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ACRF/AGR points from Fest trips


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#11 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 July 2013 - 11:42 AM

Yes, I got my points on #66 out of Newport News, and #80 out of Fredericksburg. Also got my shorter trips on #174 ALX-WAS from Friday and #162 WIL-PHL from Saturday. All that should remain on travel-earned points is the Thruway bus... Except of course for those who continued their travels beyond Friday & Saturday and still currently in travel. As for HiltonHHonors® double dip, my HGI stay in Charlotte was credited to AGR, but I'm still waiting for Hilton Crystal City and Doubletree Wilmington. My Hampton Inn in Virginia Beach was a points redemption, so no points for AGR.


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#12 pennyk

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 11:54 AM

Today, my AGR points posted from my Hilton stay in Washington the night of 7/18.

#13 KevinKorell

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 12:12 PM

I, too, now got my hotel stays for Thursday and Friday evenings posted to AGR, for a total of another 1000 points. All that remains should be the Thruway trip from Thursday, July 18th. If we don't get those points by Thursday, August 8th, that day is the 3-week "anniversary" of the trip, whereby we can start contacting them for the missing points.


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#14 KevinKorell

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Posted 02 August 2013 - 01:28 PM

It's Friday, August 2nd, and still no points for the Thruway bus. Assuming nobody else yet received them yet, remember that this coming Thursday, August 8th, is the magical 3-week mark since the trip was taken. We probably can't coordinate, but it would be interesting (to them) if we all called them within the same 15 minutes, or called them at different times but got the same representative.


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#15 pennyk

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Posted 02 August 2013 - 04:22 PM

It's Friday, August 2nd, and still no points for the Thruway bus. Assuming nobody else yet received them yet, remember that this coming Thursday, August 8th, is the magical 3-week mark since the trip was taken. We probably can't coordinate, but it would be interesting (to them) if we all called them within the same 15 minutes, or called them at different times but got the same representative.


Are you sure we are supposed to get points for the thruway bus portion (if no separate fare charge)? I have no personal history with thruway bus points, so I am relying on the experts here. Also, is it better to phone AGR on 8/8 or to submit a request for points on-line on 8/8?

Thanks

#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 02 August 2013 - 08:01 PM

Are you sure we are supposed to get points for the thruway bus portion (if no separate fare charge)? I have no personal history with thruway bus points, so I am relying on the experts here. Also, is it better to phone AGR on 8/8 or to submit a request for points on-line on 8/8?

Thanks

There really is a separate fare charge for the Thruway bus, although it's built into our fare for the train we connected to. Had we ridden solely from Newport News to the Washington area on the train, the entire trip would have been cheaper by approximately 5 or 6 bucks. I've certainly earned points from this bus connection before, just as I have done so on the Orlando-Tampa, Emeryville-San Francisco, and Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids buses.

As for how to contact Amtrak Guest Rewards, it doesn't hurt to do both. The rules say you are supposed to wait 3 weeks after your trip before you request the "missing" points. If you call, they will verify the date of travel so it's hard to pull a fast one. Online, I've only heard of a couple of cases where requesting missing points works. Otherwise you're doing a futile exercise. But if you're among the small percentage for whom filling out the online forms does work, I think it now lets you request them sooner as they may have mistakenly removed that condition of being at least 3 weeks after travel. If you do both, you won't get your points twice and it's not considered fraud. You can always say you did the online request first, and when you didn't hear anything back, you called.

That said, it doesn't mean that I approve of the 3 week wait. In today's technical world, it simply should not take that long. I realize that the bus company must first account for its revenues, but then they have to get the tickets to Amtrak so that they can do theirs. Simple, do your accounting the next day, and then the bus driver the next day while laying over in Newport News turns the tickets from their last outbound and inbound trips over to the train conductor of the next northbound train. The tickets then are scanned onboard the train by the crew while they are sitting taking up 3 precious café car booths to themselves.


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#17 pennyk

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Posted 06 August 2013 - 12:45 PM

My thruway bus points NFK to NPN posted today (8/6). :)

#18 KevinKorell

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Posted 06 August 2013 - 12:48 PM

You just beat me to it, Penny. Yes, my points are now there from the trip on the 6066 bus. No phone/internet blitz from us on Thursday!


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#19 steve4031

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Posted 06 August 2013 - 09:01 PM

Got mine too.




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