Amtrak Guest Rewards

A bit off topic, but has anyone become THIS obsessed with accumulating Guest Rewards points as have those noted in this article appearing in The New Yorker regarding airline points?

http://www.newyorker.com/business/curre ... ite-status" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair Use:

My status was good only for 2016, which meant that I would be relegated to a lower level if I didn’t keep up the pace of ticket purchases. So, not twenty minutes after achieving my new status, I found myself calling the Global Services help desk and asking how much it would cost to change a frequent-flier award ticket to a bought one. (Global Services veterans had warned me never to lose the chance to “earn” miles, and instead to use frequent-flier points for other people’s flights.) I then asked my wife for permission to spend five hundred and sixty dollars for a flight that I already had a free ticket for. She told me I was insane. But I wasn’t insane. I knew others similarly afflicted. I had Global Services Maintenance Anxiety Disorder

Gilbert B Norman wrote:A bit off topic, but has anyone become THIS obsessed with accumulating Guest Rewards points ...

Not AGR points since most of mine came from using the credit card, and those don't count towards status. I am pretty fanatical about using the card for almost anything I can to get the points though, even now that the terms aren't as favorable for those of us who ride just to ride.

I have taken the kids to a hotel for the weekend in December just to get the "night" to bump me to the next level in a hotel program though. And I have argued (successfully) with an airline that the only reason I missed the next tier in their frequent flyer program was because they cancelled a flight and I had to take a competitor's flight. I will say that if you've ever had top tier in one of those programs for awhile, it can be a real shock to the system when you lose it. It's really nice to walk up to an airline gate with 25 people on the standby list and when you add your name to the list you show up 3rd on the list. And even though you're still only paying for two double beds, you start to really get used to walking into your huge corner suite with the big conference table and the wet bar. I would hope Amtrak treats their top AGR travelers similarly.

Yeah, as a result f my change in job, I no longer find myself travelling nearly as much and have not had Select level in 2-3 years.
I really do miss it, in part because of the lack of access to the Acela lounge in NYP. The clean bathrooms are nice.
The ability to quickly change/upgrade a ticket was a huge plus (though recently the lines at the ticket booths at NYP have been WAY shorter which is nice) and of course the free snacks/drinks in the lounge.

Mr. Roadman, I understand that Starbucks has changed their reward plan to a $$$ value basis rather than the number of purchases you ring up. According to a New York Times article today, this is causing a furor.

Hotel plans, the only ones I use because they are comparatively straight forward with both earning and redemption, have always been more spend, more points.

The major airlines either are or have announced they are awarding "miles" for $$$ spent. Safe to say that they will dream up more hoops to jump through in.order to use them. I just donate mine with United to a charity every year (Wounded Warriors got them last year).

Would be nice if Amtrak could partner with some "recognized" charities so I could find a home for my AGR points.

I think at this point I really hate this new program. You can't figure out when to redeem your points because the fares change constantly and there is no way to plan your accumulation of points like in the past. For instance, if I needed 30,000 points for a round trip annual vacation trip to Florida, and I now have 25,000 in my account, I know I must spend $5,000 and earn the points I need in the next year. Now I have no idea what I need to spend and earn since the numbers are always changing.

We faithfully used our points every year and looked forward to our annual Amtrak vacation trips. It was simple to plan with the flat rate zone. Now I find the process way to ambiguous and frustrating.

I think I will now figure out my best cash-back card and use that mostly to earn cash (maybe the new Chase card?). At least I know exactly what I am getting for my credit card use.

bostontrainguy wrote:I think at this point I really hate this new program. You can't figure out when to redeem your points because the fares change constantly and there is no way to plan your accumulation of points like in the past. For instance, if I needed 30,000 points for a round trip annual vacation trip to Florida, and I now have 25,000 in my account, I know I must spend $5,000 and earn the points I need in the next year. Now I have no idea what I need to spend and earn since the numbers are always changing.

While the new AGR points earning 'plan' is different, in my opinion, it is easier to earn points for travel (excluding the short trips that used to get the 100 point minimum), and more difficult to gain tier points. From the point of view of this Amtrak passenger, it's close to 'break even' or maybe even 'ahead' with the 'new deal'. With the new AGR card from Bank of America, I get 3 points for every Amtrak dollar spent. When the travel is completed, I get double points based on dollar value. That's 5X points! Earlier this week, I rode from Windsor Locks CT to Philadelphia and back, earning 318 points from AGR credit card use, plus another 212 TQPs from Amtrak, plus 54 point 'Select' status bonus points. 318+212+54 = 584. Under the old plan and old credit card, it would have been 212 points from the credit card, and 300 TQPs from Amtrak, as I had to switch to a Springfield shuttle train on the return which would have resulted in 100 points 'going' and 200 points 'return'. As select status, I would have gotten an extra 75 points. 212+300+75 = 587. That's 'break even' in my book.

But wait...there's more!!! With my next credit card billing cycle on 3/7, I'll also get an extra 1000 TQP points for spending $5000 on the plastic so far this year. Throw in the extra 20K points I got for spending $1000 in 90 days with the new card, and another 10000 points for switching electricity providers and I'm still saving a bit more than $0.01/KWH, after their 90 day 'offer' period expired. I used the 30K points I wasn't expecting as of August last year to 'fund' the bulk of a 3 zone, 35,000 point roomette redemption I made just before the 'new deal' took effect in January. I had been watching the pricing on that trip since October, and went up about $100 from October to January. In October, it would have needed about 39,000 points under 'new deal', so I came out ahead.

So, unless one is accustomed to making Select Plus or even Select Executive status from regular commuting on Amtrak and its previous 100 TQP point minimum per leg, I think it's a about break even. But...it does require one to plan and make any redemptions further in advance to get the best price...dollars and/or points. I haven't tried the '$ + pts' redemption yet, but will do so, soon.

Okay so tell me how this removing of the diner from the Star thing works again . . .

Just priced a trip from Boston to Miami for next winter's vacation. Price is based on a one-way roomette:

Star:

$601.95
6:40am - 2:25pm
7 hr, 45 min
195 Northeast Regional
---
2 Reserved Coach Seats
2 Reserved Coach Seats
TRANSFER - WAS (0 hr, 40 min)
3:05pm - 5:58pm (Feb 19)
26 hr, 53 min
91 Silver Star
No Dining Car
Viewliner Roomette

----------------------------
Meteor:

$600.95
9:40am - 1:52pm
4 hr, 12 min
161 Northeast Regional
No Checked Baggage
---
2 Reserved Coach Seats
2 Reserved Coach Seats
TRANSFER - NYP (1 hr, 23 min)
3:15pm - 6:39pm (Feb 19)
27 hr, 24 min
97 Silver Meteor
Dining car
Viewliner Roomette

Also note Rewards redemption:

Reward Points

Redeeming Points
Star: 21,528 points
Meteor: 21,494 points

Of course this same trip would have been ony 15,000 points before!!!

So the train with the cafe food car without meals included fare price is $1.00 more expensive than the train with the dining food car with included meals. Obviously Amtrak is not passing the kitchen food preparation savings down to its customers.

Yeah, but you can either check a bag, OR eat. Your choice.

JoeBas wrote:Yeah, but you can either check a bag, OR eat. Your choice.

Actually that was the only good thing about this. Maybe Amtrak would run the Star to Boston since it would be easy to do without the diner. A one seat/room ride and through luggage are worth considering.

I've alliterated to this at various topics, but I must wonder why the Guest Rewards program has not coordinated with one charity or the other to allow AGR members to donate their points to support such charity's programs.

Many airlines such as United have the means for members of such to donate their points (not tax deductible as they have no cash value whatever) to charity.

I for one "just can't be bothered" with all the "Zones", "Blue Moons", Solar Eclipses, blackouts, and whatever else the transportation companies with programs can dream up. My United points go to Veterans welfare groups such as Fisher House or Wounded Warrior.

Couldn't Amtrak get on board?

Well the very FIRST thing to do would be to cut up one's AGR Mastercard and keep the problem (?) from getting worse.

But it seems to me that points that go unspent already support a worthy cause! Wouldn't "disposal by charity" erode the generous rate at which points buy future travel? If Amtrak funds the rewards with a pot of $X, and has Y points outstanding of which only Z% are expected to be claimed, each of the Z% x Y points is worth its share of $X. If folks could pledge their point purse to their charitable mosque or gun club, then Z would increase, and each outstanding point's share of $X would decrease, and in the end it would take me more points to buy travel.

Luckily, Amtrak's "points" are relatively simple and straightforward to apply to travel.

AGR doesn't do zones anymore, it's now Southwest Airlines style - redemption points directly correspond to the dollar amount the ticket would cost. Last minute sleeper is much more expensive than one booked 11 months out.

It was a better deal for longer distance travel with the zones, but the current one is easier to understand.

It would appear Mr. Penguin's response was more directed towards points earned on an affinity credit card. I thought it was reported here that Amtrak and the Issuer of such had parted ways.

Mr. Primrose's point that Amtrak points have more limited value to a charity than do airline, is well taken. Also of note is there is no tax deduction for donation of airline points, for if there were, there would be an open can of worms regarding inclusion in income for some - particularly airline employees, their retirees, and immediate families. That benefit of free travel well exceeds any definition of a "de minimis fringe", such as flowers on Secretaries' Day.

Finally, lest someone think I'm some kind of "Mr. Bigheart" around here, I do belong to plans with some five major hotel chains - and I use those points. Big diff, no "hoops" - you either have 'em or you don't.