In 2018, Capital One added transfer partners to its travel rewards cards, and since then, it has blossomed into a quality points program — more than 15 airline and hotel partners. Capital One miles have gained value in our valuations in recent months due to the addition of more transfer partners, improved transfer ratios and reduced transfer times for your miles to arrive at the destination program.
The value of these popular travel rewards cards has only increased with Capital One’s recent program improvements.
In this guide, we will share how to get the highest value out of the miles you’ve earned by redeeming your miles for flights or hotel stays.
How to earn Capital One Miles
You can earn Capital One miles on five credit cards:
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | $95 (see rates and fees) | 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening | 2 miles per dollar on purchases, no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees) and Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card | $395 (see rates and fees) | 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening | 2 miles per dollar on purchases, Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100), no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees), extended warranty protection, Capital One Lounge access and 10,000 annual bonus miles |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card | $0 (see rates and fees) | 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 within the first three months from account opening | 1.25 miles per dollar on all purchases |
| Capital One Spark Miles for Business | $0 introductory annual fee the first year, then $95 (see rates and fees) | 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening | 2 miles per dollar on all purchases |
| Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business | $0 | 20,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening | 1.5 miles per dollar on all purchases, free employee cards |
The information for the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Should you transfer capital one miles to airline and hotel partners?
You have two options for redeeming your Capital One miles: for a fixed value at 1 cent each or by transferring them to airline and hotel partners.
Transferring can get you a better value (especially for luxury rewards). This is especially true when you transfer to a partner that has retained fixed award charts, and you can fairly easily redeem 50,000 miles for something worth far more than $500, giving you a higher redemption value than the fixed-value options discussed below.
Regardless of your redemption option, the ability to mix and match redemptions to suit your travel needs gives Capital One a unique edge here.
Related: Should you use cash or miles to book airline tickets?
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Fixed-value rewards
Capital One provides a few options for getting a fixed-value return when you redeem your miles. However, not all of these are created equal:
- Redeem for recent travel: You can use your miles as credit toward travel purchases made in the last 90 days on your Venture or Spark card at a fixed rate of 1 cent each. There’s no minimum redemption amount.
- Book new travel: You can book new travel directly through Capital One Travel and redeem your miles at the same value of 1 cent apiece, but this would prevent you from double dipping with any rewards program offered by an online travel agency. In addition, booking hotels through a third-party site — including Capital One Travel — would likely prevent you from earning points and enjoying applicable elite status perks. As a result, you’re likely better off booking travel directly and then redeeming your miles toward the charge on your statement. However, you will still earn miles on flights booked this way and can still enjoy loyalty perks with Hertz* — but not with other rental car programs.
- Redeem for gift cards: You can use your Capital One miles for gift cards at the same rate of 1 cent per mile. But since gift cards can often be purchased on sale, redeeming miles to cover travel purchases is a better option.
- Redeem for entertainment: You can redeem your miles through Capital One Entertainment’s ticketing platform for a value of 0.8 cents per mile, with access to more than 500,000 events across sports, music and dining.
- Redeem for cash back: You should do everything possible to avoid this option, as it will only provide a redemption value of 0.5 cents per mile.
- Redeem on Amazon and PayPal: You can shop with points on Amazon and PayPal. You’ll fetch only 0.8 cents per point in value here, so this is a bad proposition unless you have an offer to get steep discounts when using just 1 point at checkout.
If you aren’t in the mood to search for award availability, you’ve found a deal for cash airfare or you can’t use airline miles for your travel expenses, redeem your Capital One miles at a fixed value. The process is relatively easy and doesn’t require jumping through any hoops.
Here’s a step-by-step guide showing how to use your Capital One miles at a fixed value.
*Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through Dec. 31. Please note that enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g., at hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.
Transferring Capital One miles to airline and hotel partners
You can get more value from your Capital One miles if you utilize the issuer’s transfer partners. Thankfully, the process of doing so is simple.
The Capital One Rewards travel portal can be accessed directly from the main page of your account by clicking the “View Rewards” button.
From there, find the “Convert Rewards” section.
Capital One currently has more than 15 airline and hotel partners. The programs are:
- Aeromexico Rewards
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- ALL — Accor Live Limitless
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Airways Guest
- EVA Airways Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
Related: How long do Capital One miles transfers take?
The link to “Transfer Miles” is toward the right of the page.
Find the option for the program you want to transfer your miles to. Once you click “Transfer Miles,” you will be prompted to enter your loyalty number for that program and agree to terms before completing the transfer.
Things to know before you transfer Capital One Miles
Transfers are irreversible as soon as they’re complete, so be careful to enter the exact number of miles you want to transfer.
Note that the minimum number of miles you can transfer is 1,000; from there, you can increase the amount in increments of 100. This is a nice feature that differs from other transferable currencies. For example, transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards must be in increments of 1,000 points. Capital One can thus be especially useful if you need to top off your account, though be sure to pay attention to the transfer ratios.
Capital One miles transfer at three different ratios depending on the partner (1:1, 2:1.5 or 2:1), so 10,000 Capital One miles will not get you 10,000 points or miles for every program. Fortunately, you’ll see this information during the transfer process, telling you explicitly how many points or miles you’ll receive in exchange for the designated number of Capital One miles. Transfer ratios are also found in the table below — though note that you may occasionally see transfer bonuses.
Once the transfer is complete, you’ll see a “Success!” pop-up with a confirmation code you can save and/or print. That’s helpful, especially since three partner airlines did not offer instant transfer capability as of our latest test.
Related: The best Capital One credit cards
Capital One transfer times
Per our latest tests, these are the typical transfer times for your miles to move from Capital One to the desired loyalty program and their transfer ratios.
| Program | Transfer time | Transfer ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico Rewards | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Aeromexico Rewards points) |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Aeroplan points) |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Flying Blue miles) |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 LifeMiles) |
| ALL — Accor Live Limitless | Two business days | 2:1 (1,000 miles = 500 ALL points) |
| British Airways Executive Club | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Avios) |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 24-hour turnaround | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Asia Miles) |
| Choice Privileges | 24-hour turnaround | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Choice Privileges points) |
| Emirates Skywards | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Skywards miles) |
| Etihad Guest | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Etihad Guest miles) |
| EVA Airways Infinity MileageLands | 36-hour turnaround | 2:1.5 (1,000 miles = 750 Infinity MileageLands miles) |
| Finnair Plus | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Finnair Plus points) |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points) |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 KrisFlyer miles) |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Miles&Go miles) |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Miles&Smiles miles) |
| Virgin Red | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Virgin points; Virgin Red points can also be redeemed through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club) |
| Wyndham Rewards | Instant | 1:1 (1,000 miles = 1,000 Wyndham Rewards points) |
* Transfer times may vary. Some TPG staff members have reported transfer times of up to two weeks for Accor.
Just because you can transfer Capital One miles to airline partners does not necessarily mean you should. We’ve collected some tips and tricks to get maximum value from your Capital One miles, which should help you understand the good and bad redemptions.
Transferring to partners can unlock a variety of valuable redemptions through the above airlines, so be sure to consider that.
Related: How to complete a Capital One business credit card application
Bottom line
The ability to transfer Capital One miles to many valuable partner programs paired with the always-available option to use your rewards directly makes for a solid lineup of Capital One credit cards. The currency’s current value is 1.85 cents in TPG’s most recent valuations.
By transferring to airline and hotel partners, you can start taking advantage of some incredible redemptions.
The fact that both the Venture and Venture X cards feature a generous welcome bonus right now can help you quickly amass these valuable Capital One miles for your next trip.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
