BIG NEWS: WAS now in both Central & Eastern Zones!

[KrazyKoala]

The woman on the phone wouldn't tell me exactly when this happened. Maybe she doesn't know, but now, taking a trip to Washington, DC is now considered central zone as well as eastern.

My current trip, SAC>CHI>WAS is only 2-zones. Apparently, with all of the WAS detours people have to take to catch another train back into central zone has caught the attention of AGR. As well as the lost revenue for all those connecting trains the people seem to not be boarding just to get a cheaper rate to WAS. (i.e. booking SAC to ATL rather than SAC to WAS to make it 2-zone instead of 3-zone. AGR said that because of all the connecting trains to and from WAS, it will only be 3-zone if your connecting train ends in the eastern zone.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Goodbye geographical zones?

 

[Tumbleweed]

Hmmmm....so that should make a FAR-WAS-ATL trip a one zone?

 

[Ispolkom]

The woman on the phone wouldn't tell me exactly when this happened. Maybe she doesn't know, but now, taking a trip to Washington, DC is now considered central zone as well as eastern.

This was true for as long as you were on the phone with the agent. If you call back again, the next agent will most probably tell you that Sacramento-Washington is a three-zone trip. Last week, for instance, St. Paul-Chicago-Chicago was a two-zone trip. Until I see further evidence or (perish the thought) an actual statement from AGR, I'm going to chalk this one up to AGR's indeterminacy principle.

Goodbye geographical zones?

Perhaps goodbye geographical knowledge.

 

[amamba]

How ridiculous is it that someone is charged two zones for SAC-CHI-WAS and it is the same amount of points for NYP - CHI.

 

[Blackwolf]

And here, I just went WAS-CHI-SAC in December and was "charged" for three zones. I think this is typical AGR nonsense. Book it again at two zones and then I'll pay it credence as anything other than a fluke in your favor. That said, good score if it does not get audited and your account proactively charged for a three-zone reward in the future! :hi:

 

[KrazyKoala]

The woman on the phone wouldn't tell me exactly when this happened. Maybe she doesn't know, but now, taking a trip to Washington, DC is now considered central zone as well as eastern.

This was true for as long as you were on the phone with the agent. If you call back again, the next agent will most probably tell you that Sacramento-Washington is a three-zone trip. Last week, for instance, St. Paul-Chicago-Chicago was a two-zone trip. Until I see further evidence or (perish the thought) an actual statement from AGR, I'm going to chalk this one up to AGR's indeterminacy principle.

Goodbye geographical zones?

Perhaps goodbye geographical knowledge.

I originally booked this online. And when it comes to talking to Amtrak, I avoid it at all costs. I honestly think they should be paying my phone bill from all my overages sitting on the phone with them for one reason or another.

 

[Trogdor]

I thought you couldn't book connection redemptions online.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I thought you couldn't book connection redemptions online.

You can't. Unless it involves the Wonderful Wizard of WAS. Because because because, all the wonderful things he does.

 

[the_traveler]

You're right, you can't. Perhaps KK first booked it online as a paid reservation and then changed it to an AGR award? I don't know.

 

[KrazyKoala]

You're right, you can't. Perhaps KK first booked it online as a paid reservation and then changed it to an AGR award? I don't know.

Correct.

 

[Shortline]

So is this anything close to official? We would love to go to WAS sometime and do the museum thing, if it is a 1 Zone that would be a great deal for us. I thought that if you crossed a zone, even to get to a city in the departure zone, that it was still a 2 zone award. (Example FTW-ATL via CHI-WAS-ATL....that's a 2 zone, isn't it, even though ATL an FTW are (or can be) in the central zone?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

So is this anything close to official? We would love to go to WAS sometime and do the museum thing, if it is a 1 Zone that would be a great deal for us. I thought that if you crossed a zone, even to get to a city in the departure zone, that it was still a 2 zone award. (Example FTW-ATL via CHI-WAS-ATL....that's a 2 zone, isn't it, even though ATL an FTW are (or can be) in the central zone?

If it had become "official" how would we even know? The rules aren't written down anywhere so there's no way to know. Apparently if you have already purchased this specific route and get this specific employee to swap it with an AGR award you can cross the country for two zones. Otherwise I would not expect to duplicate this experience unless and until several other people come back with similar examples. So far we only have one person who has accomplished this recently in the manner described.

 

[yarrow]

So is this anything close to official? We would love to go to WAS sometime and do the museum thing, if it is a 1 Zone that would be a great deal for us. I thought that if you crossed a zone, even to get to a city in the departure zone, that it was still a 2 zone award. (Example FTW-ATL via CHI-WAS-ATL....that's a 2 zone, isn't it, even though ATL an FTW are (or can be) in the central zone?

So far we only have one person who has accomplished this recently in the manner described.

we did a 2 zone spk-atl redemption in september and were routed spk-chi-was-atl for both halves of our round trip

 

[crescent2]

I'm totally confused!

How could spk-chi-was-atl possibly be just two zones? I understand that ATL can be counted as in the central zone, but what about WAS? Curious about how AGR works...

 

[the_traveler]

Does this mean the Slidell Loophole is back? :blush:

 

[KrazyKoala]

I'm totally confused! How could spk-chi-was-atl possibly be just two zones? I understand that ATL can be counted as in the central zone, but what about WAS? Curious about how AGR works...

That is the WHOLE point of this thread...WAS is dual zone.

 

[Ryan]

I'm totally confused! How could spk-chi-was-atl possibly be just two zones? I understand that ATL can be counted as in the central zone, but what about WAS? Curious about how AGR works...

Under the "old" "rules", It would be a 2 zone trip because you start in the West zone (SPK) and end in the Central zone (ATL). The fact that you went through the Eastern zone to get there didn't matter.

 

[Anthony]

Like all things on the internet, take this thread with a grain of salt. One person's purported experience does not mean anything has changed.

 

[Ryan]

That's the awesome thing about a single data point - you can create an infinite number of pictures.

 

[the_traveler]

Like all things on the internet, take this thread with a grain of salt

I'd rather take it with a fifth of whiskey! It will look better after! :giggle:

 

[crescent2]

KK: Yes, I know it's the point of the thread. That's why I'm confused--it doesn't make sense. I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of AGR.

What was the "Slidell loophole"?

 

[Ryan]

A popular trip that utilized what I called the "old" "rules" in my last post. It used to be that the only thing that determined how many zones you were charged for was the start and end point of your trip. You could go from Slidell to the West coast as a 2 zone trip, but since there isn't a same day connection in NOL, you would get routed through WAS and get 4 nights in a room for a cheap 2 zone redemption.

Too many people took advantage of it, and AGR started charging for the number of zones that you travel through, not just the start and end points. Most of the time. Sort of. None of this is written down in any rulebook that anyone has managed to get their hands on, so it's still a little bit of wild west.

 

[musikdude]

Earlier tonight, I tried to book a roomette from Los Angeles to Chicago (using the longer routing on CS & EB) and the agent insisted it would be 35k points (a 15k + a 20 k/ 2 separate transactions). So frustrating that the agents AND supervisors don't know the correct rules of AGR!!!!! I just hung up and will try again tomorrow.

 

[crescent2]

Thanks, Ryan.

So, say if one were to book ATL-EMY, the amtrak site gives ATL-WAS-Chicago-EMY (or Charlottesville instead of WAS on some days) without using "Multicity." So, I'm assuming that would be only one AGR redemption. But would it be a 3-zone redemption because it routes you through WAS or Charlottesville? (ATL can be eastern or central, so that would be 2 zones using only the departure and destination cities.) It doesn't give you any other routes other than the Crescent/CL or Cardinal/CZ.

I cannot get the Sunset Limited/CS route to show as an option on any day, even departing from as far west as Slidell.