Thanks for the info David, you always have the answers.

I agree about the program. Interestingly, while they offer " Reward travel without blackout restrictions" as a Premier benefit, I was told by a telephone agent that the award tickets come out of regular inventory so there's no worry about booking ahead. I realize that's not the same as "no blackouts".

I think some Conductor responsibilities went to the guy driving the train and some went to the Service Manager, right?

The four discount coupons I got for becoming Premier are "half-price in VIA1" as I received the previous year at the Privilege level (the agents call them upgrade certificates which is the effectd, VIA1 for the price of full-fare, I mean Liberty, in Comfort class). But each of them offers 3 other value options, e.g. a big discount in silver&blue, or 1750 bonus points, or take a friend free. Each of the four has different options, though each is also a VIA1 discount coupon. Makes sense, since not everyone wants a VIA coupon, did they do it with Privilege too?

=aw