Bilt Rewards is adding two exciting new transfer partners, including United Airlines MileagePlus and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. With the addition of United, Bilt now offers transfers to two major U.S. airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines, making it an even more valuable program.
United Airlines MileagePlus Now A Bilt Rewards Transfer Partner, With Cathay Pacific Asia Miles To Come
Bilt Rewards Alliance is a collection of over two million rental homes across the country that lets you earn points by paying rent. Bilt Rewards Alliance allows you to use your points to travel, pay rent, workout, or even put a downpayment down on a house, though the best use of your points is transferring to airline or hotel partners.
There are two ways to earn points: the Bilt Rewards program allows qualifying U.S. renters to earn rewards each time they pay rent through the free Bilt app. If your landlord is part of the Bilt Rewards Alliance, you can use any credit card to earn Bilt points by paying your rent through the Bilt app.
Renters can also apply for the Bilt Rewards Mastercard to pay rent directly and earn Bilt points for other transactions like dining (three points per dollar) or travel (two points per dollar). The card has no annual fee.
But the heart of the program is rent. Not all landlords allow tenants to pay rent using a credit card. Those that do often pass on a credit card processing fee of 2-3%. The beauty of Bilt is that even if your landlord does not even accept credit cards, you can still pay rent using your Bilt Rewards Mastercard via the Bilt app and Bilt will send a check to your landlord, scoring you free points for renting.
This is a superb value-proposition.
Airline and hotel transfer partners include:
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France/KLM FlyingBlue
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Emirates Skywards
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- IHG Rewards
- Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
- United Airlines MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- World of Hyatt
The new United partnership is live today while the Asia Miles partnership will go live next month. Both are advantageous in their own way, with United offering more access to its own flights (Air Canada Aeroplan is generally the superior program for partner award bookings) while Asia Miles offers attractive redemptions on Cathay Pacific and British Airways (lower fuel surcharges).
With Citi Thank You not currently offering American Airlines as a transfer partner, Bilt is looking increasingly attractive to me (I own my home, but this is like a premium credit card without the annual fee).
CONCLUSION
Bilt Rewards has added United Airlines MileagePlus as a transfer partner and will soon add Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. These two partners make Bilt an even more valuable proposition.
I use Bilt and they’ve just added another convenient feature. Instead of mailing a check they now offer routing and account numbers in the app – so you can use your building’s online portal to pay rent.
I don’t suppose Bilt can cut a check to a mortgage lender?
One can dream! (I do too – that would truly be a game-changer).
So do you think this is a replacement for the Chase Sapphire Reserve for a UA flyer?
Could be, though I love Priority Pass restaurant benefits with Chase. Why are you considering dumping the Reserve?