AGR year?

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HARHBG

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
148
What is the earning "year" for AGR TQP points?

Jan 1, thru Dec 31?

I just don't seem to "get it" My account reads TQP level until 2/28/17.

Is that true for everyone?? So points I earn in January 2016 will NOT count towards TQP points for 2017??

I don't think Amtrak could make all this stuff more confusing if they tried............. :huh:
 
The year is a calendar year.

When you earn status, you earn it for the remainder of this year and all of next year. Then they don't take it away until the end of February(ish) of the following year.

So, you've earned status sometime this year and are good until Feb 2017.

If someone is mega on the ball and does a big expensive trip in January that gets them status, they essentially have it for 2 years.

Not sure what's confusing about that...
 
Yeah, I find it pretty confusing that the OP finds the AGR accrual rules confusing. You just add up all the TQP that you earn between Jan 1 and Dec 31 of a year X, and if it beats the threshold for any tier, you have that tier until Feb of year X+2 starting from the date you reach the threshold. If you had a higher status for the year X than the threshold you reached in year X then that status continues until Feb of year X+1. Starting March you revert to the status you earned in year X. What is so confusing about that?
 
Yup. Earning for status is via the calendar year. However, some benefits (bonus points, club access) can start as soon as you reach a certain level (even within that calendar year) and continue for the next 14 months after the earning calendar year.

Last year I somehow got Fast Track to Status double TQPs on my 10-rides. I had actually calculated that my trips would just make Select Plus on my last 10-ride ticket, but with the double TQPs I actually made it early. My last ticket purchased for the year earned the Select Plus bonus.

So basically you'll transition to the new status once you have enough points, then that status is guaranteed until the end of Feb 2017 unless you somehow get to a higher tier before then.
 
Just because something is not confusing doesn't mean that Amtrak's style of communication can't make it confusing.
 
There's also the slight disconnect between the "earning year" and "benefit year". My understanding is that this is basically to allow for the lag of tickets being collected (I think many of us remember regularly having to wait a week or two for points to hit on LD routes) and possible missed points to be claimed (VIA has a one-month lag and I suspect that such lags are not entirely unheard of for this reason; Virgin America gets around this by informally "holding the books open" for 7-10 days into the new year).
 
There's also the slight disconnect between the "earning year" and "benefit year". My understanding is that this is basically to allow for the lag of tickets being collected (I think many of us remember regularly having to wait a week or two for points to hit on LD routes) and possible missed points to be claimed (VIA has a one-month lag and I suspect that such lags are not entirely unheard of for this reason; Virgin America gets around this by informally "holding the books open" for 7-10 days into the new year).
The coupons (even if they are electronic) don't become available until about the time the packet is mailed. If there's any lag it might dip into the time that one can use something like club access. However, if TQPs are being posted well out of order, the bonus points should backdate to when it's determined one has made it to said tier.

When I was using older "live" 10-ride tickets, the points posting took considerably longer, and I think I had to use up all the rides before they'd collect them and send them in for bookkeeping. I always wondered what would happen if I didn't use up the rides. Now with 10-ride eTickets the points post quickly after I've taken the first ride.
 
And if you have worked with it for some time, understand it and are familiar with it all of course it doesn't appear confusing..............TO YOU.

However, to someone new at navigating through it all I find it somewhat confusing, hence my post politely asking for help in clarification.
 
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