Find Flights for Me Recap: Week ending 11/9/25

I swear I am not trying to spam you with Rakuten or Bilt-related news but they keep finding themselves in the headlines. One month ago, Rakuten mistakenly leaked that you could earn cash back in the form of Bilt points. The details were quickly removed but now the launch is live and Rakuten cash back earned can now be paid out as Bilt points. This is a great addition to also being able to be paid via check, Paypal, or Amex points (if you have an Amex points earning card). Maybe this is a response to Rove’s strategy of being a points cash back portal that doesn’t need a credit card.

There are some caveats…

For the first six months, all Bilt members, regardless of status tier, will earn points at a 1:1 ratio. So every $10 in cash back will be worth 1,000 Bilt points. After six months (May 6), the conversion ratio will depend on your Bilt status tier.

For the lowest-level Blue member, the conversion ratio will become 1:2, so every $10 in cash back will be 500 Bilt Points. Silver, Gold, and Platinum Bilt members will still keep the 1:1 conversion ratio. This is also subject to change.

With Rakuten paying out quarterly (Nov. 15, Feb. 15, May 15. Aug. 15) , it implies only 1 transfer window period to get the 1:1 payout (Feb. 15) if you only have the basic Blue Bilt tier.

How to change payment option to Bilt points?

First, if you don’t have a Rakuten account already, I would greatly appreciate if you used my referral link as we both earn $50 in cash back/points. My referral is better than Bilt’s current $25 referral offer as well.

If you already have a Rakuten account, you will need to log in or create a Bilt account and link the accounts from the Bilt app (instead of usually updating settings through Rakuten). You don’t need a Bilt credit card to make a Bilt account or to earn Bilt points. On the Bilt app, the front page should let you connect your account. Although the link says “Create account & link”, you can still link an existing account. Just make sure both emails match or you will run into issues…

Also you can now freely switch between different payout options. So if you just want to take advantage of the 1:1 ratio for the first quarterly payout period (Feb. 15) and change it back to Amex, you can freely do so. Recall that once you chose Amex as a payout and switched it to something else, you were not able to switch it back to Amex. That has now been resolved!

Why I am switching my payouts from Amex to Bilt

Although these awards are primarily in economy, they can still provide great value.

Alaska Airlines is offering up to 50% off award travel. Book by Nov. 11 and travel between now and March 30, 2026. Details can be found here. In addition to cool international routes starting at 30k points one-way, you can get some pretty good deals on domestic flights too including US-Hawaii flights starting at 9k one-way.

American Airlines is also having an award sale that runs until Nov. 16 for flights between January 12 to February 28. The deals also center around economy awards. Again, some potential good value including 35k round trip flights to Europe or 40k to Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. Don’t forget, you can 1) cancel an award flight for free and 2) check for reasonable cash upgrade offers.

Chase now has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic between Nov. 7 to Nov. 21 then the bonus drops to 30% between Nov. 21 to Dec. 5.

The program has a lot of award sweet spots from economy to first class flights including crowd pleaser ANA business and first class. However beware of their new-ish $100 cancel or change your award flight.

Virgin Atlantic sweet spots (before bonus). One-way costs.

Ouch, Qatar Airways is now charging for seat selection for saver business class awards. It looks like the change went into effect for any bookings made on 11/3 and later. Seat selection fees are also non-refundable according to the terms. It also looks like the change hasn’t been fully implemented, as Qatar still markets free seat selection when booking a saver fare with points…

Until you get to the pick a seat option. Where Qatar will ask for a non-refundable $100+ seat selection fee.

How to waive the fee?
1) Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald status can pick seats for free. However, I do not think you can add a non-Qatar frequent flyer number when you are booking online. Instead you will have to chat or call Qatar customer service to have them add a different Oneworld airline frequent flyer number (AA, British Airways, Cathay, etc.)

2) Book a flexi fare instead of a saver fare. These costs 2x more Avios…

3) Roll the dice and choose seats at online check in.

Vietnam Airlines has some good business class availability next September and October. I may have missed if there was a change as partner airlines did not used to show up using the calendar trick. It’s a great way to quickly find availability. More about the calendar trick can be found here (Frequent Miler).

Book these business class flights starting at 95k points +$243-280 in tax/fees each way on Air France. Or you can book with ANA for 68k miles and $6-45 in tax/fees each way. Note that points transfers to ANA can take up to 3 days and in my experience are never instant. Points transfers to Air France are generally instant.

Need help finding deals? (affiliate link)
Check out seats.aero, a search engine for all things award travel. View award availability for flights for the next 60 days for free. But subscribing unlocks a full year of availability and helps you get the edge over others. You can also set alerts, get access to an invite-only Discord community, and find hotel award availability (this one is free for all).