Best Way to Spend Points

[PA Traveler]

We are in the process of setting up a trip from Pittsburgh to Flagstaff in a roomette. This is a three-zone trip. My husband has 66,267 points. I have about 17,500. When I was on the phone with Amtrak earlier today, the agent said the trip would cost 35,000 points each way, or a total of 70,000. The agent suggested I share 4,000 points with him ($40) for him to have enough points to pay for the trip.

I'm not sure if this is the best use of our points. We usually only do about one major trip a year, although there is a somewhat smaller one we are also thinking of doing next year.

The roomettes are plentiful at this point for our dates next May and June, so I didn't book the trip yet. Most of that, though, was because I had to go back and go over my rental car part of the schedule again.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Acela150]

Honestly draining one account of points is a bad idea IMO. Simply because when you need them you're screwed. Now an Idea and if you can afford it spend the money on the room one way. To get points one way and spend points the other. I do that often and I just ran out of points to spend for coach tickets at least with in the NEC. Now that was my Dad's account. My account is building. It's a good idea and works.

 

[Bob Dylan]

We are in the process of setting up a trip from Pittsburgh to Flagstaff in a roomette. This is a three-zone trip. My husband has 66,267 points. I have about 17,500. When I was on the phone with Amtrak earlier today, the agent said the trip would cost 35,000 points each way, or a total of 70,000. The agent suggested I share 4,000 points with him ($40) for him to have enough points to pay for the trip.

I'm not sure if this is the best use of our points. We usually only do about one major trip a year, although there is a somewhat smaller one we are also thinking of doing next year.

The roomettes are plentiful at this point for our dates next May and June, so I didn't book the trip yet. Most of that, though, was because I had to go back and go over my rental car part of the schedule again.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Since you are going to ride Popular Trains that often Sell Out the Rooms, Id go ahead and spend the $40 for the transfer, book the trip, and then relax! That gives yall the rest of the year, and next year till you leave to start working on building up points for the next trip ^_^ ! Remember you can purchase 10,000 each for $275, and currently can get a 50% Bonus giving you 15,000X2= 30,000 for $550 which is a good deal! Come Jan.1st the year starts over and you can do the same next year! Also remember the points can be used for other things too, ie hotels/rent cars/merchandise etc. Book it Danno! :excl: :excl: :excl:

 

[PRR 60]

I would consider paying for a roomette each way between Pittsburgh and Toledo (a zone boundary), and cash in two-zone roomette awards for Toledo to Flagstaff. A low-bucket roomette for two between Pittsburgh and Toledo runs about $175 each way, or $350 round trip. However, only needing a two-zone roomette award for the trip from Toledo to Flagstaff cuts the AGR cost from 35,000 each way to 20,000 each way. The round trip costs $350 + 40,000 points verses 70,000 points for a three-zone AGR round trip. The AGR agent can book the paid and award reservations so you have the same room from Pittsburgh to Chicago, so from a travel standpoint, both trips would be the same. Just a thought.

 

[the_traveler]

That''s what I was going to suggest too. Buying 2 tickets to/from Toledo and redeeming a 2 zone roomette from TOL to FLG.

I personally might even consider buying a coach ticket from PGH to TOL. You may or may not sleep that first night, due to excitement! And between midnight and (IIRC) 5 AM, you wont get meals going west, but after TOL you do get breakfast (included with the roomette award)! And then going east. you will get dinner before TOL, but no other meals prior to your arrival about 5 AM. And wake-up call in the roomettes will be about 4:30 AM, so may not sleep for long.

I personally do not think the large expense for a roomette between PGH and TOL is worth it! But it's up to you. But it certainly is not worth 15,000 points!

 

[PA Traveler]

I appreciate all your suggestions. We build up points pretty quickly. He has the 66,000 + in his account from what we have spent since we took the card out in March and the 10,000 + 5,000 bonus points we just bought. We have pretty much stopped using all other cards, so we have found that our points add up pretty quickly. And since we always pay our cards off in full each month, we don't have any hidden interest costs with the points either. We will start adding to them again in no time so we could do the whole 70,000 points. But since we are thinking about another trip next year (Pittsburgh to Chicago on the CL; few days there; on to the Cardinal to DC; few days there; back on CL to Pittsburgh), I think we're going to buy the roomette from Pittsburgh to Toledo and do the 40,000 points instead of the 70,000 points. We also want to use some points towards the rental car for Arizona and Utah, too,

The roomette is perfect for us from Pittsburgh to Chicago. I enjoy coach for a day trip, but I very much like having the room all made up for us when we get on the train here in Pittsburgh at midnight (if we're lucky and it's not late). We usually get a pretty decent night's sleep on the train. It's almost like we get on the train in Pittsburgh and wake up coming into Chicago, although we do get up earlier than that for breakfast. We travel a lot, so the excitement of the trip does not keep us up. My husband can sleep anywhere, so he could probably sleep in coach. I would not sleep, and that's no way to start off a trip for me. -_-

Thanks for all your suggestions and helping us to make up our minds.

 

[PA Traveler]

Done! We have paid for the segments from Pittsburgh to Toledo and Toledo to Pittsburgh on return. And we have lots of points left over!

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[jmbgeg]

We are in the process of setting up a trip from Pittsburgh to Flagstaff in a roomette. This is a three-zone trip. My husband has 66,267 points. I have about 17,500. When I was on the phone with Amtrak earlier today, the agent said the trip would cost 35,000 points each way, or a total of 70,000. The agent suggested I share 4,000 points with him ($40) for him to have enough points to pay for the trip.

I'm not sure if this is the best use of our points. We usually only do about one major trip a year, although there is a somewhat smaller one we are also thinking of doing next year.

The roomettes are plentiful at this point for our dates next May and June, so I didn't book the trip yet. Most of that, though, was because I had to go back and go over my rental car part of the schedule again.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Your primary question is the "Best Way to Spend Points". Others have responded to your specific trip plans. I will speak generically. I try to hold off the urge to use points for long distance trips where bedrooms are available at low or middle bucket rates, and save the points for trips where only high bucket rooms are available on the dates I want to travel.

 

[PA Traveler]

We are in the process of setting up a trip from Pittsburgh to Flagstaff in a roomette. This is a three-zone trip. My husband has 66,267 points. I have about 17,500. When I was on the phone with Amtrak earlier today, the agent said the trip would cost 35,000 points each way, or a total of 70,000. The agent suggested I share 4,000 points with him ($40) for him to have enough points to pay for the trip.

I'm not sure if this is the best use of our points. We usually only do about one major trip a year, although there is a somewhat smaller one we are also thinking of doing next year.

The roomettes are plentiful at this point for our dates next May and June, so I didn't book the trip yet. Most of that, though, was because I had to go back and go over my rental car part of the schedule again.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Your primary question is the "Best Way to Spend Points". Others have responded to your specific trip plans. I will speak generically. I try to hold off the urge to use points for long distance trips where bedrooms are available at low or middle bucket rates, and save the points for trips where only high bucket rooms are available on the dates I want to travel.

Bucket rates are my next learning curve! :unsure:

 

[the_traveler]

A VERY quick lesson on bucket rates!

The fares from point a to point b may run between $75 and $250. Amtrak assigns a certain number of seats or rooms for each level (or bucket). Just using an example, they may assign seats 1-20 to sell at $75 (low bucket), seats 21-35 at $125, seats 36-50 at $175, seats 51-75 at $225 and seats 76-100 at $250 (high bucket). Unlike airlines, fares do not rise on a certain day automatically. (21 day advance purchase, 14 dat advance purchase, etc...) On Amtrak (using this example) once the 20th seat is sold, the bucket rises to the next level.

It doesn't matter if it 8 months out, 8 weeks out or 8 days out! And each train has their own buckets. Thus it may be possible to find a lower bucket on the train departing on the 13th or 15th than on the 14th! Also, it may be possible to find the fare lower on today's train than one departing in 6 months!

Both coach and sleepers have their own separate buckets!

As mentioned, if the bucket from CHI to FLG is running (say) $250 for the bedroom, you may consider paying for it. But if that room from CHI to FLG is running $864, that's when I would use points!

I personally try to get a point per $ ratio of 3-5¢ per point. If all trains are high bucket, I have gotten a ratio of over 12¢ per point!

 

[PA Traveler]

It's also a VERY good lesson on bucket rates!

 

[PRR 60]

A VERY quick lesson on bucket rates!

The fares from point a to point b may run between $75 and $250. Amtrak assigns a certain number of seats or rooms for each level (or bucket). Just using an example, they may assign seats 1-20 to sell at $75 (low bucket), seats 21-35 at $125, seats 36-50 at $175, seats 51-75 at $225 and seats 76-100 at $250 (high bucket). Unlike airlines, fares do not rise on a certain day automatically. (21 day advance purchase, 14 dat advance purchase, etc...) On Amtrak (using this example) once the 20th seat is sold, the bucket rises to the next level.

It doesn't matter if it 8 months out, 8 weeks out or 8 days out! And each train has their own buckets. Thus it may be possible to find a lower bucket on the train departing on the 13th or 15th than on the 14th! Also, it may be possible to find the fare lower on today's train than one departing in 6 months!

Both coach and sleepers have their own separate buckets!

As mentioned, if the bucket from CHI to FLG is running (say) $250 for the bedroom, you may consider paying for it. But if that room from CHI to FLG is running $864, that's when I would use points!

I personally try to get a point per $ ratio of 3-5¢ per point. If all trains are high bucket, I have gotten a ratio of over 12¢ per point!

The discussion of the value of points related to high-bucket sleeper travel is always interesting. In my opinion, the value of points relates to the avoided cost for travel, and for me, the avoided cost is the price I would be willing to pay, not the highest possible price of the travel.

For example, a bedroom for two on the CZ from Chicago to Emeryville on October 16 is priced at $1766 - high bucket. I could book that room for my wife and me today using 30k AGR points. Does that mean I saved $1766, which makes the points worth nearly 6 cents each? Not really. I would have to have my head examined (and would likely need a divorce attorney) if I paid $1766 for a two night trip on Amtrak. The 30k points would give me the opportunity to ride Amtrak even with a last minute booking, but the alternative is either flying or not traveling, Paying $1766 is not an option I would consider. Since I would rarely pay for Amtrak with fares over the lower buckets, I value AGR points at those fare levels, which tends to be in the 3 cents per point neighborhood.

For evaluating AGR redemptions, I look at the fare and assess: (1) would I pay that fare, and if so, (2) is the AGR points value for that trip and fare less than 3 cents per point. If I would pay the fare and redeeming with AGR results in a value of less than 3 cents per point, I pay the fare. If the fare results in a value of more than 3 cents per point, I book AGR. If I would not pay the fare, I book AGR.