daveyb99
OBS Chief
new points scheme out ... and Sleeper travel get nothing extra. Why . . .
NEC= Nothing Else Counts!new points scheme out ... and Sleeper travel get nothing extra. Why . . .
Could you be more specific, please? What do you mean by "extra"?new points scheme out ... and Sleeper travel get nothing extra. Why . . .
Business class with the 25% points bonus and Acela First with the 50% points bonus.Could you be more specific, please? What do you mean by "extra"?new points scheme out ... and Sleeper travel get nothing extra. Why . . .
And also the BC 25% and Acela FC 50% Bonus Points count as TQPs!!Business class with the 25% points bonus and Acela First with the 50% points bonus.Could you be more specific, please? What do you mean by "extra"?new points scheme out ... and Sleeper travel get nothing extra. Why . . .
It was different. I'd even say appreciably different. The 500/750 point minimum for specific Acela city pairs was typically more generous. And if it wasn't one of those city pairs then there was no bonus.In other words, almost exactly what we had before.
All rewards programs are essentially paid for by the customers. Either that or the business is willing to spend money. In a competitive marketplace I suppose it's needed. I'm not sure if Amtrak really needs it given there's no real competition save perhaps buses.Actually, I'm happy that Amtrak offers a reward program. I can recall when there was no program. The new program seems quite fair to me...
I suppose the irony of airline loyalty programs was that the most loyal are often business travelers where the fare is paid for by an employer. Yet somehow the points can be used by the employees - or at least at one time they could. I understand that some employers insist on the points being made available to the company.Lest we forget, AGR was created to compete with airlines on the NEC. It's extension to the whole system was a natural thing to do. The desire to compete with airlines on the NEC and possibly on additional corridors still remains an issue.
But then it might be like the end of the world or something.I do like the bc 25% and its counting towards status. I wonder if giving a bonus for sleeper travel would increase sleeper travel at off peak times? Wouldn't erase kisses but might mitigate them a bit.
Hence the almost, and more detail about what was different and what remained the same (I.e. Sleepers, a.k.a the topic of the thread).It was different. I'd even say appreciably different. The 500/750 point minimum for specific Acela city pairs was typically more generous. And if it wasn't one of those city pairs then there was no bonus.In other words, almost exactly what we had before.
Of course I've been retired quite a while; and back then sleeping car costs where about the same as the airline coach fare, but no employer ever told me I couldn't travel by train.For the most part I can't see an employer on the west coast allowing an employee to travel by train (as a business expense) until maybe HSR is available. However, it does make a bit of sense in that part of the country.
Are you sure it's a "least logical fare"? It sounds a little bit off. I'm looking up the acronym, and I see "lowest logical fare".These days the rules are very simple where I work. For business travel, the trip must be booked through the company travel agent. The company travel agent will compute a least logical fare (LLF) for the proposed itinerary. you are allowed to spend upto 10% more than the LLF no matter which way you choose to travel. The company will not reimburse you for anything greater than that amount for transportation. You are free to throw in your own contribution in the way of money or FF points or whatever and give yourself a better ride. I do that quite often specially on long international legs making the most of my copious collection of points and my high elite status. So for example, on flights to Israel and back, quite often I have flown business class for very little additional cost to me. That is also the reason that I seldom use my FF points for completely free tickets to anywhere. (a) you do not get any points for traveling on those and (b) the FF points are more valuable for upgrades to me than getting free tickets.
Now let's see how the points a dollars thing works out on Amtrak.
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