What if your everyday purchases could turn into unlimited travel possibilities? Capital One miles may be one of the newer credit card rewards programs, but it packs a punch with simplified earnings and over a dozen airline and hotel transfer partners. In this guide, we’ll dive headfirst into the ways you can earn, redeem and maximize your Capital One miles.
Capital One miles overview
Capital One miles are the award currency earned by eligible Capital One travel credit cards. True to their name, you can redeem your miles for award flights on different airlines — but you’re certainly not limited to this redemption option. Cardholders can also redeem their Capital One miles for cash back, gift cards, or to shop online at Amazon and PayPal. In this guide, we’ll explore the pros and cons of each redemption option.
See our top Capital One picks of the year
Best Capital One credit cards of 2024
How to earn Capital One miles
Capital One offers a variety of credit cards for a wide swath of spenders, from a card with a 0% APR interest to one that earns cash-back rewards. It’s an important distinction, since not all Capital One cards earn travel miles that can be transferred out to airline and hotel partners. These cards tend to get the most value from your rewards.
The two groups of cards that earn Capital One miles are the Venture and Spark Miles cards. Savvy points and miles collectors consider these to be “anchor” cards as they have access to Capital One’s hotel and airline transfer partners.
It’s also worth noting that if you have other Capital One rewards cards, like the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card that technically earn cash-back, you can “convert” those rewards to Capital One miles if you also carry one of the anchor cards. Conversions are a 1:1 ratio, giving you another way to earn Capital One miles beyond the Venture and Spark Miles card options below.
Other ways you can earn Capital One miles include exchanging rewards with a friend or family member or referring a friend to a Capital One credit card.
Best Capital One credit cards that offer miles
Capital One is well-known for its lineup of Venture cards, with three choices available for any traveler’s budget. No matter which card you choose, you’ll enjoy simple, flat-rate earnings on your purchases. The right card for you will depend on your willingness to pay an annual fee compared to the benefits you’ll receive.
| CAPITAL ONE VENTUREONE REWARDS CREDIT CARD* | CAPITAL ONE VENTURE REWARDS CREDIT CARD* | CAPITAL ONE VENTURE X REWARDS CREDIT CARD* | |
|---|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $0 | $95 | $395 |
Welcome bonus | 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening | 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening | 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening |
Rewards | 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.25 miles per $1 on other purchases | 5 miles per $1 on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 2 miles per $1 on other purchases | 2 miles per $1 on purchases, 5 miles per $1 on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel and on purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 10 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel |
Key benefits | Travel accident insurance, secondary car rental insurance, extended warranty¹, no foreign transaction fees | Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, Hertz Five Star elite status², two Capital One lounge passes per year (through 2024), access to Capital One’s Lifestyle Collection hotels, travel accident insurance, secondary car rental insurance, extended warranty¹, no foreign transaction fees | Up to $300 annual travel credit booked through Capital One, 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application c |
Redeeming your Capital One miles
Once you’ve accrued enough Capital One miles, it’s time to redeem them. You’ll quickly see that some options are better than others, with the fixed-value options ranging from 0.5 cent to 1 cent per mile. Although the value will vary greatly, you can often achieve a much better redemption by transferring your Capital One miles to the program’s transfer partners.
Ways to use Capital One miles
| REDEMPTION OPTION | VALUE PER POINT |
|---|---|
Cover eligible travel purchases on your statement credit within the past 90 days | 1 cent |
Transfer miles to multiple airline and hotel loyalty programs | Varies |
Book flights, hotels, and rental cars through the Capital One travel portal | 1 cent |
Redeem for gift cards | 0.8 cents |
Cash back as a statement credit or direct deposit | 0.5 cents |
Shop with points at Amazon or PayPal | 0.8 cents |
Book exclusive tickets for events through Capital One Entertainment | Varies |
Capital One transfer partners
All programs require a minimum of 1,000 Capital One miles to transfer. You’ll also need to register for an account with the loyalty program you want to transfer to if you don’t already have one.
1:1 transfer ratio
When you transfer 1,000 Capital One miles to any of these transfer partners, you’ll receive 1,000 miles or points with the following travel loyalty programs:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada – Aeroplan
- Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Choice Privileges
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Finnair Plus
- Flying Blue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
2:1.5 transfer ratio
When you transfer 1,000 Capital One miles to this transfer partner, you’ll receive 750 miles or points with its travel loyalty program:
- EVA Air – Infinity MileageLands
2:1 transfer ratio
When you transfer 1,000 Capital One miles to this transfer partner, you’ll receive 500 miles or points with its travel loyalty program:
- ALL – Accor Live Limitless
How to maximize your Capital One miles
Capital One miles are one of our favorite rewards currencies for travel thanks to their versatility. Whether you’re booking a flight, a vacation rental or even a cruise, you can redeem your miles for virtually any travel purchase made within 90 days on your statement credit. You’ll receive a flat-rate redemption of 1 cent each, making this an excellent redemption option if you need to book travel from any provider.
Those with more experience maximizing points and miles will want to leverage Capital One’s impressive list of transfer partners. Redemption possibilities are nearly endless, whether you want to book airfare for your whole family or save up for a once-in-a-lifetime first class ticket.
You may notice that Capital One does not partner with any of the big three U.S. airlines — American, Delta and United. However, Capital One does partner with international carriers from each major airline alliance, where you can find and book award tickets through these programs for a bargain. Redemptions start around 6,000 to 7,500 miles.
Under the Oneworld alliance, you can transfer your Capital One miles to British Airways Avios to book American Airlines tickets. Or, you can transfer your Capital One miles to Virgin Red to SkyTeam partner Delta to book tickets.
Finally, United Airlines gets the most love out of Capital One’s transfer partners, as there are three airline programs that partner with Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca Lifemiles and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
There are also several amazing ways to use Capital One miles to fly internationally — and in style. A quick look at some of our favorite Capital One transfer partners include the Air France-KLM Flying Blue and the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles programs, which offer business class award tickets to Europe starting at 45,000 to 55,000 miles.
If you’d rather save on lodging, Wyndham Rewards is a fantastic Capital One miles partner with easy-to-understand redemptions. Award rooms can be booked for 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points per bedroom, per night across more than 9,000 properties worldwide. Thanks to Wyndham’s partnership with Vacasa, you can even book vacation rental homes starting at 15,000 points per bedroom, per night.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The best way to use Capital One miles for maximum value is by transferring rewards to airline and hotel partners, where you can often get 2 or even 3 cents per mile redemption value. If you’re looking for a simple yet valuable redemption, you can redeem Capital One miles for travel purchases made within 90 days on your credit card statement.
When redeeming for travel, 20,000 Capital One miles are worth at least $200 if you choose to offset eligible purchases on your statement within 90 days. They have the potential to be worth more if you leverage Capital One’s transfer partners, but the value will vary greatly.
50,000 Capital One miles are worth $500 for travel reimbursem*nts on your statement within 90 days. By strategically transferring to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, 50,000 miles could result in a much greater value of $1,000 — or more.
No, Capital One miles won’t expire unless you close your Capital One account. If you want to cancel your credit card, you’ll redeem all of your miles before doing so.
At the bare minimum, Capital One miles are worth 1 cent apiece for flights booked through Capital One Travel or redeemed for airfare purchases on your statement credit. For a $300 flight, you would need 30,000 Capital One miles to completely cover the cost. However, don’t overlook the power of airline partners as you may be able to transfer your rewards and gain significantly more value than 1 cent per mile.
Yes. You can redeem your Capital One miles for cash back, but this will lead to a poor redemption value of just 0.5 cents per point. In other words, 10,000 Capital One miles would be worth just $50 as a statement credit or direct deposit.
¹For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
²Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, 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.
