GoAmtrak

Before I rant, let me express my satisfaction at the enhancements AGR has made to the program over the past year, including point-earning opportunities, benefits, and Select Plus.

But Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards, sadly, exist in two parallel universes. Like airline loyalty programs, AGR is managed outside of the actual transportation company's operation, in a remote location. That's fine, except that the coordination between Amtrak and AGR is poor. AGR has not done nearly enough to make its members recognized by front-line Amtrak employees.

AGR members and their statuses are not notated on premium class passenger manifests. This needs to happen; members should be conferred special treatment by train attendants the way frequent flyers are by flight attendants. On long-distance trains, status passengers in each class should be given the first choice of dinner reservation times.

By the same token, ticket agents' computer interface should recognize status. Currently, it only recognizes whether one is an AGR member or not. I understand that this is a limitation of Amtrak's system and is likely unfixable. The same might hold true for the manifest issue.

AFAIK, WAS and PHL are the only stations with separate Select lines (and even then, it's just part of the Acela/Metroliner line). These should exist at all of the top ten stations, at least. NYP, with its one gigantic queue, is a disgrace. If Amtrak ever gets funded properly, ClubsAcela or Metropolitan Lounges should also be introduced at the top ten stations, or more. Stations that come to mind in particular are SEA, EMY or OKJ, LAX, SAN, TPA, ORL, CLT, RVR, BAL, NWK, NHV, PVD, CLE, ALB, MKE, STL, and DEN. The sub-par lounges in MIA, RGH, MSP, and NOL (if it ever returns) should be upgraded.

Any stations that have priority ticket collection and/or boarding should also extend that privilege to Select and higher members. Priority boarding needs to be SOP, like it is with airlines, period. This could be easily facilitated if statuses were printed on the tickets.

Last, but definitely not least, Amtrak.com and AmtrakGuestRewards.com need to be consolidated. Besides bestowing a more customer-friendly interface, the enhanced functionality would save Amtrak labor costs in the long run through automation. For example, upgrades could be requested and granted electronically, no need to fuss with giving coupons to ticket agents. And reward tickets could be booked or modified online. If Amtrak ever introduces online ticket printing, that would make it even easier.

Amtrak's previous administration had a mantra of enhanced customer service, which was largely smoke and mirrors. From Amtrak's new corporate brand identity, to the defunct Satisfaction Guarantee, to the introduction of AGR, there were many half-assed initiatives that didn't really matter since the actual railroad was crumbling around our feet. AGR has certainly been improved since its introduction in 2000. But has a long way to go from being an afterthought of a marketing guru, to becoming an integrated part of the Amtrak travel experience, in which the customers feel the recognition they rightfully earned, at every part of the journey.

JT_BOS

I travel almost weekly between Boston Back Bay and Newark, on Acela/Metroliner first class. I have never been to a club Aclea during my 100 or so round trips, because there are none in those two locations.

The other complaints I have are:

I can never tell which end the first class car is. Even the few times they announced it over the PA, half of the time they were wrong. It's a LONG walk to the other end of the train. I now stand in the middle.

And the literally last-minute posting of the track number in Newark is so annoying. Once it's posted, I have maybe 5 minutes to get to the track. Imagine if you're an old lady with heavy luggages, in the lobby, and no red-caps.

I almost forgot that on Friday April 15, 2005, the first day when all Acela services were cancelled. I finally got through to customer service and was told my Friday evening return train was cancelled and the first train available was Saturday morning. I was pretty upset, because I thought they should have rebooked me on same-day regional trains. I mean, surely the regional trains were not sold-out at the time they cancelled the Acela service. The airelines are able to do that, but I guess they are not.

And for the longest time, some first-class train attendants worked very hard for their tips, to the point that it is in your face, like serving drinks with a glass in one hand and dollar bills in the other. Mind you, this is first-class, meals and beverages are included. I suspect, in fact I observed, one gets more attentive services if perceived to be a tipper.

And the cutback on meals are rediculous. For breakfasts the choices now are: cereal, bagel w/ no cream cheese, canned juice, junior-sized yogurt cup. That's it! I don't know why they still bother to keep the linen napkin and the stainless steel utensils.

As for AGR, it is incompetent and their IT infra-structure is very lacking. I have faxed them three times during a span of two months, trying to credit some missing tirps, and there were 5, and also correct some point discrepancies. They chose to correct some errors, and ignore others. I am still 8000 point short.

I have thought about switching to Continental many times. I'm afraid one day Amtrak will lose me.

Well, these are my two cents...

JT_BOS

One more thing, when they started to restore the Acela services, the NY and DC route got a lot more service runs than the BOS and NY route, which is also annoying. For several months, 4:30pm train is my only choice in the afternoon.

GoAmtrak

I knew it wouldn't be long before this thread devolved into complaints about Acela.

But seriously, that's been discussed ad nauseum, and I was hoping to keep this thread focused on suggestions for AGR. Other Amtrak service issues aside, how can AGR and its benefits be improved?

Out of curiousity, JT_BOS, how were you deprived of 8,000 points to begin with? That's an awful lot to have not posted automatically. I've never missed one point for transactions in which I provided my AGR number and it was entered properly.

JT_BOS

Sorry about my getting off track. OK, back to some positive improvements suggestions about AGR:

1. When they run a promo, such as the take-2-and-get-1-free promo, turn the certs into electronic. The airlines are able to handle electronic upgrade points. I earned quite a few certs and for a while, I didn't know whether they processed the paper certs, or if the certs were lost in the mail. The CSR was clueless. In fact, I prefer not have to see paper anything, including the tickets.

2. The on-line access "Account Activity" page leaves so much to be desired. The layout needs to be seriously re-designed. For example, the double/triple bonus point posting is not tied to a specific trip. Since I have so many trips taken, it's very hard for me to tell which bonus posting is tied to which trip. That is, I can't tell which trip is missing the double/triple bonus point credit.

3. They should have more tiers for elite status recognition.

4. I have not redeemed any Amtrak travel rewards, but if I do, I would like to be able to do so at the last minute. That is, if I want to go to NYC tonight, I should be able to use my points and make award reservations and just go. I vaguely remember reading somewhere there is at least 2 to 3 days processing time involved.

5. On second thought, why can't we redeem Amtrak award travel on-line, and pick up tickets at a Kiosk or counter? Since it involves calling AGR, there is nothing one can do on weekends.

6. The points to miles redemption is slim picking. Only Continental really!


As to your question about the missing 8000 points, it has to do with the system mistakenly crediting Metroliner first class travel only 500 base points, instead 750. With double/triple promotion, and elite bonus, the difference is either 625 or 875 points per trip. And if you have 14 trips, that's 8000 points. I called AGR back in May, and was told "Yes, we are aware of this issue and are addressing it." It's September, and nothing happened. I'm sure I am not the only one having this issues.

AlanB

You're not the only one. I've got 3 or 4 trips myself that are missing that extra 250 points, along with related bonus points.

rafster

I wrote AGR the following letter about two months ago (faxed it and mailed it); I never heard back, of course (is it just me, or doesn't the AGR management go out of its way to be a mysterious entity behind a dark curtain?), but after reading this thread, I see I'm not alone. I echo some of the ideas already presented here, but there are a few new ones as well...

---
I'm a longtime AGR member, having signed up not long after the program was announced five years ago. Seeing as how AGR is currently celebrating its fifth birthday, I thought that I might weigh in with some friendly, constructive suggestions as to how AGR can become even better by the time it reaches its tenth anniversary.

General Benefits for Select and Select Plus Members
----------------------
At this point in time, Select and Select Plus benefits stop once you've left the ticket counter or entered a first class lounge. The priority reservation and AGR numbers are a nice start, but we need to go much further. Frankly, once you step on that train, you can be in coach and be brushed off when you ask for a pillow, whereas if you were on an airline in coach with similar credentials, you'd at least get preferential treatment. The same needs to happen on Amtrak. Here are a few, basic, EASY suggestions:

1). Free beverages from the cafe car upon showing a Select/Select Plus card, as if you had a business class ticket.
2). Priority Boarding for Select/Select Plus Members at the gate (note that Select PLUS members do have the option of priority boarding in an first class lounge at key stations); this is a no-brainer, and it's just a matter of including "Select and Select Plus members" in the families/small children/senior citizens announcement.
3). Priority cues at MORE stations. Washington, New York, and Boston all have Select/Select Plus cues, but these cues should be implemented at other busy stations like Baltimore, Newark, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Emeryville, Charlottesville, Richmond, Lorton, Sanford, and Stamford.
4). Discounts on dining car food. For example, a free dessert.
5). Free (standby-eque) upgrading to business class if room is available for Select Plus members (similar to how airlines will give a complimentary upgrade for premium members if room is available).
6). Select and Select plus members receive a confirmation phone call or confirmation email from the outbound marketing department or customer service a few days before departure for business and first class (especially sleeper) tickets. This call would be used to determine if the accommodations are still required, to confirm time of departure, and to collect and special needs information (red cap availability, handicapped notes, etc).

Acela Express/Metroliner Benefits
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Regarding Acela Express and Metroliner, there are some slight changes I'd suggest in the city pair promotions that pop up throughout the course of the year. Baltimore, along with other semi-major cities, has never been featured as a select city, despite the fact that Baltimore Penn Station is the fifth busiest station in the country. While I can understand that the city pairs are determined based on intercity numbers and not necessarily the gross number of passengers for a particular station, I think there are some slight modifications that can be made to the city pair promotions to benefit patrons of cities like Baltimore a little better. For example. an Acela Express ticket booked from Boston to Baltimore costs exactly the same as a ticket booked from Boston to Washington, DC. So, an AGR member who books his ticket to Baltimore pays the same amount of money as one who books the ticket to Washington, but the Baltimore passenger misses out of the select city pair points. Wouldn't it be more logical to include Baltimore within the Washington city pair when booking this trip? Obviously, a trip booked from New York to Baltimore would have a different price than a trip booked to Washington, so in that case the city pair promotion wouldn't apply. In other words, why not grant city pair eligibility when a city pair-eligible station's ticket cost is the same price as an adjacent station (in this case, Baltimore and Washington, when travelling from Boston).

Long-Distance Trip Benefits
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The Acela truly is the flagship of Amtrak's national image, but while much emphasis has been placed on encouraging AGR members to travel on Acela Express, almost no regular incentive (save a few random promotions) has been given to AGR members who travel long distance trains. I strongly suspect that I'm one of a handful of people in the country (quite possibly the ONLY person in the country) who has attained Select Plus status by PRIMARILY riding First Class in long distance trains and coach in Regional. The amount of money and time I have spent on First Class, long distance tickets, by my calculations, would have gotten me Select Plus status 3.2 times in ONE YEAR on the Northeast corridor when you factor in the minimum point earnings for Acela trains and city pair promotions. There clearly needs to be some recalibration in this respect to bring the long distance travel benefits to something that is even remotely as beneficial in terms of points as the Northeast corridor benefits. Here's what I would suggest as a starting point:

1). Implement a basic, permanent, city-pair system for long distance trains for sleeping car (First Class) passengers. To begin with, I would run a promotion for coach passengers as well, so as to get word out and to increase membership. Because larger metropolitan cities are much more spread out in the midwest and west, you can get away with a rigid city-pair system, as it stands right now (no one is going to pay the same ticket price going from Chicago to Denver as they would from Chicago to Glenwood Springs on the California Zephyr, for example, so my point above regarding city pair discrepancies on the East Coast [Boston-Baltimore vs Boston-DC] has no relevance in this context). So, implement some basic city pairs that REQUIRE long distance travel. For example, Washington-Chicago, New York-Chicago, New York-New Orleans, New York-Atlanta, Atlanta-New Orleans, Miami-Washington, Washington-St. Albans, New York-Montreal, Chicago-Denver, Chicago-Salt Lake City, Chicago-San Francisco, Denver-San Francisco, Chicago-Kansas City, Chicago-Los Angeles, Los Angeles-Seattle, Seattle-Emeryville, etc etc. You get the idea; essentially construct the city pairs based on the amount of time a person is required to be on the train, and based on major milestones along the route. Additionally, benefits should be tiered based on the size of sleeping quarters the passenger has purchased (Roomette vs Deluxe vs Handicapped vs Family).

2). Annual Benefit Mailing (includes member card): Give Select and Select Plus members coupons and other benefit package materials for use on long distance trains. For example, a free meal in the dining car when riding coach would nicely compliment the free business class upgrade coupon which isn't applicable to long distance travel. Copies of the long distance train Route Guides would be a welcome addition, and would go a long way to showing people what is available on different routes (not everyone knows where the California Zephyr or the Coast Starlight go). A copy of the current Dining Car menus would also be a good way of letting people know that on long distance trains you're not limited to the cafe car of the regionals. One complimentary copy of Amtrak America and Arrive would be great for letting people know what's available via Amtrak.

3). Traveling first class on a long distance train should have an automatic minimum points earned, given the amount of money one spends for a sleeper compartment. Spending $120 for a first class ticket to New York from Washington, and getting 750 points just isn't fair when you spend $250 on a first class ticket from Salt Lake City to Denver, get only 500 points, and spend 13 additional hours on the train.


CODESHARE, CODESHARE, CODESHARE!!!
------------------
1). It's quite simply amazing that Amtrak does not codeshare with VIA Rail in Canada. It's a no brainer, folks. It wouldn't be a bad idea to partner with Mexico's Chihuahua-Pacífic Railway, either.

2). At the very least, allow Amtrak passengers to earn points when travelling via Continental Airlines, since you can transfer your points to a Continental account anyway. Many long distance passengers fly one way, and take the train another. There's nothing worse than having to split points among two carriers instead of accruing everything in one account. But beyond this, please consider joining an alliance, like SkyTeam, oneworld, or Star Alliance. If you're going to do it, just do it right and go with an alliance. It'll attract many more passengers (international as well), and will benefit the program in the long run.


Conclusion
----------------
I realize that this is a fairly long letter, so I'll bring it to a close as quickly as I can. I hope my suggestions come across as helpful, creative, and appealing, and I would absolutely love the chance to hear what you think, regardless of your impressions. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like any additional input.

Sincerely,



Rafi Guroian

dpb

In several hundred transactions, I've also never lost a single point. I'm quite satisfied with the mechanical side of AGR, as far as it goes.

Integration of AGR with the on-line booking system seems to me the most important of the many suggestions from Forum members.

I admit I do take full advantage of Club Acela at WAS and NYP, and of course I priority-board when I can. But of the various perquisites just proposed, none seems to me as important as integration. Free drinks and whatnot, after all, are a very small matter in one's overall travel budget. I carry my own 3 meals round-trip every day that I commute, and I think they're far healthier than most of what's served on the train. But the fact that one can't possibly book a Monday or Tuesday travel reward ticket on the weekend (and the fact that AGR usually stops answering the phone at least 30 minutes before their posted closing time) seems to me to be a much more serious problem - something that smacks of inefficiency rather than inadequate solicitude. If I had to choose a single improvement, I'd choose full integration with the on-line booking system.

JT_BOS

Lucky you, if all your trip points got posted. Like I said, I had 5 missing trips that I had to call and get credit for, and my AGR number was always in.

I agree, Integration of AGR with the on-line booking system would be the single most improtant thing. There are some other good suggestions too. I wonder about the cost though.

I did not know that Baltimore is not in the select city pair list, and not eligible for the bonus. One way to get around that, at least from Boston, for the same fare, is to simply purchase a ticket to DC and get off/on in Baltimore. I've never done things like that. Can that be a problem? My personal limit on business-related train travel time is about 4 hours. If the travel takes longer than that, I'll fly. In this case Airtran to Baltimore, or shuttle to DC.

iflydc

yes, better overall integration, award booking online, better website interface etc.

RogerD408

I did a 14 segment trip in July and I still haven't seen ANY points posted. Even wrote AGR, 14 times, only got three responses saying it takes 90 "business days" to book points. Funny how they only give you two weeks to request credit if you forget to book with your AGR number. Maybe that will get credited quicker.

JT_BOS

14 segments in July, and not a single one got credited? Now that is unbelievable! You did have your AGR number in the record, right? Something is very wrong, becuase even my late August segments has been credited. Not that there is any correlation, mind you.

And I thought 5 was bad. Again, this shows how incompetent AGR is.

Any Airlines operating like that will see massive exodus....

Reindeerflame

It's too much to expect Amtrak, a government bureaucracy, to meet GoAmtrak's goals when it can barely deliver basic service outside the NEC.

That's the unfortunate situation.

GoAmtrak

rafster, great letter! I especially like the thought of Amtrak joining the Star Alliance (for selfish reasons)!

Rest assured, you're not the only Select Plus member outside of the NEC. It took me five months this year to earn Select, all on the California corridors and western long-distance trains. It wouldn't have been possible without the 100-point minimum. Due to relocation, I then earned Select Plus over the next three months largely on Acela/Metroliner. Yes, the entire program is slanted towards the NEC and it shouldn't be. The 100-point minimum helps, but is a very modest start. If only we could be awarded actual mileage for LD travel in addition to any dollar-based calculation!

The State of California DOT -- a government bureaucracy -- oversees a fabulous, customer-oriented operation. What the difference between the Caltrans Rail Division and Amtrak? The former has been healthily financed and able to manage services in an orderly, long-term, businesslike manner. I don't think it's naive to expect Amtrak to do the same if it were financed properly and subject to reasonable oversight.

nge66

AGR made some changes in May that made AGR point less useful.

I used to be able to book NEC award travel online. (And the confirmation number is email to me within seconds.) Now it has to be via a real person M-F. (At least that person is not in India yet.) And the 3 business-day rule is strictly enforeced.

I used to be able to exchange a reward ticket for a different train. Now it can only be done for another train on the same day. If I miss a train, I have to mail the ticket back to AGR to get credit.

I suspect that AGR does have the technology to do online reward booking and instant confirmation, as they have done in the past. But they want to slow things down a little so that they liability doesn't show up in the books as quick.
Amtrak is short on cash.

I wrote AGR a letter in May complaining about how AGR is less valuable than it was in the past, and I would not have as much incentive to collect these extra points if they are not that valuable tome. Never heard a word from AGR, don't think they care. So I cut my travel from 3000 points a month to 300 points a month. There are certain trips that can't be made without Amtrak. For everything else, there are Delta shuttle, USAir shuttle on one hand for last minute business trips, and chinatown bus on the other for low cost personal trips.