My Amtrak points were going to expire: Here’s how I spent 15 minutes to keep them active

In March 2019, I rode the rails from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago in an Amtrak Roomette. I earned some Amtrak Guest Rewards points on this journey but haven't traveled with Amtrak since then. So, I wasn't surprised when I recently received a notification from AwardWallet that my Amtrak points were set to expire April 6.

I'm not sure I'll ever use these points, but I figured I'd look into the Amtrak expiration policy and whether I could extend them. Here's what I found.

Do Amtrak points expire?

Amtrak points expire after 24 months of inactivity.

According to section D of Amtrak's terms and conditions, "Points earned under the Program will not expire as long as the Program continues and the Member's Program account is active. 'Active' means that the Member earns and/or redeems Program points using his or her Membership Number within a 24-month period. If no Member initiated qualifying activity is recorded or reported within 24 months for a Member, the Member's points will expire."

So, the key to keeping your Amtrak points from expiring is account activity.

Related: The best credit cards for Amtrak and train travel

How to determine when your Amtrak points expire

If you log into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and look around, you won't see an expiration date for your points anywhere. The solution is a slightly convoluted workaround.

After logging into your account, click on your name in the top right-hand corner of the window and select "My Account." From here, click "My transactions" on the left sidebar to see your recent Amtrak Guest Rewards activity.

Your recent activity won't be helpful if you're worried about your points expiring. So, change the "from" date to 24 months before the current date and click "Search."

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My most recent account activity was canceling an award booking April 5, 2023. Based on that, if I did nothing, my Amtrak points would expire April 6 after 24 months of inactivity.

Related: The Jet vs. Amtrak: What is the best way to get between New York City and Washington, DC?

How I kept my Amtrak account active

Amtrak's terms and conditions note that any earning or redemption activity on my account will keep my points from expiring.

I have many options since my points won't expire for almost two months. As an infrequent Amtrak user, the options that'd make the most sense to consider would be to earn points on Amtrak travel, earn points by taking a Survey Points Club survey, buy Amtrak points, redeem points for Amtrak travel or earn points by shopping with one of Amtrak's retail partners.

Unfortunately, I don't have any upcoming Amtrak travel needs, so earning or redeeming points for Amtrak travel isn't a useful way to keep my account active. Amtrak no longer charges award cancellation fees, so it's unclear whether you'd reset your expiration clock if you booked and canceled an award.

I also don't need to shop with Amtrak retail partners like 1-800-Flowers.com, Teleflora or Vinesse Wines.

Related: You can now search Amtrak routes on Google Flights

The smallest amount of points I could buy is 500, which would cost me $18.85 at a purchase rate of 3.77 cents per point. Since I may never redeem my Amtrak points, I'm not willing to pay $18.85 for 500 more points to extend the validity of my existing points.

My best option is to earn a few Amtrak points by taking a Survey Points Club survey. Points from completing surveys often post instantly but can take up to a week. I enrolled in the Survey Points Club, answered some demographic questions and started my first survey.

After starting the survey, I didn't get past the first few pages of questions. Once I said a doctor hadn't prescribed me any prescription pain medicine in the past six months, the survey loaded a message stating I wasn't a good fit. However, I still got five points for starting the survey.

Now, my Amtrak points should expire Jan. 12, 2027. However, I'd feel better if Amtrak stated the expiration date in my account.

Related: How to keep your airline, hotel and rental car points and miles from expiring

Bottom line

It's annoying that Amtrak points expire if your account is inactive for 24 months. However, earning points through Survey Points Club was a relatively easy way to keep my Amtrak account active. The points posted to my account almost immediately, so Survey Points Club may be an option even if your points are set to expire in just a few days.

Remember that you must manually track when your Amtrak points expire or rely on an award travel tool that tracks your points and miles expiration dates. After all, your Amtrak points expiration date won't appear in your Amtrak account, and Amtrak won't notify you before your points expire.