Pittsburgh to Austin using AGR Points

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sambdking

Train Attendant
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Messages
32
It seems like a bit of a waste of points as these are in 2 zones. I want a sleeper the whole way. Should I just pay for my trip in the Eastern zone and use points for the travel in the central zone? How exactly would that work?

thanks!
 
That's exactly what you want to do.

When I did that, I forget which order I called in (AGR first or the paid reservation first).

Either way, Call the Amtrak reservations line, as for a room from PGH to TOL, but make sure that you tell the person you'll be continuing on to CHI on an Amtrak Guest Rewards itinerary and see if they can put you in a room that is available through to CHI. Hopefully they can, and get them to tell you what car and room you are in.

Once that's booked, call the AGR redemption line and book from Toledo to Austin. Ask them to put you in the same room and car as you're already booked in (which if the first agent did correctly will be available TOL-CHI).

It's actually more complicated to explain than it is do just do it.

When I did it (WAS-CHI on the Cardinal, with the break at CIN), I just gave the first conductor both my WAS-CIN and CIN-CHI tickets, so I didn't even have to be awake at CIN to get the second ticket lifted. In the ear of e-tickets, that's probably even easier.
 
OH, I forgot to mention, just to make this more complicated, I require the H room. Does that change things?
 
Not really - if anything, it'll make it a little easier as it's less likely that the room will be sold in the brief time between your two phone calls.

Since there are such a limited number of H rooms, I'd call and book them ASAP.
 
Ryan said:
That's exactly what you want to do.
When I did that, I forget which order I called in (AGR first or the paid reservation first).

Either way, Call the Amtrak reservations line, as for a room from PGH to TOL, but make sure that you tell the person you'll be continuing on to CHI on an Amtrak Guest Rewards itinerary and see if they can put you in a room that is available through to CHI. Hopefully they can, and get them to tell you what car and room you are in.

Once that's booked, call the AGR redemption line and book from Toledo to Austin. Ask them to put you in the same room and car as you're already booked in (which if the first agent did correctly will be available TOL-CHI).

It's actually more complicated to explain than it is do just do it.

When I did it (WAS-CHI on the Cardinal, with the break at CIN), I just gave the first conductor both my WAS-CIN and CIN-CHI tickets, so I didn't even have to be awake at CIN to get the second ticket lifted. In the ear of e-tickets, that's probably even easier.
Click to expand...
The way you suggest it, you book the paid room first, do you then call and cancel that after you book the one zone trip as AGR? I am confused...
 
No, there's nothing to cancel - you call and book the paid segment for the segment you're paying for and then call and book the award redemption for the segment that you're using points for.

You have to call on both, since you want to make sure that you're getting in the same room so you don't have to move in the middle of the night.

I don't recall what order I did it (paid or points segments first), the important thing is to do them both at the same time, so you get a room that's available in both segments.
 
There is no need to call the regular Amtrak 800 number to do this. The AGR agent can book both the AGR reservation and the paid reservation in one phone call. It will still be two separate reservations, it has to be for their bookkeeping purposes. But one AGR agent can do everything for you, no need to play the game of multiple agents.
 
We went from Pittsburgh to Flagstaff last year. We paid to Toledo, used points for the rest of the round trip, paid from Toledo on the way back. It wasn't difficult to do at all. We gave the car attendant both our tickets when we boarded the train. It really is more complicated to explain than to do.
 
I know it seems like a waste of points, but also consider that a 2 zone award for the H room is 20K while a 1 zone award for the H room is 15K! I'm not sure of the cost of paying for the H room from PGH to TOL, but it may not be worth it (to me) if the cost was like $200! :excl:
 

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