Being a New Yorker, Amtrak makes a lot of sense for much of my close by travel. Even during the “Summer of Hell,” Amtrak is a pretty convenient way to get around the East Coast. Because of that, I’ve taken advantage of the sign-up bonus on the Amtrak Guest Rewards World Mastercard twice: once with a 20,000 bonus point offer and once with a 30,000 point offer.
If you were thinking about applying for this card, now might be a great time, as the bonus has gone back up to 30,000 points, which is 50% more bonus points than you would normally get! You can access a direct link to the offer here, and we’ll describe the benefits of the card below.
Bonus and Card Details
- Get 30,000 bonus points after you make $1,000 or more in purchases on your new card within 90 days of account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 spent with Amtrak
- Earn 2 points per $1 spent on other qualifying travel purchases
- Earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Complimentary Companion Coupon
- One-Class Upgrade Coupon
- Single-Visit Station Lounge Pass for access to ClubAcela, Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge or First class lounges
- Get a 5% Amtrak Guest Rewards point rebate when you book your Amtrak redemption travel
- $79 annual fee
As you can see, if you travel with Amtrak often, you’ll earn a ton of bonus points when paying with the credit card. And you’ll even earn three points per dollar when you make purchases in the Cafe Car!
(SEE ALSO: What can you do with 30,000 Amtrak points?)
Using Amtrak Guest Rewards points
Using Amtrak points is easy, and their value is (for the most part) fixed. You’ll generally get about 2.5¢ – 2.9¢ per point, depending on the class of travel and the date. While Amtrak doesn’t have Blackout Dates, they do raise their point redemption costs for certain times of the year (Christmastime, for example).
(READ MORE: Amtrak NYC to Boston Review)
Travel in Acela First Class one way or get 2 roundtrips in Regional Coachclass. Hmmm… 🙂
As you can see, the faster and fancier you want to travel between New York and Boston, the price goes up. I’ve tried Acela First Class once before, and while it was nice, it definitely wasn’t worth four times the points needed for Regional Coachclass.
Conclusion
So far in 2017, having a stockpile of Amtrak points has saved me over $700–and it’s only July! If you live on the East Coast and see yourself traveling a couple of times in the upcoming year, I highly recommend this card, especially when you’re getting 50% more points.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Do you know if I can get a second bonus if I already have this card and received bonus les than 12 months ago. I have been approved for the second Amtrak card.
Yes, I have two and received the second bonus.
At 30k, I’m a buyer so to speak. The cost of a Roomette/bedroom will cost close to this amount, and I’m anxious to take my second long distance trip. I used (before the program changes) 15,000 points DEN/Sacramento/Portland last year in a Roomette, and I was hooked. Thanks for bringing this link to my/our attention.
Thanks for the “heads-up!” I just got approved. This is my third Amtrak sign-up bonus. I still have my second card open, but closed the first one when I got the second.
I live in Pittsburgh. Amtrak is one of my favorite ways to go to NYC. It takes all day, but I don’t care. Super easy, relaxed mode of transport. A RT business class seat for under 10,000 pts. Yay.
how long is this offer good for ?
Unsure, the last 30,000 point offer lasted about 2-3 months, if I’m not mistaken.
I just applied for the 20K offer last week. I sthere any to get them to honor the 30k offer