Bilt Rent Day: September Virgin Bonus
This is the August 31, 2025 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.
I love Rent Day. Both for the exciting opportunity to maximize my Bilt points and to copy-paste the main story for the newsletter. As per usual on the first of the month, tomorrow Bilt is offering:
Double points (up to 1,000 bonus points) on non-rent Bilt Mastercard spending
A shot at free rent in-app
Free coffee at Bilt HQ (New Yorkers get everything)
Rotating one-off events (dining, comedy, fitness, etc.)
The headline is a transfer bonus to Virgin Red–where points are freely transferrable to Virgin Atlantic. The bonus ranges from 40-100%, and is targeted–not specifically tied to your Bilt status. I have Gold status with Bilt and got a 60% transfer bonus.
The good thing about Virgin is that points don’t expire, and there are some sweet spots. For example, I was considering booking a one-way to London next summer that I saw for 9k points plus $110 in taxes and fees. But Virgin does charge a $100 cancellation fee on award flights, and have been prone to devaluations lately–so I wouldn’t recommend this bonus unless you have a specific redemption in mind and are ready to book.
There’s also a new opportunity to match your Bilt elite status to status with Virgin Voyages–Virgin’s cruise line. I have never cruised and have no plans to do so, but Gary from View From the Wing makes the case that this could be a pretty good deal.
This Week in the Blog 📝
This week we continued our series on choosing a credit card with Step 2: Keeper Cards. This is all about identifying high-value cards for your particular needs, then adding them to your wallet when the time is right.
I also added a bonus hot take. I think the new Atmos Summit is the best card for… well, almost everything. 🔥
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
Major news 🚨
Bilt-Alaska partnership will continue. Speaking of Bilt, Alaska is saying they have no plans to end their (amazing) partnership–at least right now. (TPG)
Spirit declares bankruptcy. Again. Cue Michael Scott. (CNBC)
Delta won’t change status qualification targets next year. That keeps Silver Medallion in reach with just two cards. (Delta)
Special offers ✨
Washington resident? Turn yards into miles. If you live in the 42nd state you can join Delta’s 12Status program for special perks, including one Skymile for each passing yard the Seahawks accumulate this year. (Delta)
Refer friends to Capital One Shopping and get rewarded. You could each get $40. (FrequentMiler)
More value 📈
Redeem JetBlue points for flights on Condor. The deals look solid from the East Coast. This could be a great use of JetBlue points, or from 1:1 transfer partners Chase and Citi. (OMAAT)
No-fee Citi cards can now transfer points to AA (at a 1:0.7 ratio). This is interesting and a definite value-add, but I would definitely pick up a Strata Premier or other card offering a 1:1 ratio before transferring a bunch of Citi points to AA. (TPG)
Extra points 🪙
Earn MQDs on rental cars and stays. Delta is doing it again–earn MQDs through their travel portal if you want to push toward status (and didn’t just do the two-card trick). (Delta)
Chance to win/giveaways 🎟️
AA is giving away a million AAdvantage miles. You’ll have to sign up for cruise marketing emails. (AA)
Devaluations 📉
Singapore updates their award chart. It’s mostly “bad but not too bad.” Singapore is great for Spontaneous Escapes, but otherwise tends to have limited uses for the lazy, economical traveler. (OMAAT)
Sign-up bonus of the Week 🎯
This week, Thrifty Traveler reports that you can earn a $300 travel portal credit on top of the usual 75,000-point welcome offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards card (after spending $4,000 in the first three months).
I don’t care for the Venture Rewards generally. It charges a $95 annual fee and offers only a $50 credit towards a limited set of expensive luxury hotels to offset it. It’s hard to imagine why you would want this card when the Venture X earns more points, offers lounge access and other premium features, and offers enough value in travel credits and anniversary points to fully offset the annual fee. That said, if you can’t qualify for a Venture X, this might be a tempting offer on the Venture, at least for a year. If you can live without the Venture X’s perks for a year, you could grab this bonus now, then upgrade or apply for the Venture X later for a huge combined points haul.
Other great current bonuses
100k + 25k companion certificate on the Alaska Atmos Summit (our take)
125k on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (our take)
80k on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select (our take)
100k on the Citi Strata Elite (maybe in-branch) (our take)
75k miles on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (our hot take 🔥)
100k points on Southwest Credit Cards (our take)
$300 (kind of) on Capital One no-fee cards (our take)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
Forget about Virgin, save those Bilt points for Alaska.