Japan Airlines added as a new Bilt transfer partner

So it wasn’t a fake out after all.

A few weeks ago, Bilt published a page on its website that listed Japan Airlines (JAL) as a transfer partner, but then promptly took it down. It seemed inevitable that JAL would be added as a transfer partner, but a few days letter they announced Southwest as a new transfer partner.

That made me wonder if they were just having fun with eagle-eyed Bilt Rewards members, feeding the rumor mill that the addition of JAL as a transfer partner was imminent, only to surprise members with the addition of Southwest instead.

It turns out that it’s a both/and situation. Not only is Southwest a recent addition, but as of today you can now also transfer your Bilt Rewards points to Japan Airlines.

Bilt transfers to Japan Airlines will be on a 1:1 basis. That’s big news because JAL isn’t currently a transfer partner of any other major transferable currency. You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to JAL on a 3:1 basis, with 5,000 bonus miles being added for every 60,000 points you transfer (i.e. 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points become 25,000 Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles). I also believe that those who still have a Barclays Arrival Plus card can transfer points to JAL, but on an inferior 11,500:5,000 or 22,500:10,000 basis.

For those with no Bilt Rewards status (i.e. Blue members), there’s a minimum transfer requirement of 2,000 points. For anyone with Silver status or higher, the minimum transfer requirement is 1,000 points. Transfers also have to be made in increments of 1,000 points.

Transfers will be almost-instant. Bilt has stated that most transfers will be completed within 10 minutes which is handy if there’s award availability and you don’t want to risk it disappearing while waiting for the miles to land in your account.

Something important to note is that ordinarily, your Japan Airlines Mileage Bank account has to be at least 60 days old in order to redeem miles. Bilt has negotiated a carveout for members with relatively new JAL accounts, as they’ll be able to redeem miles within 7 days if their JAL account is less than 60 days old. If you don’t already have a Mileage Bank account, it’d therefore be worth creating one ASAP if you’re likely to be at all interested in taking advantage of this new transfer partner, because even a reduced wait of 7 days could be problematic in terms of award flight availability disappearing after transferring your points. An added benefit is that you’ll then earn 100 Bilt points when linking your account.

Something else worth bearing in mind is that after adding Southwest as a transfer partner last month, Bilt offered an up-to 100% transfer bonus on the first Rent Day after that. We don’t have any insider info on this, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see a similar kind of transfer bonus on June 1 for Japan Airlines. Unless you have an award you’re looking to book immediately, it could be prudent to hold fire on any transfers for another couple of weeks.

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