50% Off Turkish Award Tickets From New York and Beijing

Turkish Miles&Smiles is offer 50% off economy award tickets from New York and Beijing which means you'd only need 15,000 Turkish miles for a one-way ticket. You must book by December 23, 2023 and travel between January 16 and May 31, 2024. Dates between March 27 and April 15, 2024 are excluded.

Bilt Rewards Updates Status Requirements, Adds Milestone Rewards

Disclosure: I serve on an advisory board for Bilt. These are my thoughts and they have not been reviewed or endorsed by Bilt.

Bilt is revamping the requirements to earn status and the ways in which you can earn status. Until now, you've earned status based on the number of points you've earned from your Bilt Card spend including rent payments.

Going forward, you'll earn status based on non-rent card spend or points earned during the year. You'll also earn spend on a linked card to Bilt Dining, SoulCycle classes booked via the Bilt app, and if you've linked Bilt to your Lyft account even if the linked card isn't the Bilt Card.

2024 Status Requirements

• Blue: Default status
• Silver: $10,000 non-rent card spend or 50,000 points (previously 25,000 points)
• Gold: $25,000 non-rent card spend or 125,000 points (previously 50,000 points)
• Platinum: $50,000 non-rent card spend or 200,000 points (previously 100,000 points)

Milestone Rewards

Bilt will continue to offer tiered transfer bonuses based on your elite status. However, they will be launching Milestone Rewards (not unlike their partner Hyatt) for every 25,000 points you earn. Right now, we don't have specifics on what will be included in these Milestone Rewards.

Points Wire Note:

In 2023, the major benefit to Bilt status was larger transfer bonuses and those transfer bonuses were amazing. However, that was the only practical benefit to earning status. Sure, you could transfer a minimum of 1,000 points instead of 2,000 points, but how many people actually transfer so few points?

Given that they've made status tougher to earn going forward, it will be interesting if that will be offset by valuable Milestone Rewards. How they handle that aspect will play a big role in how I feel about status being tougher to earn.

They at least have a history of coming up with fun promos so I'm cautiously optimistic they'll come up with something useful.

Important context: Loyalty programs are focused on creating something that 99% of society will like. If you're reading Points Wire, that places you in the 1% of credit card users. That makes you impressive, but you're also part of a small segment of their customers.

El Al Now Bookable With Delta SkyMiles

Award Wallet: "Generally speaking, the pricing is a mixed bag. Award tickets to and from the United States — like on most Delta partner airlines — don't make sense to book unless it's a last-resort situation. Each U.S. gateway features similar pricing, give or take a few thousand miles depending on the class of travel. Business class awards are the most steep, coming in at 320,000 SkyMiles each direction."

Points Wire Note:

Business class award award rates with Delta SkyMiles rates are atrocious on itineraries that start or end in North America. If you want to get decent value for an aspirational award ticket, use your SkyMiles for flights that start and end outside North America. For example, a one-way business class ticket on El Al between Tel Aviv and Bangkok is 70,000 SkyMiles. Not bad for 11 hours.

Amex 30% Transfer Bonus To Hilton

You can get a 30% bonus when you transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors. The standard transfer rate to Hilton is 1:2, so this makes it 1:2.6. Hilton points are worth about 0.5 cents per point.

Must transfer by December 31, 2023.

Points Wire Note:

It's not worth it, especially if you use points and miles for business and first class flights. When you need Hilton points, you'll often be better off buying them during a 100% bonus promo.

Etihad Might Be Restricting Partner Award Space With 60-Day Rule

One Mile At A Time: "Unfortunately in recent months, it seems like actually redeeming partner miles for travel in Etihad premium cabins has become more challenging. At the time, I couldn’t figure out any rhyme or reason to when space was bookable with partner programs, and when it wasn’t. It looks like some trends are emerging, in the form of a possible new 60-day rule."

"American AAdvantage seems to have access to Etihad GuestSeat availability for first class and business class, but only within 60 days of departure."

Points Wire Note:

Air Canada Aeroplan continues to only see economy award space on Etihad.

Aeroplan Can Book Oman Air Flights Again!

One Mile At A Time: "In 2019, Air Canada Aeroplan and Oman Air launched a partnership. Unfortunately for the past many months, Aeroplan hasn’t had access to Oman Air award availability."

"There’s a positive update on that front — Oman Air awards are once again bookable through Aeroplan. You’ll find the availability directly on Air Canada’s website, and there’s space in all three cabins, including first and business class."

"I’m curious to see what happens with the Air Canada Aeroplan partnership when Oman Air joins oneworld. There’s nothing that precludes the airline from working with Air Canada and also working with oneworld airlines, though that’s not to say that this will necessarily happen."

Points Wire Note:

Aeroplan points are easy to earn as you can transfers Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, and Chase Ultimate Rewards. If you have the Aeroplan Credit Card, you can get a 10% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards points.

Earn Avios At Duty-Free Stores In Spain

Award Wallet: "Iberia Plus has a new partnership, letting you earn Avios for duty-free shopping at various Spanish airports. To take advantage of this new partnership, you must first register and install the Dufry App and then present it at checkout when checking out at an eligible World Duty-Free shop in Spain."

"Once you link your Iberia account with Red by Dufry, you can receive a 250 Avios bonus when you make your first purchase. To earn the bonus, you must first register, link your account, and complete your first eligible transaction."

Points Wire Note:

You can combine Avios between Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar Airways (plus Finnair in March 2024). However, to move Avios to/from Iberia, your Iberia account must have been open for more than 90 days. If you haven't yet, create an Iberia account just in case.

IHG One Rewards Struggles With Confirmable Suite Upgrades

Loyalty Lobby: "IHG has struggled to roll out all the promised benefits properly, especially when it comes to Confirmable Suite Upgrades and Food & Beverage Rewards."

"The email that IHG sent out on Sunday was firm that these suite upgrade certs could be used towards award reservations, but IHG told something else to a reader on Saturday."

Delta Partners With El Al And Why This Hurts

Dan's Deals flagged that the new Delta-El Al partnership is now live. Unfortunately, this new partnership means El Al is ending partnerships with Alaska Airlines and American Airlines.

With the end of the Alaska Airlines partnership, we lose one of the best ways to book El Al with points and miles. The silver lining is that the partnership doesn't end until June 30, 2024.

Points Wire Note:

Alaska Mileage Plan's new unified award charts take effect in March. At that points, booking El Al will become a particularly useful sweet spot for the few months before the partnership ends. After that, using Qantas points will likely be your best bet to book.

Delta SkyMiles Can Now Book ITA Airways Business Class

Award Wallet: "In a bit of good news, you can now earn and redeem on Delta SkyMiles on ITA Airways flights, but there's a catch. You can only book business class seats, and ITA's entire route map hasn't been rolled out across Delta's website yet."

Points Wire Note:

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Air France-KLM Flying Blue will most likely be a better option for booking with points and miles.