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Amtrak — a name formed by combining “America” and “track” — is the national rail service of the United States. From its hub in Washington, D.C., Amtrak serves 46 U.S. states and parts of Canada, offering travelers an alternative to planes and cars for long-distance travel.
Amtrak’s loyalty program, Amtrak Guest Rewards, lets members earn and redeem points for train travel, upgrades, and more. But, like most programs, these points are subject to expiration. If you’ve earned Amtrak points, here’s what you need to know to keep them from expiring.
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Do Amtrak Guest Rewards Points Expire?
Amtrak Guest Rewards Points will expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account for 24 months. Per the Amtrak Guest terms and conditions page, Section D:
“If no Member initiated qualifying activity is recorded or reported within 24 months for a Member, the Member’s points will expire.”
Amtrak Guest Rewards requires you to earn or redeem points to generate activity that resets your points expiration clock, at least once every 24 months.
Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
Exceptions To The Points Expiration Policy
Holders of the following Amtrak Guest Rewards co-brand credit cards are exempt from the expiration policy, and their points will not expire as long as their card account is open and in good standing.
Keeping Your Amtrak Guest Points From Expiring
Fortunately, there are many different ways to trigger activity on your Amtrak account to reset your points' expiration clock, and most of them don't involve setting foot on a train. All of the following are classed qualifying activities to keep your points alive.
Earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points
- Take a trip on Amtrak.
- Dine out using the Amtrak program.
- Shop through the Amtrak shopping portal.
- Shop with retail partners, such as ordering flowers, going to a Broadway show, or buying new Apple products.
- Choose NRG as your home energy supplier.
- Take a survey.
Hold Amtrak co-branded credit cards
If you hold either of the following Amtrak co-branded credit cards, your points will not expire, regardless of lack of account activity. As long as your account remains open, your points will stay active.
- Amtrak Guest Rewards® Preferred Mastercard®: Earn 3X on Amtrak travel, including onboard purchases, plus a 20% rebate on onboard food and beverage purchases (as a statement credit), 2X on dining, travel, transit, and rideshare, and 1X on other purchases.
- Amtrak Guest Rewards® Mastercard®: Earn 2X on Amtrak travel, including onboard purchases, plus a 10% rebate on onboard food and beverage purchases (as a statement credit), 2X on dining, and 1X on other purchases.
Redeem Amtrak Guest Rewards points
You can redeem your Amtrak Guest Points in any of the following ways:
- Amtrak train journeys.
- Amtrak coupons and passes.
- Buy, share, gift, or transfer Amtrak points.
Use AwardWallet to Track Your Amtrak Guest Rewards Points Expiration
While 24 months is a reasonable amount of time, it is long enough for you to lose track of your points balance and have them expire. That is why it pays to use AwardWallet to keep track of your Amtrak Guest Rewards Points. That way, you will receive a timely reminder if you have any points in danger of expiration.
To add your Amtrak Guest Rewards account to your AwardWallet account, log in and then link your Amtrak account to your AwardWallet account. Then, you're set! AwardWallet will email you when your Amtrak points near expiration.
Related: How to Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Our Take
24 months is not the most generous of points expiration policies we have seen. However, with multiple ways to earn and redeem points, it should be no problem generating the required activity to keep your points active indefinitely.
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Shopping portal – go to Walgreens and order a photo birthday card to collect in store. Downloading photo is super easy. Points take 3 months to hit your account
I recently opened an Amtrak World Mastercard, to get the 50K signup miles. But I am finding that I don’t really use it that much. Since it has a $95 annual feel, I am thinking that I will switch to the no-fee Amtrak Platinum Mastercard. Any suggestions about how to do this? Should I apply for the free regular card, and then cancel the World card? Or call them and see if they will downgrade my account? Has anyone done this before?
KT – you’ll need to wait until you’ve had the card for a year. You likely paid the annual fee already, correct? Closing the card now won’t make a difference on saving any money there. Here’s what I would do: wait until the 1 year mark. As soon as the fee shows up on your account, call the number on the back of the card. Tell them you want to downgrade to the no-fee card. They may offer you something to keep the card (example: spend $x and get these bonus points__). If what they offer is nothing/not worth it, say you want to downgrade to the no-fee card. This will preserve the 1 year of credit history (length of time, history of on-time payments) from the card you already opened. Plus, canceling right away is likely to make the bank mad. This can result in them not approving you for anything in the future and/or taking back the points they gave you.
First the time time in as long as I can remember, the pandemic has actually made some train routes cheaper than flying the same route. I really tried hard to talk myself into the train option recently, as I’m a huge fan, but I couldn’t do it in the end. The same pandemic that made the pricing competitive stopped me. Would have been in the cabin for 3x as long, with a lesser air filtration system than a plane’s and Amtrak is not restricting capacity in their cars, but rather simply telling you the realtime booking capacity when you purchase. So, no guarantee you’re not sitting right next to someone for the duration. 🙁
Really wish they would extend expiration until the end of 2021 at least…
I have a lot of Amtrak points, but I no longer live in an area served by Amtrak. I planned to transfer Amtrak points to Choice, but Amtrak abruptly eliminated that option with no warning.
Hi J
If you still have points, would you consider transferring them? I would like to take my family on a trip for my son’s senior year.
I believe it used to be 36 months not long ago. Then without much notice it was 24 months. If you are in a pinch, buy a song on iTunes through the portal.
I thought merely having (versus using) an Amtrak credit card (as long as the credit card account was active) was sufficient to get one’s points from expiring? Is that not correct?
Yes, you’re correct: “your points will not expire as long as your card account is open”
I have not traveled Amtrak or received points from them. It is good to know that they remind when your points are about to expire.
Like most points and miles programs, there are some fairly simple ways to prevent your points from expiring….just wish they had a longer window than 2 years, or better yet, no expiration at all!
Yes Amtrak are good with reminding their members when their points are nearing expiration
Amtrak isn’t a brand I really trust for accumulating points,
I used to make use of Amtrak rewards but after I redeemed what I had, I really have not traveled with them since.
Amtrak is very good about sending out emails before the points expire.
Don’t have any Amtrak points to worry about
I have never taken a train ride so I am not really familiar with this program. Still from what was stated on this blog, I would be wary of this program.