# united air/continental merger



## guest (Mar 28, 2012)

Has United made any announcements as to wether they will let us switch our united points to AGR points on a one to one basis yet?


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## PRR 60 (Mar 29, 2012)

guest said:


> Has United made any announcements as to wether they will let us switch our united points to AGR points on a one to one basis yet?


Neither United nor Amtrak have said anything about restoring points/miles transfers.


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## jis (Mar 29, 2012)

PRR 60 said:


> guest said:
> 
> 
> > Has United made any announcements as to wether they will let us switch our united points to AGR points on a one to one basis yet?
> ...


I suspect that there is no further negotiations going on and we have got what we will get.

Originally the AGR program was setup to gain competitive parity with airlines on the NEC, and in order to attract airline passengers transfer of points from AGR to Continental One Pass was put in place so people could use Amtrak earned point to fly to far away places like they could with their airline earned point. The number 500 for Acela was also set to align with the minimum that one got from airlines for any segment, which was 500. The city pairs for 500 points was also aligned with only those that truly competed with airlines for significant traffic, and not others.

Now that Amtrak has 77% of the air-rail market NYP - WAS and 54% of the air-rail market NYP - BOS, I suspect that Amtrak does not face a pressing need for that sort of competitive parity, so they choose to not worry about going through the song and dance to administer the convertibility feature. The airlines really don't have much to gain by that particular feature anyway.


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 29, 2012)

So did _any part_ of the old reciprocity agreement survive, or did both companies completely wash their hands of it?


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## jis (Mar 29, 2012)

Texas Sunset said:


> So did _any part_ of the old reciprocity agreement survive, or did both companies completely wash their hands of it?


The Codeshare from United to Amtrak for Philly, Stamford and Wilmington through EWR is still in effect. And on the codeshares one can collect wither Amtrak or United points/miles AFAICT. Saw the Codeshare listings on the departure board at EWR Terminal C yesterday. Gate is listed as RAIL and there is a surprisingly large number of them, like 6 or 8 in each direction, each is listed with a UA flight number. Also the reciprocal use of Amtrak Clubs and United Clubs is still in effect. Please correct me if I am wrong or missing something.


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## PRR 60 (Mar 29, 2012)

jis said:


> Texas Sunset said:
> 
> 
> > So did _any part_ of the old reciprocity agreement survive, or did both companies completely wash their hands of it?
> ...


Mileage Plus members can directly earn miles using Acela between NYP and selected Boston and Washington destinations: 500 miles for Business Class and 750 miles for First Class. Reservations require calling Amtrak and providing the MP number.

From United:



> Earn 500 award miles per Business class segment or 750 award miles per First class segment on Acela Express trains (no connecting flight required) between New York's Penn Station and the following train stations: Boston's South Station, MA; Boston's Back Bay Station, MA; Boston's Route 128 Station, MA; Washington D.C. For reservations for the Acela Express markets listed above, call Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL and be sure to provide your MileagePlus number to receive award mileage credit.


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