Individualized bonus points offered in Fall Travel promotion

[ozbarron]

2x

 

[Brian Battuello]

2X, on fall travel between Sept 10-Oct 31.

This "mystery offer" teaser was a pain in the tush. Normally I get these promotions and sign up with 1-click. But n--o--o--o--o--o. (Channeling SNL's John Belushi, for those of you who remember.) I had to look up my password, log into my rewards account, check my phone for the text message because I'd enrolled in 2-factor authentication as I always do for sites that save my credit-card info, find the offer, and page through several screens of fluff before I got to the Big Reveal. All for a very ordinary promotion. If Amtrak is trying to annoy its rewards members it certainly nailed it.

As I mentioned in another topic, registering for the promotion is just a training exercise for when you actually try to buy your tickets…

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

Only got 2X

 

[Old MM]

2x. Might try for something in October might not.

 

[Literalman]

I got 4x. I had to confirm my identification with a secret number twice. We have a Keystone trip from Philly to New York scheduled to use up a voucher, but we still had to pay for part of the ticket. I might make a round trip Philly to Harrisburg this month. Total cash spending for both trips, probably about $50. So I might get 200 extra points out of it.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Select Plus until Feb. 2X was the mystery number...

 

[TaseMeBro]

Nonstatus member, received 2X.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Nonstatus member, received 2X.

Same here.

 

[zephyr17]

Select Plus, 2X.

While it is a small sample set, from what is posted here it would seem that AGR status and the promotion point multiplier are uncorrelated.

 

[Peter_Travels]

Select, 2x

I’ve done a good amount of travel so far this year and have quite a few upcoming trips for the fall.

 

[highfalutin]

They aren't TQPs so they don't count for status.

For an Amtrak ticket:
You get 3X upon purchase from your FNBO Amtrak card.

You get the normal 2X upon travel from Amtrak.

You get 3X the normal 2X travel award for travel, so 6X there, upon travel.

So total 9X. But only the 2X for travel counts as TQPs.

So for those of us with

• AGR Preferred MasterCard
• the 2X "mystery" promotion
• Select Plus status

Purchasing a $100 ticket would result in

• 300 points from the card
• 400 points from travel (normal 2X, times mystery promotion 2x)
• 200 points Select Plus bonus (50% of 400)
• 200 TQPs (normal 2x)

So a total of 900 base points and 200 TQPs? Does that sound right?

 

[zephyr17]

So for those of us with

• AGR Preferred MasterCard
• the 2X "mystery" promotion
• Select Plus status

Purchasing a $100 ticket would result in

• 300 points from the card
• 400 points from travel (normal 2X, times mystery promotion 2x)
• 200 points Select Plus bonus (50% of 400)
• 200 TQPs (normal 2x)

So a total of 900 base points and 200 TQPs? Does that sound right?

As a Select Plus member holding a Preferred AGR card, that looks right.

 

[Anderson]

3x. Which is the best deal I've gotten since 2011, I think, when they did a week on Double Days that was, instead, Triple Days. So, as Select Executive, that'd be...

3x (so 6 points/dollar) with the special offer.
Another 1x (so 2 points per dollar) from status.
In theory, another 3 points per dollar for the fancy AGR CC.

So...11 points per dollar plus potentially another 0.5-1.0 points for class-of-paid-travel, so 11-12 points per dollar spent? That's not a bad rebate...

FWIW, I see an alternative calculation that would double the whole 3x with status. So that would be 6 point from the offer, 6 points from status, 3 points from the CC, and then up to another point from class-of-paid travel...or 15-16 points per dollar spent.

To be honest, my money is on the former - if someone was Select Exec and pulled the 4x bonus and then got to double that, you'd be looking at 19-20 points/dollar, and I just can't buy Amtrak allowing that sort of stacking.

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

Only got 2X

Forgot to mention that I'm Select status (thanks to getting the AGR Preferred MasterCard). It will be interesting to see whether I'll get any Double Days points since I booked my Cardinal reservation before registering for Double Days. The other rides I'm taking during the Double Days time frame are either points redemption or points & cash, so I know those won't count (unless they count the cash portion of the points & cash one, which I doubt).

 

[zephyr17]

FWIW, I see an alternative calculation that would double the whole 3x with status. So that would be 6 point from the offer, 6 points from status, 3 points from the CC, and then up to another point from class-of-paid travel...or 15-16 points per dollar spent.

That isn't the way it works. The bonuses for status are applied separately.

If you look at the points transaction you will see multiple entries. In this case what will almost certainly show is:
Amtrak Travel
Type Travel Earning
Earned (2 x $)

Fall Promotion Bonus
Type Travel Earning
Earned (4 x $)3 x bonus points = 3 x (2 x $) - (2 x $ base award)

Select Executive Point Bonus
Type Travel Earning
Earned (2 x $)

Amtrak Travel
Type Travel Earning
TQPs (2 x $)

 

[joelkfla]

So for those of us with

• AGR Preferred MasterCard
• the 2X "mystery" promotion
• Select Plus status

Purchasing a $100 ticket would result in

• 300 points from the card
• 400 points from travel (normal 2X, times mystery promotion 2x)
• 200 points Select Plus bonus (50% of 400)
• 200 TQPs (normal 2x)

So a total of 900 base points and 200 TQPs? Does that sound right?

The Tier bonus applies to the base travel points, not the multiplied points. Example from last year's Double Points with Select Tier 25% bonus:

 

[scrollmaster]

Select Plus and use Preferred Amtrak card. I also received 2X redemption. But that does help as we are traveling return trip from Longview, TX to Los Angeles for a cruise in mid October so nice to get the extra points to use for future travel. The trip will also gain enough TQPs to push me to Select Executive. I always make Select Plus but this is my first time to make Select Executive

 

[TheVig]

I got 2x. No complaints here though. I'm flush with points, a little over 200k at the moment. I've used my Amtrak cards for a lot of non-Amtrak spend this year. I hit Select Executive from the spend alone. Along the way this year, Amtrak has been loading my account up with lounge passes. Almost more than I can use. I think they must be looking at overall spend data on their cards besides Amtrak spend.

 

[joelkfla]

I got 2x. No complaints here though. I'm flush with points, a little over 200k at the moment. I've used my Amtrak cards for a lot of non-Amtrak spend this year. I hit Select Executive from the spend alone. Along the way this year, Amtrak has been loading my account up with lounge passes. Almost more than I can use. I think they must be looking at overall spend data on their cards besides Amtrak spend.

You won't be using any lounge passes when you're Select Plus or Executive. You have unlimited lounge access.

 

[TheVig]

You won't be using any lounge passes when you're Select Plus or Executive. You have unlimited lounge access.

Yes, I know. Doesn't make a lot of sense why they keep adding them to my account.

 

[highfalutin]

The Tier bonus applies to the base travel points, not the multiplied points. Example from last year's Double Points with Select Tier 25% bonus:
View attachment 37710

You're right. Confirmed after taking a trip during the promo period. With the AGR Preferred card, 2x promotion, and Select Plus status, I end up with 8x regular points and 2x TQPs.