Upgrade/Companion/Lounge Coupons: seeking, available, questions

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I had a few issues in using a 12 hour upgrade coupon earlier this year and I wonder if anyone can offer some insight into the reasons for these problems and how I can avoid them in the future.

My wife and I had made reservations to travel from Boston to DC by Acela business class as we have done a number of times before. In the past we have often used a companion coupon but this year we booked our round trip several months in advance and found that the saver fare (if I recall the now obsolete name correctly) was so low that using a companion coupon would not have saved any money so we booked using the Saver fare.

We booked our round trip on one reservation but I now realize that booking each leg on a separate reservation is recommended and I intend to do that in the future.

A few weeks before our trip, my wife decided that she wanted to stay in DC for a longer time and to fly back. I called Amtrak, canceled her reservation on the return leg, received a voucher for the cancellation and a new eticket reflecting the change. Our southbound trip went fine.

So the night before my return trip, I logged into my Amtrak account once I was within the 12 hour window before departure. Everything seemed to be fine and my upgrade coupon seemed to have been accepted. However just at or near the last stage, a notice appeared stating that 2 upgrade coupons were required. So the computer appeared to believe that my wife was still traveling with me on the return trip.

I then called an Amtrak agent but they were unable to resolve the problem and were unable to successfully apply my upgrade coupon.

I went to Union Station the next morning an hour so so before departure and tried to have a ticket agent apply the upgrade coupon but she was unable to do so.

I was about to abandon the attempt to use the coupon when I walked by the Customer Service office and decided to go in and talk with them. They took me across the hall to the lounge and after a few minutes the lounge attendant was able to apply the coupon. I didn't really receive much of an explanation of the problem as departure was getting close but I believe the lounge attendant said that it was something to do with reserving the ticket with a senior discount and that I would have to pay $7 to be able to apply the upgrade coupon which I gladly paid.

I am curious what the problem was and how to avoid it in the future. I am not sure that it really was due to the senior discount since the terms of an upgrade coupon state that it "may be combined with corporate, senior, disabled and military discounts." Maybe it really had something to do with using the Saver fare.

Thanks.
 
Rasputin said:
I had a few issues in using a 12 hour upgrade coupon earlier this year and I wonder if anyone can offer some insight into the reasons for these problems and how I can avoid them in the future.

My wife and I had made reservations to travel from Boston to DC by Acela business class as we have done a number of times before. In the past we have often used a companion coupon but this year we booked our round trip several months in advance and found that the saver fare (if I recall the now obsolete name correctly) was so low that using a companion coupon would not have saved any money so we booked using the Saver fare.

We booked our round trip on one reservation but I now realize that booking each leg on a separate reservation is recommended and I intend to do that in the future.

A few weeks before our trip, my wife decided that she wanted to stay in DC for a longer time and to fly back. I called Amtrak, canceled her reservation on the return leg, received a voucher for the cancellation and a new eticket reflecting the change. Our southbound trip went fine.

So the night before my return trip, I logged into my Amtrak account once I was within the 12 hour window before departure. Everything seemed to be fine and my upgrade coupon seemed to have been accepted. However just at or near the last stage, a notice appeared stating that 2 upgrade coupons were required. So the computer appeared to believe that my wife was still traveling with me on the return trip.

I then called an Amtrak agent but they were unable to resolve the problem and were unable to successfully apply my upgrade coupon.

I went to Union Station the next morning an hour so so before departure and tried to have a ticket agent apply the upgrade coupon but she was unable to do so.

I was about to abandon the attempt to use the coupon when I walked by the Customer Service office and decided to go in and talk with them. They took me across the hall to the lounge and after a few minutes the lounge attendant was able to apply the coupon. I didn't really receive much of an explanation of the problem as departure was getting close but I believe the lounge attendant said that it was something to do with reserving the ticket with a senior discount and that I would have to pay $7 to be able to apply the upgrade coupon which I gladly paid.

I am curious what the problem was and how to avoid it in the future. I am not sure that it really was due to the senior discount since the terms of an upgrade coupon state that it "may be combined with corporate, senior, disabled and military discounts." Maybe it really had something to do with using the Saver fare.

Thanks.
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That is interesting. I have had issues in the past with using an RPA discount with an upgrade coupon. In order for me to use an upgrade on that reservation I had to call, and te agent had to 'take off' the discount (but luckily it kept it at the same bucket I paid for), and then was able to apply the coupon.

Looking on the website, it seems confusing. One line says "Upgrades cannot be combined with other discounts or coupons" but then the line before it says "Can be used with a senior discount." So they almost contradict each other. However, if you are using a discount that is not-compatible with an upgrade coupon, the website won't even let you get to the 'upgrade with coupon' page for those reservations, but it sounds like that is not what the issue was for you.

After my incident above I typically do not use other discounts on reservations I plan on upgrading. However, in your case, it sounds like it was likely due to having booked it for two people and then switching to one person(?). I've actually never heard of them being able to do this before on a single reservation. But I'm glad it all worked out for you!

I guess that doesn't exactly answer your question but in the future, I'd try to just book one-way trips which makes it a little easier if you have to modify/cancel.
 
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This past September we attempted to use 2 upgrade coupons on the Acela. The agent said that we had used 2 10% off coupons and therefore we could not use the upgrade coupons. I asked if he could back out the 10% off coupons and charge us the difference. He said he could not unlike the agent that Trimetbusfan had.
 
How do you use companion coupons on a disability fare? I don't care if I can't use the 10% off on top of the coupon, but I'd like the passenger who needs accommodations to be noted as such.
 
Just seems like something that should be able to be done online if the IT department wasn't a mess.

Those with disabilities should be able to use the reservation system just as anyone else would.
 
daybeers said:
Just seems like something that should be able to be done online if the IT department wasn't a mess.

Those with disabilities should be able to use the reservation system just as anyone else would.
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It ought to be, but the system's abilities are limited. Two examples: you can't book the Accessible Bedroom online unless you claim to use a wheeled mobility device, but the actual requirement is just that you need one of the features of the room. And you can't do Multi-City bookings online with the disability discount and service request.
 
I think I saw part of my question answered but not sure so....To figure the price of a roomette when using a companion coupon I would get the price for a roomette for 2 and then deduct the coach class cost for 1 from it? If yes, does anyone know which coach class price gets deducted? They are showing two coach prices on line.
 
Trucker72 said:
I think I saw part of my question answered but not sure so....To figure the price of a roomette when using a companion coupon I would get the price for a roomette for 2 and then deduct the coach class cost for 1 from it? If yes, does anyone know which coach class price gets deducted? They are showing two coach prices on line.
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I would just look at how much the cost of a roomette is for 1. With the companion coupon, you will get two in the roomette for around the price of 1.

However, for those longtime users of the coupon, it seemed that things might have changed with the new fare structure. Even with a companion coupon, it seemed to cost about $20 more to add a second person to the roomette (which is still much better than the $300 it would have cost without the coupon). It might not be completely free like it used to.
 
I am taking a Monday/Tuesday trip from Pittsburgh to NY/PHL on the Pennsylvanian. Am I wrong that I should be able to apply my 48 hour upgrade coupons to BC in the app? I tried to upgrade exactly 48 hours before the 7:30 departure but when I pulled up Trip Tools this was not an option. Retried for several minutes. Impatient, I called in at the regular number bcause AGR was not open yet and got somebody who seemed to be challened with this process. After giving him the long coupon number, he said there was an error. We repeated the number so I know it was legit. I have three, so I gave him another which worked, yet he had me on hold for more than 10 minutes to set it up. I have another I want to apply tomorrow for Tuesday's segment. Any ideas how to make this process more efficient? Thanks.
 
I have a question about lounge passes. I am a AGR member, but I would like to know if you can purchase a lounge pass for someone else with your points. My parents and best friend are going to NYP in February. I would kind of like them to be comfortable and not be cramped in the tight waiting room in Moynihan Hall. They’re all senior citizens and one of them has a physical disability. How can I do this?
 
Oreius said:
I have a question about lounge passes. I am a AGR member, but I would like to know if you can purchase a lounge pass for someone else with your points. My parents and best friend are going to NYP in February. I would kind of like them to be comfortable and not be cramped in the tight waiting room in Moynihan Hall. They’re all senior citizens and one of them has a physical disability. How can I do this?
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A little over a year ago, I purchased a couple of lounge passes with points for use by my sister. I purchased online and then, when they showed up in my AGR account, I printed them out (and also emailed a pdf to my sister). Because of train cancellations, my sister did not make it to NYP when I anticipated and did not use the lounge coupons.
 
A trip to DC is coming in a few months. In case my bid-up does not come through to get business class on the way home I was going to use a lounge pass. I don't need to do anything before but just show up at WAS lounge and show the coupon on my phone and we can gain access to the lounge. From my understanding the lounge pass would work for everyone on the ticket, which is myself and my wife.
 
McLeansvilleAppFan said:
A trip to DC is coming in a few months. In case my bid-up does not come through to get business class on the way home I was going to use a lounge pass. I don't need to do anything before but just show up at WAS lounge and show the coupon on my phone and we can gain access to the lounge. From my understanding the lounge pass would work for everyone on the ticket, which is myself and my wife.
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Not sure which train you are riding, but buisness class does not automatically grant you lounge access at WAS. You need to have a acela first class ticket, sleeper, or lounge pass to gain access at that lounge.
 
trimetbusfan said:
Not sure which train you are riding, but buisness class does not automatically grant you lounge access at WAS. You need to have a acela first class ticket, sleeper, or lounge pass to gain access at that lounge.
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Actually I think you are correct as I also seem to remember that about DC as well. Well I will certainly be using the lounge pass now. DC is the closest lounge we can travel too. I am not saying that is the only reason to go to DC but it is the closest lounge station and the station that has baseball on Memorial Day and close enough to get there and back and not miss work. I do like thinking I am getting my $99 back on having the CC that one has to pay for annually.
 
pennyk said:
A little over a year ago, I purchased a couple of lounge passes with points for use by my sister. I purchased online and then, when they showed up in my AGR account, I printed them out (and also emailed a pdf to my sister). Because of train cancellations, my sister did not make it to NYP when I anticipated and did not use the lounge coupons.
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So you’re saying I could purchase a lounge pass with my points and they should be able to use it if I print it out for them? The Lounge Attendant won’t question?
 
trimetbusfan said:
Not sure which train you are riding, but buisness class does not automatically grant you lounge access at WAS. You need to have a acela first class ticket, sleeper, or lounge pass to gain access at that lounge.
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You could also get access to a lounge if you are AGR Select Plus or Select Executive.
 
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McLeansvilleAppFan said:
From my understanding the lounge pass would work for everyone on the ticket, which is myself and my wife.
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Actually, it's limited to "bearer and one guest, or bearer's spouse/domestic partner and children under the age of 21." So if everyone on the ticket is just you & your wife, you're good.
 
I was very close to that last year
jis said:
You could also get access to a lounge if you are AGR Select Plus or Select Executive.
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I likely could have made the Select but we signed my wife up for the 30,000 points CC when that was offered last fall so we switched to her CC to get the spend done. We need points worse than we need the coupons given how we travel, when we travel, and our typical destination, which is often not so far away as to have the companion coupon be a huge savings.

On a side note the CC should offer some options on the perks. The reality is that for many of us in the SE US the lounge coupons may not be all that useful. And if I was single I would not really need the companion coupon. I might could sell them for a few dollars (ignoring the usage agreement) or I could just be nice and give them away but maybe having the options to convert the companion coupons into a 1/2 off for a single ticket might attract more to the credit card, which I assume is a money maker for Amtrak as it is for the airlines. If Amtrak is making money off the credit card they need to make it as appealing for an many as possible. Right now the best use case is a couple that uses the NEC but doesn't include Baltimore in their travel plans much but they do travel to the larger cities annually. I clearly just described the biggest chunk of the Amtrak market but that does not mean there are not plenty of others that do not fit that description.
 
PaTrainFan said:
I am taking a Monday/Tuesday trip from Pittsburgh to NY/PHL on the Pennsylvanian. Am I wrong that I should be able to apply my 48 hour upgrade coupons to BC in the app? I tried to upgrade exactly 48 hours before the 7:30 departure but when I pulled up Trip Tools this was not an option. Retried for several minutes. Impatient, I called in at the regular number bcause AGR was not open yet and got somebody who seemed to be challened with this process. After giving him the long coupon number, he said there was an error. We repeated the number so I know it was legit. I have three, so I gave him another which worked, yet he had me on hold for more than 10 minutes to set it up. I have another I want to apply tomorrow for Tuesday's segment. Any ideas how to make this process more efficient? Thanks.
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I thought it was a coupon that could be applied within 12 hours and not 48 hours.
 

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