How to efficiently use my points! Long round trip

[Lazy Z]

Hello! I had planned a huge trip 18 months ago for my daughter and I. It got out of hand and I cancelled it!

Next summer, I want to try again with a slightly shorter trip and I am really confused how to best use our points. We will leave from Fullerton, CA. We want to spend time in Chicago, New Work & Washington, DC. Since we can travel between NYP and WAS fairly cheap, I would not need to use points there.

Any suggestions? We would try to get bedrooms for the Southwest Chief and roomettes or bedrooms for the other routes.!

Please help me ...I cannot figure it out

Thank you

Lisa

 

[the_traveler]

Part of the problem is you saying that you "want to spend time in Chicago". Do you mean a few hours or a few days? :huh: The reason I ask is that the zone border cities are east of Chicago (CHI), and thus Fullerton (FUL) to CHI is a 2 zone award, and CHI to either New York (NYP) or Washington (WAS) is also a 2 zone award - but FUL to the east coast is a 3 zone award. (Stopovers overnight are not allowed on award travel.)

Although you čan get the SWC out of FUL, there are many daily Surfliners to LAX (Union Station, not the airport)! My recommendation is at one way go via Portland (PDX) on the Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder! Your connection to/from FUL would also be included! You could also connect at LAX to the Texas Eagle (TE) to CHI via Texas!

 

[amamba]

How many points do you have?

As the traveler mentioned, if you want to spend time in CHI, you must book two separate reward trips.

One trip would be FUL - CHI, and then the second trip would be either CHI - NYP or CHI - WAS. Are you taking the train both ways?

 

[guest]

And... if you just spent a few hours in Chicago, and left on the Lake Shore Limited (9:30 pm departure) the same day as you got there, you could use a two-zone reward from California and get as far as Toledo before switching to coach for the rest of the trip to New York. Same on the way home, start a two-zone trip in Toledo, all the way to the West coast.

Hope this doesn't add to the confusion...

 

[the_traveler]

However a 1 zone trip for 2 people in coach would be 11,000 points while a 1 zone Roomette is 15,000 for 2 people. At least for me, having beds on an overnight trip and meals included for both is well worth an additional 4,000 points!

 

[shelzp]

Lisa,

I'd take a two zone trip from LA to Chicago via Portland. You'd take the Coast Starlight to the Empire Builder for a total of three nights on trains through some beautiful scenery! Then I'd figure out how to get to DC and go on from there.

 

[oregon pioneer]

They may want to route you the shortest way between two points. If you find you'd like to go a different way, you can use zone-boundary cities (like Denver, Toledo, Atlanta, El Paso, and Wolf Point MT) to your advantage. Just keep in mind that a 3-zone trip in a roomette is 35,000 points, the same number of points as a 2-zone trip (20,000) plus a one-zone trip (15,000). For example, if you wanted to go via the Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, and Lake Shore Ltd to NYC, you could specify a one-zone trip from Fullerton to Wolf Point and a two zone trip from there to NYC. And if you wanted to return via the California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight, you'd specify two zones to Denver and then one zone the rest of the way home. I did this a couple years ago myself, heading west on the CZ and north on the CS, when the system wanted me to come straight back to Oregon on the EB.

You can also use cities just a few miles out on a given route to force that routing. I have not personally done that, but if you have a specific route you'd like to take, just ask and I am sure someone can tell you if it can be done, and how to do it!

 

[dlagrua]

This may be getting away from specifics but the way we do it is to maximize our miles on points in a single trip. You can go coast to coast (ex NYP to SEA) in say a bedroom for 60,000 points. Yet going from NY, PA to CHI in a single trip is 40,000 points.

Another way is to pay for part of the trip and then as you cross the borderline to the next zone take that leg of the journey in points. Remember you could end up with a 2 zone trip that is lower in mileage than a one zone trip if you don't study the zone map and utilize your points to advantage. Ex You can go from NYC to MIA for 900 miles and have a 1 zone trip. But if you traveled from PIT to CHI that 450 mile trip costs 2 zones in points.