Convert United/Continental Airline miles to Amtrak (1:1)

Hopefully this is a good deal for some of you, who like me have plenty of united airline miles and travel along the northeast corridor a lot. A coach amtrak one way ticket in the northeast region (anywhere between DC and Boston) is 3000 points, and is typically priced between 70-100 dollars, valuing those points at 2.3-3.3 cents each. This is considerably higher than I can usually get from my airline points, plus amtrak points are more convenient (easy refunds/changes and you can buy any ticket for 3000 points at any time, even 30 minutes before the train).

Of course the northeast corridor is served well by very cheap buses, but sometimes trains are way better - faster, more comfortable, more dependable, more consistent (especially during rush hour on fridays!), and safer. If you don't find value in taking the train this isn't for you.

Steps:
1. If you want to transfer continental points skip this step. Transfer united points to continental here [continental.com]. Make sure you use the exact same address and name when you setup the two accounts. Transfer in blocks of 5000 points
2. Call continental's onepass number at 713-952-1630 and request the transfer to amtrak. They only do transfers in blocks of 5000, and it can take up to ten days for the transfer to go through. It took me about 3 days.

The reason I'm posting in this forum is the ability to do this may not last much longer - continental points are merging with united at the end of 2011, at which point the ability to transfer to amtrak may end.