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.