What happened to "you can pay with points and cash" deal when they put in the de-valuation

[leacrane]

I could swear that one of the "benefits" touted in the great de-valuation of rewards when they switched over and got rid of the zone system, was that you could now pay with points and money if you didn't have enough points. Am I missing something???? I tried to book a trip on Autotrain and was short points...I couldn't even seem to pay for the room with points and the car with $$$. It was all or nothing. I got a real quick answer on the Rewards forum from the moderator....that I had to buy points or use money. Did they ever change the system or was I imagining things???
BTW, I really don't get why the train was 25% booked and they were charging 638.00 for a bedroom?? I paid 400.00 on the way down....You'd think with the pandemic and fewer travelers they'd charge less to fill up the rooms.

 

[Sidney]

Agree. With the downgrade in food the sleeper prices remain high. On my last circle trip last month I paid with a combination of cash and points. From LA to Harrisburg I used points to Chicago and cash the remainder of the way,so it wasn't a guaranteed connection. A few years ago I did the same thing and I missed my connection due to an extremely late SW Chief,and Amtrak put me up in a Chicago hotel even with the points cash combination.This probably wasn't the norm,but there wasn't any hassle.

 

[me_little_me]

I could swear that one of the "benefits" touted in the great de-valuation of rewards when they switched over and got rid of the zone system, was that you could now pay with points and money if you didn't have enough points. Am I missing something???? I tried to book a trip on Autotrain and was short points...I couldn't even seem to pay for the room with points and the car with $$$. It was all or nothing. I got a real quick answer on the Rewards forum from the moderator....that I had to buy points or use money. Did they ever change the system or was I imagining things???
BTW, I really don't get why the train was 25% booked and they were charging 638.00 for a bedroom?? I paid 400.00 on the way down....You'd think with the pandemic and fewer travelers they'd charge less to fill up the rooms.

They lied. Just like they lied when they said there would be no blackout days (instead, they jack up the number of points higher than the cash price on some days). They lied about the "new bedding" they promised would be on the sleepers a couple of years ago. They might have implemented it on the Auto Train but none of the other trains.
Amtrak executives are like lawyers. You can tell when they are lying when their lips move. Don't trust anything they say.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

Agree. With the downgrade in food the sleeper prices remain high. On my last circle trip last month I paid with a combination of cash and points. From LA to Harrisburg I used points to Chicago and cash the remainder of the way,so it wasn't a guaranteed connection. A few years ago I did the same thing and I missed my connection due to an extremely late SW Chief,and Amtrak put me up in a Chicago hotel even with the points cash combination.This probably wasn't the norm,but there wasn't any hassle.

There is a way to preserve the “guaranteed connection” when booking a trip with two separate reservations and it sounds like an agent took care of you in your example. You have to have a res agent “cross-reference” the reservations. This also easier for station agents to see you are connecting. I learned this when I did a big circle trip in Sept. 2019.

 

[TheVig]

I had a situation last year where I had enough points to cover the sleeper, but not enough to cover the coach. So yes, I get the frustration. However I did a workaround. I booked my segments as one-way. Made the sleeper purchase using points. Then made another booking using cash. Just have to make sure you build in enough time for your connections. Doesn't work for everyone, but it worked for me.