Canceling reserv made with points

[BLOND37]

Did I read one of the new policies right?

If I redeem points for a trip then cancel (even with a lot of notice) they take 10% of redeemed points??

Signed,

Puzzled in providence!!

 

[abcnews]

Yes, but only if you cancel the trip, and wish to return the points back into your AGR account.

I think they will try to be flexible, as an agent explained to me... She was saying there would be no penalty if you make changes to your trip. And, she even implied that there would be no penalty - if you simply cancel a trip and book another trip at the same time, basically the points from the original trip would be used for the new trip (with no penalty).

I guess it may be a case by case difference in the situation and who you would get to help you at AGR.

 

[BLOND37]

Well I don't like this lol.. Any reason on why the penalty??

 

[abcnews]

Perhaps it's based on discouraging AGR members from holding valuable accommodations on sold out trains, and then canceling at the last minute - with no negative consequences. And often in those cases, the rooms can not be sold.

The same policy has already been in use for cancelations on sleeping accommodation tickets that are purchased. You can only get a 90% refund (10 % penalty).

10 % is actually quite fair, since most airline programs are not flexible, and you simply lose the points if you can not make the flight that you scheduled on a free ticket.

 

[PRR 60]

Perhaps it's based on discouraging AGR members from holding valuable accommodations on sold out trains, and then canceling at the last minute - with no negative consequences. And often in those cases, the rooms can not be sold.

The same policy has already been in use for cancelations on sleeping accommodation tickets that are purchased. You can only get a 90% refund (10 % penalty).

10 % is actually quite fair, since most airline programs are not flexible, and you simply lose the points if you can not make the flight that you scheduled on a free ticket.

In many (most?) cases, airlines charge a redeposit fee for a canceled award reservation, but the miles are returned. For a non-show, the miles are lost, but that is also true with a no-show AGR reservation.

 

[willem]

The same policy has already been in use for cancelations on sleeping accommodation tickets that are purchased. You can only get a 90% refund (10 % penalty).

Yeah, no. You only get 90% refund if you take cash, which you can then use anywhere. If you take a voucher, which can only be used at Amtrak, you get 100%.

Are points more like cash (able to be used anywhere) or more like a voucher (good only at Amtrak)?

10 % is actually quite fair, since most airline programs are not flexible, and you simply lose the points if you can not make the flight that you scheduled on a free ticket.

What the airlines do is not necessarily fair, and neither is it the measuring stick for what Amtrak should do. I'm not saying that 10% is fair or unfair, just that you have not presented a justification for fairness.