Originally Posted by
jackal
I'm still not entirely sure where you've managed to somehow earn 215,000 points.
First, I've been in the program since like the second day one could join, now a little over 6 years. As for the points a bit over 78,000 came from actual riding, while another 53K and change was thanks to double point, triple point, magazine, and other bonus points.
Originally Posted by
jackal
So, the AGR points have cost you roughly $.17 per point, but the AA miles have cost you only about $.06 per mile.
I can't speak to the airline side, since I rarely fly and therefore don't bother to collect them since they expire if you don't use them and/or fly frequently enough, unlike AGR awards. However, assuming that I haven't made any mistakes with the formulas that I quickly threw together, here's how my numbers break down.
If I just consider actual points earned over the years, then I've paid about 29 cents per point. Allowing for the Select & Select Plus bonus points, drops it down to 23 cents per point. If I add in all the other bonus points, then my average drops to about 15 cents per point.
I suppose that if I were a bit more careful I could have improved on those numbers, but many of the tickets were brought without worrying about price, since my clients were paying for the trip.
Originally Posted by
jackal
Then, when you factor in redemption value, it's even worse. A cross-country sleeper at 50,000 points is worth $1,500 (I just priced an LAX-NYP itinerary with bedrooms), or 3 cents per point. But a first-class trip LAX-SYD on QF, which uses 150,000 AS miles (and presumably the same number of AA miles), retails for $14,000 rt--meaning your miles are worth 9.3 cents per mile, more than three times as much. (And UA's even better--100,000 miles for LAX-SYD FC, and I'm not seeing anything below $19,000 for them.)
So, the Amtrak points cost 2.8 times as much per point to earn and are worth 3.1 times less than AA miles. If I'm lucid and clear-thinking, that means that (at least in the situation I've described above, and assuming no double/triple point promos) the AA miles have 8.8 times as much buying power as the AGR points. (And as I mentioned in my last post, it's nowhere near as easy to earn points on non-NEC, non-Acela trains.)
What you say is true in a straight comparison, but IMHO that's hardly a fair comparison since all that you've really considered is getting from point A to point B. What you aren't factoring in here is that Amtrak is providing you in effect with a hotel room for 3 nights, as well as 10 meals in the dining car for that trip you've described above. At best the airline has served you 2 meals each way, for a total of 4. So to make your comparison more valid you would first have to factor into your equation the cost of a hotel room for 3 nights, as well as the costs of those extra meals above and beyond what you would get on your flight.
Additionally, with Amtrak you could bring along a friend/spouse/significant other for no additional cost. You'd need another award to bring along a friend on your flight, and even then you'd still be looking at buying an extra 6 meals for your friend for a total of 12 extra meals that are not included in the flight award.
Now I will grant you that you're covering many more miles, and perhaps this is the railfan in me speaking, but I get to see far more of the country on my trip than you'll see on your flight to SYD.
