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Holy Schmoly Guacamole. Bilt Rewards will be the only program to have Alaska Airlines as a 1:1 transfer partner…that’s a massive deal. Alaska miles are some of the most valuable in the industry and they recently became a full fledged member of One World meaning you can redeem on American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, the list goes on and on. ( I am a Bilt Investor and Senior Advisor btw ).
But they didn’t stop there.
Use an Alaska Airlines credit card to pay rent in the Bilt App and earn 3x Alaska Miles ( with a 3% fee )
This is nutty. As part of the partnership, later this year, if you have an Alaska Airlines credit card you can pay your rent with it, up to $50k a year, and earn 3x Alaska miles. WOW, WOW, WOW. Paying rent with a credit card and incurring no transaction fees was unprecedented, but now integrating other credit cards into the app to earn their points on rent? That’s a double game changer. It’s like the movie Inception, they changed the game inside a game changer.
- Alaska Airlines is now a partner of Bilt Rewards
- Later this year, load your Alaska Airlines credit card onto the Bilt App and earn 3x on Rent, up to $50k
- Note that a 3% fee will be charged, so you’re effectively buying Alaska Miles at a penny a piece ( i’d value them around 1.5c, maybe bit more )
How does using the Alaska card count toward Bilt status?
- Long story, short, it doesn’t count
- Just like rent paid via Bilt – the spend doesn’t count towards the spend requirement of status
- And because you’re choosing to Alaska Miles vs Bilt Rewards you don’t earn any points toward status either
Bilt Rewards Transfer Partners
- Note that American will be dropped in June
Alaska Airlines Award Charts
Americas
Flights here in the Americas aren’t really that attractively prices unless you’re popping down to South America where you can hop in business class for 35k to 60k. That’s a darn good deal.
Asia Pacific
- Business Class
- to Japan is 75k
- Taipei/Hong Kong/SE Asia 85k
Europe/ME/Africa
- Business Class to most of Europe is 55k to 70k depending on routing and if you’re flying from East Coast or West Coast
- First Class from Dallas, ORD, East Coast is 82.500 ( which is a pretty darn good deal )
Overall
If I had to choose between having American Airlines or Alaska…I’d take Alaska all day every day. They still publish an award chart and their partners are outstanding. Well done Bilt.
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
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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 Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $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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