Mix points and cash is here it seems.
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Combining points and cash
- Thread starter McLeansvilleAppFan
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printman2000
Engineer
Just received an email...
Of course, this was promised like 10 years ago, so about time.
Of course, this was promised like 10 years ago, so about time.
Here's a link to the FAQ: https://www.amtrak.com/guestrewards/ways-to-redeem/points-cash.html
The points seem to be worth less than if used for an award trip: about 1.54 cents/point for cash and points versus 2.67 cents/point for an award booking. I guess it's useful if you have a small number of points that would otherwise go unused, which doesn't apply to anyone here!
The points seem to be worth less than if used for an award trip: about 1.54 cents/point for cash and points versus 2.67 cents/point for an award booking. I guess it's useful if you have a small number of points that would otherwise go unused, which doesn't apply to anyone here!
Skeptical as usual. Depends on how they value the points. I doubt the points will be worth more than the ones we now have to purchase to make up a shortfall,
How do I look at this exactly?
I just checked a trip I'm actually interested in, Charlottesville to Chicago. For a roomette I'm short 5000 points. AGR offers to make up the difference for $294 (plus all of my 14,300 pts). Is that 294/5000 or nearly 6¢/pt? That's more than double the usual charge isn't it?
I can buy 4000 pts +1200 bonus for $151.
I think they actually hate us and wish we'd go away.
I just checked a trip I'm actually interested in, Charlottesville to Chicago. For a roomette I'm short 5000 points. AGR offers to make up the difference for $294 (plus all of my 14,300 pts). Is that 294/5000 or nearly 6¢/pt? That's more than double the usual charge isn't it?
I can buy 4000 pts +1200 bonus for $151.
I think they actually hate us and wish we'd go away.
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Reporting over on Flyertalk are it is 0.04 to 0.06 on Points Plus Cash, so your experience is consistent with that.
Pretty much, yeah.I think they actually hate us and wish we'd go away.
That's interesting that they refund points + cash the same way as they were purchased. Some points systems for example IHG hotels let you pay with points + cash but convert the cash to points, so that refunds end up being points only.
I mentioned this to Kev Monteith of "Travels with Kev." This is what he said:
"I looked more into the program, at the math, and compared it to buying points because that is where this program comes in handy. It saves that step.
"From what I looked at, it depends on how many points you use, for the points seem to have a flex value like they can when booking.
"The more points you use, the more they are worth, but that can change.…
"The program is excellent for those who want to use rather than lose their points, which is great for the occasional user and is less complex for some than buying the missing points."
"I looked more into the program, at the math, and compared it to buying points because that is where this program comes in handy. It saves that step.
"From what I looked at, it depends on how many points you use, for the points seem to have a flex value like they can when booking.
"The more points you use, the more they are worth, but that can change.…
"The program is excellent for those who want to use rather than lose their points, which is great for the occasional user and is less complex for some than buying the missing points."
This is pretty nifty; you can now combine points and cash to buy tickets. It’s probably not the best redemption rate, but it’s definitely more convenient than having to buy points to meet a reward amount, and there doesn’t appear to be a minimum amount of points you need to use it. At a minimum, you can get a “discount” off a cash fare, especially useful for Acela FC or a sleeper room.
I have a use it or lose it voucher which I will have to "combine" with points in some way. However, the way I will combine it is to use the voucher on spousal R/T tix AUS to FTW and one points ticket for a fam member at the same time. Mixing on any single ticket would be a loser.
Yes but it seems that if you do this the value of the points is a lot less than it would be if you just used points based on other posts here and around the internet and you can't just mix any value of cash and points but there are certain break points
Yes.
You couldn't because their systems couldn't support it. They've remediated that limitation now. The demand for fixes and modifications always exceed the capacity to perform them at any IT shop and have to be triaged and prioritized. This one's number finally came up.
b243923
Service Attendant
I received my guest rewards statement today and they announced you can now book travel with points and cash.
When you do not have enough points for a trip you can pay cash difference.
When you do not have enough points for a trip you can pay cash difference.
Yep, that works, but I suggest you call AGR instead of booking on line, since you can pick your room( using points for Coach is not value concious) and get assistance from a more knowledgeable agent than the usual Amtrak phone agents!
Precisely. I was just checking this combination and it's exactly as you mentioned.
What a rip off!!
I am looking at a trip, auto train 4 bedrooms, and the total cash price is $3,385, but with this new cash & points I am given the option to use 39,445 points and pay $3,600.65 in cash.
Who in their right mind would take this option?
Thank you, AMTRAK, what a DEAL!
I am looking at a trip, auto train 4 bedrooms, and the total cash price is $3,385, but with this new cash & points I am given the option to use 39,445 points and pay $3,600.65 in cash.
Who in their right mind would take this option?
Thank you, AMTRAK, what a DEAL!
texline
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2016
- Messages
- 131
I thought I would try out cash and points. Booked a round trip on the Sunset Limited/Pacific Surfliner to So Cal. Sunset Limited had a rare, almost perfect run, when we boarded in Maricopa. Was an hour ahead going past the last station before LA. Then we came to a stop, conductor says extreme freight congestion ahead. We sat for a long time and then we moved about a mile before stopping again. Conductor comes on to announce they are expired on hours, and we wait for relief. I knew my connection was going to leave so I called guest rewards like I normally do to have the Surfliner ticket modified. The guest rewards person had me on hold a long time, would come on and ask how I paid, did I get my ticket scanned, etc. They finally came back on and said it is a cash and point sale so guest rewards can do nothing. I asked what we were supposed to do now. Again, on hold for a long time. Back on the phone, I am told to go the station agent when we arrive and explain it to them. We arrived and the station agent said nothing they could do because cash and points. Another station agent in the lounge, who had a reputation of fixing anything, got into the computer system and produced a new ticket for us. We made it to our destination. On return, the conductor scanned our ticket, and we were back to LA. Checking into the lounge, the attendant had a puzzled look. Tried to scan us a few times. Then on the computer. She looked up and said we weren't in the system anymore. We asked how that was even possible, we just were scanned on the Surfliner, and she spent time on the computer investigating. She called supervisors and finally said because we did cash and points, the system couldn't handle the modified Surfliner so it dumped the return trip on the Sunset Limited but allowed the return on the Surfliner. They had no idea why. After a bunch of calls, we were issued a new sleeper ticket, the last room on the train. The lounge attendant really worked extra hard to fix things and she said that points and cash has problems. Maybe a new system with bugs, I don't know. I just thought I would share my experience.
Another half-baked implementation by Amtrak IT!
So, for this September's trip we had two reservations. One for the trains we paid for with points and one for the trains we put on our AGR card.
Am I correct that since you can combine points and cash we should expect all trains to be on one reservation for our next trip?
Am I correct that since you can combine points and cash we should expect all trains to be on one reservation for our next trip?
You can now do that if you'd like. The points redemption value will be reduced as described in prior posts and the problems encountered on a points/cash ticket described by @texline on a missed connection would be very concerning to me.
You can also still split it into separate points and cash reservations. That probably gives better value and avoids the possibility of running into the problems @texline did. However, splitting reservations on a same day connection is never a good idea and should usually only be done at an overnight layover.
Has anyone experienced trying to change room numbers after booking online with cash and points? I just called and was told no way; however, this also sometimes happens even when you use 100 percent points, and you get the “wrong” person on the phone; they try to sell you a room at the higher bucket. However, given that this feature is new, maybe the agent is correct. Has anyone been successful?
I was just reading the Points + Cash FAQ, and it seemed to indicate that Points + Cash could NOT be used for ticket purchases via telephone, and that ticket reservations paid for with Points + Case could not be changed. This could be a problem for me when I try to book next year's California Zephyr trip for the hubby & me, as we found out the hard way this year on the Texas Eagle that neither of us is able to climb into the top bunk in a bedroom. (Maybe in a roomette, but we haven't tried that yet, and would hate to find out that a roomette top bunk was a no-go if we had only booked 1 roomette!) So booking 2 adjacent roomettes seems to be our best option for overnight train journeys, but booking via telephone (to the dedicated AGR number) seems to be the only way to do that.
