A new, unique transfer partner

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, your favorite travel newsletter (or at least it’s my favorite travel newsletter).

We’ve got some important updates today, so let’s get cracking:

• 💳 Bilt adds a new transfer partner

• ✈️ Flying for business? Try these perks

• 😢 Emirates restricts first-class awards

💳 Bilt adds a new transfer partner

It’s not every day we see banks add new transfer partners… Especially transfer partners that no other bank has.

But as of today, Bilt is now partnered with Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, allowing you to transfer rewards directly to one of the world’s best airlines.

As with most of Bilt’s partners, you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers will take just ten minutes to complete, according to Bilt.

But if you’re like most people, you probably don’t know anything about JAL’s program.

And that’s where the bad news comes in… 😬

Japan Airlines recently announced that it will be increasing award pricing across the board starting June 10.

Here is what the new award chart between the U.S. and Japan will look like:

To clarify what these prices mean, here is how they compare to the current (pre-June 10) pricing:

• Economy increased by 8%

• Premium economy increased by 23%

• Business increased by 10%

• First class increased by 40-57% (depending on the season)

So yeah… It’s pretty grim. But in my opinion, the economy and business rates are still pretty solid.

Flying from a city like Boston nonstop to Tokyo in business class for just 55,000 points is a wild deal, and flying in economy from the U.S. to Asia for 27,000 points is always solid.

So, at this point, you might assume that the ideal move is to transfer Bilt points NOW and book flights before June 10.

Well, that’s where another major caveat of JAL’s program comes in…

JAL has a policy that you can only start booking awards 60 days after enrolling in their program.

But thankfully, Bilt seems to have been aware of this… 😏

They have confirmed that Bilt members who transfer points to JAL from Bilt will be able to redeem their rewards within seven days — even if their account is less than 60 days old.

This means that, theoretically, you can transfer points in the coming weeks and still have enough time to redeem them under the old, better JAL award chart.

In terms of getting Bilt points in the first place, we have an entire guide about the Bilt Rewards program that breaks down the many ways to earn Bilt points.

But the easiest way (by far) is simply spending on the Bilt Mastercard®.

I recommend you enroll in both JAL’s frequent flyer program and Bilt Rewards now so you don’t get stuck in limbo next time you see a good award pop up later this year.

😢 Emirates restricts first-class awards

Last week, I told you about the funky stuff going on at Emirates, and how now is the best time to ship out some points to take advantage of Emirates’ premium-ass flights.

Well, sadly, I have to be the bearer of bad news yet again. 🐻

Emirates has officially restricted its first-class award flights to Emirates Skywards elite members:

This means that only those with at least Silver status with Emirates will be allowed to use points to book first-class award flights through Emirates. ☠️

Rather than dwell on the bad news, let me tell you how to work around this.

Book through Aeroplan

You can still book some Emirates first-class awards through Aeroplan, though it’s pretty rough pricing…

For example, if you were really gung-ho about trying their first-class seat, you could book this Fifth-freedom flight in first class from Miami (MIA) to Bogota (BOG) for 109,000 Aeroplan points:

It’s not pretty… but if you have tons of points to burn and want to bathe in caviar for three hours, go wild.

Upgrade your existing flight

Emirates famously allows customers to upgrade their flights using points — both online and even at the airport.

They also have this fancy calculator online that will tell you how many miles you need to upgrade (assuming there is availability).

The above flight from Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH) would cost you as few as 39,000 miles if you are already booked in business class (you can’t upgrade from economy or premium economy to first).

And that brings us to the final method…

Getting elite status

Most U.S. travelers probably don’t fly Emirates enough to earn any kind of status with them, but there is a shortcut.

In the U.S., there are a couple of Emirates co-branded credit cards through Barclays Bank, both of which either offer elite status as a perk or allow you to earn it through spend.

If you earn status this way, you’ll simply have access to booking first-class flights like we all did before two days ago.

Between taking point transfers offline, lowering the transfer ratio from ThankYou points, and now restricting first-class awards, it seems like they don’t really want people like us flying with them.

If you REALLY want to fly Emirates first class, however, I hope this gives you some ideas for how to work around the new changes.

That’s all for today, folks! I know today was a bit more technical in discussing these two niche programs, but I hope you enjoyed learning about them nonetheless.

Take care and see you bright and early tomorrow. ☀️

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