If you’ve booked flights through bank travel portals, you know the tradeoff: You might earn extra points … but you’re also handing your reservation over to an online travel agency (OTA), which can mean third-party customer service, messy rebooking during irregular operations, and inconsistent elite-qualifying and point earnings.
But behind the scenes, Bilt has quietly created a one-of-a-kind way to book flights directly with the airlines (and some hotels) while still earning extra points … and it could change how many travelers book their trips.
Earlier this week, a post on the r/AwardTravel subreddit caught fire after a traveler shared that a roughly $2,000 Delta ticket booked through the Bilt Travel Portal coded exactly like a Delta.com purchase. The result? They earned 5x Membership Rewards® points with their American Express Platinum Card®, plus 1x Bilt point per dollar on top of that. Other users started testing it and reported the same outcome.
Could a travel portal really behave like a direct airline booking? We asked Bilt, and as it turns out … yes. In many cases, that’s exactly what’s happening.
For many flights booked through Bilt’s travel portal, you can now earn credit card bonus points, Bilt points, and airline miles all at once – without sacrificing elite perks or dealing with the usual OTA headaches.
Here’s how to pull it off.
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First Things First: You Need a Bilt Account and a Linked Credit Card
To pull off this points-earning double dip, you’ll need two things:
- A free Bilt Rewards account
- A credit card linked in your Bilt Wallet
Don’t have a Bilt account yet? You can (and should) sign up for free!
Once you're logged into your Bilt account, head to the “Wallet” tab, and then link your travel card by selecting “Add card.” You'll only have to do this once.
Once your card is linked, any paid travel booking you make through the Bilt Travel Portal earns:
- 1x Bilt point per dollar spent
- Whatever points your card typically earns on airfare or travel purchases
The *amex platinum* earns 5x Membership Rewards® points on airfare purchased directly with airlines or through American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 spent each year). Because most flight bookings through the Bilt Travel portal now code exactly like direct airline purchases, they should still trigger that full 5x bonus – even though you booked through Bilt.
That means your stack looks like:
- 5x Amex points per dollar
- 1x Bilt point per dollar
- Total: 6x points per dollar spent, all while keeping the flexibility of a direct booking.
For a currency as valuable and historically tough to earn as Bilt points, that extra 1x could make building a meaningful balance far more realistic for many travelers.
But there's another reason this strategy is getting so much attention: it’s especially lucrative for travelers with the American Express Platinum Card®.
Why This Matters Even More for Amex Platinum Cardholders
You can link any card to your Bilt account and earn an extra Bilt point per dollar you spend – whether it’s a Chase Sapphire Preffered® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Capital One Venture X, or even a corporate card. But this setup becomes particularly potent for Amex Platinum cardholders because no other major card offers as rich a return on paid airfare.
The Amex Platinum Card's 5x bonus points per dollar spent on airfare is already the gold standard, but this bonus typically only applies when booking directly with the airline or through Amex Travel.
If flights booked through Bilt continue coding as direct airline purchases, that means Platinum cardholders can effectively turn the Bilt portal into a new earning engine – one that outperforms Amex Travel itself. Even if you prefer another points ecosystem or lean on a different travel card, that extra 1x from Bilt is essentially “found points.”
Platinum cardholders in particular stand to gain the most from this double dip.
Related Reading: The Amex Platinum is the Best Card for Booking Flights
Learn more about *amex platinum*.
Which Flights Will Actually Trigger the Double Dip?
Travelers have publicly confirmed this behavior on airlines like Delta and Canadian-based Porter Airlines, but Bilt says the system isn’t limited to those carriers.
Based on Bilt’s explanation, it all comes down to how the payment is processed – not the airline itself. If you pay entirely with your linked credit card and don’t redeem Bilt points, the airline processes the payment.
When the airline runs your card, your bank codes it as airfare. And that’s when the double dip (credit card bonus + Bilt points) kicks in.
Richard Kerr, Bilt’s VP of Travel, confirmed: “For every flight booking, if no Bilt Points are redeemed, we’re simply passing the member’s credit card to the airline – and the airline processes the payment.”
He also added that most airfare sold through Bilt uses airlines’ modern booking systems rather than the old-school systems OTAs rely on: “Roughly 90% of the airfare inventory in the Bilt portal is issued using modern airline systems. Not every airline is there yet, but we’re continuing to build direct connections wherever possible.”
What this means in practice
- Most major U.S. airlines should code as a direct booking when paid in full with your card
- American Airlines is a known edge case: AA typically doesn’t allow these bookings to be serviced directly
- Other airlines can work, but it largely depends on their tech stack
- Specific fares or routes may occasionally fall back to older systems, reverting to OTA-like behavior
What’s Actually Happening Behind the Scenes?
The explanation is surprisingly simple … and more importantly, intentional.
Kerr told Thrifty Traveler: “Because the airline is the merchant of record, the charge codes as airfare.”
When airlines process the payment themselves, the booking behaves exactly like buying directly through their website. That means:
- Direct-purchase credit card points bonuses
- Full airline miles + elite credit
- Direct customer service through the airline
When This Doesn’t Work: Redeeming Bilt Points
If you use Bilt points at a rate of 1.25 cents each to lower the cost of your ticket, even partially, everything changes. In such cases, Bilt becomes the merchant of record to process the remaining cash portion on its own corporate card. And when that happens, your ticket won't be booked directly with the airline.
That means no 5x multiplier on the Amex Platinum. If you want the full benefit of this points double-dip, you'll need to pay entirely with your linked card.
Will You Still Earn Airline Miles and Elite Status Credit?
Yes, and Bilt intentionally made it that way. Kerr confirmed that whenever the Bilt portal displays a loyalty number field during checkout, the reservation is eligible to earn airline miles and credit towards elite status qualification.
If the loyalty number field is present, it functions the same as booking directly on the airline’s website.
What About Hotel Bookings?
Currently, Bilt’s Home Away From Home collection, comprising approximately 1,700 properties that offer amenities such as complimentary breakfast, a $100 property credit, room upgrades, and more, books directly with chains.
Outside of that collection, though, many hotel bookings still go through traditional channels – similar to most OTAs. That means the charge may not code as a hotel stay, and thus the double dip is unlikely to work. You also likely won't earn hotel points or elite night credits on these bookings made through Bilt Travel.
The promising news? According to Kerr, Bilt expects to roll out loyalty-eligible, direct hotel rates across all major chains within the next few months.
Bottom Line
Bilt quietly made a big update to its travel portal, and it could change the way we book flights … forever. You can now earn your credit card's bonus points and Bilt points on flights booked through Bilt Travel, all while holding a reservation the airline treats like a direct purchase.
It’s not universal, and it’s not guaranteed across every airline or fare. But when it works, it’s one of the most compelling earning quirks we’ve seen in a long time – especially for Amex Platinum cardholders who can stack 5x Membership Rewards with 1x Bilt points for every dollar they spend.
We’re continuing to test this ourselves, but if you book a flight through Bilt, we’d love to hear which airlines book directly … and more importantly, which ones don't.
