Capital One's 4 Most Valuable Transfer Partners Capital One's 4 Most Valuable Transfer Partners

Capital One's 4 Most Valuable Transfer Partners

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Back in 2021, Capital One announced game-changing improvements to its loyalty program. These improvements included Capital One adding four new transfer partners and upgrading seven existing partners. In addition, the changes highlighted Capital One's vision of building a winning flexible rewards program. Ultimately, the changes marked the rewards program as one of the few that are increasing value for members by adding partners and improving the transfer rates.

A few years on, Venture Miles are more valuable now than ever before. Let's take a look at some of the best ways to redeem them with Capital One's most valuable transfer partners.

Related: Our Complete Guide to Capital One Transfer Partners

How We Picked the Best Transfer Partners

To determine the most valuable transfer partners for Capital One (or any program, really), it essentially comes down to three factors:

  1. Transfer rate: With the exception of two transfer partners (EVA Air and Accor), all Capital One miles transfer at a 1:1 ratio. So you won't be losing out on any of your hard-earned miles.
  2. Competitive pricing: The next factor we considered is the partner program’s award pricing. A good transfer ratio won’t do any good if an award ticket or free hotel night is too expensive.
  3. Diversity of usefulness: Lastly, we considered whether a program offers attractive prices for a diverse set of trips. Almost every program can outshine the competition in specific situations. But having a variety of options from one points program is much more useful overall.

Best Overall Partner: Avianca LifeMiles

It should come as no surprise that we're big fans of Avianca LifeMiles. As a Star Alliance member, LifeMiles offers some of the most generous award pricing you can find. The program doesn't add fuel surcharges to your out-of-pocket costs or charge close-in booking fees. This means you can book a last-minute flight for the same amount as one that you book months in advance. Plus, you can pay for award tickets using a combination of miles and cash, providing ultimate flexibility.

It's important to note that you will need to search on the LifeMiles website, not the Avianca website, when looking for award tickets.

Here are some examples of the great redemptions possible with Avianca LifeMiles:

Denver (DEN) to Chicago (ORD) in United economy

award pricing from Denver to Chicago

Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) in United economy

award pricing from Los Angeles to Sydney

New York (JFK) to Brussels (BRU) in Brussels Airlines business class

award pricing in business class shows why LifeMiles is one of Capital One's most valuable transfer partners

Importantly, notice that the taxes and fees for all of these flights are very low. Not only are you getting a great price when it comes to points, you also won't fork over a ton of cash to cover the surcharges.

Best Hotel Partner: Wyndham Rewards

While not well known for the glitz and glamour of its luxury rivals, you shouldn't ignore Wyndham Rewards. Beyond its partnership with Caesars Rewards, Wyndham happens to have the largest hotel footprint in the world. No matter where you go, you'll likely find a Wyndham property to rest your head.

Nightly redemption rates at Wyndham properties fall within three award categories:

  • 7,500 points
  • 15,000 points
  • 30,000 points

Below are a few examples of good Wyndham redemptions. However, keep in mind that it isn't always a good move to use points. When cash rates are low, using points is less attractive. As a general rule, you're looking for redemptions that save you more than one cent per point.

The Wyndham Reef Resort Grand Cayman

aerial view of a hotel and pool at a beach near the ocean

The cash rate for this hotel starts at $350 for a studio room and goes up from there. In this case, consider booking with 30,000 points instead. That's a redemption value of 1.17¢ per point.

award pricing for 30,000 points per night

The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel

a large sign saying New Yorker lit up at night on the side of a skyscraper hotel

Off-season rates can be as low as $175. During peak travel time, however, when paid rates are higher than $300, you should consider booking with 30,000 points.

points pricing for 30,000 points per night, making Wyndham one of Capital One's most valuable transfer partners

a pool and deck chairs at a hotel
Credit: Wyndham

But the same applies to Wyndham's lower-tier redemptions, as well. This hotel in downtown Cancun charges $80 or more per night, but you'll redeem just 7,500 points.

award pricing for 7,500 points per night

Best Airline Partner: Air France–KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue, the award program for both Air France and KLM, is another great use of your miles. Each month, the program offers Flying Blue Promo Rewards. These awards are 25% to 50% off typical pricing, available for one month and typically includes flights up to three months out.

sample Flying Blue Promo Rewards for short-haul and medium-haul flights

There are specific routes that are discounted, and they are grouped into short/medium-haul flights and long-haul flights.

sample Flying Blue Promo Rewards for long-haul flights show that Flying Blue is one of Capital One's most valuable transfer partners

Flying Blue sweet spots

Furthermore, Flying Blue has a variety of sweet spots. Some of these come in the form of leveraging points with Flying Blue's airline partners like Delta and Aeromexico./ You can book a flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City for as low as 16,500 miles one-way flying on Delta or 18,500 on Aeromexico.

award pricing from Los Angeles to Mexico City using Flying Blue miles

Other sweet spots come directly from Air France and KLM. Fly business class from the U.S. to Europe for just 55,000 miles one-way, plus approximately $200 in taxes and fees. These fees can be lower than other carriers, where surcharges can run you upwards of $500.

award pricing New York to Paris on Air France business class for 55,000 miles

Flying Blue family account

In addition to promos and sweet spots, Flying Blue is also great for families. There are two important perks you need to know about:

  • You can create a family account with two adults and up to six children. First, you will need to create a free loyalty account for each person. Once you do, you can pool points between family members, making it simple to track each person's account without having to separately log in.
  • Award tickets for children ages 2–11 are 25% off when flying with an adult. This means that a family of four can fly from the U.S. to Europe for as little as 52,500 miles one-way.

award pricing for families includes discounts for children, making Flying Blue a valuable transfer partner from Capital One

Best Sweet Spots: Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles

No list of valuable Capital One transfer partners would be complete without mentioning its most unique option: Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles. Turkish Airlines is a part of the Star Alliance network, which means that you use Turkish miles to book flights with any of these partner airlines.

Turkish Airlines has some excellent award sweet spots because of its region-based awards chart. For example, flights from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii are considered domestic flights within one region. Therefore, you can fly from anywhere in the U.S. to Hawaii for just 7,500 miles.

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Denver to Honolulu award pricing

Other sweet spots to be aware of include:

  • United Polaris business class from North America to Europe for 45,000 miles
  • ANA's “The Room” from San Francisco to Tokyo for 67,500 miles
  • Fly between Europe 2 and the Far East for 45,000 miles.

That's quite some distance and a range of opportunities on the last item. ”

“Europe 2” includes these countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. The “Far East” region includes: Brunei, Cambodia, China (except Hong Kong and Macao), China Taipei, Hong Kong – SAR of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

Some popular routes for this redemption would be London to Tokyo, Munich to Bangkok, Seoul to Rome, and Singapore to Zurich.

One note

As great as Turkish Airlines is when it comes to redemptions, it does have one big downside. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find award availability. Miles & Smiles is notorious for not showing available award flights online.

To remedy this, you can log on to United's website and do an award search. You're looking for the “saver award” note. Once you find this, call Turkish Airlines at 800-874-8875. You should be able to book the flights over the phone. Make sure to not transfer your Capital One miles until you've confirmed availability with a Turkish agent.

How To Get Capital One Miles

So how do you get Capital One miles to use with these valuable partners? Consider any of the following credit cards for their welcome bonuses and earning on daily spending:

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Annual Fee$395
Welcome Bonus Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • 2 miles per dollar on all eligible purchases
  • 5 miles per dollar on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
  • 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars when booking via Capital One Travel

What makes these miles even better is that you can share them with anyone, helping you combine miles for an upcoming redemption. Moreover, if you have a Capital One cash-back rewards card and a miles-earning card, you can combine your cash earnings with miles. Thus, any Capital One card can essentially earn miles.

Related: The 6 Best Capital One Credit Cards for Every Purchase

Bottom Line

Capital One miles don't expire, and there are multiple credit cards that earn these valuable miles that you can use with a wide range of transfer partners. However, we've highlighted four of the best partners here. These provide excellent opportunities to redeem your miles for flights or hotel stays at outsized value. That's true whether you're flying domestically in economy or redeeming for a luxury hotel stay in a foreign country.

But don't forget that you also can use Capital One miles to cover recent travel purchases on your card, help you “use miles when you can't use miles.” These fixed-value redemptions offer a quality option for simplicity, but spending the time to redeem through the partners we've highlighted here — Avianca LifeMiles, Wyndham Rewards, Flying Blue, and Miles & Smiles — can yield numerous opportunities for great uses of your miles.

5 / 5 - (5 votes)
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Comments

  • I see this was last updated in July 2023, but it doesn’t look like Turkish award chart is up to date. I don’t see 7,500 anywhere. It looks like 15.5k one way to Hawaii. Or can someone direct me in the right direction if I’m missing it?

  • Don’t they also partner with Turkish? I’d have to put them in the top given their extensive network and reasonable redemption rates. Fuel surcharges are fairly reasonable too.

  • Great deal if you are wanting a new credit card. Love the extra bonus points.

  • Not a fan of Capital One but more competition is always good.

    Question though, firstly does booking award tickets count towards lifetime miles flown? Or do those need to be paid fares? (United specifically)
    And secondly, what is that same answer if booking a United ticket using partner miles and not United miles?

    • Hey Jackson, great question. It depends on how you book. Award tickets booked through United or a partner program don’t accumulate lifetime miles. So if you transfer Cap1 to Avianca and book a ticket on a United-operated flight, that won’t count. However, you will accumulate lifetime miles by using Capital One’s fixed-value miles redemption feature. Just book your paid ticket and redeem Cap1 miles for a statement credit. More on that here

  • Really hoping to see Capital One Canada offer transfer partner options too!

  • I am looking to use points on Cathay Pacific but I don’t think that I would get the Venture card.

  • The Virgin Australia case is truly the wild card. Thanks.

  • Lifemiles, Wyndham rewards and Cathay Pacific are great partners with some intriguing possibilities. Lifemiles is the best Star Alliance partner for getting to Europe with out ridiculous surcharges. Wyndham has some surprisingly valuable redemptions like BOnnet Creek at DisneyWorld.

  • Etihad has some nice redemptions which makes it a top transfer partner for capital one!

  • How easy/hard is it to book Cathay round the world tickets?

    • Cathay’s Multi-Oneworld carrier awards are going to be a fair bit more complicated than the average award booking. The degree of difficulty is going to depend on how many stops you want—since you’ll need to find award space in your desired class of service for all segments of your trip. You can find the rules for these awards here.

  • Having done several trips of the same route, ANA First Class and Asiana Business Class (LAX-ICN) look like my favorite for now. I need to dig up my Capital One Card and see how many points I have left there–a forgotten activity during COVID. Thank you for the great article!

  • Thanks for the step-by-step instructions! So I followed them and I can confirm that the no-AF version DOES have the option to transfer rewards to partner programs. However that is where I stopped going down the rabbit hole, so I have no idea if the conversion rates are better for the Venture as opposed to the Venture One. When I finally cash in my rewards I’ll scope it out and report back.

    • JT Genter says:

      Thanks for the follow-up! It should transfer at the same rates as the Capital One Venture. We haven’t seen any indication that the transfer rates would be different.

  • It is so sad to see Capital One continue to expand is product in the US, but a painful regression in Canada…

  • Sounds good but I do not need to have another credit card. Good partners but no one I really want to deal with right now.

  • CapOne is upping their game by adding some solid partners, but they still have a long, long way to go to be in the same league as Chase or Amex. They are nipping at Citi’s heels a bit here though. Hopefully they can keep adding partners over time and give the other cards a run for their money.

  • Unfortunately, it is not possible to do any oneworld round the world business class trip soon.

  • Thanks, this is an interesting post. One thing to consider is that Avianca miles can be purchased at around 1.2 cpm which means by using Avianca, you are getting 2.4 c per dollar spent. Is that the max value you can get out of Capital One miles ?

  • This is a great summary! Agree that Avianca has an awesome partner program

  • Wow. This is really useful. I have a ton of capital one rewards miles lying around and will utilize these options!

  • Time to consider Capital One Credit Card now!

  • Where can you find out more information about the other transfer partners not listed in this blog post?

  • I thought Turkish was a transfer partner? 7,500 mile flights from Newark to Honolulu?

    • Yes, that is correct! We strongly considered putting in Turkish. Hawaii is still a great deal with Cap1 transfers. However, with the 1,000:750 transfer ratio, they aren’t useful for as broad a range of trips. Ultimately, we wanted to try to keep this post a bit shorter for folks who find so many options overwhelming.

      • @Erik, and I for one thank u for making the judgement calls nesssary to come up with such a short, quality clist of “the best” transfer options. It’s exactly what I rely on AW to do on multiple fronts. Sort thru the myriad of options and point me in the right direction.

  • Thank you for this overview. It’s definitely more complicated to search around for deals like this but it can really pay off.

  • Although I’m partial to Chase Ultimate Rewards seconded by Member Rewards, I think the “How We Picked the Best Transfer Partners” portion of this article is useful to everyone.

  • An unpopular opinion perhaps, however I am a big fan of Wyndham hotels

  • I just recently signed up for the Platinum card so I need to find your write up on that. CapOne is getting better but they’re still not there.

  • Maryjane says:

    This used to be a vanilla essentially cash-back card that could only be used for travel redemptions. So I didn’t care.

    Now it is the best travel card on the market.

    Curse you Capital One for never granting me a card!

    Those of you who can get this card should definitely do so. Before you get too many other cards so to be forever locked out of this one.

  • Does anyone know if the ability to transfer miles to partners is a benefit of the no-AF Venture One card? I have to no-AF card, and am trying to figure out if it’s beneficial for me to upgrade.

    • JT Genter says:

      Based on everything we’ve seen, you should be able to transfer miles from the no-annual-fee VentureOne card to transfer partners. If you have the card, I’d love it if you could confirm this for us! If you log into your Capital One account, you should see a “rewards miles” balance. Clicking on that will get you into the Rewards section. On that page, you hopefully will see “Convert Rewards Transfer miles to rack up rewards with one of your travel loyalty programs.”

      With that said, it may be beneficial to upgrade anyways to earn 2X miles on purchases rather than 1.25X. That’s a pretty significant step up in return.

  • Didn’t realize the transfer partners could be such a beautiful thing!

  • Don’t they also partner with Turkish? I’d have to put them in the top given their extensive network and reasonable redemption rates. Fuel surcharges are fairly reasonable too.

  • This sounds like a great offer. Do you know if this offer applies if I convert my VentureOne card to this Venture Rewards card?

    • Generally, product changes aren’t eligible for a new cardmember bonus. Some issuers do offer targeted bonus offers to change cards to select customers (esp. Amex). But I haven’t heard of Cap One offers of that nature. You could still get approved for the Venture as long as you haven’t opened a Cap1 card in the past 6 months