<p>Was looking at buying this for S - there is an Amtrak station in his college town and that is a back up plan for trips home for him - with the SA card, there is a 15% discount. Looks like there are other discounts too, though I am not sure how often he might choose or remember to use it.</p>
<p>Can anyone share experiences with having the card for train travel or otherwise? The card is $20, but there is a link for $10 off the card. How has your student used it? Any troubles w/amtrak or other places using it?</p>
<p>We had D2 get one, primarily for the Amtrak discount. It works as advertised, but there are a couple of annoying conditions. For example, the Amtrak purchases require advance purchase and you have to either pick the tickets up at a “major” train station or have them mailed to you … just because you’re getting on the train at a satellite station doesn’t mean you can pick up your ticket there. Even with these types of inconveniences, the card was still worth getting for those times you can use it. And the card taught DD some important lessons about obtaining that elusive “free lunch” (or in this case, “reduced cost lunch”).</p>
<p>No printing out of tickets? The station in his college town is just a “satellite” - there is no physical building there…that could be a problem for him. (Funny how tickets in the snail mail seems like such an “old” process now!)</p>
<p>We looked into it last year. Found out that you can get an Amtrak discount with AAA. She prints her ticket at the station and off she goes. The discount more than paid for the AAA membership.</p>
<p>I bought this for my son, too. He’s used it once, and I believe that he did print out the ticket on his computer…not 100% sure, but I think so.
Also, AAA discount is 10%; SA is 15%. I figure it will more than pay for itself, even if he just uses it for Amtrak, which will be his primary means of transportation home.</p>
<p>My daughter recently got SA to use for Amtrak tickets; she just got back from a trip to Chicago and picked up her round-trip tickets at her departure. I’m not sure what constitutes a “satellite” station, but Port Huron MI isn’t a huge station, and she had no issues getting her tickets.</p>
<p>Whether she’ll use SA for anything beyond train tickets is yet to be seen, but I told her to try it for a year.</p>
<p>Years ago, my daughter used it for Greyhound. Now, with competing bus companies that are less expensive, she does not take Greyhound anymore.
I know someone who tried to use his brother’s SA card - and ended up getting arrested!</p>
<p>Our son/daughter both had/have Student Advantage cards, and saved substantial sums over several years on buses and trains. There are also other discounts at some retail stores and restaurants.</p>
<p>D’s college offers the Student Advantage card for 4 years for $45, and the card then appears on the reverse of the school’s student ID. I don’t know if other colleges offer this, but it’s worth checking out. D uses the card for all her Amtrak trips–the only difficulty is remembering to buy tickets 3 days in advance, because she’s not always that organized. She purchases online and prints out a barcode that can be used at any Amtrak kiosk to obtain a ticket. I guess she’s traveled from major stations, because she’s always found a kiosk. The card can’t be used on the Acela, but that’s usually out of our price range anyway. She’s never used the other discounts available with the card, so I have no idea if they’re decent.</p>
<p>Yes, our D has one & has used it for tickets, retail shops, etc. She seems to feel that it was worth the $45.00 price for the 4 years of college. Actually she is entering her sophomore year & feels it has almost paid for itself!</p>
<p>We got one for D her freshman year --similar setup to what mommaJ describes. She took Amtrak home a lot her first year but gave up taking it to BF’s college for visits because it just took so long – she found people to ride-share with instead. She also found the restrictions annoying. I think we broke even, but I wouldn’t say she got a ton of use out of it.</p>