In March 2019, I took the train from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago in an Amtrak Roomette. I earned some Amtrak Guest Rewards points for this trip but haven’t flown with Amtrak since. So, I wasn’t surprised when I recently received a notice from AwardWallet that my Amtrak points will expire on April 6th.
I’m not sure I’ll ever use these points, but I thought I’d check out Amtrak’s expiration policy and see if I can extend it. Here is what I found.
Do Amtrak points expire?
Amtrak points expire after 24 months of inactivity.
According to section D of Amtrak’s terms and conditions, “Points earned under the Program will not expire as long as the Program is active and the Member’s Program Account is active. ‘Active’ means that the Member earns and/or redeems Program points using his or her Membership Number within a period of -24 If no Member initiated qualifying activity is recorded or reported within 24 months for the Member, the Member’s points will expire.
Therefore, the key to keeping your Amtrak points from expiring is account activity.
Related: The best credit cards for Amtrak and train travel
How to determine if your Amtrak points are expiring
If you log into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and look around, you won’t see an expiration date for your points anywhere. The solution is a slightly more complex task.
After logging into your account, click on your name in the upper right corner of the window and select “My Account.” From here, click on “My Jobs” in the left sidebar to see your most recent Amtrak guest rewards activity.
Your latest job won’t help if you’re worried about your points expiring. So, change the “from” date to 24 months before the current date and click “Search.”
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for the best news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG experts
My most recent account activity was canceling an award booking on April 5, 2023. Based on that, if I did nothing, my Amtrak points would expire on April 6 after 24 months of inactivity.
Related: Jet vs. Amtrak: What’s the best way to travel between New York City and Washington, DC?
How do I keep my Amtrak account active?
Amtrak’s terms and conditions note that any cash or redemption activity on my account will keep my points from expiring.
I have more options since my points won’t expire for about two months. As a casual Amtrak user, options that may make the most sense to consider are earning points on Amtrak travel, earning points by taking a Survey Points Club survey, buying Amtrak points, redeeming points for Amtrak travel or earning points on purchases. with one of Amtrak’s retail partners.
Unfortunately, I have no upcoming Amtrak travel needs, so earning or redeeming Amtrak travel points is not a useful way to keep my account active. Amtrak no longer charges an award cancellation fee, so it’s unclear whether you would reset your expiration clock if you had booked and canceled an award.
And I don’t need to shop with Amtrak retail partners like 1-800-Flowers.com, Teleflora or Vinesse Wines.
Related: You can now search for Amtrak routes on Google Flights
The minimum amount of points I can buy is 500, which would be worth $18.85 at a purchase price of 3.77 cents per point. Since I won’t be using my Amtrak points, I’m not willing to pay $18.85 for an additional 500 points to increase the validity of my existing points.
My best option is to earn a few Amtrak points by taking the Survey Points Club survey. Scores from completing surveys are usually posted quickly but can take up to a week. I signed up for Survey Points Club, answered the demographic questions and started my first survey.
After starting the survey, I didn’t get past the first few pages of questions. When I said that the doctor had not prescribed any prescription pain medication for the past six months, the survey loaded a message saying that I was not a good fit. However, I still have five points to start the survey.
Now, my Amtrak points should expire in Jan. 12, 2027. However, I would feel better if Amtrak stated an expiration date on my account.
Related: How to keep your airline, hotel and car rental miles from expiring
Bottom line
Annoyingly, Amtrak points expire if your account is inactive for 24 months. However, earning points through the Survey Points Club was an easy way to keep my Amtrak account active. Points were posted to my account almost instantly, so Survey Points Club may be an option even if your points are set to expire in just a few days.
Remember that you must manually track when your Amtrak points expire or rely on an award travel tool that tracks your points and miles expiration. After all, the expiration date for Amtrak points will not appear on your Amtrak account, and Amtrak will not notify you before your points expire.
Source link
