Bilt Rewards transfers to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles now live
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt advisor and investor.
Bilt Rewards has been shaking things up in the points and miles sphere. The program gives you the unique ability to earn points on rent payments and "interest" on your unredeemed rewards balance.
But what makes Bilt Rewards points so valuable is their flexibility. Points can be transferred to nine useful airline and hotel loyalty programs, including American Airlines AAdvantage, Turkish Miles&Smiles, World of Hyatt and more.
Back in March, Bilt announced that it was adding two more airline partners to the mix: United MileagePlus and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. United transfers launched immediately, while Asia Miles transfers finally went live May 4.
The information for the Bilt card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bilt's newest transfer partners
As with Bilt's existing partners, transfers are at a 1:1 ratio and in 1,000-point increments.
Based on our tests, transfers from Bilt are nearly instant, and that's also the case for MileagePlus and Asia Miles. The only exception is AAdvantage, which may take up to 24 hours.
Related: The company that lets you earn points on rent is reinventing itself
As with Bilt's other partners, you'll earn 100 bonus points simply by linking your loyalty programs to your Bilt Rewards account.
While not necessarily groundbreaking, these are certainly welcome additions to the Bilt Rewards program.
United is a member of the Star Alliance, while Cathay Pacific is in the Oneworld alliance. Although you can already book cheap Star Alliance awards through Turkish Miles&Smiles, you'll avoid paying fuel surcharges by booking through United. So, if you're booking a Lufthansa business-class ticket to Europe, for example, it could make more sense to redeem 77,000 miles and $5.60 through United than 45,000 miles and $500-plus through Turkish.
You may also be able to travel more for fewer miles with United's Excursionist Perk. Plus, if you have a cobranded United credit card, you'll have access to additional saver-level award availability that you might not find through other Star Alliance partners.
Similarly, you may be able to score lower surcharges on British Airways awards when booking with Asia Miles than booking through American Airlines. That said, you'll generally find lower award rates through American Airlines AAdvantage. Related: How to avoid fuel surcharges on award travel
Bilt's existing transfer partners
Bilt Rewards now has nine airline transfer partners and two hotel partners. They are:
- American Airlines AAdvantage.
- Air Canada Aeroplan.
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
- Emirates Skywards.
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles.
- IHG One Rewards.
- Turkish Miles&Smiles.
- United MileagePlus.
- World of Hyatt.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to have the Bilt Mastercard to participate in the Bilt Rewards program and earn points on rent. However, your landlord must be in the Bilt Rewards Alliance of partner properties to earn points without having the cobranded credit card.
Related: Should you pay your rent with this new credit card? We crunch the numbers
Bottom line
It's great to see Bilt Rewards add two new transfer partners. Now, the program transfers to 11 airline and hotel loyalty programs.
While that isn't the largest roster of transfer partners, it is one of the most robust transfer partner lineups in the industry. Bilt points transfer to several airlines and hotels that either partner with no or very few other flexible points programs. Bilt is also quite unique in that it's the only major points program to partner with two of the three largest U.S. airlines.
If you need additional United miles, the program is also a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards. Meanwhile, Asia Miles is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One and Citi ThankYou Rewards. But as always, do the math to see if these redemptions are worth transferring points for, as you may get better value with Bilt's other partners.