Fly to Europe for 2,500 points

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Curious (or anxious) about upcoming Labor Day weekend travel? You can see what’s predicted to be the busiest days and airports for various travel… So… maybe avoid those if you can? 😅

It's been over 72 hours since this Newsletter was published, so some info and links might be out of date or expired.

Curious (or anxious) about upcoming Labor Day weekend travel? You can see what’s predicted to be the busiest days and airports for various travel… So… maybe avoid those if you can? 😅

Good morning and happy Friday from Pristina, Kosovo - another country that’s not technically a country… but let’s be honest - it’s a country.

We’ve got some good tips to finish off the week, so let’s dive in:

✈️ Bilt Rent Day: TWO transfer bonuses

Alright, strap in, folks.

Bilt is back with another SOLID set of Rent Day deals, and you’re going to want to pay attention to them…

First up is a flat 50% transfer bonus from Bilt points to Avianca Lifemiles. 🎉

Screenshot showing transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles

This is available to all Bilt members regardless of status level, which is fantastic. Even with Avianca’s recent devaluation, it is still a great program.

For example, you can fly from the U.S. to the U.K. for just 45,000 miles in business class 👇

Screenshot of a booking using Avianca Lifemiles

With this bonus, you’d only need to shell out 30,000 points to fly to Europe in business class 🤯

The next part of Rent Day is a tiered transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic (yay), this time based on your status level.

Bilt Status

Transfer Bonus

Bilt Platinum Members

100% Bonus

Bilt Gold Members

60% Bonus

Bilt Silver Members

40% Bonus

Bilt Blue Members

20% Bonus

As you can see, even non-elite Bilt members can still get a 20% transfer bonus, which is great.

Later in the newsletter, you’ll see just how ridiculous this transfer bonus can be… 😏

But there’s still one part of Rent Day left to discuss, and that’s a repeat of last month’s Rent Day: A “buy one get one free” Virgin Voyages Cruise.

Virgin Voyages Cruise and Bilt Rent Day promo

To be clear, here’s how this works:

When you book a Virgin Voyages cruise by September 1st, you can bring a second passenger on the cruise for free.

Here are the deets:

  • You must use the access key “VVBILT” when searching for cruises

  • Only certain dates and routes are available (see the list on this page)

  • You must book your cruise before midnight on September 1st

  • After booking the cruise, go to the Bilt app to activate additional benefits

To clarify that last point, Bilt members will get the following benefits while on the cruise:

  • $100 bar tab

  • Unlimited premium Wi-Fi

  • Two specialty coffees per day

  • Priority boarding

  • Complimentary laundry service

  • Exclusive cocktail experience

  • Dedicated Sailor Services support

Not too shabby for what is essentially a BOGO cruise deal.

Of course, Virgin Voyages are generally more premium cruises and come at a premium price.

Booking page for Virgin Voyages

Still, getting to bring an additional person for free is not a bad deal at all, given how nice these ships are and all of the benefits that are included.

And just to be clear about the booking window, you don’t need to wait until September 1st to book these cruises; you can go do it now.

There are some pretty nice-looking itineraries in the Caribbean and Mediterranean that will probably be appealing to many of you. 👇

Map of a Virgin Voyages cruise itinerary

But don’t forget that every so often, Virgin Voyages will allow you to book cruises with points for around 80k Virgin Red points for two people. 👀

So, if you were already considering a luxury cruise, this is a great deal.

Otherwise, you can always wait until the next good points deal comes around to book.

And there you have it - a super comprehensive Rent Day with a little something for everyone! 🤗

Oh, and if you’re interested in getting the Bilt Mastercard®, it’s actually a fantastic card with solid earning rates on rent, dining, and travel. Honestly… what more could you want out of a $0 annual fee card?!

🤯 Sweet Spot: Fly to Europe for 2,500 points

It’s time for another sweet spot highlight!

I’ve talked about this one before, though it was a while ago. Plus, Bilt’s upcoming Rent Day promo has some serious implications for this sweet spot…

In case you didn’t know, Virgin Atlantic has what they call a Companion Award Seat.

And if you’ve never heard of this, pay attention. 👨‍🏫

Virgin Companion Award Seat promo page

Here’s how it works:

If you use miles to book a flight on Virgin Atlantic, you can add a companion to your flight for 50% of the normal miles required 🙌

Before you do a double backflip out of excitement, there are a few (fairly reasonable) caveats:

  • The taxes and fees are not discounted

  • There are specific dates of the year when this is valid

Considering how reasonable Virgin’s redemption rates are to begin with, this is pretty shocking to learn about.

So, let’s take a look at just how good of a deal this is.

Here is the companion ticket award chart, showing ROUND-TRIP rates between the U.K. and other regions like the U.S. 👇

Example of Virgin Atlantic booking

As you can see, a one-way economy ticket from the U.S. to the U.K. will only run you 5,000 miles one-way… which is bonkers.

Now, remember earlier when I told you that Bilt is offering up to a 100% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic…? See where this is going?

If you have top-tier Bilt status and get that 100% bonus, you can book a companion ticket for just 2,500 points to fly from the U.S. to Europe. 🤯

For two people, you’ll shell out a grand total of just 7,500 Bilt points. That’s ridiculous.

As I mentioned earlier, there are restrictions on which dates you can book this deal.

Having said that, the date ranges are pretty generous, as you can see:

Eligible dates for Virgin Companion Fare Seat

Even if you want to use this deal during “peak season dates,” it’s still not a terrible deal, which you can check out on this page.

Overall, this is a great way to save your valuable miles and turn a solid deal into an AMAZING deal when flying with more than one person on Virgin Atlantic.

Current Transfer Bonuses

  • 20% bonus from MR Points to Hawaiian miles (ends August 31st)

  • 20% bonus from Capital One Miles to Qantas (ends September 1st)

  • 30% bonus from MR Points to British Airways (ends September 30th)

  • 30% bonus from MR Points to Iberia (ends September 30th)

  • 30% bonus from MR Points to Aer Lingus (ends September 30th)

  • PLUS, there are 13 cards with elevated offers right now!

That’s all for today, my friends!

I hope you enjoyed another week of Daily Drop. We’ll be off on Monday, so don’t panic when we don’t show up in your inbox.

Have a nice long weekend, and I’ll see you again soon. ❤️

Mike Dodge
Head Writer, Daily Drop

42.6629° N, 21.1655° E

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