Undercharged I think

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Chey

Chey

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
475
Location
NW TX
Have the zone maps changed??

I just booked a one-way points trip from FTW to SAN for next March, for me and my spouse. We have wanted to go for a long time - my spouse served on the USS Midway and has wanted to visit it for many years. But it is a very expensive trip, not knowing anyone in southern CA and so having to book hotels and transportation. I figured if we were going to use the points we have left, better do it before the new system goes into effect. Still expensive but not as bad as it will be if we wait any longer.

When I printed my eTicket I noticed it said one zone and I was charged 15K points. But it used to be two zones, which should be 20K points. I still have the extra 5K points available (just barely!). Did something change or do I need to call them back? The only thing I'm afraid of is losing the roomette in the process - it was the last one...
 
That is a two zone trip. El Paso is the zone change. You could get away with it if the conductor doesn't notice when he collects your ticket, but it is risky.
 
Just call back and explain to the AGR agent that they made a mistake in charging you points, they can adjust it easily by charging your account the 5,000 points for the Second Zone without changing your rez.

Mistakes happen, but honesty is always the best policy!
 
Thanks for the replies. I called them back and told them what happened. I got a guy who looked it up and said it was the agent's error so he wasn't going to charge me the other points. I told him I didn't want to lose the reservation. He said I'd have it no matter what. He said it was *possible* they could take the extra points I wasn't charged from me before the trip but generally speaking, if they undercharge points or money, whatever they charged sticks.

Never heard of this, ever.
 
No, it absolutely says SAN - arriving the second day after we board in FTW - changing trains at LAX.

Fort Worth - Los Angeles, train 421

Los Angeles - SanDiego, train 562
 
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BTW...the USS Midway in San Diego is a very interesting and nicely done museum ship. I'm a "Tin Can Sailor" and operated with the Midway a couple of times in the early seventies and found the Midway to be a worthwhile visit.

You and your husband should have a great visit to San Diego.
 
I don't know about karma, Mr. Dylan, I basically just want my ticket to be valid! And thanks, Ryan, for the Monopoly card visual, that's hysterical! I don't think the bank would be as forgiving though!

And John, thanks for the encouragement, we're really looking forward to it. I had to ask my husband what a "tin can" was (he told me it was a destroyer escort). My husband was on the Midway in the middle to late 70's. He was part of the air wing rather than the ship's company but he is very attached to his memories of the Midway. Yes, it's going to be a great trip! As long as we don't get kicked off the train for having a one-zone ticket...
 
Ryan said:
Congrats!

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too funny!
 
I'm sure the worries about "fat finger discounts" not being honored is always a worry. However, I doubt it's up a conductor to figure out if the correct number of points have been extracted.
 
I had a similar situation, in that AGR allowed a reservation for a published route that left and re-entered the central zone. During a later call, the agent said that the reservation should not have been allowed, but since I had it, AGR would honor it.
 
Thanks for that, Willem, I wasn't sure if what I was told was actually their policy but it sounds like it is.
 
BCL said:
I'm sure the worries about "fat finger discounts" not being honored is always a worry. However, I doubt it's up a conductor to figure out if the correct number of points have been extracted.
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Right. I've talked to ticket agents and sleeping car attendants who claimed to have never heard of AGR, much less memorized redemption zone maps. I doubt conductors who have more important data to worry about are any different. The departing station is clearly shown on the eTicket; and I doubt he would manually scan the fine print containing the number of zones.
 
PaulM said:
BCL said:
I'm sure the worries about "fat finger discounts" not being honored is always a worry. However, I doubt it's up a conductor to figure out if the correct number of points have been extracted.
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Right. I've talked to ticket agents and sleeping car attendants who claimed to have never heard of AGR, much less memorized redemption zone maps. I doubt conductors who have more important data to worry about are any different. The departing station is clearly shown on the eTicket; and I doubt he would manually scan the fine print containing the number of zones.
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I've never had an issue getting an agent to attach an AGR number to a ticket, but that may be a matter of where I'm located. I've even had my name spelled incorrectly, but my points posted just fine since the number was correct.

I've even had a conductor look at my multi-city ticket and say "Are you doing this for points?" At least she seemed to understand the concept of AGR. That being said, bye bye minimum points.
 
You're lucky if your points automatically posted!

If your ticket says "Jim" but your AGR account says "James", or your ticket says "Dave" but your AGR says "David", you will not get points automatically because the computer thinks the names don't match. Likewise, "Chris" is not the same as "Christopher" or "Christine", and "Beth" is not the same as "Elizabeth"!
 
the_traveler said:
You're lucky if your points automatically posted!

If your ticket says "Jim" but your AGR account says "James", or your ticket says "Dave" but your AGR says "David", you will not get points automatically because the computer thinks the names don't match. Likewise, "Chris" is not the same as "Christopher" or "Christine", and "Beth" is not the same as "Elizabeth"!
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Actually the name on my AGR and Amtrak.com accounts don't match the name on my tickets ever. I have a hyphenated name, and those aren't allowed on tickets. I don't know how the automated system handles that, but points typically post promptly for me.
 
the_traveler said:
I would guess "Johnson-Robert" would be also accepted as"JohnsonRobert"' but "Robert" and "Bob" will not be considered the same. I really don't know.
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My various photo ID also differ. California driver licenses don't allow hyphens but US passports do. I generally have no issues traveling though since it's usually humans who are checking IDs.

The vast majority of my Amtrak tickets are purchased via my account, so there's probably something consistent. When I buy my tickets from an agent, it seems as if my name is entered manually.
 

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