Amtrak Guest Rewards - Philadelphia-DC-Philadelphia

Hello forum,

I live in down-town Philladelphia and I plan to travel to DC for work twice a week.

I'll take the Northeast Regional from 30th Street to Union station and back. I will be doing this twice a week for the next few years.

Currently I see that I can get roud-trip tickets @ 70$ or so.

Since my day's will be fixed (Tuesday and Thursday) is there any way that I can travel more economically?

thank you for your answer in advance.

- alphascan

Hello forum,

I live in down-town Philladelphia and I plan to travel to DC for work twice a week.

I'll take the Northeast Regional from 30th Street to Union station and back. I will be doing this twice a week for the next few years.

Currently I see that I can get roud-trip tickets @ 70$ or so.

Since my day's will be fixed (Tuesday and Thursday) is there any way that I can travel more economically?

thank you for your answer in advance.

- alphascan

One of the bus services? BOLT, greyhound, etc??
Or you meant you want to travel in Amtrak, but make it cheaper?

Hello forum,

I live in down-town Philladelphia and I plan to travel to DC for work twice a week.

I'll take the Northeast Regional from 30th Street to Union station and back. I will be doing this twice a week for the next few years.

Currently I see that I can get roud-trip tickets @ 70$ or so.

Since my day's will be fixed (Tuesday and Thursday) is there any way that I can travel more economically?

thank you for your answer in advance.

- alphascan

You are getting the absolute rock bottom fare at $35.00 each way. This is because of a current promotion that gives 25% off the fare if you book in advance. IF I remember correctly the normal one way fare is about $50.00. As this is a promotional fare it could end at any time. So it MAY be best to book the travel now but you are the only one that can make that call.
Even using one of the "normal" discounts such as AAA, etc will actually raise the fare as does the ten ride ticket

Thank you so much for the response.

@darben

You're right, I noticed that the 35$ each way was already discounted.
I'll be doing this throughout the year so I'll end up spending around 7,500$ just on commuting (assuming that the 35$ fare continues)
If the fare goes up to 50$ I'll end up spending around 11,000$ per year.

I was hoping that I could find a way to save a little bit.

@snod08

Amtrak will take me about 2 hours to get to DC.
The bus will take around 3 and 1/2 hours (but much cheaper)

My preference was to travel by Amrtak. But I am open to suggestions, I am new to the US and perhaps people on the forum have more experience travelling between these two locations to advise me. Train, Bus or buy a car.

Thanks so much.

Megabus will do the same route for as low as $1.00 if booked far enough in advance but most common fare is 7.00 to 15.00 each way.
You will catch the bus at the train station in Philadelphia
And Union Station in Washington DC
At least 10 departures a day

http://us.megabus.com/Default.aspx

One thing to keep in mind that if you are using Amtrak this much, you will easily achieve "status" with Amtrak not to mention rack up a ton of Amtrak Guest Rewards points.*

While these points can be saved up and applied toward other things (such as a long-distance train trip in sleeper), they can also be turned around and used for your regular work trips, especially as a hedge against the inevitable time when fares go up or you are unable to snag a low-bucket fare. Other than a handful of (holiday season) blackout dates, your AGR points can be used on any NE Regional train at any time.

So if you stick to Amtrak you may not end up spending as much money as you thought since some of your trips can be free. And Amtrak would offer a reasonably good "workspace" environment on the way, unlike the bus.

*Assuming you sign up for Amtrak Guest Rewards and supply your number when booking your tickets

You are getting the absolute rock bottom fare at $35.00 each way. This is because of a current promotion that gives 25% off the fare if you book in advance. IF I remember correctly the normal one way fare is about $50.00. As this is a promotional fare it could end at any time. So it MAY be best to book the travel now but you are the only one that can make that call.
Even using one of the "normal" discounts such as AAA, etc will actually raise the fare as does the ten ride ticket

Specifically, the ten ride costs $560, so even at $50 a ticket individual tickets save you money. And since you have the luxury of knowing your schedule in advance, you definitely do best buying your tickets in advance and getting the advance purchase savings.

Thank you so much everyone for the responses.
It looks like I already have the best deal if I book in advance so I'll go with that. Also, since there's no commitment I'll try using Amtrak for the next few months and see how it goes.
I can always consider the option of going by Bus incase the fares go up.

My last question is that I was trying to get a better understanding of how reward points work. It says that I can earn 2 points for each $ spent.
If I travelled twice a week, for 10 months, at 70$ per round trip, I would earn11,200 points.
On the rewards redemption page it says that "Coach Class - Northeast Zone
3,000 pts" Does that mean that I will be entitled to only 3 free trips after having spent 5,600$ with Amtrak?

thanks in advance for the help.

at 2 round trips a week that would be 400 points per week

Earn 2 points for every dollar spent on Amtrak travel—a 100-point minimum on each trip, no matter the price so in 10 months +- 17,000 points without any promotions.
If you sign up for AGR before Jan 1 2012 and travel within 90 days you will be eligible for 750 bonus points

Once you earn 5,000 points you will become select and receive the following

A 25% point bonus on every Amtrak trip you take, excluding bonus points.

when you make 10000 points you will receive select plus status and receive

# A 50% point bonus on every Amtrak trip, excluding bonus points
# Unlimited access to all ClubAcela®, Amtrak's Metropolitan Lounge®, and First class lounges for immediate family members traveling with you or one non-family guest


So your potential without any special promotions is more like 20,000 points +-

In addition if you get the Chase Amtrak CC that is 6,000 to 12,000 points more plus 2 points per dollar spent on Amtrak
that is the potential for another 10,000 to 18000 points more

In addition if you get the Chase Amtrak CC that is 6,000 to 12,000 points more plus 2 points per dollar spent on Amtrak
that is the potential for another 10,000 to 18000 points more

I would recommend waiting until you see the 32k targeted offer before signing up. You will see a 12k general offer until some time after you begin traveling on your AGR account, at which point Amtrak will up the ante to 32k. Definitely get the card before you start redeeming points for trips; you get 5% back on points redeemed if you have the card.

thanks darben and ywlke

I'll definatly sign up for the Chase Amtrak Card. The website says "12,000 Amtrak Guest Reward points" on sign-on, which is fantastic!

I wanted to double check - it will take 3000 points for a single trip between Philadelphia to DC or vice versa. Is that correct?

thanks all :)

3000 is correct

There are also all sorts of Amtrak promotions for additional points, so you will get even more points. Check this board or your email for added promotions.

Bus or car? In the Northeast? I'd rather get run over by a bus or car than take one for 2+ hour commutes twice a week.

ETA: You could also take Amtrak part of the way (as there is a gap along the Philadelphia-Washington route where there is no other passenger train except Amtrak) and MARC or SEPTA trains the rest of the way. That would be kind of painful too, though.

I would recommend waiting until you see the 32k targeted offer before signing up.
There's a 30K offer (http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/amtrak/smt30/?CELL=636W)that shows no signs of being targeted (as contrasted with this 32K targeted offer (http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/amtrak/smt32/?CELL=67F5)), so I'm not sure there's much use in waiting. Getting the card earlier & using it to purchase Amtrak tix should easily make up the 2K difference.

There's a 30K offer (http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/amtrak/smt30/?CELL=636W)that shows no signs of being targeted (as contrasted with this 32K targeted offer (http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/amtrak/smt32/?CELL=67F5)), so I'm not sure there's much use in waiting. Getting the card earlier & using it to purchase Amtrak tix should easily make up the 2K difference.

I think right now, anything other than 12k is probably targeted. I seem to remember others on FT reporting that they sometimes had to wrestle with Amtrak to get the points even though the link didn't say "targeted" or "only to member whom offer was communicated", but they had originally gotten the link from someone else. So I would just be cautious.