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Today I tried to use my Guest Rewards points to buy a ticket from San Jose to Chicago. I was told by Lindsey and her supervisor Becky that the only option for this was via the California Zephyr. But if you go to amtrak.com and ask to reserve this same ticket, it will also give you an option of either the Empire Builder or the Southwest Chief for the same route. Does this mean I can't use my rewards points to buy any ticket that a paying passenger could have otherwise purchased ?
Actually, to be perfectly honest the situation is a little more complicated than this. After I said "why can't I take a different train, for example the Starlight and the Chief"? they said "well, you'll have to take a bus from San Jose to Santa Barbara". And I said "if we wanted a bus, we'd take Greyhound - why can't we take the Starlight and stay overnight in LA? We'll pay for the hotel room ourselves." Amtrak said, "Sure, you can do that, but if you stay overnight it counts as two separate trips and two separate awards (and an extra 20000 points!)".
The annoying thing is that my wife and I have done this before with our Rewards points and it was never a big problem. Have they tightened up on the rules?
royaltrain Member # 622
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Amtrak seems to make up the rules and change them whenever they feel like it. I have been a Guest Rewards member since it started and I have over 30,000 points, but I can't use them due to Amtrak's onerous restrictions. Virtually every month of the year has black-out dates and so far I have not been able to choose a date that fits my schedule and Amtrak's rules. Via Rail on the other hand has few if any black-out dates, and I have taken many a free trip on Via, but still no freebies on Amtrak.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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It was always my understanding that Guest Rewards travel applied only to the most direct route between two points. That makes sense to me. It costs Amtrak more to transport you via a roundabout route, and if this one is on their dime you go by their routing.
I also believe that overnight stops are only allowed if there is no same-day connection. I believe it has been this way since the program began. At least that's how I read it when I signed up.
notelvis Member # 3071
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I concur with Mr. Toy.
Usually before I call up guest rewards I will try the itinerary on their website first.....but it has to be whatever will come up on the 'single trip screen'. Like you could type 'From Atlanta' to 'Albuquerque'. It will come back with the Crescent to the Capitol to the Southwest Chief. That I could book (and did).
Something else, say via New Orleans, might not have been possible.
Overnight layovers (unless there is no same day connection) have always counted as two separate trips.
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by GIZMOS: Today I tried to use my Guest Rewards points to buy a ticket from San Jose to Chicago. I was told by Lindsey and her supervisor Becky that the only option for this was via the California Zephyr. But if you go to amtrak.com and ask to reserve this same ticket, it will also give you an option of either the Empire Builder or the Southwest Chief for the same route. Does this mean I can't use my rewards points to buy any ticket that a paying passenger could have otherwise purchased ?
Actually, to be perfectly honest the situation is a little more complicated than this. After I said "why can't I take a different train, for example the Starlight and the Chief"? they said "well, you'll have to take a bus from San Jose to Santa Barbara". And I said "if we wanted a bus, we'd take Greyhound - why can't we take the Starlight and stay overnight in LA? We'll pay for the hotel room ourselves." Amtrak said, "Sure, you can do that, but if you stay overnight it counts as two separate trips and two separate awards (and an extra 20000 points!)".
The annoying thing is that my wife and I have done this before with our Rewards points and it was never a big problem. Have they tightened up on the rules?
Bob - an idea after reading your Texas Eagle post.
Why not book your Guest Rewards trip originating in Los Angeles via #2/22/422.
For getting to LAX just book coach on the Coast Starlight the day before and pay the applicable fare. You're building Guest Rewards points on that segment of the trip and not blowing the extra 15-20,000 points.
GIZMOS Member # 4953
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: Overnight layovers (unless there is no same day connection) have always counted as two separate trips.
The problem is that Amtrak has a lot of trouble making on-time connections anymore. Usually the result of connecting from long distance train A to train B at station C is that you end up on a six hour bus ride from points D to E instead. I don't want to use my points to buy a bus ticket :-)
I'm even willing to pay for my own overnight hotel room just so that I can be assured of making the connection and actually getting to ride the train. But Amtrak wants to penalize me for this, even though I'm only doing it to make up for their on time performance problems.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining that the trains aren't on time. I don't ride the train because I'm in a hurry; I ride the train because I want to ride the train (and not a bus!).
sojourner Member # 3134
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Royal Train, I have used my Guest Rewards with no trouble on many of my trips. I simply know not to go on holidays, when I don't want to travel anyways--too crowded. The blackout restrictions are FAR less onerous than those for air fare free trips, as far as I have seen. But if you generally have free time only on holidays, I guess it would be a problem.
Gizmos, I was thinking you should do as DavidP suggests. Book the southbound Coast Starlight coach, if that is what you want to take, and pay for it. You might cnsider staying overnight in San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara---you said you were willing to pay for a hotel. I stayed very inexpensively in the San Luis Obispo Days Inn (you have to take a taxi to and from with luggage, but it's only around $10 for the taxi, and you can walk back downtown if you get there in time to do anything). Santa Barbara hotels are far more expensive, but it's a lovely town.
Or, if you don't want to do the overnight and are concerned about Coast Starlight reliability, just take the San Joaquin to Hanford and catch the bus to SLO, or do the one to SBA. Yes, it's a bus, and it isn't as nice as a train, but it's just a couple of hours. I did it last summer with no problem, and I really enjoyed riding the San Joaquin, my first and only time.
Whichever you do, then ask Amtrak Guest Rewards to route you from SLO or SBA to Chicago. You will get your Pacific Surfliner free--and they will give you business class if you ask--as well as the 2 free nights with your sleeper on the SW Chief to Chicago. Isn't that enough? Remember, Amtrak is broke!
Northbound is obviously more problematic, since it's an overnight. But I went north coach on the CS the summer before last with no real problem--I brought a little pillow and some food, and it was fun. And that was coming off a coach overnight from Denver (I changed in Sacramento), which you wouldn't be doing! So, anyway, you could pay cash to take the Coast Starlight coach to, say, Klamath Falls, and then use Guest Rewards from there to Chicago.
Or, since you are worried about the connection problem, you could just pay cash to go all the way to Eugene, overnight there (again, hotels are not too expensive), and start your Guest Rewards from there with a business class Cascades and connection to your sleeper on the Empire Builder out of Portland. Or maybe you'd instead rather stop in Salem, or go all the way to Portland, on the CS and overnight there and start your Guest Rewards from there--depends on your fancy.
Another solution would be to move. If you lived somewhere in the middle, you could get more free nights with your Amtrak Guest Rewards.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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You might also have similar options at the eastern end. For instance, get an AGR ticket to Columbus, WI and then also purchase a seat from Columbus to CHI (about $29 coach, off-peak). I think that would put you on the EB as the most direct route. (The CZ to EB connection CHI is not same day.)
railrev Member # 2640
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Travelling from Portland to San Diego, I wanted to change trains in SAC or MTZ and take the San Joaquin to LAX since it better timekeeping than the CS then and I could still make a connection to San Diego.
Guest Rewards said no. I could only take the Coast Starlight. I said, "even though we both know it will be late into LA and I'll miss the San Deigo connection." No budging.
But I did get a free ride from Chicago to Whitefish, MT, so I can't complain.
chakk Member # 5029
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quote:Originally posted by Mr. Toy: It was always my understanding that Guest Rewards travel applied only to the most direct route between two points. That makes sense to me. It costs Amtrak more to transport you via a roundabout route, and if this one is on their dime you go by their routing.
I also believe that overnight stops are only allowed if there is no same-day connection. I believe it has been this way since the program began. At least that's how I read it when I signed up.
A couple years ago, I used my rewards points to travel one-way from Atlanta to Oakland via New Orleans, Los Angeles, and the San Joaquin bus-rail connection. The Amtrak telephone agent was quite willing to route me via the overnight connection at New Orleans rather than the Washington, D.C. and Chicago routing, and did not charge me any extra rewards points.
sojourner Member # 3134
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I think this depends on the particular route and what is made available to Guest Rewards. Usually they route you on the most direct route, but sometimes an alternative is available. For example, if you are paying for 2 zones for a trip from NYC to Denver, the quickest route is the Lakeshore Ltd to Chicago, then the Zephyr; but Amtrak Guest Rewardswill also route you on the Regional to DC and the Capitol Ltd to Chicago before the Zephyr, if you ask. Both are available to them in this case.
On the other hand, if you were leaving from Albany, NY, for Denver, they would not let you use your 2-zone points to travel from Albany to NYC on an Empire Service train to catch a Regional to DC and the Capital Ltd (and then the Zephyr). They would only let you take the Lakeshore Ltd from Albany to Chicago (and then the Zephyr). So if you were leaving from Albany and wanted to go out with the Capital Ltd for variety's sake (because you were coming home on the Lakeshore Ltd), you would have to pay for the trip from Albany to NYC and then ask for 2 zone guest rewards from NYC to Chicago. (Or you could use an exta 5000 points for the Albany to NY trip, of course, but that would be a waste of points.)
In the case of Chakk, leaving from Atlanta, if you were cashing in 20000 points for 2 zones and using sleepers, what you got the way you went was actually less than going the other way. The trip from Atlanta to New Orleans involves no overnight on the Crescent; had you gone to DC and Chicago, that would have been longer and involved overnights on both the Crescent and the Capital Ltd. So you got one more night on the Sunset Ltd, but one less night overall. I mean, it took the same time, but your overnight in New Orleans was at your own expense, not Amtrak's. However, because of the overnight in New Orleans, I am sure that had you wanted to, Guest Rewards would have routed you the other way, through Chicago.
You would have had more free meals on Amtrak instead of meals in New Orleans. So I think you chose wisely!!!
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