Amtrak Guest Rewards - Newbie question - PHL-BOS award

OK from what I see a one way coach ticket anywhere in the Northeast Corridor is only 3000 points? So assuming I want to go PHL to BOS rt, I can transfer 10,000 CO miles over and redeem 6000 for the RT? That seems like a great deal considering the train would cost me $80 each way, I am getting 2.7 cents of value per CO mile.

I have never redeemed Amtrak points so any advice on tips, pitfalls appreciated.

TIA

Not sure about the miles transfer part, but you can definitely get round trip regional PHL<=>BOS for 6k AGR pts and it is pretty good value for the pts IMHO (I'm not someone who will go cross country on sleeper cars etc). You can also go Acela but that'll cost 16k and there are all sorts of time-of-day restrictions (no booking before 8:59am and between 2-5:59pm).

Another strategy would be to transfer 5000 CO miles and buy the extra 1000 points at 2.75 c/point from AGR. This would keep you from orphaning 4000 points at AGR and you are buying the miles at barely over the redemption rate (an extra 50 cents total for the trip). This would make it $27.50 + 5000 CO miles for the $160 roundtrip.

The main thing to remember is that AGR tickets cannot be modified or returned to Amtrak ticket agents so don't print the ticket until you are at the station on the day of travel. You can call up AGR anytime and change or cancel if the ticket has not been printed, but once the ticket is printed you have to put it in the mail and send it off the AGR office for a refund of the points. This is because AGR is not in house with Amtrak, they are contracted out.

Thanks guys that is exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. Especially the advice not to print my ticket in advance because I may or may not do the trip.

One last question - how long for CO miles to come over, and are awards capacity controlled like the airlines? In other words, any reason to do this now for an early Jan 2010 trip, or can I wait until beginning December when I know if I am going?

No capacity controls. Unless coach is sold out you can get the award seat. Coach on NEC rarely sells out, certainly not more than a few days in advance, so no rush. Check blackout dates though.

I have transferred CO miles many times. IIRC, if the request is made by Friday COB, miles generally post Sunday night / Monday morning. As always YMMV but it's been pretty consistent for a number of FTers.

ivk5

Edited to add:
Jan 3-4, 2010 are blacked out. (link (https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/index.cfm?category=redeem&loc=zone_chart.cfm))

Another strategy would be to transfer 5000 CO miles and buy the extra 1000 points at 2.75 c/point from AGR. This would keep you from orphaning 4000 points at AGR and you are buying the miles at barely over the redemption rate (an extra 50 cents total for the trip). This would make it $27.50 + 5000 CO miles for the $160 roundtrip.

I actually have 600 AGR points in my account and I see you can buy as few as 500 AGR points so this is a great suggestion! Not only avoids orphaning CO miles in AGR but deals with my orphan AGR points!