help with AGR redemption planning, please?

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HARHBG

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
148
So many of you know the details of how AGR redemption works that I'm hoping someone will advise me on how or even if I can do this.

I want to use 40,000 points for a two zone trip in April '16. I live in Harrisburg, PA. I want to go to Seattle via TE 421/CS 14 because I've never ridden the most southern route across the U.S..

I want to go HAR to NYP then LSL to CHI. I'm choosing this route to avoid the horrible connection at PGH and I've never ridden on the LSL, either.

Looking at the maps, I'm thinking I should be able to do a two zone redemption from TOL on to SEA via TE 421/CS 14 and pay out-of-pocket for HAR to TOL. but I don't know if AGR will let me do this.

Arrow doesn't show the option of TE 421/CS 14 from TOL to SEA, but I CAN do TE 421/CS 14 to SEA from CHI.

I know there are a bunch of somewhat "techical" rules about redemption. I've tried to follow as many threads about these "technical rules" as I can but was hoping someone out here with the "know-how" will give some advice.

Will I just have to pay out-of-pocket HAR to CHI and then do a two zone redemption from CHI to SEA?

THANKS in advance for any and all help and advice. Looking forward to burning up some points before the change to AGR II.
 
So many of you know the details of how AGR redemption works that I'm hoping someone will advise me on how or even if I can do this.

I want to use 40,000 points for a two zone trip in April '16. I live in Harrisburg, PA. I want to go to Seattle via TE 421/CS 14 because I've never ridden the most southern route across the U.S..

I want to go HAR to NYP then LSL to CHI. I'm choosing this route to avoid the horrible connection at PGH and I've never ridden on the LSL, either.

Looking at the maps, I'm thinking I should be able to do a two zone redemption from TOL on to SEA via TE 421/CS 14 and pay out-of-pocket for HAR to TOL. but I don't know if AGR will let me do this.

Arrow doesn't show the option of TE 421/CS 14 from TOL to SEA, but I CAN do TE 421/CS 14 to SEA from CHI.

I know there are a bunch of somewhat "techical" rules about redemption. I've tried to follow as many threads about these "technical rules" as I can but was hoping someone out here with the "know-how" will give some advice.

Will I just have to pay out-of-pocket HAR to CHI and then do a two zone redemption from CHI to SEA?

THANKS in advance for any and all help and advice. Looking forward to burning up some points before the change to AGR II.
We have tried to use the TE for various trips to the west coast and there seems to be a glitch in the system if you want to travel from TOL on the 2 zone system. Not sure why but on our last trip we decided to start the zone trip from Chicago, which will work for your trip as long as you select a day to reach San Antonio when the SSL/TE is leaving.. three days per week.

Not sure why it will allow SW Chief and CZ connections from TOL and not the TE but after having talked to an AGR agent, they can only book on trips that show up on their computer. Of course, in a few weeks this will be a moot point under the new system.

If you want to do this trip via TE, then it looks like paying for the trip to CHI may be your only option. But since you were going to pay to TOL anyway, I doubt the additional fare TOL-CHI will add significantly to your costs. And a two zone from CHI to SEA via TE is still a real deal for 20,000 points each way.

Have a great trip and remember to get this done within the next three weeks.
 
We did a 40,000 point two zone redemption both ways last June. We chose Toledo to LA using The Texas Eagle on the way out and LA-Toledo via The Coast Starlight and Empire Builder on the way back. We were allowed to do 422 from Toledo,but just to LA. We could only book as far as Chicago to return., but after several attempts we foud an agent who would let us book through to Toledo. Good thing,because the EB was 1
 
Must have hit the send button to soon....Good thing because the EB was 11 hours late and without that guaranteed connection,we would have ended up paying for our own accomodations in Chicago. It's a matter of getting an AGR agent who would be willing to let you use the two zone from Toledo. Don't blame you for going through NY to use the LSL. ARROW doesn't show a HAR-SEA route going East and then West. They only show the direct connection through Pittsburgh,so I assume you are paying the first leg of your trip to Toledo. If you can't get an agent to let you use the reward from Toledo, you will probably have to pay to get to Chicago.

As mentioned,book this trip in the next three weeks. After Jan 24 the zone system will be extinct, and it cos a lott more than 20,000 points to go from Toledo to Seattle using 422 and 11..
 
Thanks to all who took the time to share their knowledge. What IS a revelation is learning you can get different "results" from different agents. One would think that "rules are rules" and you can do this or that..... or you can't.

The lack of consistency is hard to understand.

And Yes, I'm looking to book this trip soon as the same trip under AGR II would cost thousands of points more.
 
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Nobody said anything about getting different results from different agents. It's all about the city pairs that come up. TOL-SEA doesn't seem to, but either TOL-LAX or CHI-SEA come up using the TE.
 
The strange denial (and it's strange because I want to do it) is San Diego to St. Paul. Arrow says there is not service, which of course there is. LAX to St. Paul is fine, but not SAN. I will have to pay the $35 from SAN to LAX, i.e. the service that does not exist.
 
The strange denial (and it's strange because I want to do it) is San Diego to St. Paul. Arrow says there is not service, which of course there is. LAX to St. Paul is fine, but not SAN. I will have to pay the $35 from SAN to LAX, i.e. the service that does not exist.
Maybe contact AGR Insider on FlyerTalk.com and ask him to check into it. He has had missing "connections" fixed in Arrow in the past (he doesn't have the authority to fix them but know who to contact w/in Amtrak to make aware of them).
 
We did a 40,000 point two zone redemption both ways last June. We chose Toledo to LA using The Texas Eagle on the way out and LA-Toledo via The Coast Starlight and Empire Builder on the way back. We were allowed to do 422 from Toledo,but just to LA. We could only book as far as Chicago to return., but after several attempts we foud an agent who would let us book through to Toledo. Good thing,because the EB was 1
To "RYAN"............

CLEARLY, benale writes, "...but after several attempts we fond (sic) an agent who would let us book through to Toledo."

So, you see "RYAN", ...... benale clearly tried to book to Toledo on the return but was only allowed as far as Chicago .....UNTIL ..."but after several attempts"....found an agent who would override the system and allowed benale to book through to Toledo.

MULTIPLE AGENTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DIFFERENT RESULTS
 
That's really my name, the "ALL CAPS QUOTE MARKS" are quite unnecessary.

The fact that you can maybe sometimes find an agent unaware of the rules or willing to break them, doesn't change the fact that "rules are rules". If the trip comes up on the computer, you can book it. If it doesn't, you (almost certainly) can't. I wouldn't count on the ability to finagle an agent into doing something against the rules.

Not particularly complicated. It's a pretty straightforward system.
 
I've had some agents refuse to book redemptions that were offered as part of amtrak.com's published city pairs. Even when referencing the tiny subset of publicly available rules provided by AGR Insider the phone agents would sometimes refuse to acknowledge such rules even existed. Yes you can argue about it if you want and yes you can ask for a supervisor if you desire, but in the end you're still at their mercy of whatever some random faceless clerk decides to allow or not allow at his or her sole discretion. Hopefully the new loyalty plan already penalizes long distance travel enough that even the most hardened of AGR clerks will no longer feel the need to impose their own arbitrary restrictions on long distance ticketing.
 
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I've had some agents refuse to book redemptions that were offered as part of amtrak.com's published city pairs. Even when referencing the tiny subset of publicly available rules provided by AGR Insider the phone agents would sometimes refuse to acknowledge such rules even existed. Yes you can argue about it if you want and yes you can ask for a supervisor if you desire, but in the end you're still at their mercy of whatever some random faceless clerk decides to allow or not allow at his or her sole discretion. Hopefully the new loyalty plan already penalizes long distance travel enough that even the most hardened of AGR clerks will no longer feel the need to impose their own arbitrary restrictions on long distance ticketing.
I suspect that one should be able to do a multi-city trip with points since the whole point of "published routes" is no longer an issue with cash-fare based redemption.
 
I've had some agents refuse to book redemptions that were offered as part of amtrak.com's published city pairs. Even when referencing the tiny subset of publicly available rules provided by AGR Insider the phone agents would sometimes refuse to acknowledge such rules even existed. Yes you can argue about it if you want and yes you can ask for a supervisor if you desire, but in the end you're still at their mercy of whatever some random faceless clerk decides to allow or not allow at his or her sole discretion. Hopefully the new loyalty plan already penalizes long distance travel enough that even the most hardened of AGR clerks will no longer feel the need to impose their own arbitrary restrictions on long distance ticketing.
I suspect that one should be able to do a multi-city trip with points since the whole point of "published routes" is no longer an issue with cash-fare based redemption.
That makes sense logically. The only complication I can foresee would be a loss of guaranteed connections, but presumably that's something you'd risk with a cash ticket as well.
 
We did a 40,000 point two zone redemption both ways last June. We chose Toledo to LA using The Texas Eagle on the way out and LA-Toledo via The Coast Starlight and Empire Builder on the way back. We were allowed to do 422 from Toledo,but just to LA. We could only book as far as Chicago to return., but after several attempts we foud an agent who would let us book through to Toledo. Good thing,because the EB was 1
To "RYAN"............

CLEARLY, benale writes, "...but after several attempts we fond (sic) an agent who would let us book through to Toledo."

So, you see "RYAN", ...... benale clearly tried to book to Toledo on the return but was only allowed as far as Chicago .....UNTIL ..."but after several attempts"....found an agent who would override the system and allowed benale to book through to Toledo.

MULTIPLE AGENTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DIFFERENT RESULTS
Duh - so what?

MULTIPLE AGENTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DIFFERENT RESULTS
You want stability and always the same - go back to -- when was it -- or wasn't it -- when the first quote was firm. Still is .

Negotiating a better deal -- can happen, but no reasonable person would expect it, not now with all the daily changing prices.

Different results, different minutes -- cool it - please
 
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