Amtrak is sending out free passes to visit its new flagship lounge

At the beginning of this year, Amtrak opened its brand-new Moynihan Train Hall in New York City, complete with an absolutely spectacular Metropolitan Lounge.

I visited shortly after the lounge opened, and I was gasping (under my mask) at every turn — Amtrak's previous Penn Station lounge was a borderline disaster; I never expected to want to arrive any earlier than absolutely necessary to catch my train.

It's really exciting that we finally have a fancy Penn Station lounge to visit — even if the current food and beverage offerings leave a bit to be desired. Metropolitan Lounge access is limited to Select Plus or Select Executive elites, passengers traveling in Acela first class and customers with a sleeper-car ticket.

I'm almost always passing through with a coach or Acela business class ticket, so I wasn't expecting to visit again for quite some time — until a special Amtrak invitation hit my inbox this week.

The pass attached to the email is valid for me and one guest. It can be used anytime between now and April 30, and I only need to present the pass to get in — Amtrak's waiving the usual same-day ticket requirement.

It's unclear exactly which cards will trigger this invitation, but it's worth checking your inbox if you have the Amtrak Guest Rewards® World Mastercard® or the Amtrak Guest Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® — the latter of which doesn't carry an annual fee.

The information for the Amtrak Cards have been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.