Booking with points on Southwest Chief?

[Eric in East County]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know about how many Amtrak Guest Reward (AGR) points it takes to cover the cost of a Southwest Chief passage in coach from Los Angeles to Chicago? How many AGR points would it take to make this same trip in a roomette? Or in a bedroom? (What with the cost of these accommodations constantly going up, this might be hard to nail down at any given time.) Has anyone ever tried to use a combination of cash and AGR points for the same trip and same accommodations? For example, booking a passage from LA to Kansas City paying cash and then booking the rest of the trip (Kansas City to Chicago) on the same train and in the same accommodations using AGR points? (If the booking was done far enough in advance and you worked with a live agent it seems reasonable that it could be done.)

 

[AmtrakBlue]

You can see the AGR points cost on the website. There’s a toggle to switch between dollars & points.

You should have no trouble booking cash or points to an intermediate station then booking with the other for the remainder of the trip. It’s not like you’re going to miss a connection. You will need to get an agent involved to make sure you stay in the same room.

Just make sure your cash ticket(s) are scanned so you get your points.

 

[railiner]

If you break up a thru booking that way, it may cost somewhat more. However, in some rare cases, it may actually cost less…

 

[Eric in East County]

This morning, we called Amtrak Guest Rewards and, working with an agent, booked a bedroom from Chicago to LA on SWC 3 using a combination of AGR points and cash. We used points to pay for the bedroom from Chicago to Fort Madison. We used our AGR card to pay for the bedroom from Fort Madison to LA. There was no problem keeping the same bedroom from one reservation to another. This was the first time we’ve tried doing this and it worked out fine, thanks to our having a competent agent who was able to make the necessary arrangements.

 

[zephyr17]

This morning, we called Amtrak Guest Rewards and, working with an agent, booked a bedroom from Chicago to LA on SWC 3 using a combination of AGR points and cash. We used points to pay for the bedroom from Chicago to Fort Madison. We used our AGR card to pay for the bedroom from Fort Madison to LA. There was no problem keeping the same bedroom from one reservation to another. This was the first time we’ve tried doing this and it worked out fine, thanks to our having a competent agent who was able to make the necessary arrangements.

That is a great solution and a good workaround to avoid the serious issues that have come to light with points and cash. Kudo to you and the agent for working that one out.

 

[Eric in East County]

That is a great solution and a good workaround to avoid the serious issues that have come to light with points and cash. Kudo to you and the agent for working that one out.

zephry17,

We’d actually run this idea passed you in a different thread earlier this year. You opined that, in theory, it should work, providing we dealt with a live agent. Again, this was the first time we attempted it and weren’t sure if we could pull it off. Much our delight, the AGR woman who assisted us was able to make it happen.