Mileage weirdness on Starlight

[Phil S]

Went ALY/SJC/ALY last week. Got credited for 550 mi on the way down, 830 on the way back. Adds up to 1380 and timetable lists mileage as 687. Times 2 is 1374, so, in the unlikely event I did the arithmetic right, I actually got 6 extra miles. But.....huh?

 

[calwatch]

Huh? AGR is a dollar based system, not a miles based system, similar to the frequent flyer plan of Southwest.

 

[Tracktwentynine]

You get AGR points based on how much you spend, not how far you travel.

So, for example, if you travel 687 miles and pay $225 for that trip, you get 550 points, not 687 (or 1,374) miles.

There's also a 100 point minimum. So if you pay $11 for your trip, you still get 100 points, no matter how far you traveled in miles.

 

[Phil S]

Huh? AGR is a dollar based system, not a miles based system, similar to the frequent flyer plan of Southwest.

That's what I didn't know. Coincidences I guess in the past.

 

[BCL]

You get AGR points based on how much you spend, not how far you travel.
So, for example, if you travel 687 miles and pay $225 for that trip, you get 550 points, not 687 (or 1,374) miles.

There's also a 100 point minimum. So if you pay $11 for your trip, you still get 100 points, no matter how far you traveled in miles.

Clarification. 100 points per segments minimum up to a max of 4 minimum point awards per day. And even with any discounts (AAA, child fare, code discounts, etc) the 100 point minimum still applies for any segment $50 or less.

I know of one particular $11 trip - SFC-EMY-RIC-MTZ that can be done as a bus ride and two segments on the San Joaquin. The prices are only this low for the San Joaquin. If the train segments are on the Capitol Corridor, California Zephyr, or Coast Starlight the prices are higher. I did a breakdown, and it's actually $1.09/$3.37/$6.54 for these three segments, and can be even lower with a AAA discount or some sort of fare special.