Hello all -

I travel a ton, and have 53,000 sitting in Continental that I have no plans to use. I fly exclusively UAL right now. Problem is that for 53000 I can not get very far on Continental.

Any creative ideas for getting some use out of these?>

Cannot get very far? That's two free tickets anywhere in the contiguous US - the very same award you've have with any United miles. Not sure what you mean about going somewhere on Continental. Actually i think you have great value with those miles since it looks like you reside in Chicago and with all the other millions of members there in Chicago you'll occasionally have problems using your Mileage Plus miles and since Continental is a smaller player in Chicago chances are you'll find using your miles easier. My guess is that you may be comparing having to hub through Continental's system different than direct from UAL to be the difference. Given they don't expire with a little creative push of activity once and a while - I'd suggest you view them just as you would having an American Express or MasterCard in your wallet even though you have the First USA Visa Card from United earning you most if not all your spending miles. If someone questions why you have Continental miles - simply answer that you are smart enough to have a "backup" plan for award use and those miles are it.

Just my thoughts on not trying to burn good miles.

Welcome to FT, chicagomarc.

As the guru explains, you can use 50,000 miles for an unrestricted ticket anywhere in the US on CO or NW -- or for two more restrictive tickets. Depending on where you want to go, you may have to changes plans in a hub city ... but hey, they're free!




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On the road, In the air,
I enjoy travel, From here to there.

Thanks Randy-- thats pretty much how Ive been treating them - by not getting far I meant nothing exotic. I try to use my miles to do non US trips. LAst year when UAL had the Europe deal (35000 miles) I took the parents and brothers over to England.
Jut wondered if there were some unique way to combine or use - looks like I will have to find a fun "expensive" US destination! thanks
!

Ah, but two years ago Continental had award tickets to Japan for only 25,000 miles apiece as a special award and just this last year they had award tickets to Frankfurt for only 25,000 miles each as well.

More use of your miles might be to make use of DealWatch on WebFlyer. There's a link to mile deals and they highlight the weekely offers of Continental and other airlines who have weekend awards for as few as 10,000 miles. This could pove to make fun getaways better for you sonce United doesn't offer this feature yet.

Here's the link:
http://www.webflyer.com/deals/dealwa...arch_miles.php

And again - welcome to FlyerTalk.

This is an easy question. Transfer the CO miles to Amtrak. Once credited, transfer the Amtrak miles to UA. All transfers are at a 1:1 level.

Form the announcement of the OnePass/Amtrak relationship:

"Members of both frequent traveler programs will also be able to transfer miles and points between OnePass and Amtrak Guest Rewards."

Airport Lounge

One option is that you can transfer miles from CO to Amtrak then to UA. This way you can add 53,000 miles to you UA account.

CO also has some good partners you can redeem miles. 53,000 miles can get you flying Virgin Atlantic to London. Check CO forum you will find many use for those miles.

thanks alot!
these are exactly what I was looking for .
Never thought of the Amtrak angle - has anyone done that?
Also thanks for the link to dealwatch

If you are a HH member, you can always resort to transfering over to Hilton (last I checked, their convesrsion rate was 2:1) and get a free week at either the HHV or HWV

How's that for exotic?

Huh? What's this about transferring miles from CO to Amtrak and then to UA? I'm a 2-year CO plat & didn't know about this...learn something new every day (Amtrak isn't huge in Hotlanta, but they do have a presence?

Would also ask: Has anyone done this? Can it be done on-line? Did the miles post quickly? Is there a cap on the number you can transfer?

This could be valuable to me because I usually redeem CO miles for coach awards to southeast Asia, and lately NW has been getting very hard to book with these.

Wasn't the CO-Amtrak not such a good idea (i.e. if going CO-Amtrack-AA/BA, see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000038.html or is CO-Amtrak-UA distinct? I am in a similar situation with CO miles. Can you please provide further specifics Vulcan? Thanks!

[This message has been edited by CharlesMD (edited 08-27-2002).]

Check:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/005899.html
http://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/Re...fm?category=PE

CO to Amtrak is 1 to 1, from Amtrak you can transfer 1 to 1 to UA or Midwest Express. Amtrak also offers gift certificates. 50,000 miles can get you $500.00 gift certificates at Macy, Bloomingdales or 5 nights at Starwood level 1 hotels or 5 weekend night at Marriott.

Yes: 50K CO --> 100K HHonors, which for Hhonors Silver or better members = a GLON (6 free nights in a non-Premium/Level 5 hotel anywhere in the world) or ALON (6 FREE nights in any Hilton in Hawaii!
But I'm also going to check out riding Amtrak Guest Rewards into consolidation! Thanx, Bookexp!

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Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

Go with the Hilton transfer. 50K CO points will get you 6-nights at most Hiltons worldwide (excluding premiums).

Chicagomarc,

I like Randy's advice. Take an exotic trip to Rio de Janeiro for 35,000 miles and tranfer balance of 15,000 miles to 30,000 Hilton points. You can't get to South America on United.