Amtrak Guest Rewards 2.0 Coming January 2016

[SarahZ]

This is going to be real simple (I hope?) How much is a one zone redemption from Chicago to Dallas NOW?

15,000 points for a roomette. 25,000 for a bedroom.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Under the current AGR system (until 1/24/16) CHI- DAL is a One Zone Roomette Award Trip for 15,000 Points, irregardless of the price! ( 5% rebate if you have the Chase AGR MC, good only until 9/30/15) This is for One or Two passengers!

.

 

[TinCan782]

Here's something that came to mind...

Under the current program, if you are traveling on an AGR redemption and your train is delayed causing you to miss a connection and you are put on the "next" train which only has a lower class accommodation available, you are issued a "$" voucher for the difference, NOT a points refund.

Wondering if the new program will allow a points "refund" to your account for such an involuntary downgrade.

 

[BCL]

When I said 4th biggest, I was talking about the city I live in (Houston), not the one you do.

Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification. Because, you know, "4th city" just isn't funny!

Maybe not downgraded to "Fourth City", but "Third City" for quite some time.

 

[abcnews]

Sadly, we are unable to spare the time to take one last points-only LD trip before the new redemption schedule kicks-in. We'll hang on to the points, of course, and use them next year, even if they're worth half what they were.

Keep in mind that you only have to RESERVE by January 24th, not travel - so really you could book now for travel next summer, under the existing rules.

Exactly, the old program is still in place for some time, and that really is cool. Just try to plan your 2016 trips by late January. I do like the fact that there is a grace period to use the older zone awards. I plan to do two or three trips under the old system in 2016.

 

[rtabern]

Well, last night we booked our "Farewell to Amtrak Guest Rewards Tour" for late April and early May 2016.

We will be doing: ORL-NYP (Silver Meteor #98) --> NYP-NOL (Crescent #19) --> NOL-CHI (City of New Orleans #58) --> CHI-LAX (Southwest Chief #3) --> LAX-SLM (Coast Starlight #14) --> SLM-LAX (Coast Starlight #11) --> LAX-SAN (Pacific Surfliner) ---- all in bedrooms (except the Surfliner which will be BC).

Total cost of the trip would be $7,069.00 if we paid in cash. This cost just 123,500 points under the "old" AGR structure including points back from Chase figured in there. Under the "new" AGR structure this trip would cost a horrific 243,881 points... ALMOST DOUBLE!!!!!!!

It looks like I will still have over 100,000 points left in my account even after this when things transition over. We will be deciding to keep them for whatever minimal travel we will still do with Amtrak -- or transfer them out and use them for hotels or air travel.

 

[JoeBas]

So, you see, it isn't entirely essential to have lots of corridor service or daytrips available to benefit by the minimum point system. Shoot, I WISH I could take Amtrak to NOL or SAS at those prices. I'd be doing it often.

It is if, as was the earlier original postulation, you were using minimums and "cheap point runs" repetitively to fund cross-country travel in a "gamed" way.

Plus, it's not all it's cracked up to be, because remember, it's not even daily service. So, for example, say even if I wanted to go have an all night party in New Orleans some Friday night. Nope, can't do it, Sunset doesn't run east that day. Oh well, I'll go on Saturday night instead then... NOPE... CAN'T DO IT, Sunset doesn't run east that day either! (Su, Tu, Th eastbound into NOL, Mo We Sa westbound)

Six hours from Midnight-6AM in San Antonio? With a 5 hour train trip in coach on either end? I guess that sounds like SOMEONE'S idea of fun... but I can assure you at 42 years old it ain't mine. LOL

 

[Kat314159]

Are we very dense? Not particularly. Do we have the 4th highest population, with no other Amtrak stops in the metro area? Yes.

So from a "Number of people calling Houston their home Amtrak Station" standpoint, what difference does it make if we're stacked vertically, or horizontally?

15,213 of Cincinnati's 2.1 million metro residents get on their 3x a week train in the middle of the night vs 6.3 million in Houston to produce 20,603 boardings in the afternoon/evening. Your boardings seem in line with an area that is indifferent to rail service when push comes to shove(canceled replacement of HOS station with intermodal center, lack of OH 3 C's cooridor service funding).Yes, it would be wonderful if everyone had hub level service for their preferred transit option in their town with a no congestion route to the terminal. The reality is we don't. Feel free to can chew out your legislative reps and tell them to fund trains. I have 8 daily departures instead of just 1 each direction from a LD train because IL and MO legislatures make it so.

 

[JoeBas]

The service levels in HOS are an admitted aside, to the main point that was being refuted (even non-hubs can make point runs), and used to illustrate that most people outside of hubs have little if any practical way to take meaningful advantage of "minimum points" runs to make a substantial difference in their AGR balances.

 

[NorthShore]

When I said 4th biggest, I was talking about the city I live in (Houston), not the one you do.

Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification. Because, you know, "4th city" just isn't funny!

Maybe not downgraded to "Fourth City", but "Third City" for quite some time.

As Jack Benny, famously, answered as to why his age so long remained the same, "There's nothing funny about forty!"

 

[NorthShore]

The service levels in HOS are an admitted aside, to the main point that was being refuted (even non-hubs can make point runs), and used to illustrate that most people outside of hubs have little if any practical way to take meaningful advantage of "minimum points" runs to make a substantial difference in their AGR balances.

Oh, I don't think that was my point at all. Rather, the context was, entirely, that maximum point earnings is, most appropriately, rewarded for riding and spending cash directly on Amtrak service and that anything done to encourage such spending (such as the 100 point minimum) is good.

 

[BCL]

The service levels in HOS are an admitted aside, to the main point that was being refuted (even non-hubs can make point runs), and used to illustrate that most people outside of hubs have little if any practical way to take meaningful advantage of "minimum points" runs to make a substantial difference in their AGR balances.

Oh, I don't think that was my point at all. Rather, the context was, entirely, that maximum point earnings is, most appropriately, rewarded for riding and spending cash directly on Amtrak service and that anything done to encourage such spending (such as the 100 point minimum) is good.

Sure. I suppose one of the keys is that the people who care enough to do stuff like this often encourage other people to ride Amtrak who otherwise might not. However, I do get that those who often try to maximize points through promotions might not necessarily be the most profitable customers.

A lot of retailers have sale prices that are loss leaders to encourage people to buy something else that's more profitable to he seller. Credit card companies have awards programs, but want their customers to carry balances so they can collect interest. It's kind of a fine line. However, in those categories you typically don't have people convincing others that that particular store or credit card provider are great.

 

[BCL]

Anyone else get the luggage tag? It contains my name/address and says "RIDE ON" on the bottom with the AGR logo.

It came really nicely packaged too, on folded thick printed card stock, a cardboard band with a gold-colored seal saying "THE FUTURE OF AMTRAK Guest Rewards" and a note with my name describing the 2016 version of AGR. The envelope is printed with "Celebrating 15 years". I wonder how much they spent on these.

Frankly I don't know if it really matters, since I'm probably not going to renew Select Plus.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Since I'm a lowly Select (and will not pass that way again) doubt if I'll get anything but the letter, and maybe just a boiler plate E-mail written in Newspeak!

I still have the luggage tags they used to send out up to about 2010, and they're still on my "train" bag and pack!

 

[pennyk]

Anyone else get the luggage tag? It contains my name/address and says "RIDE ON" on the bottom with the AGR logo.

It came really nicely packaged too, on folded thick printed card stock, a cardboard band with a gold-colored seal saying "THE FUTURE OF AMTRAK Guest Rewards" and a note with my name describing the 2016 version of AGR. The envelope is printed with "Celebrating 15 years". I wonder how much they spent on these.

Frankly I don't know if it really matters, since I'm probably not going to renew Select Plus.

I received one a couple of days ago.

 

[TinCan782]

Anyone else get the luggage tag? It contains my name/address and says "RIDE ON" on the bottom with the AGR logo.

It came really nicely packaged too, on folded thick printed card stock, a cardboard band with a gold-colored seal saying "THE FUTURE OF AMTRAK Guest Rewards" and a note with my name describing the 2016 version of AGR. The envelope is printed with "Celebrating 15 years". I wonder how much they spent on these.

Frankly I don't know if it really matters, since I'm probably not going to renew Select Plus.

A luggage tag? Is that supposed to make us feel better?

 

[JoeBas]

A luggage tag? Is that supposed to make us feel better?

"We know you're not taking your bags anywhere with us anymore, but if you need to know whose bags are in the closet..."... :giggle:

 

[Rail Freak]

Hope they send me SWA Tag!!!!

 

[BCL]

A luggage tag? Is that supposed to make us feel better?

Yeah - I was trying to be subtle in my snark.

However, it's really nicely done. It was the note behind a die-cut card where they had flaps to hold a braided-wire luggage tag loop, and the tag secured to the card with removable glue (the kind they use for AGR member cards). Then it was custom card stock folded over like a door that would open. On top of that was the sleeve. Those were the entire contents of the envelope.

I'm thinking this isn't going to make up for the loss of the 100-point minimum.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hope they send me SWA Tag!!!!

True this! Priceless!

 

[rrdude]

Well, last night we booked our "Farewell to Amtrak Guest Rewards Tour" for late April and early May 2016.

We will be doing: ORL-NYP (Silver Meteor #98) --> NYP-NOL (Crescent #19) --> NOL-CHI (City of New Orleans #58) --> CHI-LAX (Southwest Chief #3) --> LAX-SLM (Coast Starlight #14) --> SLM-LAX (Coast Starlight #11) --> LAX-SAN (Pacific Surfliner) ---- all in bedrooms (except the Surfliner which will be BC).

Total cost of the trip would be $7,069.00 if we paid in cash. This cost just 123,500 points under the "old" AGR structure including points back from Chase figured in there. Under the "new" AGR structure this trip would cost a horrific 243,881 points... ALMOST DOUBLE!!!!!!!

It looks like I will still have over 100,000 points left in my account even after this when things transition over. We will be deciding to keep them for whatever minimal travel we will still do with Amtrak -- or transfer them out and use them for hotels or air travel.

Impressive! Are you laying over in any cities, or riding the "tin can" straight thru?

 

[City of Miami]

Sorry if this row has been plowed before....

Do we have a theory about the implications of "single leg ticket price" in the 2016 Points Estimator? Is 'single leg' just a limitation of this sneak preview software? Does it mean that AGR2 will not book multi-leg trips, i.e. no guaranteed connections for AGR? Does it mean that train changes must be booked separately, additively?

Also I wonder what happened to the talking point that (all) AGR trips will be bookable online.

 

[Bruce-C]

Do we have a theory about the implications of "single leg ticket price" in the 2016 Points Estimator?

I am taking it for what it states. Points needed to pay for a multi-leg trip will be estimated as individual legs. For instance, take a C to C trip LAX-NYP via CS, EB, LSL. Points pricing estimate would be calculated on the actual charges for leg #1 CS (via LAX-PDX), leg#2 EB (PDX-CHI) and leg #3 LSL (CHI-NYP). Figure the published cost of each individual leg and your total will be the amount used for a points estimate. Yep! It's a few more bucks!!!

 

[jis]

The itinerary price quoted is partitioned out among each leg based on type of service etc. The right multiplier will be applied to each leg's allocated cost based on the type of service and the sum will be the total points cost. So for example if you do a trip that is on the Cap from CHI to WAS and then on Regional BC to NYP, and then Acela to BOS, the total cost will be broken down in terms of the component allocated to each leg, and the appropriate multiplier depending on the type of service applied to the corresponding leg cost and the sum of all that will be the total points cost.

By the way, this is similar to how earned points are computed today, of course using the current earnings algorith with the minimum points per leg etc..

Of course if you want a definitive answer on this ask the question on FlyerTalk's Amtrak forum and you can get the answer from the proverbial horse's mouth AGR Insider.

 

[rtabern]

Going to fly from MKE to Orlando and layover there a day to ride the monorails around a bit before #98 takes off... will have a night and the next morning in New Orleans... and then yeah, pretty much riding the train the rest of the way. We were originally planning to do a Grand Canyon/Arches/Mesa Verde trip in Spring 2016, but once saw points for pretty much any long distance western route in a bedroom was now going to cost as much as double, even triple, what it does now, and knowing those park will always be there (hopefully), we decided to postpone that and then do this Amtrak all-bedroom trip. Basically, 7 nights on the train in bedrooms, 1 night off the train in ORL, 1 night off the train in NOL, and 1 night off the train in LAX.

Well, last night we booked our "Farewell to Amtrak Guest Rewards Tour" for late April and early May 2016.

We will be doing: ORL-NYP (Silver Meteor #98) --> NYP-NOL (Crescent #19) --> NOL-CHI (City of New Orleans #58) --> CHI-LAX (Southwest Chief #3) --> LAX-SLM (Coast Starlight #14) --> SLM-LAX (Coast Starlight #11) --> LAX-SAN (Pacific Surfliner) ---- all in bedrooms (except the Surfliner which will be BC).

Total cost of the trip would be $7,069.00 if we paid in cash. This cost just 123,500 points under the "old" AGR structure including points back from Chase figured in there. Under the "new" AGR structure this trip would cost a horrific 243,881 points... ALMOST DOUBLE!!!!!!!

It looks like I will still have over 100,000 points left in my account even after this when things transition over. We will be deciding to keep them for whatever minimal travel we will still do with Amtrak -- or transfer them out and use them for hotels or air travel.

Impressive! Are you laying over in any cities, or riding the "tin can" straight thru?