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There are many ways to earn and redeem Capital One miles, whether that's with transfer partners, for cash back, or paying for travel in the Capital One Travel portal. For those uninterested in utilizing transfer partners, you can redeem miles at a fixed value in two different ways. How you do this matters, though, because one offers a much better value proposition even while doing the same thing.
Here's why you should never redeem Capital One miles through Capital One Travel.
- 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
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
Capital One Redemption Methods
As mentioned above, two main redemption methods exist for using Capital One miles toward travel: transfers to partner programs and fixed-value redemptions. Capital One has 18 transfer partners: 15 airlines and three hotels. 16 of those partners transfer at 1:1 ratios.
| Loyalty Program | Transfer Ratio | Miles/Points per 1,000 Capital One Miles Transferred |
|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico (Club Premier) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Air Canada (Aeroplan) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Air France-KLM (Flying Blue) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Avianca (LifeMiles) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| British Airways (Executive Club) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Emirates (Skywards) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Etihad (Etihad Guest) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| EVA Air (Infinity MileageLands) | 2:1.5 | 750 |
| Finnair (Finnair Plus) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Qantas (Frequent Flyer) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Singapore (KrisFlyer) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| TAP Portugal (Miles & Go) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Turkish Airlines (Miles & Smiles) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Virgin Red (includes Virgin Atlantic Flying Club) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Accor (Accor Live Limitless) | 2:1 | 500 |
| Choice Hotels (Choice Privileges) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
| Wyndham (Wyndham Rewards) | 1:1 | 1,000 |
You can check our current data points on transfer times to see how long it takes to send Capital One miles to your favorite program.
As Capital One's transfer partners aren't created equal, neither are its fixed-value redemption methods. Interestingly, cardholders have two options for fixed-value redemptions toward travel purchases:
- Redeem miles during payment via Capital One Travel (Capital One's travel portal).
- Redeem miles toward prior travel purchases from the past 90 days.
Why You Should Never Redeem Miles via Capital One Travel
On the surface, it may seem as though the two fixed redemption options would yield the same value. After all, these are fixed-value redemptions, so how could they be any different? Interestingly, redeeming miles to pay for travel at Capital One Travel represents the inferior option. Here's why.
Imagine a hypothetical $1,000 hotel booking made through Capital One Travel. You'll need 100,000 miles to pay for it — that's whether you pay with miles at checkout or redeem miles after the fact to cover this purchase. However, if you pay with your credit card, you'll earn miles on the purchase. You'll still have the option to redeem miles to cover the purchase later on, but you won't earn miles when paying with miles in the travel portal.
And that's the important part.
Capital One cardholders earn up to 10x miles on these types of bookings. For our $1,000 hotel example, this means earning up to 10,000 miles. After redeeming 100,000 miles to cover the purchase, you're effectively spending just 90,000 miles by paying with your credit card first and redeeming miles later. That's a 10% discount.
Credit Cards Earning Bonus Miles at Capital One Travel
Depending on which card you use, your earning rates on Capital One Travel bookings will vary:
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day, plus 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One Venture X Business: 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. 10 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 5 Miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business: 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day and 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business: 1.5 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day and 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card: 1.25 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day and 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Our Take
Typically, the motto says that there is no “best” way to use points and miles toward travel. While “best” might be a matter of opinion, the numbers dictate that there is a best method for fixed-value mile redemption with Capital One Travel. Importantly, whenever applying Capital One miles toward travel purchases, it's best to pay first and redeem miles afterward — covering travel purchases on your card from the past 90 days.
In doing so, Capital One Travel purchases still earn miles. Ultimately, this reduces the net number of miles you pay for each redemption and gives travelers a head start toward their next travel redemption.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I agree with this strategy, but find that hotels are usually higher priced when booking through Capital One travel.
I’ve noticed that with the Chase portal too. 5 points per dollar sounds great until you notice that the prices are about 10% higher than Booking.com or Expedia.