ecq

I have a question regarding transferring miles. I had the CO mastercard, didn't want to pay for the annual fee. I asked for them to convert it into the lower level $2:1 but the customer service rep said they dont' do it anymore. I attempted to check online to sign up for a credit card that doesn't charge an annual fee. Call cs again and she said that the cards must've been cancelled because I could not sign up on any of them. The only ones that Chase has of CO is presidential and world (correct me if I'm wrong).

So i signed up for the Travelbank credit card and also Starwood. I thought i could transfer from starwood to amtrak to continental. I found it on some mileage converter I found on this site. Except it's been a nightmare. Amtrak says I need to open a credit card which i was denied for because i had too many applications for chase. Which was 2 in July and August. i called continental and they said that they only go from CO to Amtrak and not the other way around. Was she correct? I thought I read I could do that.

so my question is how do i transfer from amtrak to continental? Is there another way so I don't have to use spg's $2:1 onepass?

I searched and I couldn't find anywhere. I wasn't sure where to post this either here or AGR.

sbm12

Amtrak changed their policies for moving points out of their program a while ago to close a pretty gaping loophole that some FTers were exploiting to turn 25K points into 3 r/t tickets. They do now require that one have a co-branded CC or reach Select status (5K points in a calendar year) to export points.

You can transfer Amtrak points to CO at a 1:1 ratio, but you have to be qualified to move the points out of Amtrak. But you would call Amtrak to effect that transaction, not CO.

As for the converter tool, it is here (http://www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage_converter/) and it includes the following in the notes for the SPG=>CO transfer calculation:
Moving points from SPG to CO is not a great value because of the ratios and other troubles. CO and UA are bad targets for SPG points. Can you find better use of your SPG points elsewhere?

ecq

I fly out of Newark and Continental is their main airline. I thought I could easily transfer from spg to amtrak to continental but I am wrong. How long before I can open another chase credit card? another 6 months or is it a year?

I guess i'll just redeem gift cards from spg. i don't know what else to do.

thank you for your help.

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.

ecq

So I guess I'll wait until 10/27 to see what happens. If spg:us:co doesn't work, then i'm stuck with 2:1. I don't use amtrak so I think i'm stuck. I guess I should transfer my amtrak points back to spg, unless that's a problem too

Thanks for everyones help.

yellow77

Read what has already been posted. You can't transfer from Amtrak to SPG any more than you can transfer from Amtrak to CO, unless you qualify under one of the exceptions already mentioned.