# UA CO and Amtrak



## coxm50 (Apr 30, 2010)

If Continental and United merge, will it still be possible to move points between AGR and the surviving airline, or will we end up with Onepass gone and no way to transfer points?


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## jis (Apr 30, 2010)

First and more pertinent question is how will it affect the two FF programs, i.e. how will they be merged. The Amtrak piece will be one of the various aspects that will fall out of that. If as is reported, the Continental CEO becomes the CEO of the new United then it is possible that things like Continentals special relationships with the likes of SNCF and Amtrak will survive. But there is no way to know for sure.


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## amamba (May 2, 2010)

Early reports are that the new merged company will keep the UAL name and have Chicago as its hub/base of operations, so I would assume that Onepass would go away. Of course it is possible that the UAL FF program will pick up the CO/amtrak relationship. Too early to tell, but I would start moving points soon from CO to Amtrak if you can.


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## jis (May 3, 2010)

The name of the new company will be United Continental Holdings, Inc. The brand name used will be United. The brand logo will be the Continental golden globe on blue background as it appears on the tail of Continental planes today. There seems to be a well thought out attempt to depict this as a true merger of equals.

The livery used will be the Continental one but with the United name! This is what it will be like:







BTW, the aircraft shown is a Boeing 787!


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## Steve4031 (May 3, 2010)

Wow!!! That is a huge branding change for United. And a complete image change for United. I wonder if this will lead to improvements in service? Which airlines operating philosophy will dominate?


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## jis (May 3, 2010)

More pertinent to the thread topic, so far they are saying that all existing bilateral relationships will be maintained as is. But one never knows until the fat lady actually sings, i.e. the merger actually closes and the new merged FF program is announced. Much speculation going on about what it will be called and what the elite level qualifications will be. but haven't seen Amtrak discussed specifically. My suspicion is that the Amtrak codeshares will continue and hence so will the linkage between the two loyalty programs, though the details might change drastically.


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## AAARGH! (May 3, 2010)

Maybe they will even expand it! Instead of just Newark code shares, maybe their other large hub with *many* trains each day:

*Chicago!*


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## Rail Freak (May 3, 2010)

I tried to call CO today. I was gonna transfer miles into AGR, but the 25-30 minute wait was a little much! I wonder if the lengthy wait was anyway connected to my reason for calling??? (Putting my easy earned miles into AGR'S Safe House!!!  )

RF


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## Rail Freak (May 3, 2010)

Just jumped to my E-Mail. CO/United e-mailed to say Alliance Partners & Miles Transfers are part of their future plans & "No Need To Worry" !!! (Where have I heard that before)

I wish them the best of Luck and Good Fortune!!!!!!

Even tho I prefer Rail, It's nice to have options!!!! :lol:

RF


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## Steve4031 (May 3, 2010)

I have about 9000 miles from united that would be nice to transfer to agr at some point.


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## jis (May 3, 2010)

Rail Freak said:


> Just jumped to my E-Mail. CO/United e-mailed to say Alliance Partners & Miles Transfers are part of their future plans & "No Need To Worry" !!! (Where have I heard that before)I wish them the best of Luck and Good Fortune!!!!!!
> 
> Even tho I prefer Rail, It's nice to have options!!!! :lol:
> 
> RF


And both Amtrak and SNCF are listed in the overall list of partners. So.... so far so good!


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## Guest (May 4, 2010)

Steve4031 said:


> Wow!!! That is a huge branding change for United. And a complete image change for United. I wonder if this will lead to improvements in service? Which airlines operating philosophy will dominate?


Come on now, there will be less competition so expect worse service and higher fares.


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## saxman (May 4, 2010)

Guest said:


> Steve4031 said:
> 
> 
> > Wow!!! That is a huge branding change for United. And a complete image change for United. I wonder if this will lead to improvements in service? Which airlines operating philosophy will dominate?
> ...


As if fares aren't already dirt cheap. 

I really hope they change the font on the "United" on the plane. It it really doesn't look good.

Another good thing is us Select Plus members might soon be able to not only enjoy President's Clubs but also United's club. (whatever they are called). So more clubs to enjoy throughout the system! Now if only Delta would join since I usually fly Delta.


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## jis (May 4, 2010)

saxman said:


> As if fares aren't already dirt cheap.
> I really hope they change the font on the "United" on the plane. It it really doesn't look good.
> 
> Another good thing is us Select Plus members might soon be able to not only enjoy President's Clubs but also United's club. (whatever they are called). So more clubs to enjoy throughout the system! Now if only Delta would join since I usually fly Delta.


I agree about fares. People have really gotten spoiled with low and unsustainable level of fares.

I suspect things like exact fonts will get ironed out as things move from a Photoshop exercise to actually painting planes. What is not going to change is the fact that the airline will be called United and that the tail of the plane will have the CO Globe.

I understand that the Clubs will get rebranded into a single something, i.e. there will not be two separate Clubs once the merger closes.

Speaking of additional choices, even just being in Star Alliance opens up weird choices. I was looking at award travel from Newark to Delhi and the cheapest award route that I found was EWR (AC) YYV (CA) PEK (CA) DEL!! Never mind that it takes 32 hours including a 10 hour layover in PEK, but it cost only 60K miles in Business Class!!! I passed on that and bought a paid ticket on the EWR - (CO) - DEL non-stop instead for a 14 hour trip.


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## Steve4031 (May 4, 2010)

I am probably spoiled by low fares from the past. My girl friend and I are looking at flights to Atlanta, and I was so annoyed with the higher fares, about 370 total for 2 people one way to ATL, that I considered flying to Nashville on Southwest and renting a car. The RT fare on Southwest was 364 for 2 people RT. However by the time you drive to ATL, and spend money on gas and meals, you lose the savings. We are going to use frequent flyer tickets to come back from ATL.


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## Brad C. (May 8, 2010)

Steve4031 said:


> I am probably spoiled by low fares from the past. My girl friend and I are looking at flights to Atlanta, and I was so annoyed with the higher fares, about 370 total for 2 people one way to ATL, that I considered flying to Nashville on Southwest and renting a car. The RT fare on Southwest was 364 for 2 people RT. However by the time you drive to ATL, and spend money on gas and meals, you lose the savings. We are going to use frequent flyer tickets to come back from ATL.



Did you look at AirTran?


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## the_traveler (May 9, 2010)

Rail Freak said:


> I tried to call CO today. I was gonna transfer miles into AGR, but the 25-30 minute wait was a little much!


For those who do not want to pay long distance phone charges to Houston to hear Musik for 25-30 minutes, there is a toll free number that goes to the *SAME PLACE*!

That toll-free # is

1-800-554-5522
​


I really don't trust the "business as usual" line that much - so I transfered 30K to AGR on Friday! (I'd rather lose 2K instead for 32K if they cut it off one day without - like the old United did!  ) I also transfered 50K to AGR for my sister's fiance!


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## Rail Freak (May 10, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> Rail Freak said:
> 
> 
> > I tried to call CO today. I was gonna transfer miles into AGR, but the 25-30 minute wait was a little much!
> ...


Thanx,

They picked up on the 2nd ring & I just transfered 20,000.

RF


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## the_traveler (May 10, 2010)

If you make the request by COB on Friday, the transfer is made by the following Monday morning. If not, it will be the following Monday morning.

*ALL* 80K that I transfered on Friday posted to our AGR accounts on Monday, May 10!


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## Rail Freak (May 10, 2010)

The agent told me that it would take 7-10 days to post????

We'll see! It will be interesting for those of us with CO Miles!!!

RF


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## the_traveler (May 10, 2010)

Rail Freak said:


> The agent told me that it would take 7-10 days to post????We'll see! It will be interesting for those of us with CO Miles!!!
> 
> RF


It's just the "Allow 3-4 weeks for automatic posting" (many post in 3 or 4 days) or "Allow 4-6 weeks for mailing"! 

Make the request on Friday by COB = 3 days

Make the request on Saturday = 10 days

The transfer is always made overnight on Sunday!


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