I have some miles with a variety of airlines. I want to consolidate them so that I could make a trip to indonesia. Anybody have luck transfering miles from an airline, into a hotel account (i.e. Starwoods), and than out into a different airline?

I kind of did this once. Any other secrets? Like transferring into a car rental, than out to a third airline partner? Or do the loyalty programs keep a tight grip on these things?

Amtrak and Greyhound seem like they have some loosy-goosy programs that you could transfer in and out of easily.