate reservations would not apply if the reward trip were KIN, NYP, CHI, LAX, PDX with no stop over? In other words, you can't split a reward trip into multiple reservations. And you can't print individual segments tickets of a single separately.


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## the_traveler (May 28, 2009)

#1 - Correct. But you can't get KIN-WAS-CHI-LAX-PDX on 1 award. I know because I tried!  That's how I knew it was either a stopover or a break in the award at the zone border.

#2 - You're correct, but if you have different award segments and/or different paid segments, you can book each one separately. Example, if the OP was just going straight KIN-PDX round trip, it could be booked KIN-PDX and another res would be PDX-KIN. This way, only the KIN-PDX tickets would be printed in KIN. Then the PDX-KIN tickets could be printed in PDX when the OP returns in 2 weeks!

In March on my return, I had 3 reservations:


PDX-SAX-CHI-CVS-NOL

NOL-SAS

SAS-CHI-WAS-KIN


This allowed me to print the PDX-NOL tickets in PDX after my 2 week stay, print the NOL-SAS tickets in NOL and print the SAS-KIN tickets in SAS. It gave me less chance to lose or forget the WAS-KIN tickets during my trip back.


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## yarrow (May 28, 2009)

even knowing a bit of how things work it it still difficult to book over the phone with agr and get what you thought you asked for. i always have them repeat the entire itinerary back to me (trains, dates, accomodations, passengers) and then get on the phone to amtrak with my res number to have amtrak send me an actual itinerary. even after a fair amount of time with the new agr people they still seem generally clueless. i have found that they will book some things which the old agr wouldn't so perhaps it can work to one's advantage.


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## saxman (May 28, 2009)

I had a similar thing happen to me, so from now on I will always call Amtrak up and have them email my itinerary to make sure its right. I was going from Toledo to Martinez, CA and found the AGR agent booked me in coach on the Lake Shore after I had printed my tickets. They said I had to mail them in to get the points refunded while meanwhile they made a whole new reservation. Luckily I had enough points for it. But I needed those points for another segment. Needless to say, even though I express mailed the tickets back to AGR, it took a month to get the points back. Even after calling them several times and they wouldn't go through the mail to look for my tickets. Turns out I just told the AGR agent to switch my reservation into a sleeper and had the ticket agent switch the tickets. Oh well. I know for next time.


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## JayPea (May 28, 2009)

Slightly off-topic but related: A couple of weeks ago I made a reservation for my uncle and myself on the City of New Orleans from Champaign to New Orleans, as we are taking the Great Slidell Loophole trip in August. I don't know how many times I looked at my itinerary since then, but I suddenly (finally) made the realization I'd made the reservation on the wrong date!  In the past, I'd have picked up my tickets right away, but since joining the AU forums have come to realize that's not always the thing to do. Thank goodness I saw that yesterday and made a quick phone call to an Amtrak agent, changing the date to the correct one. I chose a roommette for our trip to New Orleans; thank goodness there were still roommettes available on the correct date. I don't know what would have happened otherwise other than my uncle strangling me!!!! :unsure: I'm glad I noticed long before I picked the tickets up; what a hassle otherwise!


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## AlanB (May 28, 2009)

Yes, it's very good that you noticed before you go to the station.


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## rxw (May 29, 2009)

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!

just to follow up on my original post: Thursday this week I noticed that sleepers opened up on both the EB and the CL on the departure date I needed - I have read elsewhere in this forum that this frequently happens, so I was looking for it.

So the question was whether my points would be credited before the sleepers were booked again. This morning, no points were credited to my account, so in a last ditch effort, I called AGR customer service one more time - much to my astonishment the "screening" agent said that someone would call me back my 8:30 to take care of it. I was initially confused because it WAS 8:30, but I realized they were on Central time. Frankly, I was kind of in shock or something when I hung up.

Sure enough, at 9:30 on the dot, a supervisor called and set up the whole trip, including the BC on WAS-KIN (note, I still had to ask for it, and remind her again during the conversation). There were just two roomettes left on both trains when she called.

Then, following the new rules you all passed on to me, I quickly called an Amtrak agent who cheerily e-mailed me an itinerary as we spoke!

So all is well, and I will sleep much better tonight than I did last night. I want to thank everyone for the great advice on how I should book these trips the next time around!


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## Long Train Runnin' (May 29, 2009)

rxw said:


> ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!
> just to follow up on my original post: Thursday this week I noticed that sleepers opened up on both the EB and the CL on the departure date I needed - I have read elsewhere in this forum that this frequently happens, so I was looking for it.
> 
> So the question was whether my points would be credited before the sleepers were booked again. This morning, no points were credited to my account, so in a last ditch effort, I called AGR customer service one more time - much to my astonishment the "screening" agent said that someone would call me back my 8:30 to take care of it. I was initially confused because it WAS 8:30, but I realized they were on Central time. Frankly, I was kind of in shock or something when I hung up.
> ...


I'm glad everything worked out for you


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## AlanB (May 29, 2009)

rxw said:


> Sure enough, at 9:30 on the dot, a supervisor called and set up the whole trip, including the BC on WAS-KIN (note, I still had to ask for it, and remind her again during the conversation). There were just two roomettes left on both trains when she called.


So what did she do for you? Loan you the points? Or did she go and find the returned tickets and process them for you?

However, I'm glad that it all worked out for you and that you'll get to take your trip.


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## rxw (May 29, 2009)

"So what did she do for you? Loan you the points? Or did she go and find the returned tickets and process them for you? "

I think they found the points - she never said anything about loaning them, and the first agent (when I called) seemed to know all about it after she put me on hold for a few minutes. Maybe it was the squeaky [or pain-in-the-butt] wheel?


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## mucomix (May 30, 2009)

OT. I am just starting out on AGR. We sent in our ticket stubs and got credit for our SW Chief trip this spring. I will be looking at this section often in the future.


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## AlanB (May 30, 2009)

mucomix said:


> OT. I am just starting out on AGR. We sent in our ticket stubs and got credit for our SW Chief trip this spring. I will be looking at this section often in the future.


If there is a next time where points didn't post, send copies of your ticket stubs. Not the actual stubs. If they loose those stubs, and they are notorious for loosing things, you are now out of luck and will never see your points.

Please always send copies, not the originals.


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## the_traveler (May 30, 2009)

rxw said:


> Maybe it was the squeaky [or pain-in-the-butt] wheel?


We Rhode Islanders are known for that! (Especially the last part!) :lol:


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## GG-1 (Jun 1, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> rxw said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe it was the squeaky [or pain-in-the-butt] wheel?
> ...


I know I am tired, but I have to ask. Does this mean your but squeaks as you turn? :lol: Or are you just letting us know "Murphy", the Optimist is your friend. :lol:


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## the_traveler (Jun 1, 2009)

GG-1 said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > rxw said:
> ...


Usually, there is some other noise when I turn! :lol: :lol:


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