FlyingBoat

Shoot, I see United opened up their card to get 50K on first use and I was hoping to get this to transfer more to Cont and on to AGR. But I see from this thread that the transfers ended 12/31.

I was trying to get this for a church youth group that wants to travel MSP to ABQ this summer. Its about 14 kids with youth pastor, to visit their old pastor and a missions trip somewhere in that area. Flying is too expensive and its too hard for the youth pastor to drive them that far in their van.

40K miles gets three of them there and back in first class. Seems like a perfect use of the miles! (They might need a stopover in CHI or get there separately if AGR won't allow a CHI stopover. They have a church they can stay overnight at in CHI. On the way back they may do the long route if they can still get that for 20K like I did this fall.)

If anyone else has has extra miles, I know a youth group which would be happy for any tickets!

Explore

At PHX, the United Club agent immediately said the AGR card was no good. On my pursuing the matter and showing her the AGR printout, she tried swiping the card, which didn't work. She then went to an agent electronic display, and finally found the AGR card listed. I got in.

At SFO domestic, the agent got excited and showed her colleague the card, which he'd never seen before. She needed an explanation of the expiration date. After that she insisted on seeing a UA boarding pass, which is not required - but she insisted on it anyway. My wife (different last name) found her boarding pass stub from the flight we'd just gotten off. The agent went to photocopy all the materials "for our records," while other customers waited in line. Finally both of us were admitted.

I assume the AGR card remains good for both the cardholder and a guest, and a same-day UA flight is not required?

saxman66

So on my NARP update today, it said AGR Select Plus members will now receive unlimited access to United Clubs worldwide until 2/28/2013. Am I the first to post this? Is this true? It's great if it is!

14940674

You are not the first to post, but it is true that access has been extended.

See: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17755148-post113.html

rrdude

Now, if UA/CO would just allow the transfer of miles from UA/CO into Amtrak, life would be "all good" again.

Last year CO benefited from over 40K miles from me, as I switched from SWA to CO, just so I could transfer to Amtrak.

FormerAmtrakTraveler

More reports on accessing UC using S+ card:

At BOS on Thu, the agent immediately said "Club Acela should be good". Upon swiping the card and seeing it didn't work, she focused on explaining why it didn't work and landed on the "2011" on the card. She became convinced the card is expired. Thankfully at same time while she was arguing with me she was doing a manual search and she must've matched my card to a picture on her screen because all of a sudden she changed her mind and said "it is expire... ok you're all set". Really hoping this year's card comes with expiration!

At SFO today, no problem.

At ORD today, no problem.

All 3 wanted my boarding pass. Wondering what happens if I didn't have one.

GoingAway

I used it this weekend and entered with the card in hand, and the comment that Amtrak's IT is like United's and do they remember when MP status was good until the end of February because it just took that long to get the cards out. I've had success thus far

My only hiccup was a station that doesn't know from Amtrak, but they were very nice and when I pushed back saying it came with the CO deal, one of the women looked it up and found it, and then explained to the other what they had done. ^

alben

I currently hold a Chase Continental OnePass card. I took all the bonus miles and moved them to Amtrak Guest Rewards last month.

I am thinking about applying for the United MileagePlus Explorer card to get the signup points (before they convert my Continental OnePass card to a MileagePlus card automatically).

What is the likelihood that that United MileagePlus program will eventually pickup where the Continental OnePass program left off as in point transfers to Amtrak Guest Rewards? I would really only get the United MileagePlus Explorer card if I can move those points elsewhere, like Amtrak.

GoAmtrak

alben, my strategy was to go for Chase Sapphire Preferred. It has great earning opportunities and currently allows 1:1 transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards to both AGR and CO/UA. There's a signup offer still out there for 50K points after $3K spend in the first 3 months, with the $95 fee waived for the first year.

dan1431

I was at the LAX UC club and watched as a Select + member handed over his card and ID to the UA agent, he did not look at the customer the AMTRAK Select + card nor the guys ID, the UA employee simply swiped it, made a face when it nothing happened, handed back the card to the Select + Member and motioned for him to enter.

A totally unremarkable experience,
Dan

jules1651

I was denied flatly at the united club in IAD. They said "we stopped taking these a month ago."

edcho

It's highly possible that the agent didn't know about the new relationship (as many things have been changing and/or on their minds). All you can do is to let CO know (date and time) and possibly Amtrak too.

Right now, we can't even get consistent boarding procedures, so you'll probably run into this issue for awhile.

GoingAway

Did you ask them to check their book? While its been questioned, i have yet to not be permitted in the club when i was allowed via the select plus card, it just sometimes takes more efort than desired. Just a note to be friendly/civil, not belligerent/ condescending, and you will have much better luck to gain access, and have the person care enough to keep the card somewhere in mind for the next select plus person who requests access

GoAmtrak

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9650; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.524 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

I believe the card swipe function is working now. I've accessed UCs at all PMUA hubs (except DEN) several times this month. All agents let me in with a swipe of the card, including a few who weren't sure, swiped it, and said, "Ah, there it is." ^

CHIC SILBER

Still concerned about Acela Club access for us

Has there been any resolution to extending our agreement