"Hats Off" Promotion: free bonus points

[jis]

I just shook a 2,000 point bonus out of my hat.

Me too. I have 10,200 or so rail points this year.

 

[Anderson]

I got a 25% (extra) select bonus. This is going to be very nice once I figure in my usual DC trips and the like...it might not be quite 2000 points, but it might well be 500 or 1000 points when the dust settles (and it might get me to use points for a later trip instead of going to Dallas for that wedding).

Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes do you rack up that many points?

 

[AlanB]

Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes do you rack up that many points?

One round trip in Acela First is 1,500 points. Only takes a few rides like that to make Select Plus.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes do you rack up that many points?

One round trip in Acela First is 1,500 points. Only takes a few rides like that to make Select Plus.

Out here on the LD network Select Plus is a minimum of $5,000 correct?

 

[AlanB]

Edit: I've got 3546 rail points for this year. Alan, how in the blazes do you rack up that many points?

One round trip in Acela First is 1,500 points. Only takes a few rides like that to make Select Plus.

Out here on the LD network Select Plus is a minimum of $5,000 correct?

Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be that much. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.

Has anyone ever bought 50+ tickets to/from Temple TX just to get Select Plus? Maybe Jim? :giggle:

 

[Jim G.]

Email today advising of the promotion.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

I got the email this morning and the hat dropped out a 50% bonus. I really need to make my way out along the keystone corridor.

 

[AlanB]

Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.

Has anyone ever bought 50+ tickets to/from Temple TX just to get Select Plus? Maybe Jim? :giggle:

I don't know about that routing, much less if Jim has done it. But there are people who've done similar ride patterns like that on the state sponsored routes. Granted they're easier to do and in many cases even cheaper. For example, taking a short ride every day on the Keystones or the Hiawathas can really rack up the points rather cheaply.

And while it is cheaper than what you'd be facing just riding LD's for longer distances, it's not exactly cheap to earn those points on Acela. Especially if one goes south on Acela to DC. It's better going north, but even there a rround trip in FC on Acela to Boston is $340 assuming low bucket and weekdays when no discounts can be used. That price jumps to $482 if the trip is NY to DC. So seven RT's which would earn Select Plus would cost $2,380 and $3,374 respectively.

Yes, still cheaper than doing it the LD way, but again that also assumes one only travels on low buckets. Hitting the high buckets could easily double things.

 

[gatelouse]

So I presume that all elites have received the email by now. My working hypothesis is that there's some logic to the gift selection: double elite bonus for <5000 YTD rail points (to incentivize more rail travel), 1000 bonus points for 5000-10,000 rail points (already on track for S+), and 2000 bonus points for 10,000+ rail points (super-elite bonus).

Any counterexamples?

 

[jis]

I have heard of a 1500 point bonus from a friend of mine, though I don't know how many YTD points he has. My assumption is he should be very very close to Select plus but not quite there yet.

 

[hessjm]

All I received was the 50 percent bonus and I have 6,968 rail points so far.

 

[jmbgeg]

When I shook the hat I got a stoopid rabbit, goldfish, ball, etc., etc., and 50% bonus, but no 1,000 points.

I got the same thing - double my 50% bonus on travel between July 1 and August 31st. I had not planned to travel this summer, but I might have to now.

My hat just arrived this morning and I too got the double Select Plus bonus.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Depends on how you book things, but yes, it could be [$5,000]. On the other hand if you took a bunch of day trips to say Temple, you could probably do it for half that. Book far enough in advance and you could be paying around $25 for 100 points with a discount.

Has anyone ever bought 50+ tickets to/from Temple TX just to get Select Plus? Maybe Jim? :giggle:

I Resemble that Remark! :lol: Actually I Usually do AUS-TAY-AUS on My Point/Bar-B-Q Runs. (There's a Good Mexican resturant and Beer Joint with great Cheesburgers there Also! :wub: )Low Bucket it's $11.90 Return for 200 Rail Points Plus 50% Current Bonus and any other Promo Points, so Most of my Select Status Points have been Racked Up doing the AUS-TAY-AUS Turn. I do Like Going to TPL, but it's Twice as Much for the Same # of Points, so Usually go about Twice a Year like the Weekend I met Chris for the BNSF Special/Rail Museum Day in TPL!

 

[Steve4031]

I got the 50 percent bonus and I'm select plus. Since i am already booked on a a big trip for July I'm gonna rake in extra points.

 

[jacorbett70]

I got the email sometime in the past week. It was the doubled 50% bonus through 8/31. S+ (~10300 base points last year). Just cleared 7000 base points this year although only about 6700 had posted when the email went out. I could have booked a big July trip (like Steve above) but instead I had a few little trips planned including two PHL-NYP round-trips on the earlier 3-day sale.

 

[gatelouse]

All I received was the 50 percent bonus and I have 6,968 rail points so far.

I got the email sometime in the past week. It was the doubled 50% bonus through 8/31. S+ (~10300 base points last year). Just cleared 7000 base points this year although only about 6700 had posted when the email went out. I could have booked a big July trip (like Steve above) but instead I had a few little trips planned including two PHL-NYP round-trips on the earlier 3-day sale.

Interesting. I'd assumed, given that I had about 6500 rail points, that the cutoff for receiving actual bonus points (vs. double elite bonus for future travel) was lower.

Three possibilities. The first is that S+ members are being held to a higher standard than Select. Possible. The second is that there's a bit of randomness to the gifts. (I'm still not convinced of the second.)

The third possibility is that AGR captured the rail point balances well before the promotion, say, in early to mid June, and doled out the goodies based on this earlier value. Keep in mind that the actual promotion was finalized on June 29—e-mail notifications went out later—so rail points posted from that day forward don't count for sure. Perhaps those with over 6000 rail points had a good number of them post in the past 2-3 weeks?

 

[the_traveler]

My hat just arrived this morning

Maybe it got bus-tituted!

 

[jmbgeg]

My hat just arrived this morning

Maybe it got bus-tituted!

Doubtful, as advance scheduled bustitutions as in the case of the current EB bussing, often arrive early. hboy: