# Which Frequent Flier program gives AGR?



## Texan Eagle (Jan 9, 2012)

I have been getting a lot of contradictory information about this on the net, figure out this would be the best place to ask- is there any airline as of today (Jan 2012) whose frequent flier program allows miles to be converted to AGR points and vice versa, or any way to book Amtrak tickets using airline miles?

Possibly off-topic for this forum, but since we are at this, can someone suggest which is the best frequent flier program among the various Star Alliance airlines for a not-so-frequent traveler? I have 27K miles on US Airways but I want to use them up for one free flight once and be done with it and move to a better program. I have a trip coming up that will give me around 15K miles on Star Alliance, so I want to make an account on either United or Continental (or Lufthansa is that's better in any way) and give that FF number to start accumulating points anew. Also I am considering getting one of those credit cards that give 25,000 etc bonus miles on sign-up but can't figure out which airline's/Amtrak's card to take to get the best offers. Anyone using any of these services, please give your opinions.


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## Ispolkom (Jan 9, 2012)

Texan Eagle said:


> I have been getting a lot of contradictory information about this on the net, figure out this would be the best place to ask- is there any airline as of today (Jan 2012) whose frequent flier program allows miles to be converted to AGR points and vice versa, or any way to book Amtrak tickets using airline miles?


There is no airline that presently allows direct transfers of miles to AGR points.


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## jis (Jan 9, 2012)

Texan Eagle said:


> I have been getting a lot of contradictory information about this on the net, figure out this would be the best place to ask- is there any airline as of today (Jan 2012) whose frequent flier program allows miles to be converted to AGR points and vice versa, or any way to book Amtrak tickets using airline miles?


No airline allows transfer of points to AGR effective 1 Jan 2012.



> I have a trip coming up that will give me around 15K miles on Star Alliance, so I want to make an account on either United or Continental (or Lufthansa is that's better in any way) and give that FF number to start accumulating points anew. Also I am considering getting one of those credit cards that give 25,000 etc bonus miles on sign-up but can't figure out which airline's/Amtrak's card to take to get the best offers. Anyone using any of these services, please give your opinions.


Continental is United. No point in getting a Continental account now, even if you could. Only legacy Continental accounts live on until the merger of the two plans in late March. All United accounts will get new Continental like numbers since those 8 character numbers will become the new United MileagePlus account numbers. Those that have Continental accounts will carry over their Continental numbers as their United MileagePlus numbers.

Again, no transfer of points from Continental or United frequent flier program to ARG.

BTW, Lufthansa is worse because it is somewhat more restrictive in how many points you get from specific fare classes. Also beware that in order to get status on United MileagePlus one must fly at least four segments on United iron in the year. Without that no matter how many miles you credit to United MileagePlus you will not get status.


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## amamba (Jan 9, 2012)

If you are thinking of getting a credit card and want to accrue amtrak points, consider either the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Some folks have mentioned that the sapphire card right now carries a 50K bonus when you open the card, which can then be turned into AGR points or I believe also other types of rewards.

The AGR mastercard gives you 1 pt for every dollar spent and transfers directly from chase to your AGR account each month.


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## saxman (Jan 9, 2012)

Up until December 31st, you could transfer CO OnePass miles into AGR points at a 1:1 ratio. But with the merger the OnePass Miles program has ended, and you can no longer transfer miles into AGR points. It's still up in the air about whether or not a program will continue with the new United Mileage Plus. Did I hear correctly that you can earn AGR points when taking United, in lue of getting United miles? Or maybe I heard that wrong. Hopefully something can be worked out, but as for now, no transferring miles to AGR points exist. You can, however, still transfer points between hotel programs, and rental cars. I get AGR points when I rent from Hertz, and when I stay in Wyndham Rewards hotels. Hilton Hhonors has a pretty good program as well, where you can earn both Hhonors points AND AGR points for the same stay.


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## AlanB (Jan 9, 2012)

saxman said:


> Did I hear correctly that you can earn AGR points when taking United, in lue of getting United miles? Or maybe I heard that wrong. Hopefully something can be worked out, but as for now, no transferring miles to AGR points exist.


I'm not sure if that's 100% confirmed, but last I knew they were indeed planning/hoping to continue the code share with Amtrak and the ability to earn either AGR points from a flight or United/Continental points from an Amtrak trip.


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## jis (Jan 9, 2012)

AlanB said:


> saxman said:
> 
> 
> > Did I hear correctly that you can earn AGR points when taking United, in lue of getting United miles? Or maybe I heard that wrong. Hopefully something can be worked out, but as for now, no transferring miles to AGR points exist.
> ...


Things are a bit confusing at present. There still are the two old pre-merger programs. The new merged program starts sometime in late March or early April. All statuses from the last year have been extended till the inception of the new program in both the pre-merger programs. All the cross plan agreements that apply to the new program have not been announced yet. And the old agreements that existed between the CO program and Amtrak I believe is still in existence regarding cross accrual for the duration of the old program, though I won't bet on it. At present I don't believe you can get AGR points for flying on United using the pre-merger United MileagePlus program. As I said it is possible that you can accrue AGR points if you are flying primary CO flights, though I am not sure about this. And what will happen in the merged program is still up in the air AFAIK.


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## Shanghai (Jan 10, 2012)

jis said:


> BTW, Lufthansa is worse because it is somewhat more restrictive in how many points you get from specific fare classes. *Also beware that in order to get status on United MileagePlus one must fly at least four segments on United iron in the year. Without that no matter how many miles you credit to United Mileage Plus you will not get status.*


Does this apply to Million Mile Flyers who have received Lifetime Premier Executive Status?


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## jis (Jan 10, 2012)

Shanghai said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > BTW, Lufthansa is worse because it is somewhat more restrictive in how many points you get from specific fare classes. *Also beware that in order to get status on United MileagePlus one must fly at least four segments on United iron in the year. Without that no matter how many miles you credit to United Mileage Plus you will not get status.*
> ...


No. This does not apply to Million Mile Flyers, for having their default Premier status. In the new program, Million Mile Flyers for 1 Million have Premier Gold, 2 Million have Premier Platinum, 3 million have Premier 1K, and 4 Million have Global Service, irrespective of whether they fly at all or not in a year, for the rest of their life.

However, this does apply if you wish to travel enough EQM in a year to get say a Premium Platinum status while being a 1 Million Miler, which would be above your default Premier Gold. This means that you cannot fly 75k EQM on Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines for example and get Premier Platinum. You would need to fly at least the requisite number of legs on United iron.


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## sechs (Jan 10, 2012)

I think the path now will be to get your miles into one of the hotel programs that allows transfers into AGR.

Transfer loss bloodbath to follow....


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## rrdude (Jan 11, 2012)

sechs said:


> I think the path now will be to get your miles into one of the hotel programs that allows transfers into AGR.
> 
> Transfer loss bloodbath to follow....


But if you have status with SPG, isn't that a one-to-one to AGR?


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## MisterToad (Jan 11, 2012)

rrdude said:


> But if you have status with SPG, isn't that a one-to-one to AGR?


Anyone can transfer 1:1 from SPG to AGR in 5000 point increments.

https://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/transfer/partners/detail.html?IndustryType=TRANSPORTATION&PartnerCode=AMTRAK


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 11, 2012)

MisterToad said:


> rrdude said:
> 
> 
> > But if you have status with SPG, isn't that a one-to-one to AGR?
> ...


But is there a way to get existing airline miles into SPG (so that they can be then transferred to AGR) with or without loss of points? If yes, from which airlines?


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## sechs (Jan 11, 2012)

To my knowledge, no airline transfers to SPG. I think HHonors will convert from a couple airlines.


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