AGR Insider

Only a paid Amtrak trip will extend the expiration date. The system does not honor transfers in or other methods of accumulating points for purposes of extending points expiration. As mentioned earlier in this thread, active cardholders of the AGR MasterCard are exempt from point expiration.

Anthony

beltway

More precisely, primary cardholders. If my DW has a Chase Amtrak card account, my AGR points will expire regardless of whether I'm an additional cardholder on her account.

AGR Insider

Well, ok, true. Authorized users' charges accumulate points into the primary cardholder's AGR member account, and thus any benefits conferred to a member as part of a Chase card only apply to the primary AGR account.

Anthony

travellingcari

Heads up, there's an oddity in their system.

The three year limit isn't an issue for me as I travel Amtrak a few times a year.
Luckily I keep the most recent monthly statement which shows earnings (in my case, Thanksgiving 2013 paid travel). I logged on to book a trip yesterday and found no points. Fearing a hacking issue like has happened with SPG of late, I called to find that no - they'd expired my points because it had been three years since my last Acela.

The CSR quickly remedied it as she saw there were several paid trips within the last year, never mind 3, but worth keeping an eye on if your travels aren't Acela.

Brendan

Cari, Eek! !

iahphx

I have a family member in Delaware who has a significant number of points and took her last paid Amtrak trip on July 12, 2011. She's thinking of buying a ticket for a Newark, DE to Wilmington, DE train. I think that one is 11 minutes long! As long as she does this by July 12, 2014, this would extend her points, right? On the train, does she have to do something to get her ticket "scanned" or something?

Thanks for the help!

3Cforme

Yes, she needs to travel - not just buy a ticket.

jackal

And yes, definitely make sure the conductor scans her ticket. If the conductor misses her (very possible on a short trip like that), she needs to seek the conductor out and ask for the ticket to be scanned.

RogerD408

More specifically, she needs to travel and make sure the conductor scans her ticket. Sometimes they don't make it through the entire train between the short hops and without the ticket being "lifted", there's no credit. I once took the train from San Jose to Sacramento (a three hour trip) and we were in Davis (20 minutes from Sac) before the conductor finally made it to my car!

Also, I wouldn't cut it too close to the last day if you can help it. If it takes them a couple of days to process the tickets, she might have to fight to get the points back. Especially bad with LD trains and your hop is at the beginning as they don't process daily activity, but rather at the end of the trip. I've done trips to Reno on the CZ and the return tickets posts with a date before my departure!

iahphx

Thanks, guys. Is there an easy, "foolproof" way to find the conductor when you board? Otherwise, I can see how it would be problematic to get the ticket scanned on such a short trip.

nerd

I would enter near the cafe car at the middle of the train. The conductors usually hang out there when not walking through collecting tickets.

If your ticket does not get scanned on such a short ride, you are pretty much SOL when it comes to receiving AGR credit, unfortunately.

fairviewroad

One thing in her favor is that there are likely to be relatively few people boarding in Newark, DE. It's much more likely that the conductor will notice her. Plus, IINM, that station does not have high-level platforms. That means the doors will only open where there is a conductor, so it should be easy to find them.

UA Fan

Good to know. Tough expiration rules are a deal breaker for me.

cloudybw

I have a small amount (<1,000) AGR points left in my account. My last *paid* Amtrak travel was in mid June, 2011. So 3 year has passed, but why haven't those points expired yet?

I had several redemptions by transferring from Chase UR after that paid Amtrak travel. Also, I had another earning from Google wallet promotion. But I don't think these would extend my expiration date?

RogerD408

As I recall from earlier posts, Amtrak does not do frequent sweeps to clear accounts. You may get lucky and get a trip in before they run the next sweep and get to keep your points. That is if you wish to keep your <1000 points.