Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR) is a gem of a program and often overlooked primarily because riding the train is overlooked as a form of travel. There are no capacity restrictions beyond ~15 holiday related blackout dates so if there is a seat available it is yours for points. These loose limits matched with reasonable redemption levels make AGR one of the few programs where it makes sense to buy points.
AGR is currently running a buy points special offer of a 30% bonus on top of the purchased points. The offer is good through March 31 and is subject to the program's cap of 10,000 points purchased per year, this cap excluded the bonus so it is possible to buy 13,000 points. Points are normally priced at 2.75 cents each and must be bought in blocks of 500.
This buy points promotion is special not for the offer, 30% or better was offered for about 4 months last year. The timing of the offer makes it special. Guest Rewards is implementing a increase in redemption levels on most travel awards booked on or after April 1st. Awards booked prior, even for dates beyond April 1, will be at the current lower level. Amtrak's advanced notice of this increase and offering a buy points promotion prior to implementation make it a classy move compared to other programs' devaluation.
I am personally holding out for now on buying points. My award redemption of choice is the roomette option, there is no increase in these levels. Also I expect National Train Day to have a lucrative bonus for riding and I have 5 or 6 rides planned for that week. Keeping the $275 in cash for now rather than convert to points is a bigger benefit as I have no plans to redeem in the immediate future but I do have bills. Am I gambling on the future repeating the past? Yes, but I feel odds are good. Will I reconsider? Perhaps if National Train Day is lackluster.
Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Redemption Day
Earning miles and the the high of doing it on the cheap is great, but miles are earned to be burned. Various plans coordinated and made Saturday mileage redemption day.
I finally settled on a hotel for my upcoming trip and found the rate of $195 ($171 + 14% tax) to be both out of my price range and obscene. This is a Holiday Inn property and participates in Priority Club. One of the nice features of Priority Club is the cash and points redemption so you can pay partially with points and partially with cash. This works well for both corporate office as they get more revenue than they would from franchise fees on a paid stay and the traveler also pays less. The individual property owner loses out as they will get a pittance instead of $171 for my stay. This could alternatively be viewed as they get a pittance over nothing as I would not pay that price.
I redeemed 5,000 Priority Club points in conjunction with $60 for the room. In this case each point is worth 2.7 cents, I am quite impressed with getting this value.
The second redemption of the day was Amtrak travel from Los Angeles to San Diego. The cash price for this is $31 or $27.90 with AAA discount. The price is high considering the distance and my hotel in San Diego is higher than I would like so I burned some Amtrak points for this trip. 1,000 points to be exact as the routing is on the Pacific Surfliner, a route Amtrak considers to be primarily commuter use so much lower than other redemption options. At 2.8 cents per point this is not a great value but it is acceptable and keeps cash in my pocket. I also get this view, priceless.
The third redemption was for a flight for part of the Grand East Coast tour. 12,500 American miles and $5 for the TSA goons got me a flight routing that is retailing at $354. There are cheaper flights that are acceptable to me so it is not correct to value based on the routing I have. $210 is the lowest priced acceptable alternative so I'll use that as my basis for valuation, 1.65 cents per mile. Again that is acceptable but not great and May is going to busy so cash staying in my pocket is a good thing.
18,500 miles/points no longer with me for $370 in travel value. A productive weekend indeed.
I finally settled on a hotel for my upcoming trip and found the rate of $195 ($171 + 14% tax) to be both out of my price range and obscene. This is a Holiday Inn property and participates in Priority Club. One of the nice features of Priority Club is the cash and points redemption so you can pay partially with points and partially with cash. This works well for both corporate office as they get more revenue than they would from franchise fees on a paid stay and the traveler also pays less. The individual property owner loses out as they will get a pittance instead of $171 for my stay. This could alternatively be viewed as they get a pittance over nothing as I would not pay that price.
I redeemed 5,000 Priority Club points in conjunction with $60 for the room. In this case each point is worth 2.7 cents, I am quite impressed with getting this value.
The second redemption of the day was Amtrak travel from Los Angeles to San Diego. The cash price for this is $31 or $27.90 with AAA discount. The price is high considering the distance and my hotel in San Diego is higher than I would like so I burned some Amtrak points for this trip. 1,000 points to be exact as the routing is on the Pacific Surfliner, a route Amtrak considers to be primarily commuter use so much lower than other redemption options. At 2.8 cents per point this is not a great value but it is acceptable and keeps cash in my pocket. I also get this view, priceless.
The third redemption was for a flight for part of the Grand East Coast tour. 12,500 American miles and $5 for the TSA goons got me a flight routing that is retailing at $354. There are cheaper flights that are acceptable to me so it is not correct to value based on the routing I have. $210 is the lowest priced acceptable alternative so I'll use that as my basis for valuation, 1.65 cents per mile. Again that is acceptable but not great and May is going to busy so cash staying in my pocket is a good thing.
18,500 miles/points no longer with me for $370 in travel value. A productive weekend indeed.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
2010 summary
I don't know if anyone else would care about my travel stats, I am not totally sure I do myself. I am still going to archive them while they are available.
2010 saw my butt leave the earth strapped to a pile of aluminum a total of 45 times for a total of 28,471 miles flown. My first flights on Airtran, Alaska, and Air Canada were made this year as well as my last flight on Northwest.
(taken from flightmemory.com)
1 flight and 127 miles on Air Canada Jazz
1 flight and 297 miles on Airtran
2 flights and 2077 miles on Alaska Airlines
7 flights and 1886 miles on American
32 flights and 21471 miles on Delta
4 flights and 2613 miles on United
17 Amtrak trips took me through 7 states for a total of 1468 rail miles travelled. Routes included the hometown Empire Builder, Hiawatha, Amtrak Cascades, and Keystone Service. Roadtrips included the Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City.
In total 15 states and 1 province in 3 time zones including first visits to Missouri, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.
2010 saw my butt leave the earth strapped to a pile of aluminum a total of 45 times for a total of 28,471 miles flown. My first flights on Airtran, Alaska, and Air Canada were made this year as well as my last flight on Northwest.
1 flight and 127 miles on Air Canada Jazz
1 flight and 297 miles on Airtran
2 flights and 2077 miles on Alaska Airlines
7 flights and 1886 miles on American
32 flights and 21471 miles on Delta
4 flights and 2613 miles on United
17 Amtrak trips took me through 7 states for a total of 1468 rail miles travelled. Routes included the hometown Empire Builder, Hiawatha, Amtrak Cascades, and Keystone Service. Roadtrips included the Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City.
In total 15 states and 1 province in 3 time zones including first visits to Missouri, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.
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