Very Good Redemption Experience

Old May 24, 2005, 10:20 am
  #1  
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Very Good Redemption Experience

As I am moving to a state with no Amtrak ( ) I decided to burn some of my AGR points on a BOS-NYP trip last week.

Having dealt with numerous uncooperative airlines (DL, can you hear me?) I was expecting hassle, lack of availability, etc, etc, especially since I was calling two days in advance.

But no. The agent asked me when I wanted to go, reserved a seat, and emailed me a confirmation number. I picked up the ticket at a QuikTrak and was off on my silver steed.

This is the way all award redemptions should be- quick, easy, and convenient. Good job Amtrak!
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Old May 24, 2005, 10:30 am
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Indeed, the fact that Amtrak hasn't instituted capacity controls on award tickets is quite nice!
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Old May 24, 2005, 4:30 pm
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Glad you had such a good experience! AGR is very responsive in terms of award availability (no capacity controls, as has been stated [except the blackout dates, forgot about those!]), not charging fees, awarding credit in a timely manner, offering friendly customer service, and allowing for liberal routing rules and multiple travelers in bedrooms on award tickets. ^

At least you may still enjoy the Alaska Railroad.

Last edited by GoAmtrak; May 25, 2005 at 4:53 am
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Old May 24, 2005, 4:41 pm
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I would consider the 47 blackout dates to be a very stringent form of capacity control.

Add to that the fact that weekend travel (Friday/Sunday) is blacked out in the NE Corridor and that's about another 75 dates. That's a third of the year in total.
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Old May 24, 2005, 8:13 pm
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Originally Posted by nerd
I would consider the 47 blackout dates to be a very stringent form of capacity control.
Agreed, it could be better. Still, it is nice knowing that you can always get an award ticket if there is an available seat as long as you are traveling on an allowable date.

Originally Posted by nerd
Add to that the fact that weekend travel (Friday/Sunday) is blacked out in the NE Corridor and that's about another 75 dates.
You can travel on those days of the week, but it costs twice as many points. That is quite annoying, I agree.
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Old May 24, 2005, 9:58 pm
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Originally Posted by soitgoes
You can travel on those days of the week, but it costs twice as many points. That is quite annoying, I agree.
How do you do this? The Guest Rewards T&C's just says that all reserved weekend travel in the NEC is blacked out.

From:
https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/i...loc=TandC.html

D. Claiming Rewards
2 (iv) for travel taking place on all other reserved services entirely within the Northeast Corridor (Boston/Springfield - Virginia Beach), all Fridays and Sundays are also blacked out for departures on Reward redemption travel.
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Old May 25, 2005, 8:19 am
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How about that. It does seem to forbid award travel in the NEC on Fri/Sun. I had been told by an AGR rep that I could use the standard 5,000 point one-zone award on the weekend when the 2,500 NE award wasn't available. That wouldn't appear to be allowed basted on the T&C; I think there was some confusion in the past few months in the AGR service center that resulted from the policy changes in the NEC.

Originally Posted by nerd
How do you do this? The Guest Rewards T&C's just says that all reserved weekend travel in the NEC is blacked out.
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Old May 25, 2005, 2:14 pm
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Originally Posted by GoAmtrak

At least you may still enjoy the Alaska Railroad.
Funny, isn't it, that the Feds can and do fund a state-owned (isn't that a tad bit Marxist?) railway in the USA, but think the one in the lower 48 should "go screw"?
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Old May 25, 2005, 7:22 pm
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Originally Posted by HeHateY
Funny, isn't it, that the Feds can and do fund a state-owned (isn't that a tad bit Marxist?) railway in the USA, but think the one in the lower 48 should "go screw"?
Yes, we even do the same thing in Iraq.
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Old May 25, 2005, 10:26 pm
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Originally Posted by nerd
The Guest Rewards T&C's just says that all reserved weekend travel in the NEC is blacked out.
Interesting. My trip was mid-morning on a Friday, which would seem to fall within the blackout period. I did notice that there were a slew of blackout dates printed on the ticket (mostly holiday periods, I think).

Do you think that they are being a bit more flexible in the NEC with the Acela Express problems? Or was I just lucky?

I will do my best to take a ride on the Alaska RR once I get up there.
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Old May 26, 2005, 8:44 am
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I also just made some NEC award trips on Sunday 5/8 and 5/15 without even a mention of a Friday/Sunday blackout by the customer service rep. I am certainly not complaining!

Amazingly, I have yet to have a problem with Amtrak rewards (granted, I know the blackout dates) versus a near 100% rate of various problems with airline rewards.
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Old May 26, 2005, 10:44 am
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Originally Posted by lawchild
I did notice that there were a slew of blackout dates printed on the ticket (mostly holiday periods, I think).

Do you think that they are being a bit more flexible in the NEC with the Acela Express problems? Or was I just lucky?
I have used expired AGR tickets before - the conductors don't seem to check.

I believe the valid-through date is printed in a larger font than the blackout dates, so if they don't notice the expiration date, it's almost a given that they won't pay attention to the blackout dates.
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Old May 28, 2005, 5:05 pm
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Originally Posted by HeHateY
Funny, isn't it, that the Feds can and do fund a state-owned (isn't that a tad bit Marxist?) railway in the USA, but think the one in the lower 48 should "go screw"?
The funding they receive from the Feds is in the form of grants for specific capital expenditures and that totaled 61.9M in 2004. The Alaska RR had a Net Income of 15,377,000 during 2004. It seems to me that Amtrak should be allowed to secure the necessary grant funding for their own infrastructure. If 2/3 of Amtrak's capital budget was provided for in the form of grants, we'd have a very different scenario playing out now.

The Alaska Railroad is a very well run railroad and speaking from experience, a MUST visit if you are a visitor (or resident ) of Alaska. Cheers!

John (former Fairbanks resident)
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