octr202

Thanks for the info!

Trip will be midweek, midday from BOS-NYP, so hopefully it's not a peak time. The fares are still pretty low so I'm hoping that bodes well. Will be a new experience getting to ride in the fancy car for a change.

physioprof

Dunno about NEC trains, but if Acela, you should have no problem at all upgrading both of you to First. NEC business class is far from "fancy car", so hoping you mean Acela!

octr202

Yes, Acela. The NEC Regional business is hardly worth an upgrade, I agree!

physioprof

Acela First is great. Decent food at your huge comfy seat, free cocktails, and (almost always) friendly attentive attendants. And although it's not officially a quiet car, people mostly tend to keep their voices down, even on the phone.

bryand83

I just bought two tickets on the Acela using a companion certificate. I have a pile of 48 hour upgrade certificates - can I use two to upgrade both of us from biz to first when the window opens? If paid tickets I assume yes but not sure how the companion certificate plays into it.

jebr

You won't be able to stack the coupons in that way. I'm not sure if you could use just one to upgrade just the paid ticket, but you definitely can't upgrade the companion couponed ticket with the business class coupon.

progapanda

I'm a relative newbie to AGR but saw something today that I hadn't heard about here before. Was booked in Acela Business BOS-NYP, and about 3 hours prior to departure, I received a pop-up notification from the Amtrak mobile app to upgrade from Business to First for 51$. I was considering using an upgrade voucher anyway, but decided to bite at the 51$ offer only for my credit card to decline the charge and flag it as a fraud alert. As a result, I couldn't get the upgrade ticketed. Trying this again later with a new payment option did not bring up the offer again for me.

I eventually ended up using an upgrade voucher (now I had really made up my mind to go in First!) only to, sigh, end up in a 4-seat table. First Class on this train ended up being 100% full until STM. I know the vouchers are good starting 12-hours prior to departure (I got these vouchers from a 10k AGR points redemption), but how would the other regulars value a voucher versus a 51$ day-of upgrade offer?

Furthermore, there's no way to see seating availability in First before applying an upgrade voucher, is there?

deker0

I've never been given any option to ever see seating availability on Amtrak, regardless of the ticket class.

Mister Nice

Can I order upgrade vouchers and apply them to family members when I am not one of the travelers ?

doctor15

What do you all think the chances are of clearing a 12hr upgrade on a Friday 11am BOS-PHL Acela?

diburning

Pretty good. Late morning trains don't have as large of a business crowd.

Mr. BoH

I don’t think I have ever failed to clear an upgrade on the Acela so long as I submitted the request right at the start of the window. YMMV, but I would say your odds are good.

lensovet

Tried to find this on the site or T&Cs and came up blank.

If you qualify for select in fall 2023, do you get 2 upgrade coupons for 2023 and then another set for 2024? Or just the two for 2024?

lensovet

Looks like you get coupons issued when you qualify for status that are good for one year from date of issue.

NickW

Has anyone been having issues using 12 hour upgrades since the new fare regime came into effect?

I checked the app exactly 12 hours before my last train (Acela) but there was absolutely no option to apply an upgrade coupon. Logging onto the website was no better.

There was definitely availability for first class as they were still selling it.