Bilt has come out with some big news—the opportunity to transfer your Bilt points to Japan Airlines on March 1st. This is the first Bilt Rent Day for a lot of new Bilt 2.0 cardholders.

It’s a pretty exciting because it can be hard to accumulate Japan Airlines miles since Bilt points are the only transferable currency that offer a 1:1 ratio to Japan Airlines (Capital One only transfers at a 1:0.7 ratio).

What’s the 25%-125% transfer bonus from Bilt to Japan Airlines?

Bilt is offering the following transfer bonus rates for these Bilt status levels:

• Blue: 25% bonus

• Silver: 50% bonus

• Gold: 75% bonus

• Platinum: 100% bonus

Even if you only have Blue loyalty status with Bilt, you will still get a 25% bonus! That means if you transfer 25,000 Bilt points to Japan Airlines on March 1st, you will get 31,250 Japan Airlines miles.

And if you have the highest tier of Bilt status (Platinum), you will get 50,000 Japan Airlines miles after transferring 25,000 Bilt points. That’s double the Bilt points you are transferring out! Because of the transfer bonus, it will end up being a transfer ratio ranging from 1:1.25 to 1:2 (depending on your Bilt status level).

You can also use Bilt Cash to upgrade your transfer bonus rate by one tier (for March 1st only)—You will have to use $135 of Bilt cash to do this.

And if you are a Platinum member, you can use $135 of Bilt Cash to upgrade from a 100% transfer bonus to a whopping 125%.

Is upgrading your transfer bonus worth doing?

Since you have to pay $135 Bilt Cash to activate the 25% increase in transfer bonus, it depends on two key variables:

1. How many points you’re transferring

2. How much you value Bilt Points

This is because there are several other ways you can use your Bilt Cash:

• 1:1 credit redemptions for Lyft, Grubhub, dining experiences, etc

• Converting against housing payment for points

• Points accelerator

However, not all options are built equally. For example, if you’re transferring just 25,000 points with this promotion and you value Bilt Points at 1.55 CPP, there is a clear heirarchy in terms of what’s the best to worst (mathematically):

What else is offered for the March Bilt Rent Day promotion?

For March 1st only you will also get extra Bilt points on non-rent spending (done on March 1st). It’s limited to 1,000 Bilt points of earning but it’s still an interesting promotion.

• Bilt Blue cardholders will earn 2 points per $1 spent on all purchases (up to 1,000 points)

• Bilt Obsidian cardholders will earn 6 points per $1 spent of their selected category dining OR grocery (up to 1,000 points) (note the $25k/year limit applies for the base grocery earn)

• Bilt Palladium cardholders will earn 4 points per $1 spent on all purchases (up to 1,000 points)

1,000 points isn’t a ton of points but it’s still worth using this card on March 1st to take advantage of these outsized earn rates.

Should I transfer my points to Japan Airlines even if I don’t have a flight planned?

I would be careful about transferring your Bilt points to Japan Airlines if you do not have a flight planned since Japan Airlines miles expire after 36 months. If you are sure that you will go to Japan within the next year or two it’s not the worst idea. However, you might end up wanting to use the Bilt points for another rent day promotion or just simply transfer them out to another transfer partner. If you move a ton of points to Japan Airlines then they are stuck there.

My recommendation would be to keep your options open. If you have Bilt points, odds are that you have other transferable points (like Chase points or American Express Membership Rewards). You would be able to transfer those points for Japan flight options like transferring to United via Chase or transferring to Air Canada via American Express.

Personally, I am a Bilt Rewards member but I am not a cardholder. I have some Bilt points via my Rakuten earning and I’m a Blue status member. I would like to transfer my Bilt points to Japan Airlines for a potential Japan trip but I am hesitant. My favorite transfer partner via Bilt is Hyatt and there’s too much risk for me to transfer my Bilt points to Japan Airlines when I have no idea if my Japan plans will materialize.

Final Thoughts

If you have an upcoming Japan trip planned and just need to book the flights, Bilt’s 25%-125% transfer bonus for the March Bilt Rent Day is fantastic. If you are still thinking about taking a trip to Japan but haven’t planned most of it, I wouldn’t make a speculative transfer of Bilt points to Japan Airlines. It limits your options because Bilt has a ton of other transfer partners.

Are you planning to transfer some of your Bilt points to Japan Airlines?