First, credit for originally bringing this to Flyertalk goes to ClimbGuy, he originally posted a derivation of this strategy in this thread, but I thought a more broad thread was in order since this has much greater implications than just a credit card sign up bonus as he originally posted about.

The basics of this deal are that you can now convert 5,000 Amtrak Guest Reward (AGR) points to 15,000 Choice Privileges (CP) points. A few notes about the AGR to CP transfer:

• Effective 12/1/07 - Exchange rate reduced to 15,000 CP points from 25,000 CP points for 5,000 AGR points
• Effective 1/1/08 - You must be an Amtrak Elite Level member or have an Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard to make the AGR to CP transfer).
• You can only transfer a maximum of 25,000 AGR points for basic accounts or 50,000 AGR points for Select (Amtrak Elite Level) accounts per calendar year.

15,000 CP points then can be converted to 6 Southwest (WN) Rapid Rewards (RR) credits (Effective 12/1/07 - You may only transfer from CP to RR if you've had a stay since 1/1/06 or have used a CP Visa card).

How do you get AGR points then? Well, you could travel on Amtrak ...

Alright, now that the laughter has died down, you can also transfer Continental (CO) and Midwest (YX) miles to Amtrak at a rate of 1 to 1. So, 25,000 CO or YX miles is 25,000 AGR points is 75,000 CP points ... is 30 WN credits. To transfer from CO to AGR, you must call the OnePass Service Center at (713) 952-1630, their hours are 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM Central Time Monday-Friday.

As ClimbGuy pointed out in his thread this is quite a boon on something like 20,000 CO miles for signing up for their credit card (comes out to 40 WN credits).

This is also useful for converting from American Express (AMEX) or Diners Club (DC) points to WN, much better than direct conversion into WN, so now 5,000 AMEX or DC points will convert to 6 WN credits instead of 4. Also be on the lookout for AMEX or DC point conversions to CO or YX. For instance, when DC has a 50% bonus on YX transfers you would get 17,000 DC points -> 25,500 YX miles -> 25,000 AGR points -> 75,000 CR points -> 30 WN credits. (Makes the 18,000 DC points -> 1 free RR reward promotion (and only 12 credits towards CP instead of 16) DC usually runs annually seem pretty weak!).

Anyway, there are lots of possibilites, but I did think this deserves a general thread for future discussion.

Additional Notes:

FT member pshuang has summarized transfer timing here.

Some historical notes added by nsx:

On December 6 Amtrak halted conversions to Choice at least temporarily. People who have already requested conversions will likely receive the number of points they expected, but Amtrak appears to be delaying completion of these conversions.

On December 11, points from Amtrak began vanishing from Choice accounts. This may be the first documented case of a program mass-reversing transactions already completed. It's a new low for Amtrak and its program operator Carlson, but it would not have been possible without the cooperation of Choice Privileges, who may have been misled by Amtrak.

On December 14, Amtrak will re-open the option to transfer points to Choice, presumably at the 5k to 15k conversion rate. This option will end on December 31 unless you are an elite member or you hold an Amtrak credit card. See this Notiflyer article for the news. This is a remarkable turn of events. Amtrak deserves praise for resolving the situation positively within less than 2 days. Very few programs in such a situation have had the maturity to do the right thing so quickly.

As of December 17, FT member lostInspace reported: "I just spoke to a CSR at Amtrak trying to do the same. This is my first time calling Amtrak and I just had 20000 points from CO post this morning. I only have one account and have not done any prior transfers. I was told that an audit was being done at the moment, it would take 4 weeks and NO transfers would be done to Choice before the 1st of the year for ANYONE." Amtrak's actions are not measuring up to its words to Randy.

On December 19, FT member khtc reported: "I just initiated a new transfer from AGR to Choice. The points came over from CO last week. No fuss, no muss on the transfer. No probing questions. CSR was polite and professional and the call was quick. As expected, the points were debited from the AGR account immediately." Subsequently lostInspace reported success, as did others.

This means that you will probably be able to transfer Amtrak to Choice until the end of the year, provided that the account names match and that they are for real people. In 2008 you will need an Amtrak credit card, which as one FTer pointed out provides positive proof that the account holder is not a fictitious person. And as of now you need a Choice credit card or a Choice hotel stay to transfer Choice points to Southwest. Will this deal still be alive at the 5k:15k rate in January? Who knows?

On May 8, FT member soitgoes posted: As of May 1, AGR has apparently added yet another restriction on outbound transfers from their program. You need to have used your Chase AGR credit card to purchase at least $200 of Amtrak train travel in the past year. Note that no notice was given as far as I can tell. I stumbled across it when PointsGalore mentioned it in another thread. More info at http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=821703

The Amtrak program has a nasty habit of eliminating redemption opportunities with minimal to no notice. Don't trust them. Move your points out of there as soon as they hit your account.

As I told a co-worker who is doing this, I would do the whole thing as quickly as possible, I fear that someone may pull the plug on this pretty quickly, though the AGR -> CP piece is the newest piece and possibly the one most at risk, I'm not sure if it would be Amtrak or Choice would might put an end to it (possibly by raising the redemption rate for CP points).

IMHO, the Choice -> RR conversion is the one that's unreasonably generous and at risk of devaluation at the end of this year.

I agree. It sure is a great conversion rate...so you might as well max out the 20k AGR -> 100k Choice -> 40 RR while you can.

What other ways can you convert directly to Choice? Also, dose Choice have a cap on how many points can move to RR in a calendar year?

Great tip! This may save me from blowing another Saturday on a mileage run.

If you find yourself with excess points in your Amtrak account you can always transfer to Hilton, as I have been doing annually (though for some reason held off this year - I must have had a sixth sense about this offer!) The AGR:HH ration is 1:2, which isn't horrible, particularly if your points originated in the nonepass program.

Additional tip: To transfer miles from CO call 713-952-1630 and choose option 4. Be sure to emphasize that you are transferring to Amtrak not another CO account (I almost jumped when they told me there was a $15/1K fee, but that does not apply to Amtrak transfers).

https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/i...ategory=redeem

One option is to convert Starwood Starpoints into Amtrak at a 1:1 rate, see http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...nerCode=AMTRAK

Wow, this sounds like a great idea. Thanks, Beckles!

Oddly enough I have some AGR points sitting around (from actual train travel) and was going to have to leave some orphan SW RR credits. Hope the AGR -> choice -> SW transfer posts before my SW credits expire in a few weeks.

Planning to open a Choice Privileges account this weekend -- anyone want to refer me? I can't promise when I'll stay with them, but whenever I go, we each get an extra 500 points. If you're a member and want to refer, please PM me.

Thanks again!

Sent you an email.

Thanks.

Thanks SAPMAN!

Incidentally, if anyone is planning any actual Amtrak travel, AGR has a double points promotion until 12/14.

Thinking of creating an account as well, would anybody give me a referal? not sure when I will stay with hotel, but as csky217 says, it never hurts to sign up via referal :-) thanks in advance

PM sent!

Looks like it takes 1 business day for the CP account to activate.

Edit: Actually, less than an hour for activation. I'd be happy to refer anyone else who's interested.

Because CO -> AGR transfers are reportedly run first thing every Monday morning and there is some concern these transfers could be devalued with little or no warning, I would suggest waiting until Friday afternoon/evening to request CO -> AGR transfers since it doesn't matter when you request them, they all post on Monday morning.

Unless CO cuts off the opportunity to redeem for AGR.