Amtrak Guest Rewards - AGR Insider: Policy change for upgrade coupons?

AGR Insider,

This past Sunday I entered the Boston Club Acela with a 48 hour free upgrade coupon given to me by a friend. I had already called in to do the initial processing for the upgrade and to hold the seat. I only needed to complete the transaction by handing over the coupon and collecting my ticket.

The agent manning the lounge looked at the coupon and asked me who Joe ***** was, that being the name on the coupon. I replied a friend of mine who couldn't use the coupon. To which she replied "well he has to be here in order for you to use the coupon."

I replied, "it clearly says that the coupon is transferable right on the back."

She says, "yes I know, but he still has to be here."

Now my definition of "transfer" means that "he has transferred ownership of said coupon to me." And therefore it's now my coupon and no longer his. If he were there, then he wouldn't need to transfer the coupon to me at all, he could just hand it over, in effect transferring it to Amtrak.

May I please request that someone clarify if there has been some change in policy that now requires the person transferring a coupon to someone else to be present?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Sounds like someone on a power trip making up their own rules. Did you leave and try this at the ticket counter?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Sounds like someone on a power trip making up their own rules.

That's also what I suspect, but I wanted to make sure that the rules hadn't actually been changed.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)Did you leave and try this at the ticket counter?

Thankfully I didn't have to do that. She had already processed the reservation and the printer was already spitting out the tickets when she started with the questions and assertions that my friend needed to be present.

It would have required far more work on her part at that point in time to void the tickets out and reissue me BC tickets.

So she said "I'll let you go this time since it's a holiday", and then she handed me the tickets.

However, I'd very much like to avoid any problems in the future, hence my asking AGR Insider for clarity on this issue.

Hi Alan B,

I apologize for the unfortunate experience that you had at the Boston ClubAcela. However, you are correct, there has been no change in policy and those passes are transferable.

Best,

Becky Parks
Senior Marketing Officer, Amtrak Guest Rewards