Amtrak promotions are some of the best ways to earn additional points, especially the Double Days promotions. Amtrak also runs a couple “1-2-3 Free” promotions a year, which generally give you a free trip after taking three roundtrips. Their most recent iteration of this promotion (which I fist saw over on Deals We Like) is set to start next week: take three roundtrips between January 3rd and February 28th, you’ll earn a free roundtrip to take between July 5th and August 28th.
The terms are pretty clear, and some takeaways include:
- You must register for both promotions (Acela and Northeast Regional) separately
- You can actually book six one ways, rather than three roundtrips, but no more than two one ways will count per day
- Your fare price must be greater than or equal to $49 on the NER and $90 on the Acela
- You can earn a maximum of four free trips
For me, this promotion is great.  I just gave my Amtrak NYC to Boston review last week, and  I have a return trip coming up on January 3rd, so I’ll get one of my six trips out of the way. If you live in the Northeast and plan to travel on Amtrak over the next two months, this is a no brainer. Let us know below where you’d go with your free roundtrip!
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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 
Nice, if you live in the northeast. Otherwise, no help at all.
Very true. I’d be curious to see if Amtrak would ever do something similar on the West Coast with the Coast Starlight and/or the Pacific Surfliner.