Cross-program/how fast? Amtrak/Choice/United
 

In the next week or so, I need to add 20K miles from another one of my mileage programs to United MP (Premier Gold if that matters).

I have surplus Amtrak Guest Rewards, and since I am Select I can transfer up to 50K/year out. Webflyer calculates that the best way to transfer from Amtrak to UA is via Choice Preferred. According to Webflyer, AGR converts to Choice at a ratio of 1:3. That is, 1 Amtrak = 3 Choice. I see the same 1:3 exchange ratio on the Choice Privileges web page this morning. While there is still a 5:1 reduction in the second step conversion from Choice to UA Mileage Plus, the initial tripling makes it a pretty good deal overall.

The only snag is that Choice web site cautions to expect to wait 6-8 weeks to clear through Choice, and I need to make the transfer faster than that.

I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee for expediting the transfer if Amtrak/Choice had a service like Marriott's fee for expedited transfer, but I can't seem to track anything like this down.

Does anyone have experience on the ground on how long the transfer from Amtrak-Choice actually takes, and then how long before I can transfer the new Choice points to UA Mileage Plus?

From some extremely old posts on FT, it seems like they post weekly on Thursdays, but sometimes take longer. If they do, and you call, you'll get the "wait til 8 weeks have passed" response. So your call on how willing you are to play roulette.