DivMiler

I've purchased a ticket for travel from Harrisburg to Hartford (as mentioned in another thread), but for kicks I tried to see how it would be to redeem points for travel for the same itinerary. I had no intention of redeeming.

I logged into my AGR account, clicked to redeem points for AGR travel, and put in my travel date (May 2), going from Harrisburg to Hartford, and what I got was
There were no errors mentioned on the screen.

When I tried Harrisburg to New York for May 2, I was given a set of choices (and presumably would have been able to complete the redemption). I got this error for Hartford (and the set of choices for New York) today (Saturday) and yesterday (Friday).

What gives with Harrisburg to Hartford? Again, I had no intention of redeeming, but I (or someone else) may face the same problem when they really want to redeem and don't have time to deal with a problem.

soitgoes

Online redemptions are a new addition and their functionality is limited to non-sleeper, direct travel. If you need a sleeper or need to connect somewhere (as in your case of Harrisburg-Hartford, but not for Harrisburg-New York), you can't redeem online. You would have to call AGR Monday-Friday to redeem. It would cost 3,000 points in coach and 6,500 in business. There are no capacity restrictions (if a seat is still for sale for $, you can use it in your award), but there are a few blackout dates.

From the AGR website:
https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/i...zone_chart.cfm
"Two reservations are required for round-trip travel. Sleeping accommodations and travel requiring connecting trains are not currently redeemable online. Blackouts apply to reward travel."

DivMiler

You know, I've read those three sentences several times before, and for some reason everything registered in my mind except for the "and travel requiring connecting trains" part.

Thanks, soitgoes!

soitgoes

No problem. It would be nice if the error message said something more explicit, but I think most of us are just happy there is some way to redeem on the weekends for immediate travel...

the_traveler

Yes, it is nice - when it is the same train.

An example is WAS-HFD: you could redeem for example on the Vermonter (the same train), but if you connect from a Regional to a shuttle train in NHV you couldn't (because they are 2 trains)!

soitgoes

Indeed: it would be even nicer if you could redeem for connecting travel online (even if it were just for single connection trains).