Looking into a three-zone roomette reservation SFO-NYC. The Amtrak site states that I can take the Coast Starlight to PDX, catch the Empire Builder to Chicago and then the Lake Shore Limited to NY Penn. And it prices out. Fantastic! I call AGR and was told by a representative that this isn't pricing into their computers, so it's not a valid redemption. I thought the rules were such that if you could pay cash for a trip, the room is available on points. The rep stated that he could see SFO-LAX-ORD-NYC via the Southwest Chief, which somewhat mirrors what I want to do in the opposite direction. So I find it strange that I was told INP for what I want. Is this a matter of hang up, call again or is AGR only supposed to allow redemptions for shortest-path (more or less)?
Possibly it is PDX that is giving the problem. Since Empire Builder essentially goes from Chicago to Seattle with a split down to PDX, you might check and see if you can accomplish it with SFO-SEA-Chicago-NYC. I am not sure that they call the spur from Spokane to PDX as the Empire Builder.
They do. I mentioned that it was a connection in PDX and the agent noted that, so I don't think that's the issue.
I do remember, from my one time on the Empire Builder, that the Spokane to Portland leg was treated differently than the Spokane to Seattle. (like it took a special ticket or something) But that was a few years ago.
Looks like it was either a HUCA situation or I somehow said a different location the first time (since I'm not meeting the train at home). Agent this morning found and booked what I wanted. Looks like I'll have four days on the train.
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