more questions from a newbie...

[penfrydd]

If I go from EMY to GPK, and want roomettes, am I charged 15000 pts for the CS roomette, and another 15000 for the EB roomette, or is it 15,000 for the roomettes, total?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

It's by zone's, not trains. A one-zone is for however many trains you travel on in that zone...continuously. So if they're both in the one-zone, then the whole trip is 15000.

 

[the_traveler]

If you connect directly from the Coast Starlight to the Empire Builder in Portland on that same day, it would be considered a continuous trip. It would be a 1 zone award, and cost 15,000 for a Roomette for either 1 or 2 passengers (assuming both are named on the reservation).

However, if you chose to remain in Portland for a week, you must pay 15,000 for each segment. Stopovers are not allowed on award travel!

 

[penfrydd]

Could I do regionals from, say, Brattleboro to NYP, stay for a few hours, then take a regional to Springfield, MA? Then my wife could pick me up and we'd drive up to Brattleboro to pick up my truck and go home. It doesn't sound like it should work. I know they don't do round trips, but would this be considered one?

 

[Ryan]

No. The only train serving Brattleboro is the Vermonter and the only single award you can use to get to Springfield is a direct trip on 55.

You could two it as two separate redemptions.

 

[penfrydd]

Suppose I took the regional from SPG to NYC in the morning, and then took the evening regional from NYC to HFD?

 

[the_traveler]

It would still be 2 redemptions, since you're going different directions. Besides, stopovers are not allowed on an AGR award.

 

[Ryan]

Yes they are, under two conditions:

*Where a published route requires a connection between two segments, a later connecting service may be chosen as long as it departs on the same date as the connection originally offered.

*Where a published route contains a valid connection of 23 hours, 30 minutes or less, an overnight stay in the connecting city is permitted at the passenger's own expense. (Example: one-way travel from New York to El Paso, where the published route requires an overnight connection in New Orleans, would be permitted on the same redemption.)