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Offers for the
One benefit of earning Capital One miles is that you can redeem them for travel expenses charged to your eligible credit card. This can include everything from airfare to Uber rides to cruises, letting you reduce your travel costs where it makes the most sense. Just charge an eligible travel expense to your card and apply miles toward it on Capital One's website.
Here’s how to redeem Capital One miles to cover travel charges you’ve already made.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus a limited-time $300 Capital One Travel stays credit
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles on all other purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $120)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
How To Redeem Capital One Miles for Eligible Travel
You can redeem Capital One miles at a fixed value of 1 cent per point toward eligible travel purchases you've already made by requesting a statement credit to cover the charge.
All you have to do is make an eligible travel purchase and pay with a card that earns Capital One miles. After that, you have 90 days to redeem miles toward that purchase. This means you don’t necessarily need all of the miles required to cover the cost in your account when you make your travel purchase. As long as you earn the miles within 90 days of the original charge, you can redeem them.
Once the transaction posts to your account, you can redeem miles toward the cost of travel. At a 1-cent-per-point value, redeeming 20,000 miles will knock $200 off the price of your travel — whether that's a flight, hotel stay, train ride, or any other eligible purchase that falls under a broad travel category. A credit will post to your account within a few days after your redemption.
Unlike other types of fixed-value rewards, you don’t have to book through a specific website or worry about excluded vendors. If the merchant categorizes the purchase as travel on your credit card statement, you can redeem your miles to offset it.
How to request the statement credit
Here's how to redeem your miles to cover travel costs.
Navigate to your
You'll see all eligible travel purchases made on your card in the last 90 days. As you can see in the screenshot below, I have already redeemed 28,012 miles toward British Airways flight taxes. Since then, I have earned more miles from purchases made on my card, and could apply them to further reduce the cost.
Once you've chosen the travel cost you'd like to cover, just follow the prompts to complete the transaction.
After you complete the transaction, you should receive a confirmation email showing the cash value of the miles you redeemed. It typically takes only a few business days for the statement credit to appear in your account, though in rare cases it can take longer.
Related: Do Capital One Rewards Miles Expire?
Purchase Travel To Help Meet Minimum Spend and Redeem Miles Later
If you need to make a travel purchase soon but don’t have enough miles to cover the cost, opening a new Capital One credit card could help. With the 90-day window to redeem miles for a purchase, you can:
- Apply for a card that earns Capital One miles, like the Capital One Venture card.
- Make your travel purchase when the card arrives.
- Make other purchases to meet the minimum spending requirement to earn the card's welcome bonus (currently 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus a limited-time $300 Capital One Travel stays credit).
- Redeem the miles toward the eligible travel purchase after the welcome bonus posts to your account.
That way, the cost of your travel purchase counts toward the minimum spend to earn your bonus. Just note: don’t use this strategy unless you can afford to cover the cost upfront. It's important to pay your credit card bill in full when your statement closes to avoid interest charges. Paying on time and in full is essential for building healthy credit.
The main advantage here is that you can make an eligible travel purchase using rewards you haven’t earned yet. Once your bonus posts, you can apply those miles toward the purchase before the 90-day window closes.
This is a creative but potentially risky strategy. If you take the full three months to earn your welcome bonus, you might run out of time to redeem your miles within the 90-day window. Fortunately, Capital One typically awards miles (and welcome bonuses) as soon as eligible purchases post to your account — you usually don’t have to wait for your statement to close. In most cases, it should hit your account shortly after you meet the spending requirement.
Make sure you meet the spending requirement early enough to allow time for your welcome offer to post well before the 90-day window from your travel purchase expires, in case it takes longer than usual.
Related: How To Maximize Capital One Miles for Flights Within North America
Things To Keep In Mind When Redeeming Capital One Miles
There are a few things you'll want to keep in mind before redeeming Capital One miles for an eligible travel purchase:
- You don’t need to cover the entire purchase with miles. If your purchase costs $1,000 and you only have 70,000 miles, you can still apply them to reduce your cost by $700.
- There is no minimum redemption amount.
- You can only get a statement credit for travel purchases made within the last 90 days.
- The merchant must code the purchase as ‘travel' for it to qualify for a statement credit.
That last bullet is pretty important. If the merchant doesn’t code the purchase as travel, it won’t qualify. Here's how Capital One states this restriction:
“Purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents, and time shares are generally considered to be travel purchases, and availability for redemption is based on the merchant category code assigned to them by the merchant. Capital One is not responsible for how merchants assign these codes.”
Related: The Best Capital One
Cards That Earn Capital One Miles
We have a separate article covering all of the cards that earn Capital One miles in detail, but they're worth mentioning here. The bank offers personal and small business credit cards that earn Capital One miles.
Miles-earning consumer cards:
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
$0
- 5 Miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 Miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 1.25 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.
$95
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
$395
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 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
Capital One small-business miles-earning cards:
- Capital One VentureOne Business (previously the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business)
- Capital One Venture Business (previously the Capital One Spark Miles for Business)
- Capital One Venture X Business
$0
- 5X miles per $1 on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 1.5X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
$95
- 5X miles per $1 on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
$395
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
It's also worth noting that if you hold a Capital One miles-earning card, you can combine the rewards earned with cash-back cards like the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card, or Capital One Spark Cash and then transfer them to travel partners or redeem them to cover paid travel as outlined above.
Related: How To Get a Business Credit Card in 3 Steps
Final Thoughts
The ideal rewards strategy is building a portfolio of transferable points, airline miles, and fixed-value rewards. Each type of point and mile has unique advantages and disadvantages. With a variety of choices, you can use the rewards that best suit your travel plans.
Using Capital One miles to cover eligible travel purchases gives you options, especially for things that may be harder to cover with points, like Disney trips or cruises. They can also help cover Uber or taxi rides, rental cars, and other miscellaneous travel expenses.
Plus, you don't need enough miles in your account to cover the purchase when you book. With up to 90 days to redeem Capital One miles retroactively, you can use the power of your future spending to earn the miles needed to cover trips you want to book now.
Although fixed-value rewards can't deliver the same jaw-dropping deals you can get with a well-planned award ticket or hotel night, their simplicity and flexibility make them a great addition to your points-and-miles arsenal.
What's your favorite way to redeem Capital One miles? Let us know in the comments below.
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