Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Bilt has launched a new partnership with Lyft which is offering 2x or 5x transferable points depending on if you’re a regular member or cardholder respectively.
The Deal
- Bilt members can earn 2x points on Lyft rides and an additional 3x points (i.e. 5x total) when paying with a Bilt credit card.
- Direct link to link Bilt and Lyft accounts.
Key Terms
- Ongoing offer.
Quick Thoughts
This is a stronger offer than I initially thought when reading the press release because I was misremembering how much you earned with other Lyft partners. As a reminder (because I apparently needed one too), there are three other Lyft earning partners but you can only choose to earn with one of them rather than being able stack earnings with each partner. Those earnings are as follows:
- Delta
- Earn 1x per $1 on every ride in the US
- Earn 2x per $1 on all airport rides
- Hilton
- Earn 3x on all rides
- Earn 2x on shared rides
- Alaska Airlines
- Earn 1x on rides (excluding taxes, tolls & tips)
I remembered these three earning partners, but I’d thought you earned 2x or 3x with Alaska rather than only 1x. That makes this new Bilt partnership more compelling seeing as those are points that can be transferred to all their travel partners including American Airlines and Hyatt, although depending on how easily you can earn points/miles with Bilt’s transfer partners in other ways, you might still choose to earn 1x Alaska Mileage Plan miles seeing as they’re not as easy to earn for many people.
Those 2x Bilt point earnings are available to all because anyone can set up a free Bilt account. The additional 3x points – for a total of 5x points – are available for those with a Bilt credit card who pay with that card. Bilt has confirmed that you can also select a different Lyft earning partner and that you’ll still earn 3x if paying with the Bilt Mastercard. That’s a pretty good spending offer given they’re transferable points, but you might have better payment options depending on what other cards you hold:
- Chase (earning rates valid through March 2025)
- Sapphire Reserve – earn 10x Ultimate Rewards
- Sapphire & Sapphire Preferred – earn 5x Ultimate Rewards
- Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited & Freedom Student – earn 5% cashback
- Ink Business Unlimited, Ink Business Cash, Ink Cash & Ink Business Premier – earn 5% cashback
- Ink Plus & Ink Business Preferred – earn 5x Ultimate Rewards
- J.P. Morgan Reserve – earn 10x
- Citi
- There’s a targeted Citi Offer giving 3% back as a statement credit on Lyft rides. This could stack with category earning bonuses
- Gift Cards
- Lyft gift cards sometimes go on sale for ~10% off. Alternatively, you could buy Lyft gift cards at a grocery store or office supply store with a card that offers bonused spend for one of those categories; at grocery stores, you might also earn the stores loyalty points
There are additional earning opportunities when taking Lyft rides that’ll stack with these offers. At the time of writing this post, the Dosh app has a card-linked offer giving 10% cashback, while the Drop app is giving 15x points (i.e. 1.5% cashback) when paying with a linked card.
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I was initially excited about the Bilt partnership, but then looked back and saw that I earn 7x with my existing setup Sapphire Preferred (5x) and Delta (2x). Still, added my Bilt Mastercard as the alternative payment method.
2x Alaska Air was only thru 12.31.22. Does the existing Bilt $5 credit stack with the new program?
Is that as in the $5 credit when paying for 3 Lyft rides in a month with a World or World Elite Mastercard? If so, then yes it should stack provided you pay for those 3 rides with your Bilt card.
Yes! Thanks, Stephen. I think I’ll keep 10x CSR (pay) + change to 2x Bilt (link)
Also, thanks for confirming that the 2x on Alaska had been around before but expired – I’m glad I wasn’t going crazy thinking it had been at 2x before.
Lol I forgot to change my link back to Hilton 12.31 so am more than happy with 2x Hyatt/AA!
So keeping the payment with my Sapphire Preferred and Delta link is better since I would be earning 5x with the Sapphire card and 2x with the Delta rewards link vs just the BILT 5x? Or can I still select Delta rewards and just pay with the BILT card?
I’ve reached out to the Bilt rep who sent us details about this partnership to find out, so I’ll let you know once I’ve heard back.
Good news – the rep has confirmed that you can choose to earn with Delta and also earn 3x on the Bilt card.
Great thank you. Might be better to spread the earnings 2x BILT and 5x UR for 7x total vs 5x BILT?
that is my understanding listening to the MilesToGo podcast today — just linking accounts gets you 2X Bilt, then use whatever card bonuses the best for Lyft otherwise.
I had a 10% (up to $3) on my Altitude Reserve in February, and now in March I have the same 10% (up to $3) in my BofA account. Obviously that is not better than Sapphire Reserve, but a little better than the 3% or 5x/5% cards for rides of <~$40.