Credit Cards

Capital One miles: a guide to enjoy your travel rewards!

Capital One has recently implemented new features to its transfer partner program. Check it out how to redeem your miles below!

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Learn how to redeem your Capital One miles and rewards

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Learn how to use your miles! Source: The Mad Capitalist

How about maximizing your Capital One miles? Would you like to know how you can get better travel rewards with Capital One? This article is going to show you how. Venture and Spark branded cards have recently been updated with new airline and hotel transfer partners. You can find any of these new partners with Chase Ultimate rewards and American Express Membership Rewards.

However, Capital One stands out for combining into one single low-cost card fixed-value redemptions and transferable miles. There have also been improvements on a number of transfer rates to the transfer program as a whole. Capital One Miles program now counts with 18 transfer partners, becoming one of the largest collection of loyalty partners.

If you want to make the most out of your hard earned points, transfer partners are the way to go. By transferring your points you will have excellent opportunities for converting your points through booking flights or hotel stays with special conversion rates. There are four Capital One cards which earn miles: two primary personal and business cards, and their corresponding no-annual-fee versions.

With the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card you will get an introductory bonus of 60,000 miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months from account opening. With another card, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card, you will find more affordable spending requirements for the initial bonus offer. You can get 20,000 miles after spending just $500 on purchases within the first three months.

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business card delivers a 50,000-mile bonus after a substantial spending of $4,500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. Lastly, the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business gives you 20,000 miles for the first $3,000 spent within the first 3 months.

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How much is a Capital One mile worth?

Depending on which card you have and how you choose to redeem your points, your miles will have different redemption values. For example, by redeeming them for Amazon gift cards your miles are worth only 0.8 cents apiece. Cash back redemptions are even worse, paying out 0.5 cents apiece. The conclusion is that you get a much better deal if you redeem your miles for travel.

In most cases, travel redemptions will offer 1 cent per mile. When you earn them, however, you can get 1x, 1.5x or even 2x. Some partners offer higher redemption values than others, so if you watch them closely, you have better chances of scoring the most valuable deals.

According to a TPG valuation, Capital One miles are estimated at 1.85 cents apiece because of the added value of transferring directly to partners. SkyTeam, Star Alliance and Oneworld airlines compose Capital One’s collection of airline partners, so your transfer options are plenty.

If you are looking to get maximum value for your points, keep reading. In the next section you will learn about Capital One’s partners which offer the best redemptions for your miles.

Travel the world with Capital One’s credit cards: airlines the miles work with

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Check out the best Capital One airline partners. Source: Adobe Stock

There are four airline transfer partners that make up most of Capital One’s mile’s value. Air Canada’s Aeroplan loyalty program, for example, rids you from fuel surcharges if you use partner redemptions. Besides, economy flights of 500 miles or less are available for as little as 6,000 Aeroplan miles. 

It is also possible to book a business class transcontinental flight for just 25,000 miles each way. This helps you understand why Aeroplan has been one of Star Alliance’s most popular options for booking for such a long time.

With Avianca’s LifeMiles you also don’t have to face fuel surcharges from partner airlines. How about booking a Lufthansa first-class awards flight for just 87,000 miles? This helps you see how well these conversions play out.

We all know traveling in mixed cabins is not ideal, but if you get a nice discount for that, it really is not so bad. That’s another important point of LifeMiles: they offer excellent discounts thanks to their established policy of discounting mixed-cabin awards.

Etihad is another excellent name in Capital One’s transfer partners portfolio. You can fly from the U.S. all the way to Europe for just 50,000 miles each way if you find saver-level award space. No, not economy class. That’s business class! Thanks to Etihad’s partnership with American Airlines, reciprocal mileage redemptions are accepted.

Lastly, Turkish Miles & Smiles offers plenty of sweet spots for Star Alliance-operated flights. If you fly to Hawaii it may cost the same as any other regular domestic flight. These flights are available for about 7,500 miles each way in economy class, and 12,500 miles each way in business class.

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Can you use Capital One miles on any airline?

So far we have covered just four of Capital One’s transfer partners, but as stated on Capital One’s website, you can use their travel rewards credit cards to book any airline, anytime, anywhere with no seat restrictions or blackout dates. 

What airlines do Capital One travel work with?

Other airline partners include Aeromexico Club Premier, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, ALL Accor Live Limitless, british Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Choice Privileges, Emirates Skywards, EVA Infinity MileageLands, Finnair Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, TAP Portugal Miles&Go and Wyndham Rewards.

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Can you transfer Capital One miles to someone else?

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Transfer your points to friends and family! Source: Pexels

A recent Capital One update has made it possible to transfer points to other Capital One account holders. They do not mention transfer caps, restrictions to family members. Also, there are no fees associated with transferring miles into another account. 

If you’d like to transfer your points, log into your Capital One account, hit “Rewards Miles” on the initial page, then click “Share your rewards”. Once you click it you will see the options for transferring between your own cards to combine rewards, or transferring your miles into someone else’s account.

As of the time of writing, it is still not possible to complete the transfer 100% online. You must call the number on the back of your card, but an online solution should be coming in soon.

Now that you know how to redeem your Capital One miles, how about learning about a different rewards program? Follow the link below for more information about Chase Ultimate Rewards Partners.

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Chase Ultimate Rewards Partners

Chase's Ultimate Rewards program is one of the best travel benefit programs available. Check out its partners!

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