Last week, I asked for anyone to post any questions that they had in the comments of a post, and I would do my best to answer them.
Today’s question comes from yy, who asks:
I got a question about expiration of the Amtrak points.
So my account has been at 0 balance for a while (since I lost 6500 early last year due to non-activity). If I transfer points from chase to Amtrak now, when will my Amtrak points expire?
When do Amtrak points expire
First of all, I checked with Award Wallet, which I ranked as the #1 tool in my series of the Top 10 miles and points tools.
So it looks like Amtrak points expire 3 years from activity. I then checked the official rules, which state that:
Amtrak Guest Rewards points expire 36 months after your last paid Amtrak trip. Redemption travel reserved with points does not constitute paid travel. If you’re a current cardholder of the Amtrak Guest Rewards® MasterCard® from Chase® with an open account, your points will not expire even if you do not purchase Amtrak travel.
So you’ll need some paid travel if you don’t want to let your Amtrak points expire. One good thing is that if you have an active Amtrak credit cards, that will keep you from having your Amtrak points expire. Of course, with the introduction of Amtrak Guest Rewards 2.0 (the devaluation), we’ve learned that the Amtrak credit card is getting a new issuer, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that in a few months.
Another thing to point out is that oftentimes, companies will renew your points if you call and ask. I used this strategy when I had some La Quinta points expiring due to inactivity, and it worked like a charm!
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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 
Doesnt Ammtrak have a shopping portal? Wonder if a little shopping would add another 36 months?
It seems to indicate that Amtrak points expire UNLESS you have paid Amtrak travel, so I don’t think that award travel, transferring points in from places like Chase, or using the shopping portal would extend them. This is NOT consistent with almost every other airline or hotel chain, where each of those things WOULD extend the life of your points
If you buy a cheap ticket, I wonder if you actually have to ride. 😉
I would guess that you do have to ride, or at least have your ticket scanned
Redemption activity does count for keeping your points alive. I just found this on the Amtrak web site. It is not consistent with what is shown above.
https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/faqs/show/pointsexpire
Will my Amtrak Guest Rewards points expire?
As long as your Amtrak Guest Rewards account shows qualifying account activity—point earning or redemption activity—within 36 months, your points won’t expire. Amtrak Guest Rewards® MasterCard® cardholders’ points will not expire as long as your credit card account is open.