Bilt and AA Are Breaking Up

Bilt continues to evolve, with big changes—some good, some bad—over the past 12 months or so. Recently, though, we got some very, very bad new: as of June, Bilt members will no longer be able to transfer their points to American Airlines.

AA has some great redemptions, especially (and as relevant to us) to Japan. Sadly, I have enough Bilt points in the bank for one AA-funded trip to Japan, but not enough for both of us, so I might not be able to take advantage of that great award chart one last time. If you have a big stack of Bilt points lying around and were hoping to use them for a trip, you might want to transfer them before its too late.

Not all is lost, though! Bilt is now partnering with Alaska Airlines, whose award chart to Asia is as good or better than AA’s. More on that coming soon. Their distance-based chart may be less forgiving for east-coast based travelers hoping to get to Asia, so consider whether it makes sense to use them with AA now or hang on to them for a later redemption on Alaska.

Bilt points can also still be transferred to valuable partners like United and Hyatt, and regularly offers large transfer bonuses to various transfer partners, so it’s still possible to use them for great travel deals, and their 1.25¢ value on the Bilt travel portal means you will always have a decent fall-back plan even as transfer partners come and go.