The Exciting Alaska-Bilt Partnership
Tl;dr: Alaska’s reliable and valuable award chart is ideal for lazy travelers looking for value.
In the aftermath of Bilt’s split from AA, the best card out there is now teaming up with another OneWorld airline, Alaska. While the loss of AA stings, I’m excited to finally have the opportunity to make some Alaska redemptions.
(Before we move on, make sure to link your Bilt and Alaska accounts in the Bilt app for a free and easy 100 Bilt points!)
Why is the addition of Alaska so great? Three main reasons: (1) the deals are good, (2) the deals are easy, and (3) there are bargain opportunities.
Good deals
No matter where you live, you can probably find a good deal on an Alaska award flight, but I think they are particularly valuable for West Coast-based travelers like me. With Alaska’s distance-based award chart, I can get to Asian destinations like Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and even Australia for just 75k miles. Vietnam and Singapore are only 85k miles. Argentina, Colombia, and Chile can be reached for 60k miles or less. Or we can fly to Los Cabos for 15k miles. Almost all those redemptions entail less than $100 in taxes and fees ($150 for Sydney, $120 for Buenos Aires, and $115 for Los Cabos).
With the distance-based chart, East Coast-based travelers are probably better off going to South America or Europe. For instance, you can fly from DC to Lisbon or Charlotte to Madrid for 55k miles. And at 85k miles, a flight from DC to Tokyo is not unreasonable (the cheapest cash price available on that flight in the next six months is $1,250).
Easy deals
This is LazyPoints. Sure, you could transfer your Bilt points to Avianca or FlyingBlue or Virgin and scour the internet that perfect flight that wrings just a little extra value out of your points. But you'll need some hard work and good timing.
Meanwhile, the deals I mentioned above are just kind of always there. Availability is limited, so it’s easier to find the dates if you want if you book early and/or are willing to fly midweek. But if I’ve got 75k Alaska miles I can go to Japan. Or Taiwan. Or Argentina. If I have a relatively flexible schedule I can just hop on the website any time and I’ll be set. I don’t need to wait for a mileage sale to drop in my lap.
Bargains
That said, Alaska has kindly decided to start dropping mileage sales in our lap. If you’re willing to hold off to see what the quarterly sales are and fly in the prescribed window, you could snag even better deals, like a 40k-mile roundtrip to Fiji (that’s a $750 flight).
Conclusion
Alaska’s MileagePlan offers a great mix of reliable, high-value options and the occasional mega-sale to stretch your miles even further. It’s a great complement to Bilt’s already-strong collection of transfer partners and redemption options, and helps keep the Bilt Mastercard as the #1 card out there in my opinion.
If you want to check it out, our referral link is HERE.