American Express Membership Rewards - Update on Workaround for Mem Rewards -> UA 1:1

As most of us here know, it's possible to transfer 25,000 Membership Rewards points, 1:1, into United each year.

Membership Rewards --> Continental
Continental --> Amtrak
Amtrak --> United

(And of course, it's even better than 1:1 when Amex is running a 25% bonus on Continental conversions.)

Folks have often said this is too roundabout or worry that it won't work.

Just thought I'd share that I just completed the above.

I did two Amex --> CO transfers (first 25k, then 10k, because I realized I also wanted 2 roundtrip DC/NY Amtrak tickets). The first transfer took 4 days, including a weekend. The second transfer took 2 days. But we'll use the (4) day figure 'cause that was the 25k point transfer.

Then I did CO --> Amtrak and it took 7 days (5 business days).

Then I did Amtrak --> United and it took 4 days.

Total: 15 days! Two weekends were included in that, so it was just 11 days.

Easy easy easy.

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View from the Wing (http://www.webflyer.com/blog): A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

You say your limited to 25k a year but you transfered over 25k...did you do this over 2002-2003? thank you for your post

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Centurion:
You say your limited to 25k a year but you transfered over 25k...did you do this over 2002-2003? thank you for your post</font>

You're limited to transferring 25,000 points OUT OF AMTRAK in a single year unless you're an Amtrak elite ('select' as they call it) in which case you're limited to 50,000 points transferred out.

I transferred 35,000 Membership Rewards points into Continental and from Continental to Amtrak because I wanted to transfer 25k out and then I wanted to use 10k Amtrak points on Amtrak tickets.

There is no limit to the number of Continental points that can be moved into Amtrak. Before Amtrak imposed the 25k/yr cap last year, folks were moving hundreds of thousands of Continental miles into United.

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View from the Wing (http://www.webflyer.com/blog): A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

I don't think you can, but is it possible to transfer UAL points to CO?

Not that you'd want to...

But the only way I know to do it is with a 50% devaluation.

Transfer your UA miles to Diners Club and then onto Continental.

I wrote it up here (http://www.webflyer.com/blog/posts.php?entry=751) back in March.

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View from the Wing (http://www.webflyer.com/blog): A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

Thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Know that US Air is a part of Star Alliance and a marketing partner with United, isnt there an eaier way to transfer Amex points to United miles?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SteveT:
Know that US Air is a part of Star Alliance and a marketing partner with United, isnt there an eaier way to transfer Amex points to United miles?</font>

No.

There have long been easier ways to CLAIM UNITED FLIGHTS -- via USAirways, Delta (domestic only), ANA, and Mexicana.

But that's different than having United miles.

You can't use miles from the above programs for upgrades. You are subject to the award charts of THOSE PROGRAMS for claiming your United flights. And it's at least a question whether the same award availability is offered to frequent flyer members of those programs compared to Mileage Plus members.

With USAirways, for instance, their lower priced awards require advance purchase and a Saturday stay. United awards aren't as restrictive.

Just to offer a few examples...

Now there ARE times when you'll want to claim a United flight with a partner's miles. For instance, if you wanted to fly New York to Honolulu... 35k miles for coach/60k miles for first on United with United Mileage Plus miles or only 25k miles for coach/40k miles for first on United with Mexicana Frecuenta miles.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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View from the Wing (http://www.webflyer.com/blog): A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gleff:
Now there ARE times when you'll want to claim a United flight with a partner's miles. For instance, if you wanted to fly New York to Honolulu [...]with Mexicana Frecuenta miles.
</font>

I wouldn't recommend this.

It is extremely difficult for Mexicana to find availability on United flights to/from Hawaii all the way to NYC. For some reason, they can't book the HNL-DEN flight, so they are forced to route HNL-LAX/SFO-ORD/IAD-NYC. It was very hard to find availabilty Hawaii-California, and then whole weeks with no availability to get from LAX/SFO to NYC. The Mexicana reps tried connecting through Chicago and WashingtonDC, and were able to find a few possibilities within a period of two weeks I was trying for, but with overnight connections. Mexicana must get their tickets from a lower fare bucket than even Mileage Plus members. (Mexicana told me they get them from the X bucket.)

After occupying the time and effort of the Mexicana phone reps for the beter part of an hour each of the numerous times I called, I gave up.

It was easier to use Mexicana points to fly Air Canada from Honolulu to Toronto or Montreal and finding an another way to get from there to NYC.

[This message has been edited by anthonyanthony (edited 07-09-2003).]