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Capital One's new 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 transferring at a reduced rate of 1,000 points to 750 miles.
In this post, you'll get a brief overview of each partner along with their main strength and weakness. If you're looking for more in-depth coverage of each partner, including the Capital One hotel transfer partners, check out our comprehensive guide to Capital One transfers.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening; worth $750 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 2 Miles on every purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $100)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. 5 Miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Thanks to the 1:1 transfer ratio for the majority of partners, you're effectively earning a base rate of 2x airline miles on every dollar spent on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Spark Miles for Business. That’s a top return on non-bonus spending, and better than you’ll receive on most co-brand airline cards.
As a first push into flexible rewards, Capital One did a stellar job assembling a full list of partners before the program went live. And they've wasted no time in adding additional partners and adding value to the program. Although the program lacks a US-based transfer partner, there are plenty of high-value airlines on the list, plus a number of crossover partners with Chase, Citi, and Amex so you can pool points from multiple programs to reach travel goals faster.
- Earn 50,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening; worth $500 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 2 Miles per $1 on every purchase, everywhere
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $100)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $0 intro for first year; $95 after that
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions, and miles won't expire for the life of the account. 2 Miles per $1 on every purchase, everywhere. Unlimited 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Before we dig into the pros and cons of transferring points to each airline, here’s a quick recap of Capital One’s 15 airline partners.
| Transfer Partner | Transfer Ratio | U.S. partner airline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 1:1 | Delta | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1:1 | United | Transfer rate improved in October 2021 |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | 1:1 | Delta | Transfer rate improved in October 2021 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 | United | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| British Airways (Executive Club) | 1:1 | American and Alaska | Added as a partner in April 2021. Transfer rate improved in October 2021. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1:1 | American and Alaska | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 | n/a (partnership with JetBlue ended) | Transfer rate improved in October 2021 |
| Etihad Guest | 1:1 | American | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| Finnair Plus | 1:1 | American and Alaska | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:1 | American and Alaska | Transfer rate improved in April 2021 |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | 1:1 | United and Alaska | Transfer rate improved in October 2021 |
| TAP Air Portugal (Miles&Go) | 1:1 | United | Added as a partner in April 2021 |
| Turkish Airlines (Miles&Smiles) | 1:1 | United | Added as a partner in April 2021. Transfer rate improved in October 2021. |
| Virgin Red | 1:1 | Delta | Added as a partner in April 2022 |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 4:3 | United |
A Closer Look at Capital One’s Airline Partners
Aeromexico Club Premier
Club Premier is a bit of a mixed bag, and one of the programs we hear little about in the US. Largely ignored due to a quirky award chart based on kilometers rather than miles, Aeromexico's sweet spots include a RTW Business Class award that allows up to 15 stopovers for the equivalent of 220K Membership Rewards points. Unfortunately, Capital One doesn’t take into account the comparatively low value of Club Premier 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 Club Premier based on kilometers, not miles (Amex Membership Rewards transfer at 1:1.6), and the call center to book awards is truly atrocious
Air Canada Aeroplan
One of the most exciting partners on the list, transferring points to Aeroplan opens up a lot of high-value awards on Star Alliance carriers, and the ability to pool points from Membership Rewards and Marriott Rewards. Aeroplan doesn’t pass on carrier-imposed surcharges on select airlines including Swiss, Turkish, Air New Zealand, Singapore, and United, and although the award rates aren’t the best available on many routes, you can extract awesome value out of the stopover and open-jaw rules on round-trip awards to create a mini RTW business class itineraries for as little as 155K miles.
- Pros: Consolidate points from other flexible rewards programs, top value across the Atlantic, maximize stopovers and open-jaws for top value awards
- Cons: Passes on fuel surcharges on many carriers including Air Canada, awards with more than one stopover must be booked over the phone
Air France/KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue is one of the only programs allowing points transfers from Chase, Citi, Amex, Marriott Rewards, and now Capital One. You can book awards on all SkyTeam partners, take advantage of some unique region definitions, or redeem miles for Flying Blue Promo Awards which offer 25-50% off the typical cost of award tickets to destinations that change every month.
- Pros: Promo awards offer top value, transfer points from all major flexible currencies, unique region definitions, allows one-way awards
- Cons: Passes on fuel surcharges, no longer publishes an award chart
- 20,000 Miles Miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening; worth $200 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 1.5 Miles per $1 on every purchase
- Intro APR of 0% on purchases 9 months; 14.24% - 24.24% variable APR after that
- No foreign transaction fees
- $0 annual fee
- 1.5 Miles per $1 on every purchase.
Avianca LifeMiles
Up until recently, the only way to get your hands on LifeMiles was to purchase them during one of the frequent sales online, which offer bonuses as high as 145% on top of purchased miles. Avianca now counts Citi, Amex, and Capital One as transfer partners, and if you still can’t put together the miles for an award, Avianca allows you to purchase up to 60% of the miles required for an award. Avianca does not impose fuel surcharges, provides access to the Star Alliance network, and award rates are competitive with the likes of MileagePlus and Singapore KrisFlyer.
- 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 US 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 $15 booking fee applied to all awards
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Despite devaluing the Asia Miles program in June 2018, Cathay still utilizes a distance-based chart to calculate the price of an award, and the rates are competitive with other Oneworld frequent flyer programs. Cathay also partners with Amex and Citi, so you can now pool points from multiple programs to boost your balance. Asia Miles allows a stopover on one-way awards, and offers competitive awards from the US to many destinations including South Africa and Asia, and offer great value in AA Business Class to Europe at just 50K miles.
- Pros: Multiple transfer partners, distance-based award chart featuring many top-value rewards
- Cons: Limited ability to book partner awards online and long waits when calling in, bookings departing Hong Kong now attract higher surcharges and fees
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 between JFK-Milan and Newark-Athens, you will likely get better value transferring to other partners.
- Pros: Provides access to luxurious Emirates redemptions, allows you to pool your Marriott Rewards, Membership Rewards, and Capital One miles 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 in that it has a separate award chart for every partner, so where one partner may offer exceptional value between two destinations, another partner won’t. The best use of Guest miles isn’t on Etihad, but rather on select routes on partner airlines. Examples include flying business class on Royal Air Maroc from New York to Casablanca for 44K miles or flying Virgin Australia business class from Sydney to Queenstown in New Zealand for 13,800 miles.
- Pros: Lots of hidden award chart sweet spots on partners, multiple transfer partners
- Cons: Separate award charts for every partner, all partner awards must be booked over the phone
- Earn 40,000 Miles once you spend $1000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening; worth $400 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 1.25 Miles on every purchase
- 0% intro APR on purchases for 18 months; 19.74% - 29.74% variable APR after that
- No foreign transaction fees
- $0 annual fee
- Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options. Earn unlimited 1.25X miles on every purchase, every day.
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. Certainly not something you would recommend to people you like. If you feel you must send your Capital One points to Eva Air, do so in the knowledge that you will likely get better redemption value transferring to LifeMiles or Aeroplan, both Star Alliance programs.
- Pros: We’ll update the post when we find one
- Cons: High redemption rates, pass on fuel surcharges on many partners (although not on Eva metal)
Finnair Plus
Much like Eva Air above, Helsinki-based Finnair is another inclusion that is there to make up the numbers. A Oneworld member, Finnair Plus will set you back 125K points for a round-trip economy award between the US and Europe, a staggering amount to fly the main cabin.
- 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 US travelers there aren’t many sweet spots outside of El Al redemptions, which won’t attract fuel surcharges, and the Qantas RTW award which will set you back 280,000 points plus fuel surcharges and fees.
- Pros: RTW tickets offer ok value but be wary of fuel surcharges and ticket restrictions
- Cons: High redemption rates, high fuel surcharges on most carriers
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Alongside Flying Blue, Singapore KrisFlyer is now one of only two programs that allow transfers from all 5 major transferable rewards currencies, including Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Rewards, Capital One, and Marriott Rewards. Offering plenty of sweet spots for Star Alliance awards and even better deals on Singapore and Silkair metal, We see KrisFlyer as a great addition to Capital One's transfer partners.
- 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 redemptions for KrisFlyer members than partners
- Cons: Charge fuel surcharges on partner awards, $25 or 2,500-mile booking fee to book over the phone
Virgin Red
Capital One's newest airline rewards partner, 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
- Pros: Lots of options to pick up additional Virgin Red points through partners and promos, some great sweet spots for international redemptions.
- Cons: Be weary of fuel surcharges which can sting on Virgin redemption.
Final Thoughts
While not all of Capital One’s transfer partners offer the same value, there are some terrific options for folks looking to get a seat up the pointy end of the plane, particularly when you factor in how many of the partner's crossovers with other flexible points programs allowing you to pool your points for an award.
The new transfer program will sit alongside Capital One’s current fixed-value Purchase Eraser feature, which allows you to redeem points against any travel purchase at a rate of 1¢ per point, or, every 100 points credits $1 towards your travel purchase as a statement credit.
If you find award availability with one of Capital One’s airline partners, you can transfer your points to miles and redeem them for an award flight. If there are no award seats available, or you find a cheap airfare, you can purchase the flight with your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Spark Miles for Business card, and ‘erase’ the purchase using points.
With both cards earning 2x points per dollar, you get a 2% return when redeeming points for a fixed value, and potentially a good deal more when you transfer to airline partners.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening; worth $750 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 2 Miles on every purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $100)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. 5 Miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
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This card seemed to check all the boxes re: low annual fee and low spending requirements. But too bad it doesn’t partner with AA or Delta.
Always good to know a variety of options available. I haven’t considered Capital one before really, good article. Thanks
Maybe I need to take another look at Capital One. I’ve pretty much maxed out the other providers as it is. Thanks.
not too shabby.
Been waiting on an article like this…
Nice outline of what is available
I’m in. Seems like Avainca is the way to go, since our family of five often redeems United miles for flights to China. Anyone had any luck redeeming Avanica miles for flights to Chinese cities other than Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu (especially for flights that include an Air China leg from one of those cities to an interior city?). It usually works out to a value of around 2 cents a miles in value for economy tix. We can always book an additional leg via Ctrip or elong, I suppose, but it’d be nice to book the whole route with our miles like we can on United’s website.
Very disappointing that they could not negotiate 1:1 transfers.
You have to consider that the card getting 2x miles on every purchase (and 5x on the CO travel portal) is huge. A transfer of 1:1 would make it head and shoulders better than any of its competition; it’s not surprising that they couldn’t do it.
Even with the reduced transfer ratio, it’s competitive with cards like the Sapphire due to the lack of bonus categories. After all, most consumers spend a lot more on general purchases than they do on travel and dining – think home remodeling, medical bills, etc. This is why Venture is underrated and is in fact a pretty great card for the average consumer who travels once or twice a year.
Great information, not sure if I am willing to open a card quite yet but happy to know that other creditcard companies are wanting to be more competitive.
The conversion rates are a poor value imo unless using this purely to top up for an award redemption.
A quick note that Aeroplan’s future has a big question mark hanging over it, as in 2020 it will be replaced by a new loyalty program with unknown features.
very flexible program
here you can agree
So although there are no US carriers, if you go with Air Canada Aeroplan, which is a Star Alliance member, you could fly United Airlines. And Air France/KLM Flying Blue is a SkyTeam member, which includes Delta.
Did I get that right?
Hey Dani, that is exactly right. In my experience, using AirFrance for Delta flights is especially challenging. Delta only offers flights that cost the minimum number of miles to partner airlines, so in practice, there are very few domestic flights on Delta that can be booked with AirFrance. International is a bit better, but the options are still pretty limited.
United on the other hand opens up a lot more seats to their StarAlliance partners including Aeroplan, so I’ve had more luck with scoring awards with that program. Avianca can also book United (and should have access to the same flights as Aeroplan), and sometimes the number of miles required is less, so it’s worth checking the Lifemiles website to see if the itinerary you want is fewer points.
Lastly, Etihad can book flights with American, and Cathay Pacific can book both American and Alaska flights.
Thanks for the great summary! Looking forward to getting some more Avianca miles…
Nice detailed analysis that provides food for thought.
If they got even one U.S. airlines in this mix, I think they would have something special. As it stands now…meh.
take a step back and look at leveraging partners. Its the lack of US-based airlines that makes these points MORE valuable to those that know how to use the program.
I guess this better than no transfers. My preference is to find the exact airline & routing. Then reimburse the charge using points
I see three that I could use, Qantas being one. Though Qantas seems to be a sore point for many. I see your point that several have cross over from MR and UR, though it the three that I’m interested in are not enough to make me tempted to get it and add another credit card to keep track of.
I’m frustrated that American is not getting on board with a credit card company. Any thoughts why not? Would this not boost their bottom line enough to make it something worth it?
Not crazy about the airline partners. I’ll pass on this one.
Definitely some interesting partners in there – glad to see Capital One is finally upping their Travel Rewards game by moving away from pure cashback.
This is a great assessment, thanks so much !
3 credit inquiries to get capital one cards is still a no go for me.
You might want to rethink your stance on that — are you really that concerned about all 3 bureaus being checked?
Thanks for providing the pros and cons. Very useful information.
Another great summary – unless you can get outsized value from the transfer might be better to just book revenue and use as 1 cent per point on travel.
It’s a great option to top off your points . This information is all new to me so I find it so helpful for blogs like this .
I can’t decide whether I should start getting into capital one cards now they have a transferable points program.
It looks like this card does not really provide good return on spend.
a net effective return of 1.5 miles/dollar or 2% cash back? Not a good return? What would you consider good?
Agreed. What airline card gives you 1.5 miles across the board? (Besides Freedom Unlimited transferring to CSP/CSR). For a miles card, this is actually pretty good. The airline choices aren’t great but it could force you to learn about maximizing redemptions with partner airlines rather than the domestic airline directly.
All this said, I still prefer the Freedom/Sapphire family over this: 1.5 miles/2.25% cashback across the board,3 miles/4.5% cashback on travel, and 5 miles/7.5% cashback on rotating quarterly categories.
It’d be nice to have one domestic airline, but this certainly gives you a lot of options and could compliment other cards (CSR or Amex) very nicely.
I just got the card with the 225,000 mile bonus for 50k. Amazingly the points post as your as your purchase does. You do not have to wait for the statement close.
Great breakdown. Thanks.
It is very nice that this card will have the option to transfer points, though I am not crazy about the fact that they don’t transfer 1 to 1. I still think I’d use the points to erase travel purchases rather than transfer them to airlines but Capital One does not seem to want to approve me for one of their cards.
I see your point but if you view this as a miles card, you get 1.5 miles for EVERY dollar you spend. There aren’t many cards that offer that kind of redemption rate. Granted a lack of domestic carriers is a big downside to me.
Very nice roundup
Thanks!
Amazing info and card. Planning to get the Spark Business
Very helpful list. Thank you for sharing the pros and cons!
I am tempted!
thank you for detailing the pros and cons.
It is sad that so many INfrequent flyers in Australia are drawn to the Qantas program because they will not get a lot out of the program.
Some of us are locked in to Qantas. 🙁 I can fly Virgin if I want to go to Darwin or Adelaide but anywhere else, Qantas has a monopoly – and their pricing reflects that…
One of your most interesting blog posts. The Alitalia upgrade info is new to me.
I would rather have a domestic partner, using the C! points to top off a current balance. Hard to see why a domestic credit card can’t get a domestic partner. But I do see some value here if you are a big C! spender, etc.
None of these are compelling enough to seriously give MR and UR a run for their money.
5/24 is really not worth worrying about as one will lose too many other opportunities just to get a Chase card or two. i can get twenty five or more cards in five years and come out way ahead as opposed to waiting to get a Chase card.
Wow, no domestic choices. I think the eraser feature may be best for me.
The best advantage and pro is just the new options. In the end, that matters and helps push others to do the same.
Nice, flexible program.
Probably not a deal I would waste 5/24 on.
I think I would agree with you on this one.
I would agree with oyu on this as well!
Avainca also has ongoing 40,000 & 60,000 bonus point offers for its credit card, which is nothing to sneeze at either. I also got an 40,000 mile sign-up bonus offer email for Cathay’s card, literally just the other day.