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Bilt Rewards keeps on adding valuable transfer partners to its list. It’s latest, Japan Airlines, will be its 16th airline partner and 21st overall. One thing to keep in mind, and it’s a very important element of JAL’s program, Japan Airlines does not allow you to redeem miles if your account is fewer than 60 days old. Bilt has done some incredible work to give their members a shortcut, and your account needs only be open for 7 days, but this is unlike any other program out there. With that said, it behooves you to create a JAL account if you don’t have one, so that, in the event you move some miles, you’ll be eligible for redemption. Miles will still be deposited in 10 minutes.
This is a great get for Bilt since no other program has JAL as a transfer partner and Japan is one of the hottest destinations. JAL also releases more award space to their own members which means you’re much more likely to find some great seats via their own program than say booking via AA ( like I did to fly JAL first class ).
All of the Bilt partners
JAL’s award chart changes June 10th, 2025
JAL is marking up their award redemption prices on 6/10/25 – you can see them here
Here is a look at first class Europe and US to Japan if you book before 6/10/25. Their new A350-1000 is simply divine.
And then If you book after
business class is still a helluva good deal and let’s be honest… biz ain’t too shabby!
Overall
This is an improvement to the program undoubtedly.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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