wow, is this place harsh or what?
I thought we were sharing or transferring miles, not bad words!

Anyway, I think the issue at hand is that if too many people were to discuss one or two of the "ways" people can facilitate the transfers, it may overload the system involving CO, Amtrak and UA and that would make them go ahead and stop or change the program for the worse. SO if you have a tip, share it but if it is really tricky, and believe me, I know the tricky ones in some of this miles stuff, then maybe the only way to do it is via PMs.

whatever. Just keep it clean, ok? I havent had coffee yet today!
:)MM

Apologies to all members. I've gone through and deleted a few recent replies from this thread -- the topic is transferring miles from one program to another via Amtrak Guest Rewards.

Personal issues that some members may have with each other, for whatever reason, do not belong in this forum. And I'm going to do my best to keep this thread on topic, as it has been of great benefit to many here.

Please: let's return to the subject and leave the off-topic posts for elsewhere.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz and Delta moderator

I think the etiquette should be as follows:

X posts info. that might arguably blow a great deal for everyone.

Y PMs X, politely suggesting an edit or delete for the sake of keeping the deal.

X politely PMs yes/no/maybe.

Y accepts X's decison and lets it go at that (unless there is some FT TOS violation).

I'm not saying anything about what just happened in this thread (please don't rehash it, anyone) -- just a suggestion for proper FT behavior going forward.

Posts 96/99 indicate name match from AGR to a FF account. Is there name match for CO to AGR?

miles confusion
 

my reason for being in this thread is because there MAY soon be a time when I need to be able to transfer miles doing this method.

My gripe with deals, promos and gigs like this one is this:

something kinda works, and kinda not really, or rather, it works, but the marketers or business partners do not know about a certain loophole so it only really works because someone in FT found it!

Things I have found in the FT that are like that end up like the whole charter one gift card debackle, where people cast blame on each other when that same deal changes or goes away.

But the fact is that the company or companies who put forth such deals or offers should really think them through thoroughly first, and that woudl prevent loopholes. That in turn would prevent problems, changes and drastic events that cause people to blame each other if and when the deal does alter over time.

I also know that deals change and no matter what we do, it is going to happen. I have a few example of this but I wont waste anyone else's time.

I am trying to be certain that the parts of this 3-way transfer deal I am planning to utilize will in fact work. hey, if I can find a loophole, that's great. In fact, like many good FTers, I look for and love them! But if it changes midstream, the only ones I have to complain to will be the partners or the airlines. And so I do.

If this deal changes or gets weird, so be it. I just hope I get my miles too, and that's why I keep printed records of everything I do til it posts.

hope that helps others.

Now, do we think this transfer gig will go forward into the new year?
:)MM

This is a great set of posts and very informative.
Thanks to all.

Still works! :p
Took about 10 days.

No Transfer Dec 17 - Amtrak to United
 

Amtrak points did not transfer to United as expected on Friday night. Did anyone have a successful Amtrak to United redemption quite recently?

Yes, I did. This past Friday night, 12/17, 20,000 United Miles appeared in my MP account from my latest Amtrak transfer. I have successfully transferred 50,000 miles - AMEX-CO-AMTRAK-UA - this year.

This transaction took longer than others - only 1 day from MR-CO; only 3 days from CO-AMTRAK, but almost 2 weeks from Amtrak-UA. Still, they posted. I have had no problems (knock on wood) with this process this year.

Colin,

Successful transfer AMX,CO,AMTRAK,UA-finished last week. 10,000

Second time this year.....Amtrak to UA slower than last time by a week.

Just Completed my 1st Successful Transfer
 

I requested a transfer from CO to Amtrak on Nov. 17th. That was completed within a couple of hours. Amtrak to United just showed up on my on-line statement, but show a posting date of Dec 8.

Thanks to FlyerTalk I was able to clean up 4,000 orphaned miles in my CO account by transferring 5K MR points to CO (taking advantage of the 1K promo transfer bonus) and then moving 10K into United through Amtrak.

Good luck and thanks to FT for this and all the other useful info I've gathered in my short time here.

CO -> Amtrak: One telephone call, no paperwork. Miles posted in Amtrak account within 48 hours. ^

Amtrak -> UA: One online form, no calls, no paperwork. Miles posted in UA MP within 1 week. ^

Looking forward to transferring another 25K on January 1. :cool:

I just completed a 15k transfer. C0 -> A GR -> UA. Took about week for Amtrak to transfer the miles. No sweat.
S

Okay, One More Time Please......
 

I have family accounts in United with 7,000 and 5,000 and in Continental I have 36,000 so I wanted to make more use of the United miles .....
please tell me if this works:
Looking to transfer 15,000 from Continental to Amtrak to United ( 7,000)
Also previous 10,000 Amtrak to United ( 5,000) 1:1 ratio
Any other suggestions to consolidate the United miles?

Thank you one an all and yes I have read through this thread but I am not a frequent flyer and need confirmation from people who have done this before I take any giant leaps....thank you all! :D

It works as easily as described here. But there is probably not enough time left to apply it towards the 2004 amtrak 25k limit.

I transfered 25k CO -> Amtrak last week (Weds I think). Showed up on Monday in my Amtrak Account. I transferred yesterday from Amtrak to Hilton. Showed up in my Hilton Account this morning. About 6 days total.

It's over, apparently
 

I spoke to a representative from AGR not long ago after I could not find the link to transfer to UA.

She told me they had received an e-mail earlier today stating that the partnership was over, effective immediately.

I guess I am out of luck. I had obtained the Amtrak MasterCard and had planned ot transfer points into UA, but never did. I wish they had given some notice. Perhaps I did not look in the newsletters, but was this announced anywhere? On the website, in one place it says it is a redemption option, but when you go to that page, only Continental and Midwest are listed.

No notice
 

There was no advance notice. This apparently is one of these things covered by "we reserve the right to end the program etc." at any time.

I guess I will be using my MBNA/Amtrak miles for a first-class cross-country sleeper car award on Amtrak now.

You have got to be kidding me, NJ. Do you really think this change came about because of some posts here on FT?! We're not nearly so important.

DHuey --

I would not reject the connection out of hand considering that the nexus between Mahastaman's posts and this occurrence is quite coincidental, don't you think?

In any event, like many of you, I am truly sorry to see this end, unlike some who have stated as much now, but who sang quite a different tune while the transfers were still possible.

In any event, I think that the old wartime adage: "Loose lips sink ships" cannot fully be dismissed.

NJ, they had no reason to kill the whole program if they didn't like the A --> X and B --> X routine. They could have hired a 12 year old to modify some code to prevent that from happening again.

Perhaps you are correct as we probably will never know what was the reason.

The only consolation I can take from this is that those who wished to prevent others from using this transfer oppotunity for their own selfish reasons have as a result of these turn of events been themselves precluded from using this transfer mechanism. Quite ironic, dontcha think!

Of course, I wish that these changes had never been implemented in the first place, unlike some on these boards.

I am not sure that the decision to drop UA is such a great loss, particularly given UA's precarious financial condition. AFAIK, you can still transfer CO miles into Amtrak, which can then be used for rooms at Hilton, Marriot and Ritz Carlton (mmmm!) Given the trends in airfares :td: and room rates ^ this may prove to be a blessing except to those (like me) who needed a few thousand miles to top off a pricey UA award ticket.

all deals come to an end. I have seen things change that no one else even ever found! It just happens. You all can cast blame on Ft or FW or some poster or two, and maybe some of that has merit, but what really stinks is not the fact that it changed, but HOW it changed! Why should we be upset with each other? I mean, the real culprit is those marketing persons who decided to just STOP the transfer abilities cold turkey. It is they you should all be writing to in great angst and haste. Yes, I would Cc a letter to Amtrak and United now, and get as many people on board as possible and demand explaination as to how and why they pulled the plug with the unexpected speed of a Tsunami.

Otherwise, jerks in the business will simply continue to pull this sort of thing over and over again.

MM