Bedroom bookable for zero points?

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rs9

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Dec 26, 2021
Messages
271
Location
Chicago
On a date I'm looking to travel this summer, a bedroom is showing available for zero points in the app. Obviously a glitch - would Amtrak honor the ticket? I'm guessing no...
 
I was trying to book a trip from Philadelphia to Miami in May 2023. I was trying to redeem AGR points for a Bedroom. Amtrak.com will allow to pay cash for a Bedroom, which is $1400, but it is charging me ZERO points for the same accommodation!!! I tried to book it thinking it was some sort of weird promotion Amtrak was having for me, but I get a message saying "Unknown Error. Please give us a call." What's up with this? Now, I don't want to be stingy and actually scarf an expensive accommodation for free; I'm willing to shell out an appropriate number of points, but ZERO points for Bedroom??
 
I was trying to book a trip from Philadelphia to Miami in May 2023. I was trying to redeem AGR points for a Bedroom. Amtrak.com will allow to pay cash for a Bedroom, which is $1400, but it is charging me ZERO points for the same accommodation!!! I tried to book it thinking it was some sort of weird promotion Amtrak was having for me, but I get a message saying "Unknown Error. Please give us a call." What's up with this? Now, I don't want to be stingy and actually scarf an expensive accommodation for free; I'm willing to shell out an appropriate number of points, but ZERO points for Bedroom??
The app let me book the reservation for zero points, but then there is no actual reservation - no email, nothing in the app. So clearly a website issue.

A more hilarious issue might be the removal of business class from the Lake Shore Limited. I had BC tickets for August but have switched to coach. Never fear, though - I received a BidUp email notifying me I can put in a bid to move up to business class!
 
A more hilarious issue might be the removal of business class from the Lake Shore Limited. I had BC tickets for August but have switched to coach. Never fear, though - I received a BidUp email notifying me I can put in a bid to move up to business class!
But apparently no bid will come through since the BC in 48 is sold out! :rolleyes: I have no idea why there is the sold out BC on 48, but that together with some amount of dumbness on how Amtrak delivers inventory to the third party who handles BidUps I bet is causing this issue.
 
But apparently no bid will come through since the BC in 48 is sold out! :rolleyes: I have no idea why there is the sold out BC on 48, but that together with some amount of dumbness on how Amtrak delivers inventory to the third party who handles BidUps I bet is causing this issue.
Here's hoping it's a sign business class is coming back/moving to 48 - but there's another thread on that.

Taken with a grain of salt, Amtrak's website is a nice source of amusement - especially as someone who runs a website for work...
 
The app let me book the reservation for zero points, but then there is no actual reservation - no email, nothing in the app. So clearly a website issue.

A more hilarious issue might be the removal of business class from the Lake Shore Limited. I had BC tickets for August but have switched to coach. Never fear, though - I received a BidUp email notifying me I can put in a bid to move up to business class!
Which of course you did with your refund right?😄
 
System is still doing this for every itinerary I search for. Roomette shows points but bedrooms are always zero. In order to book a bedroom using AGR points one has to call. Kind of annoying.
 
Is anybody else having this problem when searching for points tickets? Literally any itinerary I search for using "points" I get the rate for Roomettes but when I check for bedrooms or family bedrooms it shows up as "0 points". If I change to show the price in dollars, then all available rooms show up with a valid price. It's not that there are no bedrooms available because I have called Guest Rewards and they have changed my reservation for me from Roomette to bedroom. I also notice that I can no longer make any changes to my reservations online. I always get a system error. I think they are having a system error system wide but I wanted to ask on here to see if anybody else is experiencing this or if it is only related to me. I have tried without logging in and I get the same results. For fun I tired checking out with a zero points bedroom and as expected got a system error message.

I have attached screenshots from a random date in October for DEN to EMY. You can see the cash price is listed but points show 0. No matter what itinerary I search for I get this. Again, if no bedrooms are available, they don't even show up as an option so that theory doesn't appear to be what's happening here.
 

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Is anybody else having this problem when searching for points tickets? Literally any itinerary I search for using "points" I get the rate for Roomettes but when I check for bedrooms or family bedrooms it shows up as "0 points". If I change to show the price in dollars, then all available rooms show up with a valid price. It's not that there are no bedrooms available because I have called Guest Rewards and they have changed my reservation for me from Roomette to bedroom. I also notice that I can no longer make any changes to my reservations online. I always get a system error. I think they are having a system error system wide but I wanted to ask on here to see if anybody else is experiencing this or if it is only related to me. I have tried without logging in and I get the same results. For fun I tired checking out with a zero points bedroom and as expected got a system error message.

I have attached screenshots from a random date in October for DEN to EMY. You can see the cash price is listed but points show 0. No matter what itinerary I search for I get this. Again, if no bedrooms are available, they don't even show up as an option so that theory doesn't appear to be what's happening here.
I certainly am also having this exact same trouble. It makes it very difficult trying to plan a new train journey when you are wanting to use multiple different trains
 
I certainly am also having this exact same trouble. It makes it very difficult trying to plan a new train journey when you are wanting to use multiple different trains
Get out your calculator. Determine the dollar to point ratio and then use that to calculate the bedrooms using the dollar value given.
 
I got the same "0 Points" message, etc. and took that as my clue to call AGR, which I did. Talking to an agent gets me what I want; as for bedroom prices, nothing is free on Amtrak.

The main problem: AGR frequently has hold times of "more than 30 minutes," so I have to use the call-me-back feature. All in all, it's a huge waste of lots of time.
 
I saw this too, but by the time I was at the penultimate step to purchasing the ticket, I finally saw a price in points (and it seemed reasonable).
 
The Amtrak website continues to get more and more broken. Can't book a bedroom using points online. Now I'm trying to use the already useless schedule "feature" (since timetables are obsolete and the route I'm looking for hasn't been completed by neroden yet) and I'm receiving "an unknown error".
 
I'm glad it's not just me who has been having the zero points issue. I was speculatively looking at the app with a view to booking a CHI - NOL sleeper next year and saw the zero points for a bedroom rate. I did go through and book it. It gave me a booking reference and my AGR statement shows the transaction. Trying to view the booking gives an error though.
 
I was just playing around with the app on my iPad this morning to see what the cost was in points for a day trip. Was really thinking about coach cost but then saw that it was listing a bedroom or family bedroom for 0 points. Pretty sure it was a glitch, but then I played around with it for a round trip, and they had a bedroom on the return segment for 0 points. So what the heck - a little chutzpah didn't hurt anyone and I booked it. Heck if it worked I figure we'd get the included meals. Entered my age and my kid's name and everything, it went up to payment (I selected Use Points), and it completed and even gave me a reservation number (I didn't write it down or get a screenshot) along with a message that my eTicket would be emailed to me (listed my exact email address).

Then I looked to see if it showed up in my upcoming trips. Then checked my email account to see if the eTicket showed up. Nothing. I suppose any kind of glitch like this may include not producing a ticket.

I just looked up my redemptions, and it does actually show up with the reservation number and 0 points redeemed.

AGR.jpg

But when I try to look it up (modify trip on the Amtrak website or in the trip lookup in the app) I get:

We are unable to retrieve your reservation at this time. For assistance please call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Obviously there is no trip for me to take, but it was kind of interesting seeing this.
 
I thought that maybe I posted something inappropriate where my post was deleted, but then I realized that it was just merged into an existing thread.

But now I'm looking at the Amtrak website, and it does the same thing with 0 points being listed for rooms, although it wasn't quite like with the Amtrak app where all the options were visible. With the website one has to be looking at rooms only to see the 0 points.
 
I was just playing around with the app on my iPad this morning to see what the cost was in points for a day trip. Was really thinking about coach cost but then saw that it was listing a bedroom or family bedroom for 0 points. Pretty sure it was a glitch, but then I played around with it for a round trip, and they had a bedroom on the return segment for 0 points. So what the heck - a little chutzpah didn't hurt anyone and I booked it. Heck if it worked I figure we'd get the included meals. Entered my age and my kid's name and everything, it went up to payment (I selected Use Points), and it completed and even gave me a reservation number (I didn't write it down or get a screenshot) along with a message that my eTicket would be emailed to me (listed my exact email address).

Then I looked to see if it showed up in my upcoming trips. Then checked my email account to see if the eTicket showed up. Nothing. I suppose any kind of glitch like this may include not producing a ticket.

I just looked up my redemptions, and it does actually show up with the reservation number and 0 points redeemed.

View attachment 28868

But when I try to look it up (modify trip on the Amtrak website or in the trip lookup in the app) I get:

We are unable to retrieve your reservation at this time. For assistance please call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Obviously there is no trip for me to take, but it was kind of interesting seeing this.
And we're sure that the Crack IT Department is busy fixing this glitch!😉
 
I've been searching around the booking and reservation part of the Amtrak app and it seems that the zero points for a bedroom glitch has been fixed. Has anyone seen a zero points bedroom lately?
 
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