I don't like the idea
of building up an Amtrak
balance, the program has too big a history
of making changes with no advance notice whatsoever — whether changes to who their partners are (United dropped out overnight), changes in their redemption rates (making train redemptions more expensive) or changes to their rules (restricting transfers out
of the program to elites only)-- that I simply don't trust them
as a
store of value.