All - I'm new to Amtrak, and therefore new to AGR as well. I have signed up for Chase Sapphire Preferred card for the 40K points, and was planning on immediately transferring the 40K points to AGR when they post to my account (maybe not until Late Feb/Early March?) and then using the 40K points on a Family Bedroom on the California Zephyr, trip would be on 4/30.

My plan was to book now with a different credit card, get Chase Sapphire Preferred card in & put the initial spend on it for the points, transfer the points to AGR, then call Amtrak back & get them to cancel the first (credit card) reservation and make a new (points) reservation. Folks on the boards here said this should work.

I just called AGR to ask about this and have gotten two answers. The first was there's a "waitlist" type system where if I booked the original room, then someone else is interested in it, then as soon as they were to cancel my original reservation it would get snapped up and I wouldn't be able to rebook with points. The second person said that others could log in during the moment of cancellation and rebooking and grab the room.

Any way I can work this out? Obviously I could wait until late March for the 40K points, but then I risk losing availability on my dates.

Help! I would rather have a free trip that pay $1700!