CMK10

So because we here in the AGR forum are just as cool as those in the airline forums, I figured I would once again create this thread. I made (This One) last year and it seemed popular. Obviously I will start.

Status: Member
Rail Points: 3,578
Points Earned: 8,538
Total Points: 13,458
Segments: 4

Not bad I thought. Trips were BWI-PHL, SEA-CHI, LAX-CHI and CHI-MKA

sculler1x

I pretty much gave up on flying between BOS and NYC this year.

Select Plus Member for 2011
You have 30,500 rail points

The Acela FC attendants know me by name now. But at least I'm not killing time on the runway at BOS or LGA anymore in bad weather.

GoAmtrak

Status: Select Plus
Rail Points: 11,614

The new AGR site does not seem to be able to allow me to tabulate those other figures. But I can say that I enjoyed several excellent Amtrak travel redemptions this year, collectively worth thousands of dollars. ^

CKinMD

12,050 rail points for me. My goal next year is to hit 10,000 rail points, then take all of my northeast travel to the air, in order to requalify for United 1K.

northeast

Status: Member
Rail Points: 4,850
Total Points: 28658
Trips :WAS -NWK -WAS

150 short for S -2011

Had to cancel this weeks trip due to bad weather in NJ/NY...So looks like I will be narrowly missing the Select status for next year. What a luck!!

Does anyone have a suggestion on getting around this? only option I can think of is to buy a ticket and just print it out (will not be able to travel anyways this week )

jackal

All tickets earn 100 points minimum. Therefore, your best option is to look at the shortest, cheapest trips from WAS and make the time (yes, Select is worth a couple hours of your time). You could either do a WAS-NCR-WAS round-trip or a WAS-ALX-WAS round trip. If the timing doesn't work perfectly (i.e. too long of a layover), both stations are adjacent to Metro stations, so you can do WAS-NCR or WAS-ALX and then ride Metro home and then do another WAS-NCR or WAS-ALX (or NCR-WAS or ALX-WAS) trip to get the other 100 points. Both can be done for under $40 rt.

The other option would be to book a trip WAS-XXX that is at least $75. Board the train, give the ticket to the conductor, and then disembark at NCR (if going north) or ALX (if going south). Ride Metro home. As long as the conductor lifts the ticket, it doesn't matter where you get off.

Last option--which would probably be unsuccessful but could be worth a try--would be to book a ticket for at least $75 and then call AGR and claim the conductor never got around to taking your ticket. You could conceivably do this with two tickets of lesser value, but you might make AGR more suspicious (two tickets in a row that were not collected?!).

jbart74

I don't think cheating the system is an appropriate discussion.

jackal

Note that I definitely DON'T advocate doing this. Besides the fact that it'd likely be unsuccessful (based on reports I've read on FT), it isn't following the spirit of the program.

However, it has been brought up before, and in the interests of presenting all of the options, I'm only repeating what is available for public reading by searching the forum.

And if it comes down to it--there are FAR worse ways you could cheat Amtrak. The OP would, in effect, be making a $75 donation to Amtrak without costing Amtrak anything (the fuel to haul his weight, the water he'd use in the restroom, the cleaning around his seat, etc.). He'd be getting a few points worth less than $10 (likely more like $3, based on the average valuation of 2 cents per point) in exchange for that $75 donation, meaning Amtrak's coming out at least $65 ahead. That's more than they would make if the OP bought WAS-ALX-WAS and actually traveled it.

So, it's not my recommended course of action, and I probably wouldn't do it, but it's not like actual theft of service.

jackal

Now, back on topic for this thread:

My Status for 2011
You're 3,850 rail points away
from Select (5,000 pts required)
You have 1,150 rail points

Total points redeemed by me: 34,000
Total points redeemed by a friend who dragged me along with him: 40,000
(Above exclusive of the Chase AGR MasterCard rebates offered this year)

Total miles traveled on Amtrak: TBD

I still have lots more points to use and lots more to transfer in from my Amex (yes, I know that is ending next year).

northeast

Thanks Jackal....I guess i will try the WAS-NCR-WAS option...All along I was assuming that buying and getting(printing) the ticket is good enough...thought Amtrak will consider this as if I travelled (unless I cancel the ticket later) ... As i will be using Amtrak next year....I can spend couple of hours for this short trip...glad I asked...thanks...

wxguy

Status: Select+
Rail Points: 11,542
Points Earned: 30,384
Segments: 20 (paid), 8 (reward)

Most of the above were between BOS and NYP; one was BOS<->PHL; a few BOS<->STM or BOS<->NWK.

CMK10

Welcome to Flyertalk Northeast! I'm glad your first (and second) posts were in one of my threads. As you can tell, Jackal is a great source of information and a great representation of these boards. Hope to see you around lots

Ispolkom

Status: none
Points earned 102877 (Mrs. Ispolkom earned another 58000)
Rail Points 2512
Points spent 140000 (60,000 as a gift to father-in-law)
Miles traveled on Amtrak 17253
Nights spent in sleeper 17

I was pleased that this year the nights I spent in a sleeping car were more than the nights I spent in motels or hotels.

AlanB

Status: Select Plus
Rail Points: 13,054
Points earned: 40,135 including bonuses
Total Points: 46,498
Points spent: 35,000
Segments: 38
Total miles traveled: 12,002

ArlingtonTraveler

Status: Select Plus
Rail Points: 12,428
Point at end of Year: 108,382