Will this work to redeem AGR trip?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
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.
S

Sue

Guest
Me, my husband and my daughter want to take go from Milwaukee to Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief in a family bedroom (this is the one with 4 beds, right?). I believe this is 30,000 points. Coming home from Los Angeles I would like to take the Coast Starlight and then get on the CZ. Will this be 30,000 points also for a family bedroom? Is there a better way to go? I have been on the EB and would like to try something different. Thoughts?

Thanks,

Sue
 
That sounds like my trip - but not in a family bedroom. :rolleyes:

Problem I see is those trains are mighty crowded :help: and FBs are hard to get so book early :hi:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sue said:
Me, my husband and my daughter want to take go from Milwaukee to Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief in a family bedroom (this is the one with 4 beds, right?). I believe this is 30,000 points. Coming home from Los Angeles I would like to take the Coast Starlight and then get on the CZ. Will this be 30,000 points also for a family bedroom? Is there a better way to go? I have been on the EB and would like to try something different. Thoughts?

Thanks,

Sue
Click to expand...
Be sure you measure out the beds in the family bedroom. The 3rd and 4th beds are for *little* kids.
 
Thanks for the tip to books early. It is ok about the shorter beds too. My daughter isn't very tall.

Thanks!

Sue
 
The longest kid's bed is 4'9" long! And there is no same day connection available from the CS (departing from LAX) to the CZ, so you will need 2 separate awards!
sad.gif
 
Oh no! I don't want two separate awards! How many extra points would that be? What if I reversed my trip and went from Milwaukee to Chicago and on the CZ then the CS to Los Angeles? Would that be one award? Which way would give me the best scenery? Does it matter?

Sue
 
Sue said:
Oh no! I don't want two separate awards! How many extra points would that be? What if I reversed my trip and went from Milwaukee to Chicago and on the CZ then the CS to Los Angeles? Would that be one award? Which way would give me the best scenery? Does it matter?

Sue
Click to expand...
IIRC. It would be considered an award. But you would have to take the next days train. So you would arrive from MKE take the CZ to EMY. Overnight in EMY then continue onto LAX. Overnight in LAX then continue on back to CHI. Not sure if i'm right. Maybe our AGR guru the_traveler could correct me if i'm wrong and elaborate on this.
 
MKE-LAX or LAX-MKE on the Hiawatha and Chief would be one award.

LAX-MKE on the Starlight and CZ would be two awards as there is no same day connection.

MKE-LAX on the CZ and Starlight would also be two award as, again, there is no same day connection.

However, consider this alternative: MKE-LAX on one award. Buy coach LAX-EMY on the CS. Overnight in EMY. Then use another award EMY-MKE. This only uses two awards, the coach portion would all be during the day and should cost less than $140 for the three of you. Just a thought.
 
If you want the best scenery, go MKE-CA on the CZ!
smile.gif
The CZ is considered by many (including myself) as the most scenic route on Amtrak today!
cool.gif
(The climb up the Front Range out of Denver, the mountain passes along the Colorado River and the crossing of Donner Pass are all in daylight!
biggrin.gif
 
If I went from MKE to CA on the CZ do I get off in EMY? Is there a way to get to Los Angeles on one award? I have 60,000 points and would like to book ASAP. Would you recommend taking CZ both ways or should I take the Southwest Chief one way? I appreciate your advice on the scenic route!

Sue
 
Thanks everybody. Think I will go with CZ one way and SC the other way and pay for coach seat on CS.

Sue
 
Instead of paying for coach on the CS, you may want to consider looking into the cost of a roomette or bedroom!
excl.gif
I know you're saying that this is a daytime trip - but there are reasons, including the following:

  • A sleeper includes the room (of course), but also the rail fare for all registered in that room (up to the maximum allowed)
  • A sleeper also includes meals in the Dining Car or Pacific Parlour Car (PPC). On this segment that is 3 meals included PER PERSON!
  • Access to the PPC. (Coach passengers can not use the PPC at all.)
  • A wine and cheese tasting event.

I don't know off hand what the fares are, but say it's $50 for the adults and $25 for the child's fare. That's $125 total for coach + meals. Now say the bedroom costs $200 (including meals). I myself would say that the meals and other extras are worth $75!

And it may sound strange, but many people do just this! Going north, it may be full leaving LAX, but may be almost empty by the time it gets to Oakland or so. Going south, it's just the opposite. So compare coach and a sleeper! A sleeper may even cost LESS!
cool.gif
 
I checked on the Amtrak sight. It is $137 for 2 adults and one child. The room is $390 11 months out ($330 about 10 months out). When I click on the room, it adds the whole $390 and $137 for a total of $527! Yikes. Am I doing somehting wrong? This is LAX-EMY. I will check out the southbound. If my husband uses a award, how many points would that be for the 3 of us?

Sue
 
A roomette (including meals for all 3) would be 15,000 points! A bedroom (including meals for all 3) would be 20,000 points. Coach (without meals) would be 5,500 points EACH or 16,500 points total!
ohmy.gif
Or as I also stated earlier, you can go via the inland route for 1,000 points EACH or 3,000 points total!
 
Oh my land! I'm not using points! LOL I guess I will fork out the $.

Thanks for all your help.

Sue
 
$527 is not too bad for 3 people on a train all day - plus you have a Bedroom, private bath and shower, and you can gain access to the special, Pacific parlor Car, which is a bit of a throwback to the days of rail travel before Amtrak.
 
I just tried one date - Monday, June 18th - $339.50 for two Roomettes (2 adult + one child). You could get two Roomettes across from each other - upper level (nice). Then you have a lot of space. You could just purchase one Roomette - for day travel (2 adults and one child).

Or $417 for 2 adults and one child - with a bedroom. $417 for 3 is a good price. That is a very scenic ride.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You could take the CS Form LA to Portland and Empire Builder from Portland to MKE all for one award ticket.
 
I like the idea of getting 2 roomettes across from each other! Thank you for the tip!

Sue
 
the_traveler said:
Rail Freak said:
FlyingBoat said:
You could take the CS Form LA to Portland and Empire Builder from Portland to MKE all for one award ticket.
Click to expand...
No,no,no, You can only get as far as WPT on a 1 zone award ticket!!!!
Click to expand...
Rail Freak was saying it can not be done for a 1 ZONE award ticket, but it can be done for a 2 ZONE award ticket!
Click to expand...
Right, I didn't say anything about a 1 zone award.

I missed the part about your wanting something different than EB.

But f you have the time and 10K more miles you could do them all.

30K MKE to LAX

20K one way award LAX to Denver. Either back through ABQ or probably better up through SAC taking the CZ east. This is a combination of buses and San Joaquin to Sac.

20K one way award from DEN back to SAC on CZ then SAC on CS to PDX and PDX to Madison (Columbus, WI) on EB. This way you get to ride the CZ both ways through the scenic areas, can have a stop over in Denver if you like and still ride the CS, though not from LA. (you would need a rep who will book this as one zone for you, but it has worked for me out of ABQ to MSP. )

It would be a long trip. LOL, I may need to try something like that out for myself next year!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top