Amtrak Guest Rewards - can I switch to points payment on an existing res for "sold out" room?

As part of an upcoming family spring break trip, I've already booked the family bedroom on Coast Starlight from LA up to PDX, paid by credit card. These rooms are now "sold out" (as are the regular bedrooms). The trip is towards the end of March. I just now received 50,000+ chase sapphire points thanks to the bonus offer. Honestly, I had not even realized I could transfer those to AGR- I was doing it for the united/continental miles. But it clearly is a very valuable use of 20,000 points, if I can do it.

So-Is is possible? is this as simple as just putting 20,000 points into an AGR account then calling to change the method of payment?

(In the world of airline miles, of course, such seemingly logical things would be impossible)

I actually went ahead and called (gasp!) AGR and got an answer to my own question. (I sometimes forget about that phone thing in this internet age). The answer I received was yes- I'm essentially canceling my existing reservation, freeing up the room, then immediately re-booking on using the points. The only risk is that the room is available to be reserved by others during that brief window between cancel and rebook.

So I'll do it. And I have to say this is probably the best redemption value I've ever seen (short of some 1st class flights). Its a roughly $1000 trip for 20,000 points that I got for "free" via the chase bonus offer. (thanks flyer talk!)

The answer I received was yes- I'm essentially canceling my existing reservation, freeing up the room, then immediately re-booking on using the points. The only risk is that the room is available to be reserved by others during that brief window between cancel and rebook.
Yeah, that would be the process, and the risk.

Can the same agent cancel the revenue ticket and book the points one though?

Yeah, that would be the process, and the risk.

Can the same agent cancel the revenue ticket and book the points one though?
Yes.

I just did this last week. I am going on a cross country trip in July and I only had 30K points. I booked two zones (SEA - TOL) but noticed there there was only one bedroom left in the BOS sleeper of the LSL, which I wanted to take, for the remainder of my trip. I booked it with cash so that no one else would snatch it up while I got another 20K points.

It is a one step process - call AGR. The AGR agent did warn me that there is a chance that I would lose the room in the process and waited until I agreed to go ahead and do everything. I got everything situated just last week with the change-over to points from a paid reservation. The $829 for the one zone bedroom was credited back to my credit card in a day.

Yes.

It's a key advantage of AGR being in-sourced. ^

It's a key advantage of AGR being in-sourced. ^Is there no difference between AGR agents and standard ones? Do they all work both sides?

Is there no difference between AGR agents and standard ones? Do they all work both sides?

Since there are still defined hours when AGR is staffed, I would guess that there is a subset of reservation agents who are specially trained on AGR. In other words, all AGR agents are res agents, but not all res agents are AGR agents. Again, just my somewhat-educated guess.

Just to update- I did move the chase points over and successfully made the reservation switch. The chase points showed up on AGR almost immediately. As noted above, I was warned that the reserved room might not show up again after I cancel- the rep explained that this could occur if there was overbooking. But it was worth the risk and it worked out fine.

This rep (and the one who answered my questions before) were great, but the AGR automated phone tree was a nightmare- It could not understand what I was saying, then I got stuck in an endless loop when trying to choose the redemption option. I finally resorted to the old standby of pressing zero a few times to get a human.

Glad it worked out for you! ^

This rep (and the one who answered my questions before) were great, but the AGR automated phone tree was a nightmare- It could not understand what I was saying, then I got stuck in an endless loop when trying to choose the redemption option. I finally resorted to the old standby of pressing zero a few times to get a human.

Press 6 when able; that will get you to an agent. Also, at the beginning, you can enter your AGR number instead of having to say it.

I just called AGR and asked if I could convert a paid reservation to an AGR reward. Without any hesitation, the answer was that we aren't supposed to do it anymore.

Would it be out of line to ask what is the official policy (an oxymoron, I know)?

I just called AGR and asked if I could convert a paid reservation to an AGR reward. Without any hesitation, the answer was that we aren't supposed to do it anymore.

Would it be out of line to ask what is the official policy (an oxymoron, I know)?
One of the "problems" with AGR is that there really doesn't appear to be a set rule book. I never bother calling and asking a question, because the answer will change depending on who you speak with.

Considering I just did this two weeks ago, I wouldn't hesitate to book a paid reservation and then attempt to convert it to an AGR award. If you book the room online, pull up your reservation while dialing AGR. If the agent refuses, cancel the room yourself online while on the phone, and then call back and ask them to book it as an AGR award. You will just have to hope that no one snags that remaining room in the meantime if the train is sold out.