Help! Never taken Amtrak before.
 

I'm looking at flying Continental into EWR.
After some biz in the NY area, from EWR or NYP, I'd like to catch Amtrak down to PHL. When I'm done with PHL, I'd like to catch Amtrak to WAS. When I'm done with the DC area, I fly home.
Note: I can totally reverse this itinerary if it makes any difference.
How do I book Amtrak for best Continental OnePass credit?
What does business or first class airfare code do on a train?
Thanks a bunch.

You actually are not eligible to earn OP miles on the itinerary you've described.

If you added the train segment to ZFV (Philly 30th Street Station) to the original ticket then you can get credit for that, but you'll likely have some issues based on needing to stay in NYC for work so it won't be a direct connection and I'm not sure that CO will sell it that way. Then from ZFV to WAS you aren't on a route that earns OP miles.

As for the coach/business/first designations, the Amtrak cars actually do have those different classes of service, so you would potentially earn based on what you booked.

Long Zhiren, you can find lots of answers to Amtrak questions over in the Amtrak forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtra...t-rewards-399/

i think you only get continental credit if you travel between NYP and dc or boston. You wont get credit going to philly.

As I understand it you can earn miles on amtrak in two ways:

(1) Flight on CO to EWR and then connecting on any Amtrak train with scheduled service to New Haven, Stanford, Wilmington, or 30th St.

(2) An Acela train segment between New York Penn and Washington or Boston. As I read it, that segment has to originate in New York.

Thus, as noted above, your itin. does not appear to qualify. See: Amtrak Partner Rules

No longer Metroliner on NE Corridor. Acela classes are business class and first class. Non-Acela classes are coach class and business class.

You *could* book NYP-WAS and just get off in Philly... not sure if it's worth the EQM. You could also then book NYP
-WAS (second time) and get on in Philly. Again, might not be worth the expense.

One can originate in Boston/Washington but they must end in New York.

You can also book the trip so you fly between EWR and PHL. For advance purchase tickets the price is sometimes quite reasonable.

Sure, but I wouldn't wish such on my worst enemy. Forgo the miles and just get to Philly. Flying it would take at least twice as long and probably much more thanks to security and whatnot.

im taking Amtrak from PHL to MDT next week..wish I could get Onepass credit for that..Im not even in the Amtrak rewards program..yet..@:-)

+1 for that.

Oh -- I agree -- but the question was how to get CO points for the trip to Philadelphia... The most :rolleyes: way to get there would probably be flying IMH:rolleyes: (Then again when I made the trip via train a few weeks ago Amtrak stretched a 1hr journey into a rather :rolleyes: 1.5 hours)

You don't indicate where you're flying from or how often you might travel on Amtrak in the future, but the long way 'round is to purchase the Amtrak tickets and collect Amtrak Guest Rewards points (typically 2 points per dollar, 500 for Acela business on most city pairs). You can then transfer from AGR to OnePass 1:1 in increments of 5000.