Question
I just called to transfer miles from my MBNA Amtrak card to my United ff acct. and the woman informs me that I can only transfer 25,000 miles per year. What the f---?!?!?!?! I've got over 60,000 on this account so it'll take me 3 years to get the miles out.
Looks like I have to go back to First Bank's UA card, unless someone has another suggestion.
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Originally posted by MUC Flyer:
I just called to transfer miles from my MBNA Amtrak card to my United ff acct. and the woman informs me that I can only transfer 25,000 miles per year. What the f---?!?!?!?!
There are dozens (and I do mean dozens) of FT threads discussing the Amtrak transfer limit.
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well, if we could look back into the 2002 archives you would see that I researched this on Flyer Talk before getting the card. Maybe I didn't read very carefully....
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Is it 25K miles total transfers, or 25K to United and 25K to Hilton, etc.
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Originally posted by MUC Flyer:
well, if we could look back into the 2002 archives you would see that I researched this on Flyer Talk before getting the card. Maybe I didn't read very carefully....
It was changed at some point - the 25K limit wasn't there originally. I think they had a problem with some "charging whales" getting the card as a proxy for a United or Continental card in order to save the annual fee of those cards, and doing nothing related to Amtrak (either as redeemers or paid passengers) other than move the points to another program. Once again, people setting the rules for a frequent guest program failed to anticipate just how resourceful many of us are at figuring out the best deal. It's kind of like how water always seeks its own level.
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Thanks for the clarification Steve.
Are there any good deals out there for a UA freq. flyer, or must I go back to First USA?
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Originally posted by MUC Flyer:
Are there any good deals out there for a UA freq. flyer, or must I go back to First USA?
For a Visa/MC, if the limitations of Amtrak don't work for you, then probably not. The main alternative that works well in terms of earning RATE capability (but unfortunately not acceptance outside of T&E) would be Diners Club (www.dinersclubus.com), which not only lets you transfer points to UA at least at an effective rate of 1 mile per dollar spent (and quite possibly one sale a year with a 25% transfer bonus, but I don't remember for sure, you'd want to search the Diners Club forum here on FlyerTalk to see if United is one of those they do that for), plus you get 12k bonus miles the first year for signing up and (if you ask) you're likely to get several k bonus miles at least some other years for renewing.
For many other airlines, the other (and even more popular) option would be the Starwood Amex, but unfortunately for United they offer only a 2 dollars to 1 mile ratio, even though for most other airlines they're 1:1 (and 20% better if you transfer 50k at a time):
http://www.starwood.com/preferredguest/starpoints/transfer_ff_checkRoc.html
(And the regular AMEX doesn't support United at all, so that's completely out.)
That leaves just hotel and general point programs where you can do transfers, but I don't think there's any of them that do even AS WELL as the Starwood, even with United's 2$:1mi ratio at Starwood. (For example, at Priority Club you only get 4$:1mi!)
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Join the club! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I'm on year 2 of transferring my useless Continental points to Amtrak then to United.
I'll be free and clear next year.
Oh well, it's the karma of a free card. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif
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Although it's not exactly what you're looking for, be aware that Amtrak is having a 20% off "sale" on point redemptions for two or three zone travel (i.e. transcontinental travel) through the end of April.
An added bonus is that (I believe) the sleeper rewards are valid for two people--which makes them an even better value. Obviously, this is a very different use than converting the points for airline miles, but it is an option to consider...