Find Flights for Me Recap: Week ending 11/30/25

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Today only, Bilt members can get a 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways, depending on your Bilt status. So, should you participate?

This is a personal question, maybe even philosophical. Most of us probably don’t have a lot of Bilt points, at least yet (hello Rakuten!). However, a 50-100% bonus sounds really neat, especially for such a great program like British Airways (book Qatar, Finnair, JAL, Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, or LATAM to name most of them). You could book an Iberia business class flight from the US-Madrid for as low as 27k Bilt points with a 50% bonus, or only ~21k points with a 100% bonus!

But, what if I told you that you could essentially buy British Airways points for as low as 1.2 cents per point as long as you have some other form of transferrable currency (Amex, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo). There is a method called British Airways Avios Booster, which lets you buy miles for as low as 1.2 cents per point for recent transactions. Points transfers to BA count as recent transactions. For more details in blog format, check out Award Wallet’s post here. Miguel is a BA Boost pro and helped write the article. Or check out my Instagram slide post about it as well. You can boost (buy) up to 300k Avios per calendar year.

Credit cards also have 20-30% transfer bonuses to British Airways or other IAG airlines what feels like every other month. (Miles Mastery tracks the history).

Now with that in mind, would you give up a fairly scarce transferable currency that has 1:1 transferability to unique and, in my opinion, valuable programs, such as JAL and Alaska Airlines? Again, this is where personal philosophy comes into play and reminds you to remember why Bilt points are valuable (surely not because they transfer to Avios), makes you think about opportunity cost, and whether you want to pony up some cash (by buying points) for this hobby.

Earn cash back in the form of American Express or Bilt points every time you shop online at major retailers, including Nike, Saks, Lululemon, Ulta, Sephora, and 3,500+ more stores. Strategically, this is probably the time to open a new credit card to meet the minimum spending to get a nice sign-up bonus (SUB) this holiday season too.

Rakuten is a cash back portal where merchants pay Rakuten to send online traffic to a merchant’s online storefront. Customers get a cut of Rakuten’s commission in the form of cash back (or points). You still shop directly with the online retailer, still get the retailer’s own discounts, and can stack credit card offers as well.

Click here to sign up: New members can earn a bonus $50 in cash back (worth 5k in points) after spending $50 in 90 days. Make sure to sign up today! (Affiliate link).

Note: Rakuten will pay out 1:1 to Bilt through the May 15 payout period (so February 15 and May 15 payouts). So every $10 in cash back will be paid out as 1,000 Bilt points. Then, you will need to have Bilt status to continue receiving a 1:1 payout, otherwise it drops down to 2:1 (every $10 in cash back becomes 500 Bilt points).

I am sure there are others, and if there are, please reply to the email and let me know, since I think these types of things are silly and fun. I hesitate to call these “Easter eggs” as they aren’t really hidden - but more so not really known.

On Seats.Aero for example, you can view what user # you are based on how early you created an account. Apparently, I am #5076.

You can view this by logging into your account, clicking on “Account”, then viewing your User Rank below.

Another one that I am surprised hasn’t been shared much is American Express passport. It’s a digital collection of stamps that you can view and earn based on when you use your Amex card in a different country! If you sign up now, Amex will use transactions in the last two years to build your passport. Additionally, if you collect a stamp from another country, you can then visit your passport and add notes about the trip including your favorite meal, what you remember most about the trip, and exact dates of your trip.

Right now, it looks like this is mobile only. If you are in the Amex app, click on “Account” on the bottom left navigation, then scroll down to where it says “Settings”, then choose the “Try New Features” option. You should then be able to view your Amex Passport.

Here is a quick checklist of reminders for things to potentially do before the end of the calendar year. Not all of these will be applicable for everyone, but just a nice reminder of things to think through.

There are a handful of dates between Chicago and Tokyo (both HND/NRT) that have JAL first-class award availability in late October through November 2026. Some dates even have 2 seats. Currently, both Chicago flights are on the 777, so it is the old first class. These dates were pulled at 5am ET on 12/1.

Here’s how much it costs to book.

British Airways: 123.75k points + ~$200-237 in tax/fees one-way. $55 change/cancel fee
Cathay Pacific: 135k points + ~$200-237 in tax/fees one-way. $120 cancel fee or $50 change fee
Japan Airlines: 125k points + ~$196-237 in tax/fees one-way. 3,100 JPY change/cancel fee

Credit cards that transfer
Amex: British Airways, Cathay
Bilt: British Airways, Cathay, JAL
Capital One: British Airways, Cathay, JAL (1 to 0.75 afterwards)
Chase: British Airways
Citi: British Airways (by transfer to Qatar first), Cathay
Wells Fargo: British Airways

And here is the availability and # of seats

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