Amtrak & Ultimate Rewards Saves My Christmas

Due to my workload, I booked my trip to Connecticut for the holidays, on the weekend beforehand. Therefore, my chooses were very limited. I decided on the following itinerary:

When flying to Connecticut, I typically I fly either Southwest or US Airways. Both have direct flights to BDL (Hartford/Springfield) from the DC area. The flight cost me an arm and a leg:

When I check-in on Monday, United notified me that my flight was oversold and that they may need volunteers. At the time, they were offering $150 for the voluntary bump. I added my name to the list. I had all day to get home..why not?

The day of my flight, Christmas Eve day, I was running late. I left my apartment later than I want to, but plenty of time to get to the airport. Luckily, I had TSA PreCheck and flew through security in minutes. Strange at DCA, nowadays. 

Arriving at the gate 30 minutes before boarding, I joined the line to speak with an agent. The line was 6 people deep, but I overheard that the flight was oversold by 7 people. My chances of getting a bump looked likely. The people in front of me were asking stupid questions ie "is this the flight to Newark," "I have a seat assignment, do I need to check-in." Finally, it was my turn. "Do you need volunteers still?" "YES!" Still $150? No, I am offering $350.

Then the next problem. The agent did not like that my final destination was BDL. He kept looking for other volunteers, which upset me. I kept on throwing out suggestions including Boston or Providence. Neither of those options provided acceptable options for him. He started looking for other volunteers including those flying to Europe and Africa.

I tried one more option, would they buy me an Amtrak ticket? That's an option, but only if they have tickets. A quick call to Amtrak and I became the new owner of $350 United voucher.

Now the next problem, he could only get me a ticket to Newark Airport's train station:

http://www.panynj.gov/airports

But I was going to Connecticut. Regardless, I took the voucher and train ticket and raced to the Union Station.

Wikipedia

I arrived at the airport at 11:15 am for my 1pm trip. I went to the Amtrak ticket desk to exchange my ticket to Newark for one to Connecticut. After talking to three agents and a supervisor, they all agreed that I could not exchange the ticket. I would have to buy a ticket from Newark's Airport to Connecticut. The cost $45. No problem, I handed the credit card over. Then I looked at the tickets:

• Leave 1pm from Washington, DC and arrive at Newark Airport at 4:30 pm. 

• Exit train, wait for another train to depart at 6:30 pm and arrive in Berlin, CT at 9:45 pm.

Arriving at 9:45pm would ruin my Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is when my entire family gets together. I sulked away from the ticket counter to find food. Now its 11:35am and I have 90 minutes to kill....

At this point, I am seriously regretting my decision to take the bump. Then a major light bulb came on my head: I have Ultimate Reward Points.

Ultimate Reward Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Amtrak's Guest Rewards. More importantly, Ultimate Rewards points transfer instantaneously to Amtrak Guest Rewards.

                                    

I was so excited about my discovery that I walked out of a food line without paying for my food. I went back to pay later. A quick look at my watch its 11:40 and I remember something about a 12 noon train.

I quickly opened up my work laptop and personal laptop to transfer Ultimate Reward points to Amtrak. A one-way Northeastern ticket cost only 4,000 points.

At the same time, I was booking the award ticket. Time was ticking down and I had no idea if award tickets were still available for a train leaving in 15 minutes. After transferring 4,000 UR points to Amtrak, I tried to book the ticket without luck. I kept on getting this error.

I knew the points were in my Amtrak account. I refreshed the page and tried again. Success!

Now the next problem, I had to get my ticket from the machine and get to the train in 6 minutes. I threw both laptops in the bag without shutting them off and ran. I ran dodging people to find a ticket machine. Of course, the machine did not pull up the ticket with my credit card. Now, I had to find the email with the confirmation code...time was short and so was my patience. Find the email with the confirmation code and my ticket printed. Then I rushed to the train...

With minutes to spare, I boarded the 12 (noon) train headed north. The train was packed, but I found a seat and settled in for my 5 hour trip. In the end, I remember family from southern Connecticut was coming to Christmas Eve and they were more than happy to pick me up from a train station near their home.

In the end, Ultimate Rewards saved my Christmas Eve. 

BTW...I cancelled the train ticket from Newark to Berlin via telephone, so I lost no money.

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Why I Am Not Getting TSA PreCheck On My Southwest Flights?

Last week, Southwest announced that they are joining TSA Prechcek.

I am a big fan of TSA Precheck and was excited that Southwest was joining. Over the next few weeks, I have a ton of travel on Southwest and not having to take my laptop out of its sleeve is a big help.

Therefore, I was a little disappointed that I did not get Precheck on my fight to Connecticut for Thanksgiving. When I arrived at BWI, the C Concourse Precheck line had no one. I mean no one in it. However, my boarding pass didn't have that great little sign like this:

I sent out this tweet while waiting in security:

A few hours later, I got this response from the Press Secretary for TSA, Ross Feinstein:

Here is the link to the TSA Blog post he mentions.

Reading the post, one of the suggestions stood out:

• Didn’t enter their full name: first, middle and last name. These should match:

• TSA Pre✓™ participants who qualify via their membership in a CBP Trusted Traveler program should enter their full name — first, middle and last — exactly as it appears on their Global Entry card or in their Global Online Enrollment System (GOES) account, along with their date of birth, gender, and nine digit Membership Number / PASS ID when making a reservation for travel. A reservation made with a name that does not exactly match a passenger's Global Entry card or GOES account will result in the passenger not being considered for TSA Pre✓™ expedited screening. If you click the “manage membership” button when logged into your GOES account, it will direct you to the page in the image below where you’ll be able to ensure your account info — under the personal information section — matches the information in your travel reservation and your frequent flyer program: first, middle and last name fields.
• You should make sure your airline frequent flyer profile and any current and/or future reservations matches this information. You may have to reach out directly to your carrier to make sure this information is correct and consistent, especially your first, middle and last name. You should ask them to update your profile information and/or saved Secure Flight data.

You see my legal name isn't JD. Its a name that was created by my elementary school. I quickly went to my Southwest Rapid Reward profile, sure enough my name at Southwest is JD:

However, Southwest doesn't make it easy to change your name. You have to mail them paperwork:

The other few times I got Precheck, I was flying United and US Airways. In both instances, my name on my frequent flyer account is JD. So, I don't necessarily know if this is the reason why I did not get it this time. Southwest has setup a whole webpage for Precheck, which can be found here. Reading through the page, I came across this tidbit:

Could it Prechek be for only new reservation made after Southwest getting into the program? I hope this is the reason and not my name. Regardless, I will forward the required paperwork to Southwest to change my name.

Has anyone had luck with Precheck on Southwest?

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TSA expands Pre-check for the Military

USA Today is reporting that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is planning on expanding TSA Precheck for members of the military.

By year end, members of the military who present their Common Access Card will be able to use 
Pre-Check. USA Today reports, "as the Pre-check program overall expands from 60 airports to 100 by Dec. 20, the program will automatically include members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Reserves and National Guard." 

More information can be found here. If you are a member of the military, show your Common Access Card to the TSA Agent. After determining your military status, you will be directed towards a lane for Pre-Check expatiated screening.

On a separate note, the article reports, "more than 18 million passengers have passed through              Pre-Check since it began in October 2011, the agency said. The goal is for 25% of passengers to participate by the end of the year, as part of the agency's goal to focus more intense screening on the passengers it knows less about."

Pre-Check is an amazing program. I have had 90% success rate in getting to use Pre-Check. Over the past few months, people have reported that Pre-Check lines are longer than normal security lines. This problem will only continue to increase with more and more people being granted eligibility. However, I have no problem in standing behind members of the military in Pre-Check lines. Welcome to the Club! 

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TSA Adds Pre Check to Select International Flights

Associated Press airline reporter Scott Mayerowitz just tweeted out a link to a press release on the TSA website announcing that Pre Check will be available to passengers traveling on "some" international itineraries.

Previously Pre Check was only available for domestic itineraries and the new changes would mean that individuals connecting to international destinations, or returning from an international destination and connecting to a domestic flight, would be eligible to hear the "three beeps" when they get to the TSA check point.

This is a huge step forward in the program because it opens the doors to even more travelers. Business travelers who might be eligible for the program, or already have membership in a program like Global Entry to expidite their customs proccess on an international trip, were potentially missing out on the benefits of Pre Check by focusing their travel internationally.

The question that remains to be seen is what international itieraries will be eligible for Pre Check? I am betting that they will start out with trips to countries that have a relationship with the TSA already and allow for expedited customs and immigration for citizens with a Global Entry like program in the United States and have reciprocity agreements with Global Entry users entering their country.  As the program continues to expand it seems like more "trusted traveler" like programs will emerge as a way to ease the travel process for travelers.


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United Updates Mobile Application to Include TSA Pre Check Notification

JD reported a few days ago that on his flight up to Connecticut this weekend he had a new notification on his US Airways boarding pass which included a designation that he was eligible to go through TSA Pre Check. This follows Delta, which added this feature a few weeks ago.

When updating my phone yesterday I noticed that the United application was scheduled for an upgrade and I love the mobile application so I was curious what changes were coming up. To my surprise I saw that the update included:

-Enhanced mobile boarding pass, now showing TSA Pre Check

This is great news and will make it much easier for people to know if they will get the three beeps when they get to the security line. For me it's even more exciting because I just got approved for Global Entry and have a trip this weekend so I hope my luck will allow me to go through the Pre Check line for the first time!!!

Plus...it was also time to update to the newest edition of Angry Birds...so it was a mobile application update win! 



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