Bilt Rewards lets you earn miles paying rent with any credit card – not just the Bilt card. Soon they’ll offer points for paying mortgages, too.
Bilt is out with news that they’ve added Southwest Airlines as a transfer partner. Outside of hotel programs, previously only Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Southwest.
Southwest Airlines recently devalued Rapid Rewards and you no longer receive fixed value for your points. Sometimes you’ll get just around a penny apiece towards travel. Most of the time it doesn’t make sense to transfer from Bilt to Southwest!
- You can book travel through Bilt’s portal, that includes Southwest flights, and you’ll get 1.25 cents apiece towards your tickets. And then you’ll earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points and status credits for your flights.
- There used to be a reason to transfer to Southwest to top off an account for an award, but since they introduced cash and points redemptions this year you no longer need all of the points in your account for an award. You can pay part points and part cash. So a key use case for transfers is gone.
- However, Southwest does still sometimes give you higher value for redemptions, especially on flights seemingly lightly booked. And booking through third parties versus Southwest directly can yield different fares. So compare what Southwest is charging in points on their website versus the current cash fare (and points-equivalent through the Bilt portal) because sometimes there’ll be an edge for transfers.
The addition of Southwest brings Bilt up to 19 transfer partners, which outpaces Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One:
- Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles & Smiles, United Airlines MileagePlus, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Iberia Plus, British Airways Club
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Southwest Airlines, Aer Lingus Aer Club
- Hotels: World Of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless
Air Canada Signature Class
Bilt Rewards is a must join program. I use it to quadruple dip on Lyft rides, it got me free airport helicopter rides this year, and my Bilt status gives me Air France Gold and Accor Platinum status.
I’ve had Alaska Airlines Gold status, and taken advantage of 150% points transfer bonuses to both Virgin Atlantic and Air France KLM. Their transfer bonuses are unrivaled. And I’m told to expect “exclusive promotions and capabilities [with Southwest] very soon.”
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