travel with points + voucher?
Jan 13, 2015, 6:57 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 99
travel with points + voucher?
I'd like to travel roundtrip from Atlanta to Charlottesville, VA. 2 adults - a roomette would be fine and a bedroom would be ideal. I have plenty of points, but I also have a $200 amtrak voucher that I need to use sometime this year. I never take short-haul non-sleeper trips, so I haven't figured out how to best use the voucher. Is there a way to use it in combination with points in a way that makes sense, or should I just hang onto it for later?
Jan 13, 2015, 10:40 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 22
Although there is no way to combine points/payment on a single ticket, you can have multiple tickets for a single trip. For example, I used points for a trip from Sacramento to Wolf Point, MT (a reward zone border) and then a voucher from Wolf Point to Chicago. Never got off the train, and if you book both tickets with an AGR agent they can usually keep you in the same room.
That doesn't really help with your planned trip, of course, since it's usually best if you are trying to get to/from a zone border to avoid a higher reward level. Although the voucher does have an expiration date, it's my understanding that you can use it to book a ticket and then if for some reason you can't make that trip, you simply cancel the ticket and it goes back on a new voucher good for an additional year.
That doesn't really help with your planned trip, of course, since it's usually best if you are trying to get to/from a zone border to avoid a higher reward level. Although the voucher does have an expiration date, it's my understanding that you can use it to book a ticket and then if for some reason you can't make that trip, you simply cancel the ticket and it goes back on a new voucher good for an additional year.
