Spring Promo

[chuljin]

I noticed this when I logged in to check postings. I registered right away, of course.

Thanks for registering for our Spring Promotion. Earn double Amtrak Guest Rewards® points on each of your first four Amtrak® train trips and triple points for your fifth trip and beyond, March 16 through May 8, 2009. Plus, earn quadruple points for any trip taken on National Train Day, Saturday, May 9, 2009. Reservations for qualifying trips must be made between March 16, 2009 and May 9, 2009 for travel taken between March 16, 2009 and May 9, 2009.

I got no email beforehand, and see no mention of it before login, so not sure if it's targeted or not. Out of an abundance of caution, I'm therefore not including the promo code here. I expect it's not targeted, because I'm never among those targeted for targeted doubling and tripling promotions, because I could extract tremendous benefit therefrom.

 

[chuljin]

I noticed this when I logged in to check postings. I registered right away, of course.
Thanks for registering for our Spring Promotion. Earn double Amtrak Guest Rewards® points on each of your first four Amtrak® train trips and triple points for your fifth trip and beyond, March 16 through May 8, 2009. Plus, earn quadruple points for any trip taken on National Train Day, Saturday, May 9, 2009. Reservations for qualifying trips must be made between March 16, 2009 and May 9, 2009 for travel taken between March 16, 2009 and May 9, 2009.

I got no email beforehand, and see no mention of it before login, so not sure if it's targeted or not. Out of an abundance of caution, I'm therefore not including the promo code here. I expect it's not targeted, because I'm never among those targeted for targeted doubling and tripling promotions, because I could extract tremendous benefit therefrom.

Update: in Another Place, someone else mentioned they got it as well, and that it shows up pre-login, so I think I can safely say that the promo code is 31609. Link.

 

[ceblack]

Arrgh!! I wish they would allow rail trips reserved prior to the promotion dates (for travel within those dates, of course) to qualify for the double/triple points. If so, I'd be figuring out how to get in four quick 100-point trips prior to my family's CZ jaunt in late March. (And yes, I did consider cancelling and rebooking... but sleeper fares have of course gone up since I originally booked the trip).

I suppose a "Plans for National Train Day" thread will spring up soon on this board with quadruple points offered. The maximum number of "100-point junkets" (for lack of a better term) is still four per day, yes?

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for posting, I logged in and registered!

Looks like I'll have plans for the next few Saturday/Sunday mornings!

When they say double for the first 4 trips, they're talking segments (so 2 round trips), yes?

Edit to add: Don't forget this part! "Reservations for qualifying trips must be made between March 16, 2009 and May 9, 2009" I rolled over to Amtrak.com and was about to start booking tickets, but you've got to wait until MONDAY!

 

[Rail Freak]

What the ...., I'm in!!!

 

[Rail Freak]

If I booked # 98 from STP (5-08-09) arriving in WAS (5-09-09). Then booked # 91 from WAS (5-09-09), what would my point total be if I paid $256 for #98 & $365 for #91??? Two partial legs on the same day,TRAIN DAY?

 

[chuljin]

If I booked # 98 from STP (5-08-09) arriving in WAS (5-09-09). Then booked # 91 from WAS (5-09-09), what would my point total be if I paid $256 for #98 & $365 for #91??? Two partial legs on the same day,TRAIN DAY?

I leave it to better experts to confirm, but IME despite when you board, the effective travel date for trains whose journey stretches over several days is the day that the train first started said journey. In your case, they are coincidentally the same for train 98: 5/8. (Admittedly, my only personal example is I took train 11, OKJ-LAX, on 5/27/08...the travel date when it posted was listed as 5/26/08, because that's when that train started out from SEA. Others have mentioned similar phenomena). So in the case of your train 98, I would guess that it would be merely tripled: 1536 (256x2x3) points (+128 or 256 for Select or Select Plus, respectively, if you are either of those).

Better news on train 91: It starts out from NYP the same day (5/9) that you board it at WAS, so it would be quadrupled: 2920 (365x2x4) points (+183 [?...not sure about the rounding] or 365 for S or S+).

I don't speak for AGR. Others may need to confirm. Note that if you want to take advantage of this, don't reserve the said tickets until 3/16 (not sure what time zone they use)...this point is quite clear in the promo T&Cs.

Good luck!

Chris

 

[wayman]

So ... on National Train Day, I could ride four Keystone segments for $23.40 total, and get 1,746 AGR: $0.0134 per point! :blink: :blink: :blink:

(One hopes they get the "day of travel" recorded right for each ticket. Since they're unreserved tickets, there's some small potential for messing that up.)

 

[transit54]

Wow. Quadruple points.

This is what comes to mind:

On Friday (May 8) get to Hartford, CT and stay with a friend.

Shuttle #143 Hartford to Berlin, CT. 400 points

Shuttle #405 Berlin, CT to New Haven, CT. 400 points

Acela #2290 Stamford, CT to Boston, MA 2000 points (board in NHV, but ticket from STM to get 500 points x 4)

LSL Stub - Boston, MA to Springfield, MA 400 points

Vermonter - Springfield, MA to Essex Jct, VT 400 points

That should net 3,600 points if I calculate it correctly. I'm pretty sure I would get the 500 points x 4 bonus on the Acela. Or am I mistaken about that? I know those 500 points count as rail points, so I think this should work.

 

[Upstate]

Wow. Quadruple points.
This is what comes to mind:

On Friday (May 8) get to Hartford, CT and stay with a friend.

Shuttle #143 Hartford to Berlin, CT. 400 points

Shuttle #405 Berlin, CT to New Haven, CT. 400 points

Acela #2290 Stamford, CT to Boston, MA 2000 points (board in NHV, but ticket from STM to get 500 points x 4)

LSL Stub - Boston, MA to Springfield, MA 400 points

Vermonter - Springfield, MA to Essex Jct, VT 400 points

That should net 3,600 points if I calculate it correctly. I'm pretty sure I would get the 500 points x 4 bonus on the Acela. Or am I mistaken about that? I know those 500 points count as rail points, so I think this should work.

Dont forget about the double points promo for paying for Acela with Mastercard. If you did that it would be another 500 bringing you to 4,100.

 

[transit54]

Dont forget about the double points promo for paying for Acela with Mastercard. If you did that it would be another 500 bringing you to 4,100.

I believe that expires March 14, which is before this current promotion.

 

[gswager]

Yes! Perfect timing (with an exception of booking on Southwest Chief due to roomette low price). Planning to ride on CA-funded trains, except Coast Starlight. Fare are the same, regardless of how many days in advanced or number of seats available.

 

[wayman]

Wow. Quadruple points.
This is what comes to mind:

On Friday (May 8) get to Hartford, CT and stay with a friend.

Shuttle #143 Hartford to Berlin, CT. 400 points

Shuttle #405 Berlin, CT to New Haven, CT. 400 points

Acela #2290 Stamford, CT to Boston, MA 2000 points (board in NHV, but ticket from STM to get 500 points x 4)

LSL Stub - Boston, MA to Springfield, MA 400 points

Vermonter - Springfield, MA to Essex Jct, VT 400 points

That should net 3,600 points if I calculate it correctly. I'm pretty sure I would get the 500 points x 4 bonus on the Acela. Or am I mistaken about that? I know those 500 points count as rail points, so I think this should work.

My only question would be whether the fifth segment in the calendar day would run you afoul of the "four segments per day" rule. You may find that the Vermonter gets you only two points per dollar rather than the 100 point minimum. Of course, right now it's pricing out at $44, so you're still looking at 88 points for that segment (presumably still quadrupled for 352 points--I didn't see any fine print saying only four segments per day would be eligible for the quadrupling).

But I think it may be more likely that AGR doesn't look at the departure times of the trips to determine "which was your fifth of the day": you may find that instead one of the super-cheap shuttle tickets is what doesn't get bumped up to the 100 point minimum. Then you might be looking at 8 points (quadrupled to 32) instead of 100 (to 400) for a segment.

I have no idea how AGR handles that sort of thing, but I know in many stores a "buy three items priced at $20 or more, and get a fourth free!" sale will automatically give you the least expensive of the four for free, regardless of the order you hand them to the clerk at the cash register; I could certainly see AGR having a similar set-up, especially since it isn't always possible for them to determine the order you took the trips (if one or more tickets is on an unreserved corridor).

 

[transit54]

My only question would be whether the fifth segment in the calendar day would run you afoul of the "four segments per day" rule. You may find that the Vermonter gets you only two points per dollar rather than the 100 point minimum. Of course, right now it's pricing out at $44, so you're still looking at 88 points for that segment (presumably still quadrupled for 352 points--I didn't see any fine print saying only four segments per day would be eligible for the quadrupling).
But I think it may be more likely that AGR doesn't look at the departure times of the trips to determine "which was your fifth of the day": you may find that instead one of the super-cheap shuttle tickets is what doesn't get bumped up to the 100 point minimum. Then you might be looking at 8 points (quadrupled to 32) instead of 100 (to 400) for a segment.

I have no idea how AGR handles that sort of thing, but I know in many stores a "buy three items priced at $20 or more, and get a fourth free!" sale will automatically give you the least expensive of the four for free, regardless of the order you hand them to the clerk at the cash register; I could certainly see AGR having a similar set-up, especially since it isn't always possible for them to determine the order you took the trips (if one or more tickets is on an unreserved corridor).

You're right. I forgot about that rule. I was thinking it was two roundtrips between any two city pairs at a time, but you're right. In that case, I'll just skip the first shuttle, wake up an hour later, and take the second shuttle from HFD right to New Haven. I was only making the first stop to accumulate another 400 points.

This will work out great, because my friend in Hartford keeps mentioning he wants to take an Acela ride with me, since he's never taken the service. At Springfield he can take a shuttle back to Hartford and I can take the Vermonter back to Burlington.

 

[chuljin]

My only question would be whether the fifth segment in the calendar day would run you afoul of the "four segments per day" rule. You may find that the Vermonter gets you only two points per dollar rather than the 100 point minimum. Of course, right now it's pricing out at $44, so you're still looking at 88 points for that segment (presumably still quadrupled for 352 points--I didn't see any fine print saying only four segments per day would be eligible for the quadrupling).
But I think it may be more likely that AGR doesn't look at the departure times of the trips to determine "which was your fifth of the day": you may find that instead one of the super-cheap shuttle tickets is what doesn't get bumped up to the 100 point minimum. Then you might be looking at 8 points (quadrupled to 32) instead of 100 (to 400) for a segment.

I have no idea how AGR handles that sort of thing, but I know in many stores a "buy three items priced at $20 or more, and get a fourth free!" sale will automatically give you the least expensive of the four for free, regardless of the order you hand them to the clerk at the cash register; I could certainly see AGR having a similar set-up, especially since it isn't always possible for them to determine the order you took the trips (if one or more tickets is on an unreserved corridor).

You're right. I forgot about that rule. I was thinking it was two roundtrips between any two city pairs at a time, but you're right. In that case, I'll just skip the first shuttle, wake up an hour later, and take the second shuttle from HFD right to New Haven. I was only making the first stop to accumulate another 400 points.

This will work out great, because my friend in Hartford keeps mentioning he wants to take an Acela ride with me, since he's never taken the service. At Springfield he can take a shuttle back to Hartford and I can take the Vermonter back to Burlington.

Not quite (and I speak from experience)...if the day's fifth ticket is less than $50 (i.e. would otherwise have been 'minimumed' up to 100 points), it gets nothing, unfortunately. They still acknowledge your travel by posting it, but for 0 points.

A maximum of two roundtrips or four one-way trips, per member, per day will be allowed to earn points under the 100 point minimum per trip rule. Any trips subsequent to the maximum of two roundtrips or four one-ways, per member, per day will receive 2 Points for every $1 if the trips point value exceeds 100 points.

So unfortunately, they'd quadruple zero, yielding zero

But one thing you could hope for is that the 5th, 'victim' ticket would otherwise be worth more than 100 base points (probably only the Acela in this case). But no guarantees.

 

[transit54]

Thanks for the input. No big deal since I'll just out the unnecessary shuttle trip and only take the four trips. But very good to know.

The one thing no one has mentioned is the 500 x 4 points for Acela. Can anyone verify I can get my points quadrupled on the Acela? That they won't just give me 4 x the value of my ticket or something like that? It almost seems to good to be true.

 

[wayman]

Thanks for the input. No big deal since I'll just out the unnecessary shuttle trip and only take the four trips. But very good to know.
The one thing no one has mentioned is the 500 x 4 points for Acela. Can anyone verify I can get my points quadrupled on the Acela? That they won't just give me 4 x the value of my ticket or something like that? It almost seems to good to be true.

I can't verify with regard to this promotion, but for the current Acela MasterCard Double Points promotion, I had a similar uncertainty: would I actually get the 500 points doubled, even though I only paid $137 on my MasterCard? Turns out I did indeed get the 500 doubled. So I suspect that yes, you will get 500x4 points in this instance.

 

[jack615]

I might just take a trip Boston to STM round trip on Acela both ways just to take advantage of that.

 

[the_traveler]

I'm glad I brought my netbook on this trip - and logged in to AU!

I have 3 segments that I have to buy between 3/22 and 3/227. (The rest are AGR awards.) Now I just have to cancel them - and rebook after 3/16 - and earn double points! :lol: :lol:

Thanks!

 

[saxman]

Arrgh!! I wish they would allow rail trips reserved prior to the promotion dates (for travel within those dates, of course) to qualify for the double/triple points. If so, I'd be figuring out how to get in four quick 100-point trips prior to my family's CZ jaunt in late March. (And yes, I did consider cancelling and rebooking... but sleeper fares have of course gone up since I originally booked the trip).
I suppose a "Plans for National Train Day" thread will spring up soon on this board with quadruple points offered. The maximum number of "100-point junkets" (for lack of a better term) is still four per day, yes?

Yeah this really really annoys me too. I have a trip planned for the 16th of March and of course I've already paid for it. I wonder why they won't let me earn bonus when I've already made reservations. Has something like this been done before?? It really stinks because I paid a lot for it. :angry:

 

[AlanB]

Arrgh!! I wish they would allow rail trips reserved prior to the promotion dates (for travel within those dates, of course) to qualify for the double/triple points. If so, I'd be figuring out how to get in four quick 100-point trips prior to my family's CZ jaunt in late March. (And yes, I did consider cancelling and rebooking... but sleeper fares have of course gone up since I originally booked the trip).
I suppose a "Plans for National Train Day" thread will spring up soon on this board with quadruple points offered. The maximum number of "100-point junkets" (for lack of a better term) is still four per day, yes?

Yeah this really really annoys me too. I have a trip planned for the 16th of March and of course I've already paid for it. I wonder why they won't let me earn bonus when I've already made reservations. Has something like this been done before?? It really stinks because I paid a lot for it. :angry:

No, first time that they ever had a book between date for such a promo. I'm curious to see if they can even monitor that, or whether people like you Chris will get double points regardless.

 

[The Metropolitan]

I'm a little skeptical about this booking rule myself. I mean, I've seen other promotion rules that limited double point awards to just 2 segments per day, and I got them on 8 segments in that day.

Perhaps with the new vendor, and considering the recently tightened segment rules, they can and will be monitoring this, but I for one am not about to cancel and rebook my Starlight trip (and having to wait 4 days for the funds to return to my account) just to likely rebook in a higher bucket just for bonus points. I will try to see what I can do to take 4 one-ways prior to then to knock this particular trip into the 4x category.

 

[RRrich]

I have a low bucket trip booked and paid for for April - I think I will make sure I do 2 RT runs before that. Just in case

 

[Shanghai]

How is a "trip" defined. If I traveled from NYP to BOS and return (BOS to NYP) on one reservation, does this count as 2 trips?

If I traveled from NYP to PVD, then from PVD to BOS on a later train, then from BOS to PVD, and on a later train, PVD to NYP, does this count as 4 trips?

 

[AlanB]

If I traveled from NYP to BOS and return (BOS to NYP) on one reservation, does this count as 2 trips?If I traveled from NYP to PVD, then from PVD to BOS on a later train, then from BOS to PVD, and on a later train, PVD to NYP, does this count as 4 trips?

Yes, and yes.

Basically if you have a ticket in your hand, that is a trip. Under the new rules, you don't want more than 4 trips that depart on the same day.