Planning in advance, is there a way to purchase show tickets(Vegas) using TR credits for payment prior to arriving?
Not sure if there is a way to do it prior to arriving. I used my TR points to buy a ticket to a Colosseum show at Caesars once. I went to the box office and they directed me to a TR desk where they generated a credit in the same amount as the ticket price. Seemed like a superfluous step to get a ticket but the box office said it could not deduct the cost of the ticket from my TR card directly
The short answer is no, you cannot redeem TR points over the phone. Any TR point redemption requires it to be done in person with picture ID. Having said that, if you have a solid relationship with a host, this can easily be done. This is not to say that you randomly call out a TR host and ask them to do this and when they say "no" you write and bash the host for being non responsive. A host who knows you will make a lot of things happen that you would not expect possible.
I did, however, call ahead of our trip (2 months to the day) to buy six Jersey Boys tix...they charged to the credit card on file (or to the "room" once we get there) and then can pay in pts... I hope that works because it will let us use our Great Race pts.