Modify to take advantage of AGR 2.0?

[George K]

I have a trip booked CHI-PDX in May. The round trip (2 zones) is done on AGR 1.0 - I have a bedroom booked. Looking at the trip, the bedrooms are all sold out now.

However, looking at the relative prices of Family Bedroom and Roomette, it looks like I might be better off booking using AGR 2.0 (about 10K points less each way). Of course, since the bedrooms are all sold out, I can't enter an exact price, but I'd guess it's cheaper (point-wise) than AGR 1.0.

After the 24th of the month, when AGR 2.0 kicks in, is there a way to modify my reservation to take advantage of the lower point cost? I'd love to save the 20K points.

 

[BCL]

It's still a bit unclear what the penalty terms are - whether it's 10% of the total or 10% of the refunded points.

 

[KmH]

Though all the bedrooms were sold out when you last checked does not mean they will all stay sold.

I would check daily to see one or more bedrooms have come available and if that were to happen then I would be calling Amtrak to see what it would take to modify your reservation.

 

[George K]

If I cancel and rebook, would I incur the penalty? I don't want to lose the reservation by cancelling.

 

[BCL]

If I cancel and rebook, would I incur the penalty? I don't want to lose the reservation by cancelling.

If you cancel now there shouldn't be a penalty. However, I'm guessing you're concerned about availability and/or cost if you try to rebook on/after Jan 24. I guess all you can do now is wait it out and find out when the terms change.

 

[TinCan782]

Cancel on the 23rd and re-book on the 24th to switch AGR 1 to 2. (2359 hrs and 0001 hours!)

Will this work? Will the accommodation still available? Anyone's guess

 

[the_traveler]

It's possible that in those 2 minutes that somebody could grab that "unsold room"!

 

[HARHBG]

And the price of that room, being possibly the only one at that moment, could and probably will skyrocket in price. There goes any potential savings and just might end up costing you far more than the points used under ARG I.

 

[George K]

And the price of that room, being possibly the only one at that moment, could and probably will skyrocket in price. There goes any potential savings and just might end up costing you far more than the points used under ARG I.

Good point, one that I hadn't considered.

 

[Ryan]

You should be able to use Amsnag to determine what the top bucket costs, then derive what the value is in points. Assume the room goes back in the inventory at high bucket (worst case) and assess.

 

[BCL]

I don't think anyone can really know what will happen without trying. Certainly there's the possibility that there could still be availability, but for the most part who would risk losing a reservation?