Redeeming AGR Points

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RailFanLNK

Conductor
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
1,928
Location
Lincoln, Nebraska (LNK)
Got a question.....B and I are starting to plan a trip from Lincoln NE to Seattle RT. We want to take the CZ to SAC and then the CS to SEA. On our way back we want to take the EB to CHI then the CZ to LNK. Will AGR let us do that? Whenever we try to make a reservation for SEA, it always pops up CZ to CS and then CS to CZ back to LNK. If we can't book the EB and CZ with bedrooms all the way, how can we work this so we can? I typed in Galesburg IL as a return point and it showed the EB to CHI then some other train other than the CZ. When I went to the next stop Burlington IA, it showed the CS to CZ again. Thanks for your input.
 
Have you considered the OMA-SAC-PDX-CBS 1 zone loophole AGR award modified, get on in Lincoln, buy c coach ticket from CBS-CHI, spend the night and then a coach ticket from CHI-Lincoln home! You couldnt do any stop overs in SEA but for 15,000 points is a great deal for 2/otherwise youd have to spend the night in CHI and pay for part of your trip anyway! :unsure:
 
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As noted by the_Traveler, one simply cannot connect in Chicago between the EB and the CZ. For that reason, you cannot get an award that would include both the EB to Chicago and the CZ home from there. If you want to do the Builder, then your only choice is to use points from Seattle to Chicago, overnight in Chicago on your dime, then book the CZ home the next day either with still more points or by paying.

No other way to do it unfortunately.
 
Does it work in reverse? Can you take the CZ to Chicago, then take the Empire Builder to a stop short of Seattle so that it doesn't automatically book you on the CZ/CS route?

Like Lincoln to Chicago to say, Wolf Point, that would be a one zone award, can you book that? Then go coach from there. I don't know. Just throwing things out there.

Then you could take the CS / CZ home?
 
Nope, won't work in reverse either. The CZ to Chicago arrives 1 and 35 minutes after the Empire Builder to Seattle has departed.

There is simply no way to connect between those two trains without spending a night on the ground in Chicago or some suburb thereof.
 
Well, that explains it. I've looked a million timetables for trains recently and wasn't thinking of the CZ leaving before the EB got back. Will probably just booked the EB to CHI and take coach back home or a roomette. Thanks everyone!
 
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