Pros and Cons of the Capital One Airline Transfer Partners

Capital One's flexible rewards program features an extensive list of airline and hotel partners. The majority of transfer partners receive a transfer rate of 1,000 Capital One miles to 1,000 airline miles, or a 1:1 ratio, with just EVA Air receiving transfers at a reduced rate of 1,000 to 750 miles.

In this post, you'll get a brief overview of each Capital One airline transfer partner along with its main strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking for more in-depth coverage of each partner, including the Capital One hotel transfer partners, check out our guide to Capital One transfer partners.

Thanks to the 1:1 transfer ratio for the majority of the Capital One airline transfer partners, you're effectively earning a base rate of 2x airline miles on every dollar spent on several cards that earn Capital One miles. That’s a top return on non-bonus spending. It's even better than you’ll receive on most co-branded airline credit cards.

Capital One Airline Transfer Partners Overview

You can transfer points from select Capital One credit cards to Avianca LifeMiles. Credit: Oliver Holzbauer

Capital One has done a stellar job assembling a full list of partners. Although the program lacks a United States-based transfer partner, plenty of high-value airlines are on the list.

Before we dig into the pros and cons of transferring points to each airline, here’s a quick recap of Capital One’s 16 airline partners.

Related: How to Transfer Capital One Miles to Airline and Hotel Partners: A Step-By-Step Guide

A Closer Look at the Capital One Airline Transfer Partners

Aeromexico Rewards

Aeromexico Rewards is a bit of a mixed bag, and it's one of the programs we hear little about in the U.S. Largely ignored due to a quirky award chart based on kilometers rather than miles, Aeromexico's sweet spots include one-way awards from the U.S. to Mexico for 18,000 points in economy or 36,000 points in business class or Mexico to southern South America for 50,000 points in economy and 100,000 points in business. Unfortunately, Capital One doesn’t take into account the comparatively low value of Aeromexico Rewards points, making transfers almost universally poor value.

• Pros: Top off your account if you lack the Membership Rewards points to cover the full balance of an award.
• Cons: Poor transfer ratio, as Aeromexico Rewards is based in kilometers, not miles (Amex Membership Rewards transfer at 1:1.6), the inability to book nearly any redemption flights with connections is frustrating.

Air Canada Aeroplan

One of the most exciting partners on the list, transferring points to Aeroplan opens up awards with numerous partner airlines and the ability to pool points from Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy points. Aeroplan has some high-value options when it comes to redemptions and charges just 5,000 points to add a stopover to your flights.

• Pros: Consolidate points from other flexible rewards programs, top value across the Atlantic, maximize stopovers and open-jaws for high-value awards.
• Cons: Not the cheapest value on some routes and charges fees for canceling award flights.

Air France–KLM Flying Blue

Air France business class. Credit: Air France

Many different types of transferrable points transfer to Flying Blue. You can use Flying Blue miles to book awards on all SkyTeam partners and take advantage of 55,000-mile business class redemptions across the Atlantic. You can also redeem miles for Flying Blue Promo Rewards, which are monthly promotions offering 25%–50% off the typical cost of award tickets to select destinations that rotate every month.

• Pros: Promo Rewards offer top value, transfer points from all major flexible currencies, free stopovers, allows one-way awards.
• Cons: Passes on fuel surcharges, can be expensive.

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca counts Citi, Amex, and Capital One as transfer partners, and if you still can’t put together the miles for an award, you can also purchase up to 60% of the miles required for an award. The airline does not impose fuel surcharges, provides access to the Star Alliance network, and offers some great value Avianca LifeMiles sweet spots.

• Pros: Competitive award chart, no fuel surcharges, multiple transfer partners, frequent sales to top off your account for an award, the best use is on partners including domestic U.S. awards, no close-in booking fees.
• Cons: Website doesn’t always display all available partner awards, the call center is woefully inept if you need to book over the phone, flat booking fee applies to all awards.

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways relies on its Avios program to earn and redeem points, along with Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Qatar Airways. This means you'll be able to combine your Capital One miles transfers with transfers from Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou points, and Bilt Rewards to build your balance. That's good, because there are some pretty nifty sweet spots in British Airways' redemption options, including spending just 70,000 Avios to fly from the U.S. to Doha in Qatar Airways Qsuite. You can also sometimes use British Airways Avios to book short-distance American Airlines flights for less than American AAdvantage is charging for the same flight.

• Pros: Easy to earn, uses a distance-based award chart, has many good sweet spots.
• Cons: Huge surcharges on flights to/from London.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific business class. Credit: Cathay Pacific

Cathay utilizes a distance-based chart to calculate the price of an award on its own flights but a distance-plus-zone chart for partner awards; the rates are somewhat competitive with other Oneworld frequent flyer programs. Cathay also partners with Amex, Bilt, and Citi, so you can pool points from multiple programs to boost your balance. Asia Miles allows a stopover on one-way awards and offers competitive awards from the U.S. to many destinations, including South Africa and Asia, and offers decent value in AA business class to Europe at just 60K miles.

• Pros: Multiple transfer partners, distance-based award chart.
• Cons: Limited ability to book partner awards online and long waits when calling in, recently devalued rates on Cathay-operated flights as well as multi-partner awards.

Emirates Skywards

Based out of its hub in Dubai, Emirates has one of the most aspirational business- and first-class products of any carrier in the world. Unfortunately, the Emirates Skywards program isn't quite as aspirational as the airline itself. Emirates operates a distance-based award chart, so the farther you fly the more miles it costs. Outside of redeeming for flights on Emirates metal, which includes some great fifth freedom routes like New York–Milan and Newark–Athens, you will likely get better value transferring to other partners. However, this program remains your most stable way to book Emirates first class with points and miles.

• Pros: Provides access to luxurious Emirates redemptions, allows you to pool rewards from multiple transfer partners for a redemption.
• Cons: Award chart doesn't provide the best value compared to other airlines on the list.

Etihad Guest

Another airline that also partners with Citi and Amex, Etihad Guest is a unique (and frustrating) program. The best use of Etihad Guest miles isn’t on Etihad but rather on select routes on partner airlines. This includes flying business class on Royal Air Maroc from New York to Casablanca for 80,000 miles, while other airlines may charge upwards of 100,000 points for nonstop travel to the African continent.

• Pros: Many awards are bookable online, easy to earn points.
• Cons: Not many sweet spots left after a March 2023 devaluation.

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

Utilizing a zone-based award chart with almost universally high award rates, EVA Infinity MileageLands appears to be the “vanilla pudding” of Capital One’s transfer partners: bland without any standout sweet spots to speak of. It's certainly not something you would recommend to people you like. If you feel you must send your Capital One miles to EVA Air, do so with the knowledge that you will likely get better redemption value transferring to LifeMiles or Aeroplan — both of which are also Star Alliance programs.

• Pros: We’ll update the post when we find one.
• Cons: High redemption rates, passes on fuel surcharges on many partners (although not on EVA metal).

Finnair Plus

Credit: Nimu/Unsplash

Much like EVA Air above, Helsinki-based Finnair seems another inclusion to bolster the numbers. A Oneworld member, Finnair Plus will set you back 90,000 points for a round-trip economy award between the U.S. and Europe. That's a staggering amount to fly the main cabin. However, the carrier is adopting Avios, and that may lead to better award charts as it calibrates with other airlines using this currency.

• Pros: Some award sweet spots in Europe.
• Cons: High redemption rates, high fuel surcharges on many routes, need to book most partners over the phone.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Australian-based Qantas Frequent Flyer is a Oneworld carrier and shares many redemption partners with Cathay’s Asia Miles, although it does have a few interesting partners outside of its alliance. For U.S. travelers, there aren’t many sweet spots aside from El Al redemptions, which won’t attract fuel surcharges, and the Qantas round-the-world award, which will set you back 318,000 points plus fuel surcharges and fees. While it's not flashy, the best use of Qantas points for U.S. flights is probably short-distance American Airlines flights in economy, available for just 8,000 points.

• Pros: Round-the-world tickets offer ok value but be wary of fuel surcharges and ticket restrictions, AA flights offer decent value.
• Cons: High redemption rates, high fuel surcharges on most carriers.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

You'll find many Singapore KrisFlyer sweet spots for Star Alliance awards and even better deals on Singapore metal. Plus, those with flexible travel plans can take advantage of monthly Spontaneous Escapes for 30% off awards on a rotating list of routes for short-notice bookings.

• Pros: Use KrisFlyer miles to fly to Hawaii on United for less than it costs with United, lots of high-value redemptions on Singapore metal, better award availability for Singapore KrisFlyer members booking Singapore flights than what's available to partners.
• Cons: Charge fuel surcharges on partner awards, $50 or 5,000-mile booking fee to book over the phone.

TAP Miles & Go

TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal and is relatively unfamiliar to many when it comes to redeeming rewards. It doesn't have much going on, but there are a few good deals to be had if you're willing to look. This includes the ability to fly to the Caribbean from anywhere in the continental U.S. for just 30,000 miles in economy.

• Pros: Grants access to Star Alliance awards.
• Cons: Generally more expensive than other options.

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles

Turkish Miles & Smiles is one of our absolute favorite transfer partners for Capital One, mainly because it features such amazing deals. This includes charging just 10,000 miles one-way from the continental U.S. to Hawaii on United — or just 15,000 miles in first class. Miles & Smiles also charges just 65,000 miles one-way for business class to Europe on Turkish Airlines. Aside from this, you can transfer Bilt Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points over to Turkish, making it easy to earn enough miles for a redemption.

• Pros: Tons of sweet spots.
• Cons: Doesn't always show the same availability as partners, website is terrible, must call to book tickets for others.

Virgin Red

Virgin Red is the loyalty program for the combined Virgin brands — including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels, shopping via the Virgin app or website, plus additional earning opportunities with a whole host of other brands. Despite recent devaluations, there are still some serious sweet spots to be had with Virgin, including booking ANA business class from Japan to the U.S. for 45,000 points one-way.

• Pros: Lots of options to pick up additional Virgin Red points through partners and promos, some great sweet spots for international redemptions.
• Cons: Be wary of heavy fuel surcharges on Virgin Atlantic redemptions.

Credit: Blake Wisz/Unsplash

Cards That Earn Capital One Miles

Looking to boost your balance of Capital One miles so you can take advantage of some of these redemptions? There's great news: You can earn unlimited 2X miles on your everyday spending with these cards:

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture X Business
• Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Of course, Capital One offers additional cards, each with its own perks and earning rates. Bolstering your mileage balance is also made easier by two customer-friendly perks: the ability to share miles with anyone for free and the ability to turn cash-back earnings into miles if you hold credit cards that earn both types of rewards.

Related: The Best Capital One Credit Cards for Every Purchase

Final Thoughts

While not all of Capital One’s transfer partners offer the same value, there are some terrific options for those looking to stretch the value of their miles in the plane and for folks looking to get a seat up at the pointy end — particularly when you factor in how many of the partners cross over with other flexible points programs, allowing you to consolidate your points and miles for an award.

The transfer program sits alongside Capital One’s other travel redemption options, one of which allows you to redeem Capital One miles against any travel purchase at a rate of 1¢ per point, meaning 100 miles provides $1 of credits towards your travel purchase as a statement credit. You're also able to redeem your miles within the Capital One Travel portal at a rate of 1 cent per point.

If you find award availability with one of Capital One’s airline partners, you can transfer your miles over and redeem them for an award flight. If there are no award seats available, or you find cheap airfare, you can purchase the flight with your Capital One Venture X or Spark Miles card via the travel portal to earn additional awards and then redeem miles as a statement credit to wipe out the cost.

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