RAILrewards.com
Rail Travel Rewards
Earn & Redeem Frequent Traveler Miles
http://www.trainweb.com/accounts/railrewards/

The following explains various ways in which you can earn and redeem frequent traveler miles on Amtrak and VIA Rail. In addition to Amtrak's own Amtrak Guest Rewards program, there are various other airline and credit card rewards programs where points can be used for Amtrak travel.

On any program, each reward point is worth roughly one cent. Thus, when you earn one point for each dollar spent on a credit card, you are getting approximately 1% in value back on your dollar. You will find that some rewards programs offer $50 Amtrak travel certificates in exchange for 5000 rewards points. Generally, you will get more value by exchanging large numbers of points for entire one-way or round trips. But, if you check how many points each Amtrak trip requires, you will find that it usually comes close to each 100 points being roughly equal to $1.00 in rail travel.

Amtrak Guest Rewards: Info / Join / Amtrak Travel Rewards / Credit Card

You can earn Amtrak Guest Rewards Mileage Points for travel on any Amtrak train and redeem the points for travel on any Amtrak train. There are also other ways to earn and redeem mileage points. Click the Info link above for more information. You can also earn mileage points with an Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard. Click the Credit Card link above for more information.

Alaska Airlines: Info / Join / Amtrak Travel Rewards / Credit Card THIS PROGRAM ENDED July 15, 2007

You can earn Alaska Airline Mileage Points for travel on Amtrak's west coast trains including the Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Capitols, San Joaquins and Cascades. You can redeem Alaska Airline Mileage Points for travel on these same trains. You can take a round-trip in a Standard Sleeper on the Amtrak Coast Starlight for as little as 20,000 Alaska Airline Mileage Points! Taking a round-trip any distance in a Standard Sleeper on the Amtrak Coast Starlight will earn you at least 4,000 Alaska Airline Mileage Points. You can also earn mileage points with an Alaska Airlines VISA credit card. Click the Credit Card link above for more information. THIS PROGRAM ENDED JULY 15, 2007.

Continental Airlines: Info / Join / Amtrak Travel Rewards / Credit Card

Mileage Points earned with Continental Airlines can be transferred to the Amtrak Guest Rewards Program for travel on Amtrak and vice versa, one for one. The following is a direct quote from near the bottom of the January 17, 2002 Amtrak News Release: "Members of both frequent traveler programs will be able to exchange points and miles between the two programs." Click here to read the full text of that news release. You can also earn mileage points with a Continental Airlines Mastercard or VISA. Click the Credit Card link above for more information.

Click on any of the following links for more features of the Amtrak/Continental codeshare program:

• PRNewsWire Mar 8, 2002
• Amtrak News Release Jan 17, 2002
• Amtrak Convenient Connections: Continental Airlines

Diners Club Mastercard - Club Rewards Info / Join / Amtrak Travel Rewards *** NEW! ***

Diners Club provides a MasterCard on which you can earn Club Rewards points. Club Rewards points can be transfered one for one into Amtrak Guest Rewards points. Thus, 1000 Club Rewards Points = 1000 Amtrak Guest Rewards Points.

Hilton HHonors: Info / Join / Amtrak Travel Rewards / Credit Card

You can either redeem your Hilton HHonors points for travel on Amtrak, or you can transfer your points into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account. Click here for information on direct Amtrak travel rewards. Click here for information on exchanging points between the programs. You can exchange points in either direction. Hilton HHonors actually features a way to do direct exchanges of points with many airlines and credit cards in addition to the exchange feature with the Amtrak Guest Rewards program. Thus, it is theoretically possible to transfer points earned from many sources into the Amtrak Guest Rewards program using Hilton HHonors as a conduit. If I understand what I've been told about how the program works, Amtrak ends up with some actual cash when you move your points into the program, so I don't think they would mind you moving your points in from other sources.

VIA Preference (VIA Rail Canada): Info / Join / VIA Rail Travel Rewards / Privilege & Premier

VIA Preference points are earned by the purchase of rail travel on VIA Rail in Canada and can be redeemed for rail travel on VIA Rail in Canada. There is currently no method of exchanging mileage points between the VIA Preference Program and the Amtrak Guest Rewards Program. I am also not aware of any partnership programs between VIA Preference and any airline mileage programs or any credit cards that earn VIA Preference miles.

Special Note:

Points that have been earned on many airline and credit cards can be transferred into your Amtrak Guest Rewards program. The various methods for doing this is beyond the scope of this page, and it does not work for all rewards programs. For example, it is possible to transfer American Express Membership Rewards into a Continental Airlines Rewards Program and then transfer those points from the Continental program into the Amtrak Guest Rewards Program. So, even though American Express does not offer a method to directly transfer their points into the Amtrak Guest Rewards program, it is possible to do so using Continental as a conduit. American Express does offer $50 Amtrak Travel Certificates for 5000 Membership Rewards points, but I have often found that you get a better deal obtaining a full one-way or round trip by redeeming the total points required for the trip. Keep in mind there are also a number of airline and credit card reward programs that do not allow the transfer of their points at all. Instead, you can only use your points to obtain tickets on recognized travel partners and the tickets are obtained without an actual transfer of points into the travel partner's rewards program