Originally Posted by Reindeerflame
The two programs are independent and not coordinated. The AS program predates AGR but was never phased out. Fortunately, Amtrak is not an airline. Participation in the AS program on Amtrak is rather cumbersome, with manual submittal of forms for each trip required, rather than placing a number on one's ticket. But, we're not complaining. If Amtrak were asked to modernize this, they would probably discover that the program is still operating, and might then end Amtrak's participation.
Amtrak is run by the government and we'll never see it run like a business. I work in Washington, DC for a non-profit that runs political education programs for high school students. We have to bring house mailings to Maryland and have a special procedure for handling them and a completely different set of rules for senate mailings with a delivery point on the Hill. It is completely inefficient. This is how government works or well doesn't.