Perhaps this is not news to all of you, but I was attempting to move Amtrak points to my United account (had transferred from Continental to do so and it was the reason I got the Amtrak credit card).

Well, I could not find the link online. When I called Amtrak Guest Rewards, the representative told me that the partnership was over, effective immediately. There will be no more transfers. She said they received an e-mail today, but I would have loved some warning. Was it in a newsletter?

Now I have to figure out what to do with the nearly 17,000 points in my account and what to do with the points I was planning on transferring to Amtrak to move to United...

Bummer - first I've heard of it. It looks like the only transfer options now are Midwest, Continental, and Hilton. Guess I won't be needing that Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard...

Yep, gone from the AGR transfer page. No announcement on either Amtrak's or United's websites.

But for whatever it's worth, I found AmEx MR points --> OP --> AGR a better deal anyway than redeeming MR points for Amtrak certificates or redeeming on UA; 25,000 points is worth the equivalent of 5 unreserved coach, 2.5 reserved coach, or 1.5 Acela business 1-region round trips (e.g. my WAS-NYP trips being around $180 usually, 25,000 points buys at least $450 worth of travel on Amtrak versus maybe $375 if I redeemed for an airline transcon).

Before you used to be able to fly Frontier, have miles credited to Midwest, transfered to Amtrak then transfered to United.

Darn!

Oh no! I just got the Amtrak card a few months ago, and was loving it for the lower fees on exchange rates. I was going to put a large hotel charge on it day after tomorrow - thank you very much for the heads up, now I'll just put it directly on my United Visa.

Sheesh, you'd think they'd give us some warning.

Those Amtrak awards arent bad if you like train travel, so don't throw about your MBNA credit card just yet. AGR points actually buy more travel than airline miles IMHO

I initiated the process of transferring 25,000 AGR to M+ this past Monday. The points have already been deducted from my AGR account but are not posted in M+.

Are my points going to be floating in never-never land? Or do you think AGR made a transfer to M+ before terminating the program? Boy, I don't feel good.

OOPS! I have been meaning to transfer 20K for a few days now...

Oh well, atleast I do have an occasional use for Amtrak itself. Time to concentrate all of my non-Amex spending (SPG) to the MBNA eBay Anthing Points Card - Effectively the MBNA Asia Miles Card.

1.125 Miles/$

I suggest all FTers consider Asia Miles - one of the most generous programs out there for the average US or Canada based miles hound, both from earning and redemption standpoints. Because it is Cathay Pacific Airways frequent flyer program based in Hong Kong, most North American flyers fail to consider its benefits. It is not my preferred program for crediting flight miles to because of their lack of a generous status based mileage bonus, But combine the most generous fee free credit card earning potential of any North American FF program with the lowest award requirement for premium transatlantic travel and you have a winner!



For all those with MBNA Amtrak Cards wanting to continue earning flights with a no annual fee card, you can convert your Amtrak card to an eBay Anything Points Card. No need to close your account or reapply, you can simply call MBNA and tell them you want to convert your card to an Ebay Anthing Points earning card instead.

Then convert your eBay points to Asia Miles throught Points.com.

To learn more about the Asia Miles program this post might be helpful.

This must have just happened today, as I transferred miles last night (12/29) and did receive a confirmation from AGR. If you look, there are still references to transferring to UA in some places on AGR's website, including the Terms and Conditions page and the Rewards section of Terms and Conditions posted on the website. I did not see any notice posted on AGR's website about the change. In light of that, contemplate the following:

And no jokes about being the straw that broke the camel's back.

I am afraid AMTRAK have a history of failing to give notice about changes. Some time ago, about a week after I had moved 300,000 CO points in to Amtrak, they changed the rules about the size of transfers out of their scheme.
I have been slowly moving points to Hilton ever since - and spending some of them at Macys also

My mom won't be happy. She just transfered 60k from CO. She plans to use the miles on Amtrak, but it was nice to have the option of transferring them to UA.

Don't forget that Amtrak points can be redeemed for gift certificates at a number of good stores (eg Home Depot, Barnes & Noble etc) at a good rate of $0.01/point.

wannaflyforless is right about the Asia miles (of course, I dunno how much tourism one is going to be able to do in some parts of Asia for some time now, but the asia miles are not just about Asia so do check his ideas out)

BUT one thing people might consider is writing to the airlines from whom you transferred and explaing to them that in this case, you would like the option of putting the miles BACK. Reason? No notice was given and surely they would agree this is hardly fair.

In fact I think it's down right wrong. Worse than any ethics issue I have seen any FTer post in this or any other forum! When businesses do this sort of thing I cringe. I mean, sure, some 2 point type in a paragraph that's longer than any one of my posts probably disclaims that partner companies like Amtrak or United resereve the right to change this and that, but c'mon! NO NOTICE WHATSOEVER?

I strongly feel that people need to write the Atty General on this one, and be certain to try to reverse all transactions that would have taken place before this action was so rudely taken!

Fortunately, I lost no points and have none stuck in play, but no one in here should just roll over and die.

this is the sort of stuff that gets me upset about miles and points.

MM

ALSO, anyone who happens to have PRINTOUTS of or SCREENSHOTS of any pages from the transfer offers should keep them handy seeing as how the links to existing pages have changed and will continue to rapidly do so at this time! When something is on the web, you cannot simply rely on saving the link to get back and see it. You HAVE to print it out and keep copies. I have actually been in situations where that printout saved my case. When a site link changes, you have no proof of what you were talking about. Surely vast numbers of people may complain and that is proof in itself, but that too can be squashed by the mere fact that the companies know most customers never communicate with oneanother and have no way of combining their messgae of angst into one clear report.

FT does and should.

And if anyone DOES have printouts of the offer, it's time to think out of the box and consider being so kind as to offer up faxing it to other members, or scanning pages in and making PDFs of them all and sending it to anyone who needs it in here. One way to do this is to set up and use a free fax account at efax.

https://www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/signupFree

When you fax from any regular fax machine (say, the one at your workplace) to the LD number it gives you, a file is sent to any email account you set it up for, and you can only get 20 pages of free faxing in every 30 day period. Because they come as an electronic file, you could create a PDF file of all the pages of these transfer offer rules and make a PDf file to share with others by email! SO if you have such printouts of pages showing the rules as they existed just before the offer was so quickly removed from all sites, get to work please! people need you if they wish to recover missing miles or fight to get them put back based on this bad move on customer service!

-your only cost: time!

-the result: justice and saved miles for many.

-the message: to show places who pull this stunt that they suck and cannot get away with it.

We'll more than likely book a Bedroom suite on the Coast Starlight route to YVR.

This is pretty bad, I agree with MarathonMan that it is wrong, but unfortunately these things seems to be commonplace in the world of miles and points. Some programs give warning of these kinds of changes and others do not. Those that do not are most likely wanting to avoid a run on the proverbial miles bank.

I did not participate in the Amtrak-->UA for two reasons, one is that I do not care for UA, and the other is that I do not want to depend on a partnership for my miles earnings. I have seen this industry long enough to know that airlines change partnerships constantly and I cannot depend on them being there any longer than the immediate future. This MBNA eBay --> Asia miles thing, while a good deal as it stands now, is also, I am sure, just as subject to change.

So the problem of where to earn miles when the wonderful SPG Amex is not accepted... I just signed up for AA's card. They are giving it to me without fee for one year (targeted offer by mail only). At the end of the year, I will either decide to keep it and pay the fee, or I will call them and ask to switch the card to a 1/$2 card so I do not have to pay any fee on it. My decision depends on how many miles I end up putting on it and how much I use the card's perk of reduced mileage awards. I was thinking that this perk may encourage me to pay the fee to keep it a 1/$ card.

I had the NW Visa and changed it to a 1/$2 card, but I decide to focus my earnings on AA instead due to NW program changes that did not make me happy. In any case, I will keep the NW 1/$2 card since there is no fee, just only use it for emergencies, unless NW gives me a good reason to choose them over AA.

Though they are not advertised, about all the airlines have 1/$2 cards. Also the HH Visa gives 2/$ with no fee.

I guess if SPG had a Visa or MC, we would not have this problem.