Amtrak Guest Rewards - What benefits should "Super" S+ members receive?

There have been numerous calls for a third elite tier beyond Select Plus. Frequent Acela riders report reverting back to the air shuttles after requalifying for S+.

If you were AGR, what would you do to retain those who could potentially earn 15-30k TQPs with a little more incentive?

Personally, I don't see the value of a S++ tier. S+ already gives limited 48-hour upgrades and unlimited club access. Plus there's the difficulty of setting the right threshold to avoid the same retention problem at the next tier.

Instead, I'd like to see additional bonus perks every 5000 TQPs beyond S+, just as many airlines offer intermediate rewards between and beyond elite tiers. Examples of good incentives could include additional 48-hour upgrades, gift of status to another member, bonus points, a pair of virtual vouchers appropriately zoned for the traveler's home station, or elite status in a partner hotel program.

What are your thoughts? (Note that I am not affiliated with AGR.)

One thing that would be of tremendous value to me is a 'same day change' type of perk, similar to the airlines. Even if it was quantity controlled with a limited number of coupons just like the 48 hr upgrade coupons.

I've had numerous instances where i've showed up early to the station and asked if I can get onto an earlier train, only to be told it would be an extra $60, 70 sometimes even as high as $100, depending on which fare bucket I originally bought into.

As someone who travels for work and has to submit expense reports, these change fees are annoying to try and expense and sometimes raise questions from my approver, plus they eat into my yearly travel budget, which I would much rather be spending on something else.

It would really be nice to have 2 or 3 of these coupons included in the packet. I would even be willing to give up the companion vouchers for these, if that's something AGR would be willing to consider.

There have been numerous calls for a third elite tier beyond Select Plus. Frequent Acela riders report reverting back to the air shuttles after requalifying for S+.Well, there's some selection bias there.

You're going to see more threads/posts whining about "I'm S+, not riding any more because I can't get X, Y, and Z!!" compared to comments from people who are Select Plus and perfectly content to continue their travel patterns.

I like the idea of gratis same day changes. I had to kill two hours at WAS yesterday, because I was running early and didn't want to pay a fare difference.

I also like the idea of additional 48 hour upgrade coupons and coupons for free, same day changes.

There may some day be a machine invented which can measure the chances of this happening, but not yet.

Amtrak has no reason to institute SDC because it does not charge for ticket changes (just the fare difference). Why it would ever in a million years buy into the foolishness of incentivizing people to buy the cheapest fare of the day and then SDC to a more expensive train is beyond me.

All the other stuff is largely fluff and simply leads to the devaluation of awards. If you earn 1,000 points for a given ride and need 10,000 for an ward or you earn 2,000 and need 20,000 for the same is meaningless and simply points to the suckers game which miles programs have become.

How about a one System Wide Upgrade a year like the airlines have which would take you from Coach to a Roomette on a long distance train? That would be fun.

There may some day be a machine invented which can measure the chances of this happening, but not yet.

Amtrak has no reason to institute SDC because it does not charge for ticket changes (just the fare difference). Why it would ever in a million years buy into the foolishness of incentivizing people to buy the cheapest fare of the day and then SDC to a more expensive train is beyond me.

All the other stuff is largely fluff and simply leads to the devaluation of awards. If you earn 1,000 points for a given ride and need 10,000 for an ward or you earn 2,000 and need 20,000 for the same is meaningless and simply points to the suckers game which miles programs have become.

Sure, if unlimited same day changes were built in to the perks of a S++ level, it would allow travelers to circumvent their revenue management strategy, which is why I suggested a limited number of coupons that would allow you to switch trains without paying any sort of fee or fare difference.

The general idea is to acknowledge that your high frequency, high revenue customers might have a need to switch to an earlier train from time to time and to provide a little more convenience on doing so. Plus, if the coupons were good for only trains within a 60 or 90 minute window, it would further decrease the chance that someone is trying to game the system.

Amtrak has no reason to institute SDC because it does not charge for ticket changes (just the fare difference). Why it would ever in a million years buy into the foolishness of incentivizing people to buy the cheapest fare of the day and then SDC to a more expensive train is beyond me.

AS waives change fees for MVP Golds and allows SDCs. UA also allows SDC (even more flexible than AS's). It doesn't eat into yield management, because when you book the cheaper flight and count on being able to change it, you often can't change it because the flight you want to SDC to is full. So, those who actually do need to be somewhere at a certain time end up booking the flight they want.

Any revenue lost by people trying to game the system by booking a lower fare would be offset by additional revenue generated by being able to sell an extra seat on a later train. The empty seat on a train leaving in 15 minutes is a perishable commodity, so if no one takes it, any potential revenue is lost. Allowing someone to SDC to that seat loses Amtrak no revenue and opens up a seat on the later train leaving in two hours for someone to buy at full pop.

CKinMD and jackal nailed it -- SDC would be an excellent loyalty benefit that would make Amtrak more competitive in the NEC, engender goodwill, and not impact revenues. As Amtrak moves towards a tiered fare structure with varying levels of flexibility (which it has said it will do once e-ticketing launches), the benefit would become even more valuable.

How about a one System Wide Upgrade a year like the airlines have which would take you from Coach to a Roomette on a long distance train? That would be fun.

That's something I've always wanted, too, especially since much of my spend is on LD trains and very little is on Acela. There are zero upgrade opportunities here in the Bay Area and low-value ones on the West Coast routes that do have a higher seating class. While benefits like the 100-point minimum earning and United Club access are helpful, AGR remains a very NEC-centric program. Amtrak may rightfully see Acela pax as the real bread and butter and the most vulnerable to airline competition, but it shouldn't take much effort to throw bones to the rest of us.

I've written about the need for the SDC perk numerous times. It needs to be unlimited - it defeats the purpose if I need to wait on a line to change my ticket. I generally book far enough in advance where I get the lower buckets, I do not have ticket issued until I arrive at the station, and when I am running early or late, I should be able to change to another train online for free.

Other perks - F upgrades which automatically clear without the need to go to a ticket agent (ideally unlimited, and in any event certainly more than 4), 100% points bonuses on travel, upgrades on free travel ( how annoying is it to travel in paid first class on their summer promotion, but only earn non-upgradeable business class tickets).

My biggest ask - which should apply for all Acela first class travelers - assigned seating. Presumably when that is finally rolled out s++ gets preferential selection rights.

I've written about the need for the SDC perk numerous times. It needs to be unlimited - it defeats the purpose if I need to wait on a line to change my ticket. I generally book far enough in advance where I get the lower buckets, I do not have ticket issued until I arrive at the station, and when I am running early or late, I should be able to change to another train online for free.

Other perks - F upgrades which automatically clear without the need to go to a ticket agent (ideally unlimited, and in any event certainly more than 4), 100% points bonuses on travel, upgrades on free travel ( how annoying is it to travel in paid first class on their summer promotion, but only earn non-upgradeable business class tickets).

^^

This would actually make AGR competitive with most airline FFPs. Right now, the only reason I care one iota about S+ is the United Club access. With a program that does the above, I'd probably pursue whatever status level is required to get these perks even if they did away with United Club access (not that I'm advocating that, of course!).

My biggest ask - which should apply for all Acela first class travelers - assigned seating. Presumably when that is finally rolled out s++ gets preferential selection rights.

I'm not opposed to assigned seating, but I have a hunch that it gets very complicated on trains, which have many en-route stops.

Picture a train with all but one seat occupied between WAS and WIL, all but one seat (a different seat) occupied between WIL and TRE, and all but one seat (a third seat) occupied between TRE-NYP. Someone then books a ticket from WAS to NYP. What seat does he get assigned? He'd have to get split seating assignments and end up packing up all of his belongings and moving to another seat at WIL and again at TRE.

Actually, the train doesn't need to be 99% full for that to happen--it can happen under the right conditions even with much lower loads.

This has actually happened to me on an AS flight (affectionately called "the milk run," which runs between SEA and ANC making several stops along the way (KTN, WRG, PSG, JNU). I actually sat in 15F for the first leg and then got upgraded and moved to 2F for the second, third, fourth, and fifth legs. Not that I minded having to move my stuff to move up to a First Class seat, but having to move to another coach seat (possibly multiple times) would get annoying pretty quickly.

It could be doable if there were an algorithm that weighed all of the boarding/alighting-en-route passengers and assigned seats at a point close to departure (perhaps during an "On-Line Check-In" process 24 hours before departure like the airlines) so no one had to have split seat assignments. Perhaps under those conditions, elite passengers would have the ability to select seats before that time (48h for S, 72h for S+, 120h for S++, etc.). Those who book tickets (or SDC to a new train) within 24 hours would do so with the understanding that they may have to change seats if all through seats are occupied.

My biggest ask - which should apply for all Acela first class travelers - assigned seating. Presumably when that is finally rolled out s++ gets preferential selection rights.

I'm not opposed to assigned seating, but I have a hunch that it gets very complicated on trains, which have many en-route stops.

Picture a train with all but one seat occupied between WAS and WIL, all but one seat (a different seat) occupied between WIL and TRE, and all but one seat (a third seat) occupied between TRE-NYP. Someone then books a ticket from WAS to NYP. What seat does he get assigned? He'd have to get split seating assignments and end up packing up all of his belongings and moving to another seat at WIL and again at TRE.

Actually, the train doesn't need to be 99% full for that to happen--it can happen under the right conditions even with much lower loads.

This has actually happened to me on an AS flight (affectionately called "the milk run," which runs between SEA and ANC making several stops along the way (KTN, WRG, PSG, JNU). I actually sat in 15F for the first leg and then got upgraded and moved to 2F for the second, third, fourth, and fifth legs. Not that I minded having to move my stuff to move up to a First Class seat, but having to move to another coach seat (possibly multiple times) would get annoying pretty quickly.

It could be doable if there were an algorithm that weighed all of the boarding/alighting-en-route passengers and assigned seats at a point close to departure (perhaps during an "On-Line Check-In" process 24 hours before departure like the airlines) so no one had to have split seat assignments. Perhaps under those conditions, elite passengers would have the ability to select seats before that time (48h for S, 72h for S+, 120h for S++, etc.). Those who book tickets (or SDC to a new train) within 24 hours would do so with the understanding that they may have to change seats if all through seats are occupied.

Amtrak has already tried assigned seating in the Acela First Class car. It failed for a number of reasons, including but not limited to the failure of the original attempt at eTicketing, conductor resistance, passenger resistance to sitting in an assigned seat, and reluctant attendants who feared the loss of a tip if they ordered someone to sit in their assigned seat.

And while the problem that you describe Jackal can and does happen, it already happens right now with the sleepers. In fact, 2 summers ago I packed up and moved from room #14 to room #10 in the Portland sleeper, as it was the only way to get a through ticket.

On the other hand, with the old seat assignment software turned on for Acela, Amtrak would be able to resell the seats of no shows at stations further up the line. Currently they can't do that.

So it's probably a mixed bag like many things.