For the second time in just over a month, Bilt has added another travel transfer partner to its stable. After adding Marriot Bonvoy to the line-up in November, the company has now announced a partnership with Avianca Airlines. Like all current Bilt partners (ignoring the bonus Marriott Bonvoy offers on some transfers), Bilt Points will transfer to Avianca Lifemiles at a rate of 1:1.
If you’re unaware of Avianca, they are the national airline of Colombia. With its hub in Bogotá, the airline offers flights to several Central and South American destinations. However, the airline is also a member of the Star Alliance — meaning that Avianca Lifemiles can be used to book flights on a number of other airlines.
To that point, in their blog post announcing the Lifemiles news, Bilt also shared some examples of what these points could be used for. First, members could fly economy to Europe on Avianca for as low as 20,000 Lifemiles. Meanwhile, with United being a Star Alliance member as well, domestic United flights could be booked with as few as 7,500 Lifemiles. Alternatively, for those wanting something a bit fancier, Lufthansa flights to Europe in first class can be booked for as little as 87,000 Lifemiles, while flights to Europe and Brazil in United Polaris begin at 63,000 and 50,000 Lifemiles respectively.
Even if you don’t have any plans to fly Avianca or use Lifemiles, you may still want to open a free account. That’s because Bilt is offering 100 Bilt Points to members who link their Lifemiles account to Bilt. FYI, similar bonuses are available for other Bilt transfer partners as well.
Interestingly, the addition of Marriott Bonvoy and Avianca Lifemiles to Bilt comes as Wells Fargo is expected to announce its own set of point transfer partners early next year. What does that have to do with Bilt? Well, the bank currently issues the Bilt Mastercard, leading to speculation that the Wells Fargo transfer roster will likely be quite similar. If that is the case, perhaps Wells was able to convince more brands to come aboard ahead of the larger rollout.
Despite having travel cards for a few years now, I’ve still only made a couple of small redemptions. Moreover, those point transfers were made directly to brands I was already familiar with. In other words, I have yet to actually try an advanced award booking — which is essentially what I’d need to do in order to personally make use of Avianca Lifemiles. But, as always, I’m a fan of more options, so I’m happy to see Bilt’s transfer partner list growing. Plus, while 100 points isn’t much, I’ll definitely take the free points as well.