combine points and $$ for 2-zone trip?

[SharonLPK]

We would like to book a reward trip that is mostly in one zone, whereas we live in a neighboring zone. Hate to use a 2-zone award, can we pay for the small part in one zone (under $20 per person) and book 5000 seats for the rest of the trip (or visa versa coming home)?

 

[chuljin]

We would like to book a reward trip that is mostly in one zone, whereas we live in a neighboring zone. Hate to use a 2-zone award, can we pay for the small part in one zone (under $20 per person) and book 5000 seats for the rest of the trip (or visa versa coming home)?

Absolutely!It's done pretty often and a good valid points saver. the_traveler often waxes poetic about this very thing.

 

[AAARGH!]

We would like to book a reward trip that is mostly in one zone, whereas we live in a neighboring zone. Hate to use a 2-zone award, can we pay for the small part in one zone (under $20 per person) and book 5000 seats for the rest of the trip (or visa versa coming home)?

It would need to be two reservations, one AGR and one paid for, but yes you can do this.

5,000 seats? Boy that's a lot of friends!

 

[Guest]

We would like to book a reward trip that is mostly in one zone, whereas we live in a neighboring zone. Hate to use a 2-zone award, can we pay for the small part in one zone (under $20 per person) and book 5000 seats for the rest of the trip (or visa versa coming home)?

It would need to be two reservations, one AGR and one paid for, but yes you can do this.

5,000 seats? Boy that's a lot of friends!

:lol: :lol: :lol: That train would look like the Canadian in the Summer!!!

 

[SharonLPK]

We would like to book a reward trip that is mostly in one zone, whereas we live in a neighboring zone. Hate to use a 2-zone award, can we pay for the small part in one zone (under $20 per person) and book 5000 seats for the rest of the trip (or visa versa coming home)?

It would need to be two reservations, one AGR and one paid for, but yes you can do this.

5,000 seats? Boy that's a lot of friends!

haha I don't quite have that many friends! but I think you all know what I meant Glad to get the answer I was hoping for too, thanks everyone!

 

[the_traveler]

the_traveler often waxes poetic about this very thing.

:lol: And so I shall!

On my (too many) trips, I go from KIN-BHM to turn. That would be a 2 zone award. But what I do is redeem a 1 zone award for KIN-ATL. Then I BUY a coach ticket for ATL-BHM for about $29!

Or I wanted to go from LAX to CHI via SAS. But the only routing allowed from LAX to CHI is via the SWC. So I BOUGHT a $9 coach ticket from LAX-ONA (Ontario, CA), and started my AGR award from there! And after asking the SCA and Conductor, I was allowed to occupy my roomette for the 54 minute trip from LAX to ONA!

 

[MJL]

Is it possible to hook the two trips together, in case of delay / missed conx?

 

[PaulM]

Is it possible to hook the two trips together, in case of delay / missed conx?

Although I'm not familiar with the northeast zone, I don't know of any boundary stations where you can change trains and thus possibly miss the connection. What we are talking about is continuing on the same train but with a different type of ticket. E.g., Florida to Chicago - 1 zone AGR to Toledo and paid ticket from Toledo to Chicago.

The real question is how to coordinate the two tickets because the sellers of each type will give you the old "That's not my department" routine.

 

[frugalist]

Is it possible to hook the two trips together, in case of delay / missed conx?

Although I'm not familiar with the northeast zone, I don't know of any boundary stations where you can change trains and thus possibly miss the connection. What we are talking about is continuing on the same train but with a different type of ticket. E.g., Florida to Chicago - 1 zone AGR to Toledo and paid ticket from Toledo to Chicago.

The real question is how to coordinate the two tickets because the sellers of each type will give you the old "That's not my department" routine.

This would be my thought process if I wanted to go Miami to Chicago using a one-zone bedroom award to Toledo plus a paid coach ticket on to Chicago:

1. Do we want an 8-hour layover in DC (connect to the Capitol Limited) or a 4-hour layover in NYC (connect to the Lake Shore Limited). Both are excellent options to us.

2. Do we want to move from our bedroom to coach in Toledo at 5:00am (Capitol Limited) or at 6:00am (Lake Shore Limited)

3. Do we prefer to arrive in Chicago at 8:45am (Capitol Limited) or at 9:45am (Lake Shore Limited).

4. Availability of bedrooms. Obviously if bedrooms are sold out on the LSL but are available on the CL, our decision is made for us.

5. What is the likelihood the conductor/attendant will let us stay in our bedroom all the way to Chicago (depends on how likely our room is to be sold from Toledo to Chicago plus the particular personnel involved).

Given these considerations, I don't think it would be necessary to link the two reservations together, although it should be a pretty simple thing to do. I would call AGR first to make the reward reservation. Then with the reservation number in hand, call Amtrak to make the coach reservation. I would mention that I just booked an AGR award and would like to have the two reservations linked. Should be fairly straightforward.

Picking a random date in September, I see a coach ticket Toledo to Chicago is $35. So that's like paying $35 for 10,000 AGR points (the difference between a 1-zone and 2-zone bedroom award). Quite a deal. It would cost $220 to purchase 8,000 points from AGR, plus 2,400 bonus points with the current 30% bonus promotion. Plus you would earn 100 AGR points for the paid ticket and another 70 AGR points if you paid for it with an AGR MasterCard.