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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Did anyone see the blood moon earlier this week?

It just looked the same to me…

Maybe I just needed some space.

yeah that one was bad 😅

Forget about that and let’s get to it.

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Most people think the only way to earn points is to open another credit card.

But there’s a sleeper move: Bilt lets you start earning points with a free account and you can stack rewards on spending you already do.

That’s why I recommend it, especially if you’re trying to travel more this year but don’t want to add another card to the mix.

Here’s how to set it up.

✅ Open a free Bilt account so you can start earning points even if you never get their cards
✅ Connect the cards you already use so you can double dip: earn your normal card rewards and earn Bilt points on eligible purchases
✅ Use Bilt’s partner locations for extra points and perks, again, without needing a Bilt card
✅ Link your Lyft account to earn even more points on rides (easy win if you use Lyft at all)
✅ Take advantage of Rent Day promos every month, your points can go further with limited time bonuses

If you’re already spending money on meals, rides, and everyday life, you might as well get rewarded twice.

👉 Create your free Bilt account, connect your cards + Lyft, and start stacking points.

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

This month Chase is running a 20% transfer bonus to:

British Airways Avios
Iberia Avios
Aer Lingus Avios

The cool part about Avios is that it isn’t just one airline.

It’s a shared currency across a whole network, which makes these transfer bonuses way more useful.

Because you can transfer Avios between the programs after you get them.

This is the website to transfer Avios from one airline to another.

So you could transfer Chase points to British Airways Avios with the bonus, then move those Avios over to Qatar, and book through Qatar if that’s where the space shows up.

One thing to note though, Avios programs have started restricting how soon you can transfer Avios between accounts after opening them.

So if you’re reading this, it’s a good idea to create accounts now for the Avios airlines, just so you’re not stuck waiting a few days when you actually need to book.

Real example:

I was trying to pull up a direct Miami → Madrid flight.

I couldn’t find it on Iberia’s website, but Qatar’s site showed it.

If you book it with Qatar Avios, it prices out at 77,250 Avios.

But with the 20% Chase bonus, you’d only need to transfer about 65,000 Chase points to one of the current Avios transfer bonus partners, then transfer to Qatar.

That said, it won’t always price better through Qatar.

Since Chase is also doing a 20% bonus directly to Iberia, I found another flight that was 59,000 Avios, which drops to only needing to transfer about 50,000 Chase points.

I’ll show you exactly what I searched in the Flight of the Week section to get these flights to show up.

Bottom line: this is why Avios bonuses are sneaky good.

Search across programs, book through whichever one shows space and has the best pricing, and use the bonus to stretch your Chase points further.

I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t paid a ton of attention to Rove.

Part of it was probably timing.

It popped up around the same time Mesa went down, so I kind of lumped it into the “let’s wait and see” bucket.

But they keep making waves and locking in legit partners.

Earlier this week they announced a new transfer partner: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.

And they launched it with a 50% transfer bonus through the end of the month.

The thing I keep thinking is: how are they affording these big bonuses?

After digging a bit, my best guess is they’re funding it with the spread they make when you book travel through their site.

In other words, the price you pay through Rove might be higher than booking direct, and they’re giving you some of that back as rewards.

So you’ll have to do the math.

If the “extra” you’re paying through Rove is worth the Rove miles you’re earning, then it can make sense.

If not, you’re better off booking elsewhere.

Either way, it’s still nice to see them getting more notoriety and adding valuable partners.

This also means we’re about to have a lot more Japan Airline miles sloshing around.

Between this and Bilt’s Rent Day JAL promo earlier this week, more people are going to be chasing JAL business and first class, and that’s going to make awards harder to snag.

If Japan Airlines is on your list, start thinking 360 days out.

That’s when JAL opens its own award availability.

And remember, JAL miles can also book partners for decent rates.

You’re looking at around 50,000 one way or 100,000 round trip on some routes.

Two important caveats:

JAL miles expire after three years no matter what.

And you need to open your Mileage Bank account and let it “season” for a couple months before you can use it.

So if JAL is even slightly on your radar, just open the account now.

For a while, the Chicago → Madrid route was priced the same as New York or Boston → Madrid, even though Iberia’s award chart is supposed to be distance based.

And before all of this, it was even better.

We were talking 40,500 Avios one way in business class on off peak dates.

But as I’ve said before, good things don’t last.

Earlier this week, that off peak price got bumped to 50,500 Avios one way.
And peak dates can now run up to 74,000 Avios.

One interesting loophole is that some people are still seeing the old 40,500 Avios pricing when booking the same flights through British Airways Avios.

No clue how long that sticks around.

So if using Avios to fly to Madrid is on your list later this year, I’d be looking to book sooner rather than later.

Selfishly, this one caught my eye since I’m based out of Austin.

Over the next few years, AUS is supposed to basically double in size.

And there were some reports floating around about Southwest opening a 40,000 square foot “crew lounge,” which sounds insane for crew.

But all signs point to it being more like Southwest planting a flag in Austin and fighting for space with Delta.

Delta and Southwest both run a ton of flights out of AUS, and it feels like they’re both trying to turn Austin into a mini hub.

So with all the bad Southwest news lately, it’s nice to see something that looks like an investment instead of a downgrade.

Especially with all the chaos they’ve created.

Charging for checked bags so everyone is dragging more bags onboard.

Bin space getting worse, and the whole assigned seating rollout where people can’t move seats even when the plane is half empty.

So yeah, good to see something positive coming out of Southwest for once.

And selfishly, if they’re really doubling down on Austin, I’m hoping that eventually means an AUS → Honolulu nonstop.

They’re opening a Southwest lounge over there too, so maybe?

Not holding my breath, but that would be really cool.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community