AGR Insider

Amtrak Guest Rewards will soon announce the launch of our newest and most rewarding tier: Select Executive. Starting on January 1, 2013, members who earned 20,000 or more Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) in 2012 will enjoy this new status.

Select Executive members will receive:

• a 100% tier point bonus on Amtrak travel
• no annual limit on point purchases
• one-class upgrades (48-hour) and free companion coupons with the new member kit
• an additional one-class upgrade for every 3,000 TQPs earned while a Select Executive member
• an exclusive Select Executive customer service line
• unlimited access to Amtrak ClubAcelas, Amtrak Metropolitan Lounges, Amtrak First class lounges, as well as all United Clubs worldwide
• auto-registration for eligible promotions throughout the year
• exclusive partner offers and promotions

Select Executive benefits will begin on January 1, 2013 for those who reach 20,000 TQPs in 2012. Member kits (including the new member card, upgrades, and companion coupons) will arrive by March. In the meantime, Select Executive members should continue to use their 2012 Select Plus cards for lounge access. In future years, status will be earned as soon as a member qualifies, for the remainder of that calendar year as well as the following program year (just like Select and Select Plus).

We appreciate your support for our program, and look forward to extending these new benefits to our most frequent travelers.

gatelouse

While we may debate the value of the new benefits, I'm glad to see some incentive for high Acela TQP earners to continue riding. Also glad to see that United Club access will continue, in some form, in 2013.

Which leads me to ask: I presume Select Plus members will retain their unlimited Amtrak and United lounge access benefits in 2013?

MrChu

Is the number of one-class upgrades (48-hour) and free companion coupons with the new member kit same as S+ and then additional are given after every 3000 points?

Currently at ~17800 so not sure if I will make it to SE during the month of December. Not sure if it is worth it to do MR to attain SE status?!

BeantownFlyer

Didn't see this yesterday, but just received my email notification that I have qualified.

Very happy to see the addition as I have been harping on this for some time. The 100% bonus is long overdue. I will avoid commenting on the other perks other than to say "it's a start".

AGR Insider

The Select Plus benefits have not changed and will remain the same as in 2012.

Select Executive members will receive 4 one-class upgrades and 2 free companion coupons with the welcome kit. This is in addition to 1 one-class upgrade earned for every 3,000 TQPs once Select Executive status has been reached.

GoAmtrak

Thank you; that was my primary concern as well.

Honestly, as an off-corridor S+ who rides mostly one-class coach trains or long-distance sleepers, I haven't even used my 4 upgrades this year. While I appreciate that AGR continues to exist as a driver of Acela revenue and that the new SE tier was needed especially that regard, many of us are still waiting for a more flexible suite of benefits that provide relevance outside of the Northeast (e.g. priority boarding at major stations, drink coupons, or other on-board recognition). If I wasn't also a UA 1K, and thus able to heavily utilize the UC benefit, I would not find S+ very rewarding beyond the 50% point bonus.

Thanks as always for considering our feedback in the course of making program changes. ^

bwicoplat

How about some sort of priority boardinig system at NYP? PHL/DC you go through the lounge. NYP is a mess.

FormerAmtrakTraveler

+1 ^

While we're at it... how about a lifetime status program?

Amtrakrider

Select Executive members will receive 4 one-class upgrades and 2 free companion coupons with the welcome kit. This is in addition to 1 one-class upgrade earned for every 3,000 TQPs once Select Executive status has been reached.[/QUOTE]

These upgrades would be a lot more valuable if first class was made more enjoyable. Any thought to making a first class quiet car? How about making the food available that is for sale in the cafe car. I personally would enjoy a hot dog and chips better than any of the food served in first class.

wxguy

These upgrades would be a lot more valuable if first class was made more enjoyable. Any thought to making a first class quiet car? How about making the food available that is for sale in the cafe car. I personally would enjoy a hot dog and chips better than any of the food served in first class.[/QUOTE]

(I love the FC/quiet car idea.) The biggest issue in my mind is the seating layout. The reason that there's such a mad dash for seats is the that many of the seats are undesirable - especially the four-seaters if you're not a group of four.

I'd much rather see a straight, forward-facing 2x1 seating pattern for the entire car, omitting the hard tables. But the tray tables should come out of the seat it serves, rather than from the seat ahead (as airlines do). I'm sure you've all experienced having a drink on the drop-down table when the occupant in front plops down, and the drink goes flying. That happened to me once when the train was completely still at a station! The seats should all face forward, and be easily reversed by the crew at terminal stations.

It would also make it easier for Amtrak to re-implement assigned seating, as was initially tried when Acela service debuted in 2000. With all seats essentially the same, there will be far fewer unhappy customers with their seat assignments. This system works very well in Asia and Europe, where trains have similar route lengths and stopping patterns.

jules1651

This is great news -- I was considering throwing in some shuttle flights once I had S+ locked down next year but now I'll definately make sure I hit this. AGR Insider -- would you be able to share what % of S+ became SE? Also - will the upgrades be online or will a coupon be mailed every 3K?

GreenHawkIA

Got a (very nice) envelope in the mail from Amtrak Guest Rewards yesterday. Very thick and quality paper. I got pumped because I figured, after the email, that this was a new card or a bonus upgrade or something interesting like that. Instead it was just a notecard with an insert re-hashing the Select Executive email. Seems like a bit of the waste to me.
One major disappointment though - the letter said card wouldn't arrive until MARCH 2013. Why on earth does Amtrak have the world's slowest membership card process? I mean 2 months every time you hit a status, minimum, to get your new card and no way to speed it up. And we always see posts on here on a regular basis from new elites asking if they can get their card in time for a United trip, etc.

AlanB

While you've qualified for the new level GreenHawk, the actual program year doesn't start until March. At present Select Exec is not really a status yet; no Club Acela would even know what to do with such a card. You qualify for status based upon the calendar year. However, the actual status year runs from March until Feb of the next year. Even if they sent you a card right now, it's valid dates would be March 1st through Feb 28, 2014. And therefore none of the benefits will be provided until March 1st.

Select Exec's first day of existence isn't until March 1st, 2013.

JT_BOS

Now if they can make the upgrade coupons electronic, and available for on-line request/confirmation/printout, that would be great.

GreenHawkIA

Well, AlanB, just seemed like a waste of trees. I thought the train was the environmentally-friendly choice?