MarkXS

I'm pretty sure there's now yet another restriction for transferring points out of Amtrak to any hotel/airline program.

Not only do you need to have the Chase/Amtrak Mastercard, you also have to spend $200 minimum on it on Amtrak tickets annually, in order to qualify to transfer out Amtrak points. Otherwise you have to be an Amtrak elite "Select" member with 5000 butt-in-Amtrak-seat points annually (no partner points).

In other words, you have to be an Amtrak passenger to be able to transfer Amtrak points anywhere.

So here's another alternative that might work as of 10/27/2009, the day CO joins *A, if you're looking for awards on CO. Transfer SPG points to US Airways at a 1:1, and do US redemptions on their *A partner CO. Or transfer them to Air Canada Aeroplan.

Of course neither of those options will let you combine them with miles already in your CO account. Otherwise 2:1 SPG-CO is your only option if you aren't a minimum $200 Amtrak spend/year on the Amtrak MC.