What a year... gonna get Select Executive...

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neroden

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...without travelling on the NEC even once.

I wonder if this is some kind of record. I remember reading that when they introduced Select Executive Amtrak said *only* NEC riders were getting it.
 
There are at least a couple of us, who do not live on the NEC, that have been Select Executive for a few years.
 
...without travelling on the NEC even once.

I wonder if this is some kind of record. I remember reading that when they introduced Select Executive Amtrak said *only* NEC riders were getting it.
Unfortunately not any record. Not even close. I know at least three people who are not on the NEC, and don't travel near the NEC and have been Select-E ever since the category was created. They just spend a sh*tload of money traveling on LD trains every year, that's all it takes.

Just out of curiosity is this a credit card status or are you simply spending $10,000 on Amtrak each year?
If you have the BOA AGR World Card ( Annual Fee)you don't have to spend $10,000, you get Bonsuses,other perks and 3x Points when using it on Amtrak spending.
The general bonus points are not TQP. They do not count towards tier status. You just get the normal 2x of Amtrak fare as TQP, like everyone else. The additional X for the World Card is bonus and not TQP. Similarly the AGR points due to other spend on the card are not TQP. I am not aware of any real card specific TQP, other than the one for charging $5000 on the card which garners some bonus TQP (1,000?) AFAIR.

Of course as always, I am open to being corrected by those who know better.
 
I am not aware of any real card specific TQP, other than the one for charging $5000 on the card which garners some bonus TQP (1,000?) AFAIR.
One can accumulate up to 4,000 TQPs if you spend enough on your AGR World Master Card, otherwise spending on the card does not generate tier qualifying points.
 
I am not aware of any real card specific TQP, other than the one for charging $5000 on the card which garners some bonus TQP (1,000?) AFAIR.
One can accumulate up to 4,000 TQPs if you spend enough on your AGR World Master Card, otherwise spending on the card does not generate tier qualifying points.
That is correct. That is what I was perhaps vaguely alluding to. Is it 1,000 TQP for each $5,000 spend? Or am I remembering wrong?

I remember that the United Presidential Plus (no longer available for new applicants) is 2,000 EQM equivalent for 5,000 spend with a limit of 10,000 EQM equivalent per year os something like that. EQM equivalent in this case because you can choose to convert any amount from your stash of EQMe to actual EQM in a given year, and hold onto the rest for later use. They expire after three years though. And you cannot use them to get to the 1K level. The dollar threshold is waived for the Presidential Plus holders.
 
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...without travelling on the NEC even once.

I wonder if this is some kind of record. I remember reading that when they introduced Select Executive Amtrak said *only* NEC riders were getting it.
Unfortunately not any record. Not even close. I know at least three people who are not on the NEC, and don't travel near the NEC and have been Select-E ever since the category was created. They just spend a sh*tload of money traveling on LD trains every year, that's all it takes.
All right, so I'm not the only one! :) I just ended up with a hell of a lot of short-notice trips west this year, through a series of accidents. (And I do have the credit card.) The ever-rising LSL roomette prices have been bringing up the spending total too -- it's still reliably more expensive to get a roomette from Syracuse to Chicago than from Chicago to the West Coast, any day of the year.
 
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Does anyone ever get acknowledged by conductors or OBS while riding the rails for having top tier status?
 
Does anyone ever get acknowledged by conductors or OBS while riding the rails for having top tier status?
Yes, I have been acknowledged a few times by my sleeping car attendant. I was traveling on the Hiawatha with Shanghai and he was acknowledged by the conductor after his ticket was scanned.
 
Years ago, when there was the 100 point minimum and before there was a Select Executive level, an AU member in southern CA got over 35K just from commuting!
I live in San Diego. In the 100 point minimum days I’d have exercise days with four segments. During “Double Days” total points would be 1000 per day. Easily made SE two years in a row. With SE offering the highest bonus, the points really got racked up in a few years. My girlfriend saw me off at her home station of San Luis Obispo on my way home to The Diego, she overheard the conductor say he had never seen anyone with that many AGR points (probably ~120k at that point). Funny thing is it never occurred to me that conductors could see that detail.

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Does anyone ever get acknowledged by conductors or OBS while riding the rails for having top tier status?
Yes, I have been acknowledged a few times by my sleeping car attendant. I was traveling on the Hiawatha with Shanghai and he was acknowledged by the conductor after his ticket was scanned.
I would imagine that the LD trains and trains like the Hiawatha Service don't see many Select Plus/Executive status folks. Simply cause I would imagine that most of the Plus and Executive members are on the NEC and West Coast. Although at the same time I can imagine that the Hiawatha Service has quite a few commuters. And a one way trip form CHI-MKE is $25. So I don't know what that would translate into in the form of a monthly pass.
 
Years ago, when there was the 100 point minimum and before there was a Select Executive level, an AU member in southern CA got over 35K just from commuting!
Wouldn't be that hard back then with some effort. I made Select Plus and was really only a part-time Amtrak commuter. SE would require maybe 200 minimum point segments? If someone was really intent on doing it, I remember when Capitol Corridor had a 50% weekend fare special, although I don't remember how long it was. If one was intent on achieving 400 points, it would take 50 days to reach SE. Back then I think the cheapest would have been a round-trip BKY-EMY-SFC and back for $10.50 with the discount. I did RIC-EMY-SFC round trip once and it was $12. So theoretically one could have gotten to SE for $2500 although I'm not sure there were enough days in the promotion for that. There were other promotions on Capitol Corridor. I did the multi-city segments combined with discount codes to get that. One conductor looked at my ticket and asked me if I was just doing it to collect points.
 
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I live where the only Train is a Daily LD Texas Eagle ( one in each direction) and was Select Plus for several years, then was dropped down to Select by AGR when the New and Unimproved AGR2.0 came on the scene.

I just used the last of my AGR1.0 points on a trip to Portland for the Gathering, my first LD trip in two years!

My current TQP total is around 400 which includes the abbreviated Trip to/from Seattle during the Gathering.

I do have the Free BOA AGR MC,dropped the World Card after the first year.I mostly use my Chase Cards now which offer me Cash Back, and other perks, that are more valuable than the hard to earn TQPs on Amtrak.

I will not be riding Amtrak anymore this year. I can ride Mega Bus to Dallas,Houston or San Antonio for fares that range from $1-$5.

Also SWA and Alaska,Airlines have great deals to/from Austin, I just paid $138 to fly Nonstop PDX-AUS. AMTRAK wanted $1200+ in a Roomette!

AGR1.0 was Wonderful while it lasted!
 
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One of the reasons the numbers piled up so much for me this year is that I don't fly at *all* and I don't do long-distance drives either, so when I get invited to something on the West Coast which I can't afford to skip... ka-ching for Amtrak. On top of that, through sheer chance, my trips this year kept being on former blackout dates, so with the jacked-up points costs on those days, it seemed wiser to spend cash than points. (I'll spend my points when I'm making my more usual out-of-season trips in future years.)
 
I just made Select this year. Select+ looks quite iffy but within the realm of stretch possibilities.

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I also made Select this year (because of the credit card TQP bonus). Then because of a Select bonus program (Double TQP) at the same time as a LD round trip, I jumped to Select Plus within 2 or 3 months! Probably wont last after the current one expires in March.
 
I made Select+ last year due to a double TQP thing. No such luck this year. However, it looks like I might be in the NEC territory over Christmas break. A few Acela First Class rides should nail it, if that happens.
 
Years ago, when there was the 100 point minimum and before there was a Select Executive level, an AU member in southern CA got over 35K just from commuting!
I live in San Diego. In the 100 point minimum days I’d have exercise days with four segments. During “Double Days” total points would be 1000 per day. Easily made SE two years in a row. With SE offering the highest bonus, the points really got racked up in a few years. My girlfriend saw me off at her home station of San Luis Obispo on my way home to The Diego, she overheard the conductor say he had never seen anyone with that many AGR points (probably ~120k at that point). Funny thing is it never occurred to me that conductors could see that detail.

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I've gotten this reaction on VIA...

And I'm currently sitting in jackpot-land with the AGR cards...remember, I blundered into two AGR cards (which gave me two bonuses and gives me two bites at the TQP apple;-)).
 
My trip on Thursday from Orlando to NYC gave me enough TQPs to put me over the top for Select Executive for next year. YAY!!!
 
I've been S+ for several years, but due to the double TQP promotion, I'm less than 600 TQPs away from Select Executive. Will be getting it by the end of the month.. i'm excited as well! First time!
 
Congrats to all you Wealthy members and Corridor residents that can easily make Select + and SE, we poor slubs out in Flyover Country, where Amtrak Trains are scarce, are SOL with the New and Unimproved AGR2.0.
 
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Congrats to all you Wealthy members and Corridor residents that can easily make Select + and SE, we poor slubs out in Flyover Country, where Amtrak Trains are scarce, are SOL with the New and Unimproved AGR2.0.
On the plus side it's really not much of a loss considering that AGR status provides no tangible benefits (other than personalized luggage tags) on most of Amtrak's nationwide network. Imagine if frequent flyer status only rewarded passengers who happened to live and commute in a couple high volume corridors. Nobody else would notice or care.
 
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It surprises me that Amtrak is unable to even provide boarding priority and such simple things to Select+ and Select-E. One of the biggest immediate advantage of getting higher premier status on airlines is in boarding priority and handling of IROPS and some relief from fare class restrictions.
 
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