So close to Select for 2019

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RobontheRails

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Hello, regular reader here: Looks like I’m going to close out December with 4,700 TQPs, just shy of the 5,000 to maintain my status. I believe I’m correct that you can only accrue during the calendar year, and not through the period in February when you ge to keep your status from the previous year. I live in NYC. Does anyone know of a practical way to earn those last 300 TQPs ... without taking an unplanned for trip? Is it even worth it? Thanks.
 
Not really.  I remember back when there were double TQPs during a promotional period.  They said no multi-ride tickets, but somehow my multi-rides counted.  There was a fare minimum though.

You're going to need to spend at least $150 to get there now that there aren't any minimum points.
 
As the_traveler indicated above, take a quick trip on the Acela FC, if you live on the east coast.  Or take a quick trip anywhere that's in the $150 range as the dollar value is doubled as points.  That's $75 each way, or only $37.50 each way if you take a friend with you!  Out west, LAX-SAN would work quite well, especially if you go in business class one way.

Another alternative is to spend another $5K on your AGR credit card before 1/1 and get the 1000 TQP points that comes as a result, if you haven't already spent $20K already on the card (limit of 4 x 1000 TQP points from card).  That's perhaps most of the reason they wait until early Feb for all the points to 'come in' from your CC as well as the conductors on the trains one rode on 12/31.

And, for what it's worth, a friend I travel with when he goes to NYP on business and was short a couple hundred TQPs to make Select Plus a year ago.  I inquired of AGR if I could transfer some of my TQPs (I had 15K and knew I wouldn't make 20K) to his account so he'd make it to Select Plus status.  Unfortunately, they declined and stated that only 'regular' points can be transferred, not TQPs.
 
Thank you for these replies. Yeah, the idea of buying an Acela ticket to Boston seems the easiest way to do this ... I don’t have any reason to go, but maybe I’ll find one. Not sure if it’s worth the trouble just to maintain my status. I sure love access to the lounge at Penn — but maybe I’d just be better off buying a coupon pack and sacrificing my priority phone number for the year. Other than that I’m not sure what I’d really be giving. 
 
As the_traveler indicated above, take a quick trip on the Acela FC, if you live on the east coast.  Or take a quick trip anywhere that's in the $150 range as the dollar value is doubled as points.  That's $75 each way, or only $37.50 each way if you take a friend with you!  Out west, LAX-SAN would work quite well, especially if you go in business class one way.

Another alternative is to spend another $5K on your AGR credit card before 1/1 and get the 1000 TQP points that comes as a result, if you haven't already spent $20K already on the card (limit of 4 x 1000 TQP points from card).  That's perhaps most of the reason they wait until early Feb for all the points to 'come in' from your CC as well as the conductors on the trains one rode on 12/31.

And, for what it's worth, a friend I travel with when he goes to NYP on business and was short a couple hundred TQPs to make Select Plus a year ago.  I inquired of AGR if I could transfer some of my TQPs (I had 15K and knew I wouldn't make 20K) to his account so he'd make it to Select Plus status.  Unfortunately, they declined and stated that only 'regular' points can be transferred, not TQPs.
I know this post is somewhat old, but I did want to point out that you cannot earn points for someone else's travel (so no taking a friend with you will not accumulate points on your account). You only earn points for your individual cost during travel on any reservation at any point of time. My sister and I travel together sometimes and she had to set up a separate account to to earn points for the travel we were taking together (even though I was paying for it)
 
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