Upgrade to Bizclass on Redemption Tkt

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
FunNut

FunNut

Service Attendant
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
174
Location
Rio Rancho, NM
I'm new to redeeming AGR points. This morning I phoned to make a reservation for Oceanside to Portland on the Pacific Surfliner, connecting to the Coast Starlight at LAX. My husband is accompanying me and he just signed up for AGR under my referral. In order to get the 500 points bonus, I booked a revenue ticket for him, OSD to LAX. I booked him in business class, the upgrade is $14. With me so far?

Then I phoned to make the AGR booking. I booked myself on the Surfliner and added my husband's name to the bedroom reservation on the CS. I explained the situation and asked to upgrade myself to business class on the Surfliner. I figured I would just have to pay the $14 upgrade charge separately. I was told I cannot "mix and match" the reservation and there isn't any way for me to upgrade.

Is this correct? No upgrade to business class possible on a redemption ticket? The bizclass fare is about $37, would I have to buy a separate ticket to ride with my husband? Or would I be able to upgrade with the conductor onboard? As my grandma used to say, this one has me bumfuzzled.
 
To my knowledge and the AGR guru the_traveler could tell you more.. Is that if your booked Sleeper you automatically are booked BC on any connecting segments.. But in this case I believe he would have to travel with you on both segments. So from OSD to LAX BC and LAX to whatever station in your roomette or bedroom. The bottom line is you need to book him on the AGR segments. Now what you can do for the 500 points is take a trip from OSD to the next stop and wait for the next train back to OSD or a commuter train. Just as long as you travel on Amtrak and his ticket is collected you will receive the 500 points. I've referred about 4 people on this chat room, 3 guests and one followed through.. So out of a possible 2,000 I got 500 because they didn't travel within 90 days of registering. That's the key to it!
 
As Acela150 replied, your husband must ride on Amtrak with 90 days of signing up to receive his 500 point sign up bonus (and you to get the referral bonus)! You can even ride on Amtrak one stop one way, and (depending on your direction) ride Metrolink or (I forget the name if the San Diego commuter train - Coaster IIRC) back to OSD!
excl.gif


Because you have an award reservation for a bedroom, the "cost" in points is the same for either 1 or 2 persons!
cool.gif
And on trains that do not have sleepers (like the Surfliners) you are entitled to BC anyway. (Most AGR agents do so automatically, but you may have to ask. Just say, "Is the Surfliner in BC?" - if the agent will not do so, ask for his/her supervisor!
excl.gif
)

Book BOTH your husband and yourself from OSD to PDX - and there will be NO CHARGE and NO PROBLEM!
cool.gif
 
We're not going to have time for DH to ride a train just one stop, although that's a very good idea. He signed up for AGR today, with my number as his referral, and the trip is in mid-February. So we are well within the 90-day limit for the bonus.

You've confirmed what the AGR agent was too dumb to know - that my rewards ticket is good for BC on the Surfliner. The agent told me I would have to ride coach and there would be no way to upgrade. According to the posters above, she was wrong.

Thanks for the comments, and I'm hoping for more. We're good to go.
 
FunNut said:
You've confirmed what the AGR agent was too dumb to know - that my rewards ticket is good for BC on the Surfliner. The agent told me I would have to ride coach and there would be no way to upgrade. According to the posters above, she was wrong.
Click to expand...
Let's be clear here, AGR is supposed to book you into BC on a train without sleepers when you've booked sleepers for the rest of the trip. However, it sounds like the agent booked you into coach, so you have a coach ticket coming to you as of right now. You must get AGR to book a Business Class ticket for you.

Failure to do so would see you riding in coach, unless you get the conductor to upgrade you to BC assuming that seats are still left and that you pay the upgrade charge.

So please call AGR and get things fixed!
 
If you really want the points you could use that paid BC ticket for your husband and simply discard the free BC ticket that he's entitled to from AGR. But I feel like it isn't a good value for money. $37 gets you 1100 points--his bonus, your bonus, and 100 for the ride.

Perhaps you can cancel his enrollment and sign up at a later date?
 
gatelouse said:
If you really want the points you could use that paid BC ticket for your husband and simply discard the free BC ticket that he's entitled to from AGR. But I feel like it isn't a good value for money. $37 gets you 1100 points--his bonus, your bonus, and 100 for the ride.

Perhaps you can cancel his enrollment and sign up at a later date?
Click to expand...
We both have a lot of Continental points that can only transfer into AGR until Dec. 31st. So signing up now is smart, we're both going to transfer points to AGR to take train trips in the future.

I looked at fares for "riding one stop down the line," it would cost about $12 each way (senior fare). He would rather spend the $37 and not waste the time riding around for nothing. It might be smart in some cases to do that, but not in our situation.

As you point out, spending $37 is going to "buy" us 1,100 points. I really appreciate the posts in this thread.
 
Hey I'd take 1100 for that price. It's not over $50. I spend $13 round trip PHL-PAO and get points when they have the double points and for NTD triple. It adds up quick for a cheap price. Takes half hour each way total time is about a hour and a half. Including a brief layover.
 
Here's another approach that may be a bit much for you. Buy a paid Surfliner coach ticket for one stop for your husband from OSD to San Juan Capistrano or from Fullerton to LA. Have him use the reward ticket the rest of the way.

Normally this could put you at risk of losing points since you only get points for one ticket per train number. In this case, though, the reward ticket will bear your AGR number. Only your husband's paid segment would bear his number, so as

far as AGR is concerned, he only rode the paid segment.

Wait on one of the real AGR experts to concur that this approach would work, but if it does, you could save a few bucks. Whether it's worth the inconvenience of being split up for a stop is your call.
 
You could book BC for that segment. The conductor would take the Paid and AGR tickets at once as they need the final destination for the seat check. The conductors never seem to care. Just as long as you have a ticket. Don't know if AGR would allow you to board at OSD and his ticket booked out of the next stop whatever that may be. It couldn't be FUL as they would board together at LAX. That would be a no no and raise serious questions.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top