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There are several reasons to consider collecting Capital One miles from Capital One Rewards. But if we had to give you the main reason to join the Capital One ecosystem or expand your presence in it, here you go: Capital One miles are the most valuable transferable rewards currency you can earn.
On average, AwardWallet users redeem Capital One Rewards Miles for 2¢ apiece. That beats out other notable transferable rewards programs by a good margin. A large part of this value comes from Capital One's extensive list of transfer partners — worth familiarizing yourself with if you want to extract maximum value from your hard-earned miles.
In this post, we'll cover the ins and outs of Capital One miles — how to earn and redeem — so you can get the most out of your rewards.
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How To Earn Capital One Rewards Miles
Wondering how to earn a lot of Capital One miles? Let's dive into the brief list of ways to earn miles to start growing your account. In short, you can earn Capital One miles in two primary ways: With a Capital One credit card — due to daily spending or earning a welcome bonus — or by referring others to Capital One.
Credit cards
To earn Capital One miles, you'll need to outfit your wallet with a miles-earning credit card. Capital One offers a handful of options for consumers optimized for everyday spending and travel (when booked through the Capital One Travel portal), plus a few more tailored to businesses of different sizes.
Here's a look at the three personal credit cards that award Capital One Rewards on every purchase and the welcome bonus for new applicants:
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card: Earn 20,000 miles once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 Miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 1.25 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
You also can earn a lot of Capital One miles by opening one of the following business credit cards:
- Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business: Earn 50,000 miles once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business: Earn a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles - equal to $500 in travel - once you spend $4,500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture X Business: Earn 150,000 Miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months, and an additional 200,000 miles once you spend $200,000 in the first 6 months.
- 5X Miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 1.5 Miles per $1 on every purchase.
- 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
And remember, if you have both a miles-earning credit card and a Savor or Spark Cash cashback-earning credit card, you can convert your cashback rewards to Capital One miles.
Related: All of the Cards That Earn Capital One Miles
Referral bonus
If your Capital One account is in good standing, you can likely take advantage of Capital One's referral program. For each friend you refer who is successfully approved for an account, you'll earn a set amount of Capital One Rewards. And for some cards, this could look like 25,000 miles for each approval — up to 100,000 miles per year.
Your personal referral link is located on the Capital One website under your account tile or in the bank's mobile app.
Capital One also has a similar program for small business owners. Thus, if you have an eligible account, you can earn bonus miles for each business you refer.
What Is the Value of Capital One Rewards Miles?
The value of Capital One miles highly depends on how you redeem them. Let's look at some of the options you have to redeem and what your Capital One Rewards Miles are worth towards each redemption:
- Amazon purchases (apply miles at checkout): 0.8 cents apiece.
- Capital One Entertainment: 0.8 cents apiece.
- Cover travel purchases (made in the last 90 days): 1 cent apiece.
- Get cash back (as a mailed check or statement credit): 0.5 cents apiece.
- Gift cards: 1 cent apiece.
- New Capital One Travel Portal bookings: 1 cent apiece.
- Redeem with PayPal: 0.8 cents apiece.
- Buy baseball game tickets: Varies.
Each of the above options is okay, but they could be better. An easy way to get more out of your Capital One Rewards is to leverage Capital One's roster of transfer partners. On average, AwardWallet users redeem Rewards Miles for 2¢ apiece, and a large part of that is due to the value you can unlock with partner points and miles.
Related: Why You Should Never Redeem Capital One Miles Through Capital One Travel
Capital One Transfer Partners
Capital One boasts 19 transfer partners. Thus, your Capital One Rewards are incredibly versatile, and you can leverage several fantastic loyalty programs to extract maximum value from your miles.
Even better, transferring Capital One miles is a quick and easy process. You can add your partner loyalty account in just a few steps.
Airline transfer partners
Of Capital One's 16 airline transfer partners, all but one feature a 1:1 transfer ratio. Most transfers occur immediately but can take as long as a few days.
Related: Capital One's 4 Most Valuable Transfer Partners
Hotel transfer partners
Capital One's roster of three hotel partners is much smaller than its list of airline partners. And while you won't see the biggest hotel brands on this list, there are still plenty of ways to redeem your Capital One Rewards for great value by booking award hotel stays through Choice, Wyndham, and Accor.
Related: Using Capital One Miles Within North America
Best Ways To Use Capital One Rewards Miles
As mentioned, the best way to maximize your Capital One Rewards is to transfer your miles to partners — particularly airline partners. For example, you can transfer miles to Air France/KLM Flying Blue to take advantage of the program's monthly Promo Rewards. That means flying one-way to Europe for as low as 15,000 Capital One miles per way!
Alternatively, transfer 35,000 Capital One miles to Avianca LifeMiles and fly TAP Air Portugal business class between New York and Lisbon. One welcome bonus on a Capital One credit card could cover a round-trip ticket in a lie-flat seat!
Another great use doesn't involve partner programs at all. Say you book a cheap ticket through Spirit Airlines or Frontier. You can redeem Capital One Rewards for travel purchases made within the last 90 days at a rate of 1 cent per mile. Thus, if you book a ticket that costs $26, you could redeem 2,600 miles to cover the entire cost.
And this is just a tiny snapshot of what you can do with Capital One Rewards.
Related: Pros and Cons of the Capital One Airline Transfer Partners
Do Capital One Miles Expire?
The good news is that Capital One miles don't expire as long as your account is open.
However, note that if you close a Capital One credit card, you'll lose the rewards associated with that card. If you're considering closing your miles-earning Capital One card (and you don't have another miles-earning card in your wallet), you need to redeem your miles beforehand to avoid losing them.
Final Thoughts
The more you know about Capital One Rewards Miles, the easier it is to appreciate the currency. There are several ways you can earn miles and dozens of ways you can redeem them — some of which allow you to extract fantastic value from your hard-earned miles.
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