It’s Bilt Rent Day,
There’s a lot of buzz about today’s transfer bonus from Bilt to Japan Airlines (JAL) where you can get up to 125% bonus depending on your Bilt status and if you boost your bonus with Bilt Cash. However, I think it’s important to not make a rushed decision and I wanted to provide a voice of reason around the transfer bonus. On one hand, JAL’s award program has more award space for JAL flights. However, the good rates are very difficult to find. JAL also has great award rates for partner airlines as well. But JAL miles also expire on the last day of the 36th month (3 years) with no opportunity to reset the expiration.
So, before you jump into transferring potentially all of your Bilt points and in general with any speculative transfer - ask yourself is it worth the opportunity cost and do you feel experienced and flexible enough to make it work? Don’t do it just because you see others doing it.
For the JAL transfer, the odds of you finding that 55k JAL business class saver award on the new A350 are pretty low… take a look at the award calendar availability between DFW-HND. Not one date, except a last-minute March flight, is less than 100k points one-way. JFK is the same.
Because of JAL award scarcity, I personally think the best value and practical use for JAL miles is for booking partner awards.
Source: JAL
Summary of Bilt Rent Day bonus to JAL
There is a great rent day bonus for Bilt members to JAL. This bonus is only available today - March 1. Only 3 programs transfer to JAL and Bilt is the only program that transfers 1:1 (Marriott 3:1 and Capital One 4:3). With a 25-125% transfer bonus on top of 1:1 transfer rate, there’s some good value to be had if you have a redemption in mind and can find availability.
The transfer bonus is based on your Bilt status, similar to prior transfer bonuses.
Blue (everyone): 25% bonus
Silver: 50% bonus
Gold: 75% bonus
Platinum: 100% bonus
Plus use $135 in Bilt Cash to increase your bonus by 25% (25%→50%, 100%→125%, etc.)
Important JAL program quirks to know before transferring
First, you usually need to have an account open for 60 days before you can even search for award flights, let alone book them. However, it appears this requirement is shortened to 7 days if you transferred points in from Bilt or Capital One. If you haven’t created an account, you can do so on JAL’s site and click on “Menu” on the top right, “Mileage Bank" heading, then “Enrollment”. You should probably do this now if you haven’t, even if you don’t plan on transferring any points today.
Second, any miles transferred will expire on the last day of the 36th month you transferred or earned your points. There are currently no ways to extend the expiration date. So if you transfer today on March 1, 2026, your miles will expire on March 31, 2029.
Third is JAL technically has restrictions on only being able to book award flights for yourself or close family members. Is it enforced though?
Source: JAL
JAL sweet spots
In addition to having additional award availability on JAL's own flights, there are some great sweet spots to book partner awards for other Oneworld airlines or partners like LATAM, Air France, and Emirates. View full details of JAL’s partners here.
Emirates business class between JFK-MXP one way is 60k JAL miles and ~$100 in tax/fees (4,001-6,000 miles bracket) vs. booking through Emirates for 87k miles and $400+ in tax/fees. Booking a round-trip through JAL would be 85k miles and around $250 in tax/fees (8,001 to 10,000 miles bracket)
Iberia business class between BOS-MAD one way is 42k JAL miles one-way (2,001-4,000 miles bracket) and a round-trip is a slight discount at 80k JAL miles (6,001-8,000 miles bracket).
British Airways business class between PHL-LHR is 42k JAL miles one-way and ~$200 in tax/fees (2,001-4,000 miles bracket) and a round-trip would be 80k JAL miles and ~$845 in tax/fees which is still better than booking through partners.
JAL business class as low as 55k miles + $200 in tax/fees (very hard to find) one-way. More likely to find 70-110k awards.
Other readings on JAL mileage bank
Thrifty Traveler details on round-trip bookings
Reddit guide on JAL Mileage Bank
Pros and cons for transferring to JAL
These views are my own and everyone’s situation and points & miles philosophy is different. But I think these are important points to consider if you are speculatively transferring points to JAL. You may also want to research JAL award availability by using JAL’s award calendar (guide here on JAL’s site). Note that their calendar doesn’t show real-time results and is about a day delayed. But it can be helpful in giving some color on how difficult it is to find a good saver award.
Pros
1) Better availability for JAL award flights
2) Great pricing for Oneworld and other partner awards, especially for round-trip awards.
3) Up to 125% bonus is extremely rare and only Bilt has offered these types of bonuses in the past
4) Bilt points are easier to get now due to Rakuten transferring to Bilt ($1 Rakuten cash back becomes 100 Bilt points) for everyone for the May 2026 transfer. Otherwise, those without Silver or better Bilt status will get a reduced rate of $1 Rakuten cash back becoming 500 Bilt points (1:2 rate). So you can get Bilt points fairly easily without a Bilt card for a few more weeks
5) Only costs 3,100 JPY (~$20) to change/cancel an award ticket
Cons
1) Hard to find the 55k JAL business class saver awards. Usually they are 70-110k and leaning more heavily to the 100k+ cost
2) JAL miles expire after 36 months, no chance to extend
3) Opportunity cost of not having Bilt points to transfer to other programs, particularly for programs only Bilt transfers to (Alaska)
4) Risk that JAL devalues their award program. They recently had two transfer bonuses for Capital One and now a very-hyped transfer opportunity from Bilt. More points in an ecosystem means more chance for devaluation
5) Probably more competition for scarce awards as many people likely taking advantage of recent transfer bonuses from Capital One and Bilt
6) JAL has family rules so you technically aren’t supposed to book for non-family members.
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About Find Flights for Me.
I started the idea of Find Flights for Me back in 2023 to help educate and inspire people to use their credit card points more effectively, with a focus on using points to fly business and first class flights.
When I’m not working on Wall Street or searching for flight deals, you can find me planning for my upcoming wedding, enjoying local restaurants, helping my parents book their next trip, traveling internationally, or visiting friends/family in NYC, Philadelphia, or DC.