Amtrak Guest Rewards - Anything illegal or immoral about this?

Looking to travel from SAL to SAV next year. If I book directly, the fare is $77, so I would get 154 AGR points. However, since there is a minimum 100 points per booking, I can make the same trip for the same price (+/- $1) by booking two itineraries - SAL to SSM and SSM to SAV. Would I then wind up with 200 points (100 min +100 min)?

Interestingly, I'm probably best off booking direct and adding business class. That would give me 254 points rather than just the 200 in the aforementioned scenario. Worst way to do it is to ride coach the whole way on one ticket - only 154 points.

Just found a better scenario - two itineraries, both with business class. KAN to RMT (might as well enjoy my time on the train rather than the platform) = $43, thus 100 points. RMT to SAV = $84, thus 168 points. Total = 268.

Interesting. I know it's kinda babbling, but it's a way to sneak up a few more points... :)

This issue has been talken about a lot.

You will get atleast 100 points per ticket, so if you connect to a different train you will get 200 points. If you take the same train number on the same day you will only get points for one ticket.

Your route requres atleast one connection so you will get 200 points, if you make two connections you'll get 300 points.

However, since there is a minimum 100 points per booking...
Just to clarify, it's 100 points minimum per segment, not per booking. I don't have the route details in front of me, but if ClimbGuy is correct that you will be making one connection (assuming you book SAL-SAV), you will travel on two trains and therefore get 200 points, even if it's booked on a single itinerary.

As for making multiple bookings to get the minimum points per segment multiple times, apparently this used to be something that was possible but AGR changed the rules so that if the two bookings are for the same train number on the same day, you only get credit for one.

Just to clarify, it's 100 points minimum per segment, not per booking.
According to Amtrak Guest Rewards (http://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/index.cfm?category=info&loc=info.html), the criteria is 2 points for every dollar spent on Amtrak travel – a 100-point minimum on each trip, no matter the price.
That seems to me to be each booked itinerary, and that I would have to book each segment separately to get multiple minimums.

ClimbGuy - Found where this has been talked about before. Seems like there were some segment rules, but those segment rules were for booking several itineraries on the same train. I guess you can still book separate segments so long as the train changes.

1. Amtrak must define a "trip" as one segment, then, not one booking. It has been mentioned multiple times here on this board that it is 100 points per segment, and in my personal experience this last year, it has been 100 points per segment. Here is a selection of my Amtrak travel history from the AGR website:

Booking 1
Travel: CHARLOTTE - CHARLOTTESVILLE
Transaction Amt: 37.92
Points: 100

Travel: CHARLOTTESVILLE - CHICAGO
Transaction Amt: 55.58
Points: 112

Travel: CHICAGO - WASHINGTON D.C.
Transaction Amt: 49.69
Points: 100

Travel: WASHINGTON D.C. - CHARLOTTE
Transaction Amt: 43.81
Points: 100

Booking 2
Travel: LOS ANGELES-UNION STATION - BAKERSFIELD
Transaction Amt: 13.26
Points: 100

Travel: BAKERSFIELD - SACRAMENTO
Transaction Amt: 31.54
Points: 100

Travel: SACRAMENTO - BAKERSFIELD
Transaction Amt: 31.55
Points: 100

Travel: BAKERSFIELD - LOS ANGELES-UNION STATION
Transaction Amt: 13.25
Points: 100

Booking 3
Travel: LOS ANGELES-UNION STATION - SAN DIEGO
Transaction Amt: 23.2
Points: 100

Travel: SAN DIEGO - LOS ANGELES-UNION STATION
Transaction Amt: 23.20
Points: 100

As a side note, I found it interesting to see how the fares were broken up (since I obviously paid each booking with a single credit card charge), especially on the Thruway buses--$13 from LAX to BFD is a pretty good deal! (You can't book that route independently.)

2. Back on the forum thread listing, if you go to the bottom, you can change how old threads are to be hidden. It defaults to only show threads active in the last 10 days, but you can change that to a month, a year, or even forever. Also, the top of each forum page has an option to search that forum or the whole board. My browser is acting really slowly now (Firefox for the Mac seems to have a memory leak...I'd switch back to Safari, now that version 3 is out--it finally seems speedy again--but all my bookmarks, logins, etc., and the Google Toolbar are in Firefox...), otherwise I'd take a peek. Maybe I can remember to do it later.

Way cool. Just out of curiosity, when was your trip taken?

Well, the most I could lose is 14 points if Amtrak did change their policy since your trip. Would be worth it to see if they still hold to it.

This issue has been talken about a lot.

You will get atleast 100 points per ticket, so if you connect to a different train you will get 200 points. If you take the same train number on the same day you will only get points for one ticket.


Hmmm. Referring to this thread (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=758206&p=8746211) (about the Empire Builder having as many as three different train numbers for the same train) what if one booked Chicago to Milwaukee on train 807, Milwaukee to Tomah on 27, and Tomah to Minneapolis on 7? Would one get 300 AGR points for travelling on three different trains?

I would say NO because it is physically the same train. But you COULD get 200 points by taking the Hiawatha to Milwaukee :p

Not to mention, you can't book the Empire Builder to Milwaukee 'cause it's an "R" station to receive passengers only on the Westbound train.

The Jackal is correct; you get a minimum of 100 AGR points for each segment of a trip, regardless of whether you booked one reservation or multiple reservations.

So in the case of your trip Ventureforth, if you book one reservation you will get two tickets and receive at least 200 points no matter what, 100 points for each ticket. If one leg costs you more than 50 bucks, then you will get the actual 2 X $ in points for that leg.

Two other things to consider here, first in some cases although not all, you could find yourself paying a higher fare for one leg if you do book two reservations.

The second and perhaps more important thing to consider here is the connection between the two trains. If you book two separate reservations, you do not have a guaranteed connection between the two trains. So if the first train is so late as to miss the second train, Amtrak is not obligated to help you. They may, but they don't have to.

If you book on one reservation, then Amtrak is obligated to do whatever is necessary to get you to your ultimate destination, be it put you on a bus, plane, overnight in a hotel and then the next day's train. For that matter with three trains per day that serve Savannah, if you were connecting with the first one and missed it, Amtrak would then put you on one of the other two at no additional charge.

If you booked separate reservations, then Amtrak gets to charge you the current bucket price for the later trains, which could be much higher than the original reservation. And since you are now booking on the same day, any discounts like AAA or NARP would be invalid, costing you still more money.

So IMHO, the only way to go is to book one reservation, since you will still get at least 200 AGR points no matter what, without all of the risks associated with separate bookings.

Not to mention, you can't book the Empire Builder to Milwaukee 'cause it's an "R" station to receive passengers only on the Westbound train.

That is correct, the Empire Builder won't carry pax locally between Chicago and Milwaukee.