4 Ways Amtrak Guest Rewards Could Improve for Loyal Riders

Late last year, Amtrak announced it had reached 20 million Amtrak Guest Rewards program members. 

At the time, Lisa Copeland, Amtrak’s assistant vice president of loyalty and customer engagement, said reaching that milestone was “a testament to Amtrak’s commitment to enhancing the customer experience, providing our guests with outstanding value.” 

Overall, I’m a fan of the Amtrak Guest Rewards program. Points are easy to use and come in handy, particularly along the Northeast Corridor, where last-minute train tickets can be pricey. Still, there are several changes the rail company can do to make the loyalty program even better.

Here are 4 updates I’d love to see from Amtrak and its Guest Rewards program this year.

My Amtrak Guest Rewards Wishlist

1. Introduce New Benefits to Credit Cards

In 2022, Amtrak completely overhauled its 2 credit cards, changing its issuer from Bank of America to the First National Bank of Omaha. Today, these 2 credit cards are a must-have for Amtrak loyalists: the Amtrak Guest Rewards^® Preferred Mastercard ($99 annual fee) and the Amtrak Guest Rewards^® Mastercard^® ($0 annual fee).

Both cards came with some pretty solid updates. The Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred card now earns 2x points on dining, transit, and ride-sharing purchases, up from just 1x points previously. However, many of the benefits remained the same, although the more premium card’s annual fee increased from $79 to $99. While a $20 increase isn’t enough to completely throw away the card, I think it’s time for a few more perks.

I’d love to see Amtrak add 1-class upgrades (you receive a coupon upon account opening and on each card anniversary) to the Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred card. Several hotel credit cards offer incentives for spending or keeping your card open via free nights or tier-qualifying credits. While you do earn 1,000 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) each time you spend $5,000 on the Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred card, you don’t earn additional upgrades or coupons unless you also manage to hit Select status, at least.

2. Transfer Partners

Amtrak Guest Rewards points are notoriously difficult to earn. You can earn points by riding on Amtrak or buying points, and occasionally, the program will run promotions on bonus points.

However, unlike many rewards programs, Amtrak Guest Rewards does not partner with transferable currency programs. Chase was once an Amtrak transfer partner (a decade ago!), but that is no longer the case. 

Points and miles hobbyists know that, oftentimes, the easiest way to earn points with your favorite rewards program is to earn them by opening and spending on a travel credit card that earns transferable points, such as an American Express, Chase Ultimate Rewards, or Citi ThankYou card.

In 2025, I’d love to see an official Amtrak transfer partner that allows points to transfer at at least a 1:1 ratio.

With Amtrak points, you’re extremely limited in how you earn them, and transfer partners would allow you to move over your points for a time-sensitive redemption quickly. This is especially true for Acela business class tickets, where last-minute fares can drop as low as 3,000 points each way. If you don’t have enough points in your balance or don’t want to use the points-plus-cash option (which I talk about later), you’re essentially out of luck.

3. More Flexibility in Upgrades

With graduate school fully underway, my travel for the foreseeable future is limited. I’ve been taking advantage of day and weekend trips between my home in New York City and nearby destinations like Boston and Washington, D.C.

That said, I do not enjoy flying along the Northeast Corridor. Instead, I prefer taking Amtrak because I can spread out, get work done, and comfortably bring my dog along.

Amtrak offers 1-class upgrades: from coach to business on standard trains or from business to first on the Acela Express. The option only appears within the timeframe on your coupon, which is either 12 or 48 hours from departure. 

If you are connecting or traveling on a round-trip itinerary, you need an upgrade coupon for each train you travel. Luckily, you no longer need to call an Amtrak representative to apply an upgrade certificate. However, there’s little flexibility outside of that, which I’d love to see Amtrak consider this year.

4. Better Redemptions With Points & Cash

Last summer, Amtrak introduced the ability to book tickets with a combination of Points & Cash. This aligns with other airlines and hotel programs that allow it. However, paying with Points & Cash often represents a poor redemption value, so I’ve generally passed on using it. 

In the example below, I’m booking a one-way Acela business class ticket between New York and Washington, D.C. The all-cash price is $104.

You could also redeem 3,900 Guest Rewards points, which would give you value of about 2.7 cents per point. However, using Points & Cash to redeem them represents a poor redemption. If I redeemed 1,390 points and paid $82.62 in cash, the redemption value would drop to 1.15 cents. 

The one bright side is that Points & Cash bookings are eligible to earn both points and TQPs on the cash portion of booking at standard earning rates. Additionally, you can also add ancillary purchases like pets and bicycles to your points-plus-cash reservation, which is a nice feature.

Still, rewards programs usually assign a fixed value to points-plus-cash redemptions, which is something Amtrak should consider doing this year. Until then, I’ll continue to pass on using the feature.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of things I love about the Amtrak Guest Rewards program. The rail company is pretty generous with promotions, and Amtrak points can be worth up to 3 cents per point in some cases. But the program could use some minor tweaks to make it one of the best travel rewards programs out there.