Donating points before they expire

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Joined
Nov 2, 2018
Messages
12
First time poster here.
I live in Australia and regularly travel to the US. I joined up for guest rewards and earnt just over 10,000 points on some travel I did a few years ago.
With the lockdown and ban on travel from Australia, I can’t get back there to keep earning or to redeem these points.
They are due to expire at the end of September.
There is not enough to book a hotel.
Can I donate them to someone to save them going to waste?
Thanks.
 
It let me register without an address. I’m normally there each year or so, so I was happy to join and redeem the points whenever I could. But then COVID changed all that!
 
Are you not intending to ever use them? If you plan to use them sometime, just buy a small item on the Amtrak shopping portal as any transaction extends the termination. I would also think you can use a few to buy the cheapest short trip you can find and then, of course, don't show up.
If you don't ever plan to travel then please do one of the above to extend them a year and then donate them to a charity. Just do a web search to find a site that does that.
 
Are you not intending to ever use them? If you plan to use them sometime, just buy a small item on the Amtrak shopping portal as any transaction extends the termination. I would also think you can use a few to buy the cheapest short trip you can find and then, of course, don't show up.
If you don't ever plan to travel then please do one of the above to extend them a year and then donate them to a charity. Just do a web search to find a site that does that.
^ This is good advice. ^ As a Canadian, I've been unable to use my points in the past two years for the same reason as the OP. There are many ways to extend the life of expiring points with most companies. Even the smallest donation or purchase with one's member number should reset the expiry date. You can also buy the minimum number of points to "top up" and achieve the same result.
 
Those are all excellent ideas. I hate for anyone to miss out on using their points. It is kind of you to think of others. I don't know if you are eligible for the survey website that you can earn Amtrak points on or not. If you don't know where to find it, the web address is: www.surveypointsclub.com. You have to sign up and you can only accumulate Amtrak points. No other rewards are offered. Good luck.
 
Sign up for the surveys. Pretend that you are in the USA.

If you take a survey you will get some points immediately posted to your account.

https://www.surveypointsclub.com/
I had the same question a while back and someone told me about the surveys. It sure sounded like a scam but I did some anyway, it worked, and I still do one occasionally just to keep my account going. As a general rule, it asks several minutes of questions and then says I do not qualify but gives me 5 points. I do not think the time is worth the points I get but I definitely do think the time is worth preserving my 20k points. As Exvalley says, use a US zip code when they ask your location.
 
I picked up on this well over a year ago and did it for several months. Earned a significant number of points but was suddenly kicked off the panel. Never got a satisfactory answer why but suspect I earned too many points.

I had the same question a while back and someone told me about the surveys. It sure sounded like a scam but I did some anyway, it worked, and I still do one occasionally just to keep my account going. As a general rule, it asks several minutes of questions and then says I do not qualify but gives me 5 points. I do not think the time is worth the points I get but I definitely do think the time is worth preserving my 20k points. As Exvalley says, use a US zip code when they ask your location.
 
I would also think you can use a few to buy the cheapest short trip you can find and then, of course, don't show up.
I doubt no shows get points since their tickets are not scanned.
In my experience booking a no-show does not earn points or reset the clock with Amtrak or any other loyalty program I've ever used. Even completed trips do not reset the clock when the points fail to post for whatever reason. These days the RPA bonus keeps my AGR account current without further intervention.
 
Having always thought my Amtrak travel points never disappeared, I was concerned to read these comments. We have an Amtrak MasterCard (it was thru Chase as I recall but then switched to Bank of America) which is the main way we earn points. Doesn't that prevent lapsing? Recently I began receiving a monthly status report on my points. We had to cancel a trip in May and I lost a few thousand points when we did. Just now I signed up my wife for www.surveypointsclub.com because she has an Amtrak reward number as well, and I'm not sure our MasterCard purchases help her points at all, but I don't think she's had any lapse during all these decades.
 
Having always thought my Amtrak travel points never disappeared, I was concerned to read these comments. We have an Amtrak MasterCard (it was thru Chase as I recall but then switched to Bank of America) which is the main way we earn points. Doesn't that prevent lapsing? Recently I began receiving a monthly status report on my points. We had to cancel a trip in May and I lost a few thousand points when we did. Just now I signed up my wife for www.surveypointsclub.com because she has an Amtrak reward number as well, and I'm not sure our MasterCard purchases help her points at all, but I don't think she's had any lapse during all these decades.
Long as you have the BOA Amtrak Card and use it your Points will NOT disappear!
 
Devil's Advocate, I'm sorry for being uninformed......but what does RPA stand for? Thanks.
The Rail Passengers Association is an advocacy group that supports passenger rail in general and Amtrak service in particular. The number of points is not that much but the clock resets each time the bonus posts and no effort is required since it's automatic. Loyalty point inflation has exploded in response to bonuses for opening new usury accounts and manufactured spending. The downside is that earning points for a big trip from actual travel can take a decade or more for new and infrequent travelers. For these and other reasons United, Delta, and Southwest points no longer expire and hopefully AGR will eventually follow suit.
 
Having always thought my Amtrak travel points never disappeared, I was concerned to read these comments. We have an Amtrak MasterCard (it was thru Chase as I recall but then switched to Bank of America) which is the main way we earn points. Doesn't that prevent lapsing? Recently I began receiving a monthly status report on my points. We had to cancel a trip in May and I lost a few thousand points when we did. Just now I signed up my wife for www.surveypointsclub.com because she has an Amtrak reward number as well, and I'm not sure our MasterCard purchases help her points at all, but I don't think she's had any lapse during all these decades.
You points don't expire if you have the card. Maybe have your wife get the other card (there's two of them) to keep her points active.
 
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