Bilt Rewards Drops Hawaiian Airlines as a Transfer Partner — What To Know

Updated: August 21, 2024, 9:46am CDT

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Table of Contents

Bilt Points No Longer Transfer to Hawaiian Airlines
Is This a Big Loss for Bilt?
Final Thoughts

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Bilt Rewards launched in 2021 with the main premise of earning rewards on rent payments. Since then, the company has grown substantially, adding valuable 1:1 transfer partnerships with key airline and hotel loyalty programs.

But transfer partners come and go, and it seems that Bilt Rewards has adjusted its roster once again … and the latest to go is Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles. Here’s what you should know about this latest development.

Bilt Points No Longer Transfer to Hawaiian Airlines

Bilt Rewards is a popular major transferable point currency, thanks to its generous list of transfer partners. Some of the standouts have included World of Hyatt and American Airlines AAdvantage, though the latter partnership ended in June of this year.

To compensate for the loss of American as a partner, Bilt added Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan to its list. Despite numerous devaluations over the years, having Alaska as a transfer partner has been a great move for the program overall. Alaska miles offer great award rates for short-haul flights and partner award tickets (such as Japan Airlines), and, not to mention, Bilt is the only major currency to transfer to Mileage Plan.

Now, Bilt has lost Hawaiian Airlines Mileage Plan as a transfer partner, as confirmed by Bilt’s Vice President of Travel on X.

“As our original 3-year agreement came to a close with HA, we were confident as reported this morning that the merger with AS would be approved. Given we are the only transfer partner Alaska has at a 1:1 ratio, the ability to book Hawaiian with Bilt points should return shortly.”
Richard Kerr, vice president of travel, Bilt Rewards

As such, Hawaiian Airlines no longer appears as an airline transfer partner option in the Bilt Rewards app.

Is This a Big Loss for Bilt?

Today, the news broke that Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger will move forward, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) ultimately decided not to pursue its investigation.

Alongside this, Bilt has stated that its initial 3-year agreement with Hawaiian Airlines has ended, removing the carrier as a transfer partner. However, given the pending merger, Bilt claims that booking Hawaiian Airlines flights with Bilt points should return, though that’s assuming that the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines frequent flyer programs combine into 1.

In all fairness, Hawaiian Airlines was never a compelling transfer partner. We value Hawaiian miles at just 0.9 cents apiece — half of our valuations of Bilt points at 1.8 cents apiece. However, this does lead us to question the viability of Bilt’s other transfer partners in the future.

Hot Tip:

Bilt has introduced other transfer partners to its portfolio over the past year, such as Avianca LifeMiles and Hilton Honors.

Final Thoughts

Bilt quietly removed Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner. While the move shouldn’t impact most people, there was ultimately no notice given about the partnership ending.