Amtrak Guest Rewards Program Treats You Right
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Amtrak Guest Rewards Program Treats You Right
From VARP’s On Track newsletter, summer 2011
By Dick Peacock, VARP secretary
Amtrak has an answer to the airlines’ frequent flyer programs. The Guest Rewards program gives you points for future rail travel and other options such as hotel stays or rental cars. Take an Amtrak rail trip and earn two points for every dollar spent. For example, if your fare costs $80, you get 160 points. Riders taking short trips receive a big break. If the trip costs less than $50, the rider receives 100 points anyway.
Sales on bonus points are sent to members by email. You can earn extra points or double or even triple points. You need to register for each sale. In the summer of 2011 bonus points were being offered for first-time riders of the Acela and/or the Auto Train. Besides the sales, some hotels even offer bonus points if you show evidence of a Guest Rewards membership.
Most people redeem their points for one-way train travel. A Northeast Corridor coach trip requires 3,000 points. A coach trip in one major region uses 5,500 points. There are three major regions: East, Central, and West. An Acela trip in business class costs 8,000 points. On certain special routes, coach trips can be obtained for just 1,000 points. Along the East Coast they include the Downeaster service in Maine and the Piedmont service in North Carolina. Points can also be redeemed for trips that cross major zones and for business class, sleepers, and first-class Acela trips.
To keep your account active, at least once every three years you must either use rail points for rail travel or buy a train ticket. You can buy points to add to existing point balances to have enough to obtain a free trip. On July 14, 2011, it cost $13.75 to buy 650 points.
Go to Amtrak’s website at www.amtrak.com to register for the program. You may redeem your points by calling Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program at 1-800-307-5000 or using a special website: www.amtrakguestrewards.com.
You can juice up your travel point totals by obtaining a Chase Amtrak Master Card. This card gives you two points per dollar spent on rail travel. If you took a trip that offered standard points from Amtrak, Chase would match that number. For a fare of $100 you would receive 400 points (200 from Amtrak and 200 from Chase). For other purchases, a card holder receives one point for every dollar spent. Since October 2010, new card holders have received a bonus of 12,000 points! That is enough for a round-trip coach fare in a major zone. Your points never expire if you have this credit card. Go to Amtrak’s main website or call 1-888-877-6025 to apply. Please mention card code DDBM to take advantage of this offer. This promotion appeared on Amtrak’s website on July 14, 2011.
