Bilt Rewards Adds Avianca Lifemiles as a New Transfer Partner

Bilt Rewards has been busy since it first launched in 2021, adding transfer partners, optimizing Point.me to work within its platform, and debuting Rent Day at the beginning of every month. Now, Bilt is is growing again, this time by adding another transfer partner — and it’s a good one.

You can now transfer Bilt Rewards points to Avianca Lifemiles at a 1:1 ratio.

Let’s take a look at the details of this new transfer partner.

Avianca Lifemiles Becomes Latest Bilt Rewards Transfer Partner

Even before the addition of Avianca, Bilt’s hotel and airline transfer partners already included valuable partnerships with access to all 3 major airline alliances: Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and Oneworld.

Today, Bilt is adding another Star Alliance partner, Avianca Lifemiles, to its transfer partner lineup. Members can transfer points in 1,000-point increments, though those with Bilt Blue status must transfer a minimum of 2,000 points at a time.

The Bilt Rewards program already has strong representation from Star Alliance, including partners United Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Air Canada. So, what’s so good about adding Avianca?

Is Avianca Lifemiles a Good Addition?

We’re big fans of Avianca Lifemiles. While the website is clunky and calling the airline’s customer service can be a nightmare, redemption rates using Lifemiles are among some of the best around.

Even better, you can transfer points to Lifemiles from American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. That means booking award flights on Avianca is one of the easiest ways to score a Star Alliance award. If you have small balances in these other programs, you add them together in your Lifemiles account to make an award booking.

How good are the redemptions with Lifemiles? Consider a first class flight on Lufthansa, which is one of the best (and hardest to get) ways to cross the Atlantic. Let’s compare award pricing across United, Air Canada, and Avianca.

United Airlines‘ program charges you 121,000 miles plus $131.60 for the experience of a lifetime. That’s a super expensive flight in miles.

Air Canada’s Aeroplan charges you 100,000 points, which is better than United, though that CA$247 comes out to about $182 for taxes and fees, which is more costly than United.

Meanwhile, Avianca charges just 87,000 miles for your ticket, plus $152.70 in taxes and fees.

What does this mean? Even though you can transfer your Bilt points to each of these 3 programs at the same 1:1 ratio, your rewards will go much further when using Avianca, rather than the other programs.

Final Thoughts

We’re excited to see Bilt Rewards adding more value to its program with the addition of Avianca Lifemiles as a transfer partner. Although it can be frustrating to make redemptions on a not-so-great website, you’ll get some of the best value around when booking flights. That’s especially true for premium flight bookings in the front of the plane.