Bonus Points Now On Sale

[TinCan782]

My wife and I each got the 30% email this week as we did last fall. We each purchased 10,000+3,000 at that time. That 50% bonus would sure be nice to get!

 

[mom_of_many]

I received the 50%, one daughter received 30% (8 yrs. old) and another daughter didn't receive one (10 yrs. old). I purchased my limit last year and have quite a few in my account now, so I don't know how they chose.

 

[guest]

I would like to take a moment to advise folks to reconsider posting specific points balances. We live in an era when too much information shared online can be detrimental to your account. You may be surprised what bored people on the internet are capable of, but once you find out the hard way you'll never forget it.

I agree.

Yeah... just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

 

[saturn04]

I got the 30% too, I have the Amtrak select could that be the difference?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[SarahZ]

I got the 30% too, I have the Amtrak select could that be the difference?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

I'm not Select status, so probably not.

 

[Ryan]

I would like to take a moment to advise folks to reconsider posting specific points balances. We live in an era when too much information shared online can be detrimental to your account. You may be surprised what bored people on the internet are capable of, but once you find out the hard way you'll never forget it.

Although I do agree, even if someone said 56,137 points, it wouldn't really matter. Unless you know the person's AGR account number and password (if redeeming online) or the person'a real full name, AGR account number, full address, etc... (if redeeming over the phone), it won't do much good. You can't just say "I've got 87,459 AGR points and I want to redeem 75,000 points!"

Every piece of data someone can collect on you can help you call up an agent and get them to do something that they shouldn't:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/how-i-almost-lost-my-500000-twitter-username-jb-and-my-startup/

He then called Amazon with what little information he had gained and complained that he had lost his password and didn’t have access to that e-mail address anymore. The representative eventually caved and reset the password over the phone, giving him full access to my Amazon account. His plan was to then gain as much information as he could with Amazon (the last four numbers of credit cards, current and previous addresses, etc.) and to use that as ammunition to do the same thing with Apple. And it almost worked. He had an e-mail in his Gmail inbox with instructions on how to reset my iCloud account.

So what did I learn?

1. Even though Amazon encourages you to only have one identity, don’t. Use completely separate accounts for your AWS services and your Amazon.com shopping account.

2. Always use a private WHOIS service with domains that you own.

3. Naoki’s thesis is that you shouldn’t use personally owned domain-based e-mail addresses for your logins to these services. Unfortunately, this isn’t a guarantee of safety. The problem is that e-mail providers like Gmail and iCloud are so big that they deal with thousands of requests on a daily basis from people who have genuinely forgotten their password, and the only way they have to grant them access again is by “verifying” their identity over the phone. If someone can fake being “you” over the phone, they’re even more likely to succeed with these large providers.

4. Some of the biggest companies in the world have security that is only as good as a minimum-wage phone support worker who has the power to reset your account. And the companies have valid business reasons for giving the support workers this power.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/how-i-lost-my-50000-twitter-username/

- I called paypal and used some very simple engineering tactics to obtain the last four of your card (avoid this by calling paypal and asking the agent to add a note to your account to not release any details via phone)

- I called godaddy and told them I had lost the card but I remembered the last four, the agent then allowed me to try a range of numbers (00-09 in your case)

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/

But what happened to me exposes vital security flaws in several customer service systems, most notably Apple’s and Amazon’s. Apple tech support gave the hackers access to my iCloud account. Amazon tech support gave them the ability to see a piece of information — a partial credit card number — that Apple used to release information. In short, the very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. The disconnect exposes flaws in data management policies endemic to the entire technology industry, and points to a looming nightmare as we enter the era of cloud computing and connected devices.

At 4:33 p.m., according to Apple’s tech support records, someone called AppleCare claiming to be me. Apple says the caller reported that he couldn’t get into his Me.com e-mail — which, of course was my Me.com e-mail.

In response, Apple issued a temporary password. It did this despite the caller’s inability to answer security questions I had set up. And it did this after the hacker supplied only two pieces of information that anyone with an internet connection and a phone can discover.

By wiping my MacBook and deleting my Google account, they now not only had the ability to control my account, but were able to prevent me from regaining access. And crazily, in ways that I don’t and never will understand, those deletions were just collateral damage. My MacBook data — including those irreplaceable pictures of my family, of my child’s first year and relatives who have now passed from this life — weren’t the target. Nor were the eight years of messages in my Gmail account. The target was always Twitter. My MacBook data was torched simply to prevent me from getting back in.

Lulz.

3 separate, high profile incidents. True, an exact point balance alone isn't going to give away the farm, but put together a few of those "innocent" pieces of data and you're screwed.

 

[DennisInGeorgia]

Now I'm really bummed. Reading all these offers of bonus AGR points, and I didn't even get an email of any sort. Does that mean something is wrong with my account?

I'm not feeling the love, here (sniff!). And we use our AGR MC for every expense, too.

 

[jis]

I got an offer for some percentage which I exercised on one of my several accounts.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

3 separate, high profile incidents. True, an exact point balance alone isn't going to give away the farm, but put together a few of those "innocent" pieces of data and you're screwed.

Thanks Ryan.

Exactly as you said it's not any one bit of data that's the problem. It's the ease of finding a few seemingly irrelevant pieces and then cobbling together a story. It only has to sound believable to one person for one single moment and the cat is out of the bag. I guess this may be one of those issues that some folks have to see to believe but by then it's too late.

 

[Meat Puppet]

I think the points bonus goes by your mothers maiden name. Can you all please PM me your mothers maiden name?

 

[Blackwolf]

I got the 30% bonus offer. Mrs. Blackwolf got the 50% offer.

Hmm... Need to look into saving up $550 before the offer expires, because between the two of us, that's just shy of a 3-zone roomette redemption for one heck of a low price!

 

[montezume]

So just to confirm, there's nothing stopping me from purchasing 10k + 5k bonus for mile self, and then purchasing 10k + 5k for my girlfriend through my account, as she hasn't been offered the bonus?

 

[PJnVA]

I received the 30% offer and the email link does not work. I will wait a couple days and try again. I need the points as I am panning a 3 zone trip to see my sister on the left coast

 

[PJnVA]

I received the 30% offer and the email link does not work. I will wait a couple days and try again. I need the points as I am panning a 3 zone trip to see my sister on the left coast

 

[oregon pioneer]

I received the 30% offer and the email link does not work. I will wait a couple days and try again. I need the points as I am panning a 3 zone trip to see my sister on the left coast

You should be able to log into your account and see the offer there, regardless of how you get there.

Just for giggles, when I went to buy my points, I used my husband's 50% link, and then logged into MY account. Only saw my 30% offer (same as in the email I received). I concluded that the offer for me remains the same regardless of how I get into my account. Yes, I was disappointed not to "get away with" something, but I also learned something.

 

[SarahZ]

So just to confirm, there's nothing stopping me from purchasing 10k + 5k bonus for mile self, and then purchasing 10k + 5k for my girlfriend through my account, as she hasn't been offered the bonus?

I'm not sure. This is from the Terms & Conditions:

"Members may buy or receive up to a total of 10,000 points in a calendar year (Select Executive members have no annual buy points limit)."

You can share up to 100,000 points per year, but it looks like they're capping the "buy points for others" at 10,000. I think that's new, because I don't remember there being a limit before.

 

[montezume]

So just to confirm, there's nothing stopping me from purchasing 10k + 5k bonus for mile self, and then purchasing 10k + 5k for my girlfriend through my account, as she hasn't been offered the bonus?

I'm not sure. This is from the Terms & Conditions:

"Members may buy or receive up to a total of 10,000 points in a calendar year (Select Executive members have no annual buy points limit)."

You can share up to 100,000 points per year, but it looks like they're capping the "buy points for others" at 10,000. I think that's new, because I don't remember there being a limit before.

Yeah you're right

You can purchase up to 10,000 points per calendar year for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

 

[PJnVA]

I received the 30% offer and the email link does not work. I will wait a couple days and try again. I need the points as I am panning a 3 zone trip to see my sister on the left coast

You should be able to log into your account and see the offer there, regardless of how you get there.

Just for giggles, when I went to buy my points, I used my husband's 50% link, and then logged into MY account. Only saw my 30% offer (same as in the email I received). I concluded that the offer for me remains the same regardless of how I get into my account. Yes, I was disappointed not to "get away with" something, but I also learned something.

this is what I get when I click the buy points link in my email. The offer does not show up on my promotions page. The fine print in the email says it is ettective 1/31/14 12:01 am through 3/15/14 11:59 pm. I am wondering if maybe someone forgot to make this active Friday. I received the email Friday.

 

[SarahZ]

It won't show up on your Promotions page. If you go to the "Buy Points" page, you'll see the offer in red text, and the amounts in the drop-down boxes will show things like "10,000 (+3000)".

 

[PJnVA]

It won't show up on your Promotions page. If you go to the "Buy Points" page, you'll see the offer in red text, and the amounts in the drop-down boxes will show things like "10,000 (+3000)".

I appeciate the hlp but when I click the Buy poits it never takes me to the actual page. I het the above HTTPS status erroe. I am sure it is just a clich on the web site. I'll try tomorrow once the business week starts.

 

[rrdude]

Yippy-GD-Skippy. I logged into AGR, and was offered the 50%.

Have, 'round 19K now, buy and redeem each year, live in Mid-Atlantic. Select only. (Was just 1,500 short last year til PLUS, but couldn't swing it.....)

 

[AlanB]

You can share up to 100,000 points per year, but it looks like they're capping the "buy points for others" at 10,000. I think that's new, because I don't remember there being a limit before.

There has always been a limit of 10,000 points being brought for any one account within a year. You can buy 10,000 for your account and then you are done. You cannot buy anymore points for your account, nor could Brent buy you points starting from his account.

Now provided that Brent didn't buy himself any points this year, you could buy him 10K if you wanted to do so; and without regard to whether or not you had already brought yourself 10K. And if you were feeling really generous you could buy me 10K too, without regard to the fact that you'd already brought Brent 10K.

The only exception to all of this is for Select Exec members, who can buy as many points they like or have gifted to them as many points as they can talk people into buying for them.

 

[SarahZ]

You can share up to 100,000 points per year, but it looks like they're capping the "buy points for others" at 10,000. I think that's new, because I don't remember there being a limit before.

There has always been a limit of 10,000 points being brought for any one account within a year. You can buy 10,000 for your account and then you are done. You cannot buy anymore points for your account, nor could Brent buy you points starting from his account.

Now provided that Brent didn't buy himself any points this year, you could buy him 10K if you wanted to do so; and without regard to whether or not you had already brought yourself 10K. And if you were feeling really generous you could buy me 10K too, without regard to the fact that you'd already brought Brent 10K.

The only exception to all of this is for Select Exec members, who can buy as many points they like or have gifted to them as many points as they can talk people into buying for them.

Okay, then I was probably thinking of the 100,000 Share cap that entire time. Thanks.

PJnVA - I'm also getting an error page when I try to Buy points. It wasn't there earlier. It's a different page than the one you have, but it might be a browser difference. I'm using Chrome. Hopefully, they'll fix whatever made it crash and get it back up later today.

 

[Ryan]

Working here (Safari), still no bonus.

 

[nferr]

Got no email, logged into the website and went to the buy points section. No mention of bonus but in the drop down menu I have the 13,000 points available. So 30%for me if buy the max.