First, credit for originally bringing this to Flyertalk goes to ClimbGuy, he originally posted a derivation of this strategy in this thread, but I thought a more broad thread was in order since this has much greater implications than just a credit card sign up bonus as he originally posted about.

The basics of this deal are that you can now convert 5,000 Amtrak Guest Reward (AGR) points to 15,000 Choice Privileges (CP) points. A few notes about the AGR to CP transfer:

• Effective 12/1/07 - Exchange rate reduced to 15,000 CP points from 25,000 CP points for 5,000 AGR points
• Effective 1/1/08 - You must be an Amtrak Elite Level member or have an Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard to make the AGR to CP transfer).
• You can only transfer a maximum of 25,000 AGR points for basic accounts or 50,000 AGR points for Select (Amtrak Elite Level) accounts per calendar year.

15,000 CP points then can be converted to 6 Southwest (WN) Rapid Rewards (RR) credits (Effective 12/1/07 - You may only transfer from CP to RR if you've had a stay since 1/1/06 or have used a CP Visa card).

How do you get AGR points then? Well, you could travel on Amtrak ...

Alright, now that the laughter has died down, you can also transfer Continental (CO) and Midwest (YX) miles to Amtrak at a rate of 1 to 1. So, 25,000 CO or YX miles is 25,000 AGR points is 75,000 CP points ... is 30 WN credits. To transfer from CO to AGR, you must call the OnePass Service Center at (713) 952-1630, their hours are 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM Central Time Monday-Friday.

As ClimbGuy pointed out in his thread this is quite a boon on something like 20,000 CO miles for signing up for their credit card (comes out to 40 WN credits).

This is also useful for converting from American Express (AMEX) or Diners Club (DC) points to WN, much better than direct conversion into WN, so now 5,000 AMEX or DC points will convert to 6 WN credits instead of 4. Also be on the lookout for AMEX or DC point conversions to CO or YX. For instance, when DC has a 50% bonus on YX transfers you would get 17,000 DC points -> 25,500 YX miles -> 25,000 AGR points -> 75,000 CR points -> 30 WN credits. (Makes the 18,000 DC points -> 1 free RR reward promotion (and only 12 credits towards CP instead of 16) DC usually runs annually seem pretty weak!).

Anyway, there are lots of possibilites, but I did think this deserves a general thread for future discussion.

Additional Notes:

FT member pshuang has summarized transfer timing here.

Some historical notes added by nsx:

On December 6 Amtrak halted conversions to Choice at least temporarily. People who have already requested conversions will likely receive the number of points they expected, but Amtrak appears to be delaying completion of these conversions.

On December 11, points from Amtrak began vanishing from Choice accounts. This may be the first documented case of a program mass-reversing transactions already completed. It's a new low for Amtrak and its program operator Carlson, but it would not have been possible without the cooperation of Choice Privileges, who may have been misled by Amtrak.

On December 14, Amtrak will re-open the option to transfer points to Choice, presumably at the 5k to 15k conversion rate. This option will end on December 31 unless you are an elite member or you hold an Amtrak credit card. See this Notiflyer article for the news. This is a remarkable turn of events. Amtrak deserves praise for resolving the situation positively within less than 2 days. Very few programs in such a situation have had the maturity to do the right thing so quickly.

As of December 17, FT member lostInspace reported: "I just spoke to a CSR at Amtrak trying to do the same. This is my first time calling Amtrak and I just had 20000 points from CO post this morning. I only have one account and have not done any prior transfers. I was told that an audit was being done at the moment, it would take 4 weeks and NO transfers would be done to Choice before the 1st of the year for ANYONE." Amtrak's actions are not measuring up to its words to Randy.

On December 19, FT member khtc reported: "I just initiated a new transfer from AGR to Choice. The points came over from CO last week. No fuss, no muss on the transfer. No probing questions. CSR was polite and professional and the call was quick. As expected, the points were debited from the AGR account immediately." Subsequently lostInspace reported success, as did others.

This means that you will probably be able to transfer Amtrak to Choice until the end of the year, provided that the account names match and that they are for real people. In 2008 you will need an Amtrak credit card, which as one FTer pointed out provides positive proof that the account holder is not a fictitious person. And as of now you need a Choice credit card or a Choice hotel stay to transfer Choice points to Southwest. Will this deal still be alive at the 5k:15k rate in January? Who knows?

On May 8, FT member soitgoes posted: As of May 1, AGR has apparently added yet another restriction on outbound transfers from their program. You need to have used your Chase AGR credit card to purchase at least $200 of Amtrak train travel in the past year. Note that no notice was given as far as I can tell. I stumbled across it when PointsGalore mentioned it in another thread. More info at http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=821703