RTE (Boston) to NYP - weekend family trip

[icekreaman]

Hi all,

I started a new job this year and I occasionally need to travel from Boston to Newark. With the great points deal on the Acela I have managed to rack up 3,750 rail points, I also have been using the AGR MC and have 27,000 points in total. I am planning a family trip (2 adults, 2 kids) to NYC in mid September and was wondering how to use my points most efficiently. My original plan was to pay for BC on the Acela and use upgrade vouchers to get FC seats ($296 value), however whilst researching I found out that there is no child fare on the Acela so the cost would be $396 each way for 4 adult fares. Now I'm thinking it makes more sense to pay $147 (or use points for the adult fares) on the Northeast regional and upgrade to BC ($136 value). Of course the downside to this is that I miss out on 750 points per person each way on the Acela FC, which would get me to Select status and give 3 other family members 1500 points, (would they be able to transfer these points to my account?). I think I'm right in stating that upgrade vouchers are 5 for 10,000 points?

Of course I might just pay cash, wait until next summer and get a sleeper for all of us to the West coast....!

Hmmm... what to do?

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated...

 

[amamba]

Save your points to next year and take a sleeper trip, IMO. I also live on the East Coast and often struggle with using mypoints or paying cash for acela trips. I generally use upgrade coupons (so I do think its worth buying 5 for 10,000 points) on acela or take NER coach. I wouldn't really pay for BC on the NE regional trains. It's a much better value to use 15,000 points on a one zone roomette redemption than 16,000 pts on a round trip acela.

 

[lapradem]

Would not waste the points on any seat-only upgrades - the difference in seats is not worth it, even on the Acela. Save them up for bedrooms or at the very least, outright Acela tickets (not upgrades). I used points last year for 5 people to go from DC to Boston on the Acela (in biz class, not first) - very much worth it - first time on the Acela and I would not have wanted to spend the cash for those tickets. This year (with the AGR matercard points) going to Chicago and back with 2 bedrooms each way, only paying cash for one bedroom on only one leg of that trip. That's $600 total outlay for round trip from Virginia to Chicago with 2 bedrooms each way - very good use of points (could have easily been $2000 or more cash for this trip). Spend your points wisely!

 

[AlanB]

Icekreaman,

First, if you travel on the weekend, then child fares are offered on Acela. Children's fares are blacked out M-F.

Next, if you do use points for a trip, then you cannot use an upgrade voucher. Upgrade vouchers are only good when you pay the full regular, non-discounted fare for a given run.

And yes, any points that the family earns could be transferred to your account. But it must be in 1,000 blocks and there is a fee to make that transfer.

 

[jacorbett70]

I would also save up the points for a sleeper next year (check the Family Bedroom prices). I'd also avoid BC on NE Regional since most are the 60-seaters that I find only slightly better than coach. And a free non-alcoholic drink FWIW.

If undecided about boarding NER (Coach/BC) or Acela (BC) at RTE vs BOS, boarding at BOS would pretty much assure getting a four-seater together, although they do make an effort to hold them for families. After RTE on the more popular trains, people walk through the consist looking for single seats here and there as single travelers have grabbed the windows.