Laundering points through Amtrak.
Need to top off your United Mileage Plus account? Did you know you can transfer Continental and Midwest Express miles into United miles, 1:1? They don’t advertise it this way, but here’s how it works. Open an Amtrak Guest Rewards account. You can transfer Midwest Express miles and Continental miles into your Amtrak account. You can then transfer these Amtrak points into United miles. This all should be done in 5000 point increments.

You can also transfer Continental —> Amtrak –> Midwest Express. However, you can not transfer United –> Amtrak, so you can’t turn your United miles into Continental or Midwest Express miles.

Now is a good time to get rid of any Midwest Express miles you may have. Starting October 1, it will take 25% more miles for a free ticket (20,000 increased to 25,000).