TRADING UNWANTED AGR POINTS

[fiatfiat]

I am new to this forum and much more familiar with the flyertalk forum. There is a seperate section there where people can trade and exchange points/miles from one program for another program.

Is there any place on this site where members can trade/exchange AGR points for say frequent flyer miles, hotel points or Grift cards?

I am aware that you can exchange AGR for Hilton points, but you require $200 in Amtrak spending on the Amtrak credit card to do the exchange.

I have 30,000 AGR points (and another 21,500 in another account) that I would like to trade, as I do not forsee any travel plans on Amtrak for 2009.

If anyone can point me in the right direction or send me a message if you would be interested in doing a trade, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you

 

[AlanB]

No, we don't have a trading section like Flyertalk here. FT is your best option for something like that. Sorry!

You can get gift cards from the AGR site if you like, but you're correct that Amtrak won't allow you to transfer without having the AGR credit card and actually purchasing Amtrak tickets on said credit card. By the way and just for the record, we are not Amtrak here. That's not our rule.

 

[Upstate]

Could you get the AGR card, buy 200 bucks worth of tickets for a far off travel date, transfer the points, get a refund for the 200 bucks worth of tickets? Would that work?

 

[RRrich]

I may be in violation of AU rules here, in which case I expect this post to be removed.

You have 30,000 AGR points? To me that is a 2 zone one way trip in sleeper. You might want to get a ticket from A to B (a 2 zone trip, in sleeper) in someone else's name - and someone else might want to give you an agreed upon amount of $$$s.

Fiatfiat, would that work for you?

 

[fiatfiat]

I may be in violation of AU rules here, in which case I expect this post to be removed.
You have 30,000 AGR points? To me that is a 2 zone one way trip in sleeper. You might want to get a ticket from A to B (a 2 zone trip, in sleeper) in someone else's name - and someone else might want to give you an agreed upon amount of $$$s.

Fiatfiat, would that work for you?

Yes that would be a good idea - but as you say I dont know what the rules of this forum are - but a $$$ equivalent in gift cards or miles from an airline program or points for a hotel program. As you then suggest, I would book the award on someone else's name - this is something that is done all the time on flyertalk.

 

[RRrich]

I can't find the correct area on FT - perhaps I don't have enough posts?

Of course there are always other ways

 

[RRrich]

I cannot get on the Coupon Exchange area of FlyerTalk.

Can anyone advise me of the "rates of exchange" or the "Discount for Cash" on FT, and how is the actual exchange of the tickets done? If Fred gets an AGR ticket in Bob's name can Bob get the ticket from the Q/T machine with the Reservation number or the scan pattern?

Answers by PM would be just fine

 

[jackal]

I can't find the correct area on FT - perhaps I don't have enough posts?
Of course there are always other ways

You must have at least 90 posts and have been a member for at least 90 days to have access to Coupon Connection.

This is done in order to ensure trades are done only between established members of the FT community (a safety mechanism) as well as prevent spam posts and trades from people who might register only to post in that forum and then disappear forever.

As to your other questions, I've never used CC and have only checked it out once or twice to see what it was about, so I'm not sure what the average rates of exchange is. There is no set rate of exchange--it functions mostly like classifieds/want ads, where someone posts an "I have xxx" or "I need yyy" request and others respond with various counteroffers. A typical trade might be something like eight UA 500-mile upgrades in exchange for one AA eVIP. When the OP is satisfied with one of the offers, he/she contacts that person via PM and finalizes the trade.

 

[sechs]

Also realise that the direct buying and selling of points on Flyertalk is prohibited, as it is for the programs from which these come.

A lot of opportunistic folks there got stuck with AGR points that they never intended to keep, so you'll often find people trying to extract some value by trading.

 

[RRrich]

A lot of opportunistic folks there got stuck with AGR points that they never intended to keep, so you'll often find people trying to extract some value by trading.

My question is - if you have 500 AGR points that you don't want and I have 500 AGR points, how can they be combined into one 1,000 AGR point special fare reward???

 

[jackal]

A lot of opportunistic folks there got stuck with AGR points that they never intended to keep, so you'll often find people trying to extract some value by trading.

My question is - if you have 500 AGR points that you don't want and I have 500 AGR points, how can they be combined into one 1,000 AGR point special fare reward???

Not that I know of. You can't (AFAIK) directly transfer AGR points from one account to another.

Perhaps it may be possible to do a roundabout transfer (out to CO or SPG or something) and back into the other person's account, but there may be some obstacles to that (conversion losses, minimum transfer amounts/increments, matching name requirements, etc.). Otherwise, no, you can't combine points from two accounts for a single award.

 

[sechs]

The general currency of trading is something for which the points/miles can be redeemed for something else for which points/miles can be redeemed, such as a flight for a hotel stay.

Except for vouchers and upgrades, there aren't a lot of tangibles trading hands there (at least in theory).

 

[fiatfiat]

Still have 21,500 AGR points - apart from a trip to Wash DC from NY I dont forsee any train travel in the immediate future - so if someone could use these for an upcoming trip they have planned, please PM me and lets see if we can do some sort of trade - thanks

 

[Upstate]

for 21,000 points you could make that WAS-NYP trip in Acela first class roundtrip

 

[sechs]

I don't think that we want to turn this into a trading venue.

 

[saxman]

Just keep your points. They are good for 3 years after you take a trip. Once you take another trip, they are reset for another 3 years. So as long as you ride somewhere at least every three years, they will not expire. Then you can have them saved up for a big trip you can do.

 

[fiatfiat]

I don't think that we want to turn this into a trading venue.

Thanks for your replies - I was simply offering the points as they may be of more value to someone else who could benefit from a bedroom than to me who would only use them on a short trip NY to Wash or Boston, which does not really save that much money.

Also someone may have hotel points or airline miles that I can use, so hopefully a mutually beneficial exchange.