Need a cheap flight from EWR
 

So I am 216 miles short of Silver for the year and of course when I called the OnePass desk they told me that marketing did not have any offers - no real surprise. Does anyone know of a cheap route from EWR?

According to FareCompare, BOS, CLT, ORF, ALB, RDU and RIC are all sub-$150 all-in out of EWR.

Book Amtrak's Acela from NY Penn Station to either Boston or DC and get off as soon as your ticket is collected. You will get to Silver this way. Just be sure it is from NY Penn and NOT from Newark Penn.

I think you'll find it substantially cheaper to book to BOS than DC, and maybe a little cheaper on the weekend, where the trips are eithe $93 or $109. You can get off in Stamford (about 45 minutes out of NYC) and take Metro North back to the City for about $10 or less.

If you book online, you'll have to call Amtrak to have them add your OP number to the record. Make sure that you take your copy of the ticket when you leave the train so you can send it to CO if the miles don't show up. You will earn 500 miles.

Just a point of clarification for the benefit of the OP:
I thought Acela does not run on weekends?

Absouutely does, but only 2 or 3 trips a day,

Does one even have to board the train? I thought you can just submit the ticket stub to onepass service center. Haven't done this myself, but am tossing it out there. I need 3k eqm's so this would not work for me, but it crossed my mind as an option for those needing 500 or less.

Saturday is the only day on which Acela service is limited. Sunday has almost as many (or as many?) Acela frequencies as any weekday.

Could be legit.

I'm gonna guess it is not "legit". Meaning, that if CO knew you were willingly purchasing the ticket and not using the service they would void the miles.

That doesn't however, mean you can't get away with it.

You would probably just have to submit the ticket as part of a "missing milage request" further down the road.

For future reference: An FTer's have direct experience with the "don't even board the train and just submit your stub" technique?

IIRC, Onepass ToC specifically defer to the rules of the codeshare carrier - thus, if Amtrak says you can skip the trip, CO goes along for the ride.

Once the conductor takes the ticket, they only care that you disembark no later than the stop to which you are ticketed.

Good luck however finding a conductor to take the ticket before the doors close :(

A Fiver should take care of that small problem

Thanks for the advice…truly appreciated!