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In November, we saw the program add Marriott, and now Avianca has been added as Bilt Rewards 15th transfer partner! My oh my, the program just continues to get better and better and better. You can earn points on rent, we’ve gotten multiple 100% transfer bonuses for Rent Day, a dining program that you can stack with other programs, no annual fee, the list goes on and on. I signed on to Bilt Rewards as a senior advisor and investor over 2 years ago now and I have to say, they’ve blown any expectations I’ve had out of the water. I look forward to what 2024 holds, have heard some insider rumbles of what’s to come, and I think y’all are going to be VERY happy with what’s in stow.
Unfamiliar with Avianca’s Lifemiles program…you’re probably not alone
Avianca can provide excellent access points to Star Alliance award inventory. You can also use them on AeroMexico and Iberia. I do want to point out that the online booking system can sometimes be clunky, and customer service is hit or miss.
Should you transfer?
Totally depends – it can be a resounding yes when you’re accessing business or first class awards, or short haul economy in the USA, but at other times, you may want to look at other partners.
Avianca point sales
You can see what the latest one is here, but if you don’t have enough Bilt Rewards in your account to make a full Avianca LifeMiles redemption, you can often buy LifeMiles with a very good bonus. Sometimes there is even a transfer bonus between Avianca LifeMiles accounts, meaning you may be able to transfer 10000 Bilt Rewards to get 10,000 LifeMiles, then pay a transfer fee to move another LifeMiles account, and get 25,000 LifeMiles, etc depending on the bonus. You could then book from that account.This opens up ways to expand the use of your Bilt Rewards that you may not be aware of.
Note that United, Aeroplan, and Avianca LifeMiles are all partners of Bilt Rewards, but Avianca prices business class from the US to Europe on United at the lowest amount of miles: 63k ( 70k for Aeroplan and 80k for United ).
Here’s a look at Avianca’s award chart
This chart is unpublished now, but seems to still be accurate.
Sweet Spots include:
- US to Europe in Business Class for 63k
- US to Europe in First Class for 87k
- US to North Asia in Biz for 75k
- US to North Asia in First for 90k
- US to South America in Business or 50k
- US domestic economy for 7500
Mixed Cabin trips are where its at!
As I noted above, one of the sweet spots is booking First Class between Europe and the US for 87k miles. However, Avianca gives its loyalists a break when their entire itinerary isn’t in the same cabin. Here’s a look at an itinerary from Paris via Munich to Los Angeles in Lufthansa First Class. Since the first leg is in economy the price is knocked down to just 83,200. 
Overall
Bilt Rewards continues to provide value to their customers offering more options for redemption!
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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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, 2027.
- $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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