Getting tickets--AGR and credit card

[Dan O]

Joined this place in 2008 when I was going to take my two oldest kids to Chicago. I got some great advice and have enjoyed my time here over the years.

Thanks to folks here, I got an AGR credit card and I have enough points to buy a roomette to Chicago (from Los Angeles) and to pay for coach for myself. I am bringing my 14 year old son and understand I can get his ticket at half the adult rate even though I am paying with AGR points instead of money. My question is, how do I do this? Do I call the Amtrak phone number or is there one for AGR involved transactions? I'd rather do it all online like I did last time but I am guessing this is not possible. I am going coach one way because I want my son to experience that. I did not mind it at all going to Chicago and back 5 years ago. Actually, I liked it very much. The seats look more comfy than the ones in the roomette pics but I don't know of course.

Many thanks,

Dan

PS. Another reason it doesn't make sense to me to buy a ticket for my son w/ AGR points is that the ticket now is $78 and the point cost is 8000 which doesn't seem like such a good return. Heck, maybe I should save the points for me too and just use them for the roomette.

 

[Anthony]

1-800-307-5000

The plan you describe is a bit confusing -- an AGR roomette sleeper award using points is good for up to two people, so there is no need to spend actual money to cover your or your son's rail fare.

Do you mean to say that you would take a roomette for one direction, and then coach for the return? That's fine -- you could do it on two separate reservations, with the free sleeper in one, and your two coach seat tickets in the other. For the coach portion, you would pay full adult rate and your son would be half the adult rate.

If using points to cover coach travel, a child fare is identical to an adult fare -- there is no "half point" rate for children.

 

[ScottP]

It kind of sounds like Dan plans to redeem an AGR reward for a sleeper on the outbound trip and redeem an AGR reward for one coach seat for the return trip while paying cash for his sons ticket. I would think getting the half off rate for the child's ticket would not be allowed as that would essentially be mixing an AGR reward with cash travel. The official rules for the discounted tickets also mention the adult must be a "fare-paying adult" to receive the discounted rate.

I personally would not redeem a two zone coach reward when the ticket price is $156 as you are only getting a value of $.0195 per point this way. If you were to buy points this would cost you $.0275 per point unless of course there was a 30% points bonus which would still make the cost $.0212 per point. I would hold the points for a better redemption and make it much easier on yourself to get the discounted coach fare. I definitely would not book two AGR coach rewards as that would cost you 16,000 points whereas a roomette would only cost 20,000 points and include all meals for both passengers.

To answer your other question I find the seats in coach to be more comfortable than in sleeper since you have a footrest and the seat back reclines. The seats in the sleeper also face each other which restricts the ammount of legroom you have when traveling with another person.That being said, there is nothing like laying flat at night so that is the way I normally try to travel on Amtrak when possible.

 

[Dan O]

It kind of sounds like Dan plans to redeem an AGR reward for a sleeper on the outbound trip and redeem an AGR reward for one coach seat for the return trip while paying cash for his sons ticket. I would think getting the half off rate for the child's ticket would not be allowed as that would essentially be mixing an AGR reward with cash travel. The official rules for the discounted tickets also mention the adult must be a "fare-paying adult" to receive the discounted rate.
I personally would not redeem a two zone coach reward when the ticket price is $156 as you are only getting a value of $.0195 per point this way. If you were to buy points this would cost you $.0275 per point unless of course there was a 30% points bonus which would still make the cost $.0212 per point. I would hold the points for a better redemption and make it much easier on yourself to get the discounted coach fare. I definitely would not book two AGR coach rewards as that would cost you 16,000 points whereas a roomette would only cost 20,000 points and include all meals for both passengers.

To answer your other question I find the seats in coach to be more comfortable than in sleeper since you have a footrest and the seat back reclines. The seats in the sleeper also face each other which restricts the ammount of legroom you have when traveling with another person.That being said, there is nothing like laying flat at night so that is the way I normally try to travel on Amtrak when possible.

Thanks to both of you. Sorry for the confusing post. I intended to say I'd take the AGR points sleeper one way and was thinking of using points for my coach fare if I could get my son the half priced coach fare for the return trip.

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

 

[AlanB]

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

This will almost certainly fail. AFAIK mixing paid with AGR is still a no-no.

 

[PRR 60]

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

This will almost certainly fail. AFAIK mixing paid with AGR is still a no-no.

I don't think there's a problem. He wants to ride coach on the return trip. I don't see why he can't get an AGR coach ticket for himself and a paid child's fare ticket for his son. They would be on separate reservations, but that does not make a difference. His son would still be accompanied by an adult, so the half price fare should be fine.

 

[AlanB]

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

This will almost certainly fail. AFAIK mixing paid with AGR is still a no-no.

I don't think there's a problem. He wants to ride coach on the return trip. I don't see why he can't get an AGR coach ticket for himself and a paid child's fare ticket for his son. They would be on separate reservations, but that does not make a difference. His son would still be accompanied by an adult, so the half price fare should be fine.

Except that you can't just buy a child's ticket all by itself. It must be on a reservation with an adult. And you cannot mix paid reservations with AGR reservations.

 

[Dan O]

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

This will almost certainly fail. AFAIK mixing paid with AGR is still a no-no.

I don't think there's a problem. He wants to ride coach on the return trip. I don't see why he can't get an AGR coach ticket for himself and a paid child's fare ticket for his son. They would be on separate reservations, but that does not make a difference. His son would still be accompanied by an adult, so the half price fare should be fine.

Except that you can't just buy a child's ticket all by itself. It must be on a reservation with an adult. And you cannot mix paid reservations with AGR reservations.

Alan,

I thought you said the opposite 8 months ago--see link. Maybe I butchered my question there as well. I apologize for being so confusing but now I am confused by what you said last year.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[PRR 60]

Re attempting to get the half price fare for my son while I pay w/ points, there was a thread before and when I asked the question it appears that it is possible. http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/47784-questions-on-kids-points-can-adult-use-half-price-fare/page__pid__365095&do=findComment&comment=365095

I may call and give it a try. Depends on how much I want to keep the 8000 points or not.

This will almost certainly fail. AFAIK mixing paid with AGR is still a no-no.

I don't think there's a problem. He wants to ride coach on the return trip. I don't see why he can't get an AGR coach ticket for himself and a paid child's fare ticket for his son. They would be on separate reservations, but that does not make a difference. His son would still be accompanied by an adult, so the half price fare should be fine.

Except that you can't just buy a child's ticket all by itself. It must be on a reservation with an adult. And you cannot mix paid reservations with AGR reservations.

I doesn't hurt to ask an AGR agent. The worst they could say is no.

Yes, you can't book a solo child on-line, but that does not mean that an agent can't do it with the knowledge that an adult is traveling. The Amtrak T&C's only say that the child must be traveling with an adult. It does not say the adult must be on the same PNR.

EDIT: this exact scenario was confirmed as OK by Anthony in that prior topic.

 

[Anthony]

EDIT: this exact scenario was confirmed as OK by Anthony in that prior topic.

I can try to ask a few people if that's still a valid option or not. I had forgotten about the old thread. A call to an AGR agent at 1-800-307-5000 will give you an answer right away, though.

 

[Dan O]

EDIT: this exact scenario was confirmed as OK by Anthony in that prior topic.

I can try to ask a few people if that's still a valid option or not. I had forgotten about the old thread. A call to an AGR agent at 1-800-307-5000 will give you an answer right away, though.

I called today. First person I talked to said it would be no problem to get the half price ticket for the child. She said something about linking the reservations together.

Thanks for the info.

Dan