Please note that card details are accurate as of the publish date, but are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the card issuer to verify rates, fees, and benefits before applying.
Please note that card details are accurate as of the publish date, but are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the card issuer to verify rates, fees, and benefits before applying.
Did you know that in 1990, just 5% of Americans had a passport? By December 2023, that number had risen to 48%. We wanted to start with that fun tidbit for two reasons:
- We think it’s really cool so many Americans are traveling abroad and experiencing other cultures.
- We also think this booming interest in travel highlights the need for rewards programs like Capital One Miles.
Because as you’ll come to learn, the Capital One Miles program has a slight bias toward international travel versus domestic. It has over a dozen international airline transfer partners, a partnership with Accor hotels (roughly 99% of which are based overseas) and includes the cheapest credit card on the market with unlimited airport lounge visits (the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card).
But if your passport is collecting dust—and your next big trip is to Boston, not Bruges—Capital One Miles has less to offer you. There’s not a single domestic airline to transfer points to, and if you need to convert miles to cash back in a pinch, you’re looking at a dismal redemption rate of 0.5 cents per point.
We’ll break it all down and cover everything you need to know about Capital One Miles.
What these “miles” are, exactly
Capital One Miles is, simply put, both the name of the rewards program and the currency you earn as someone who uses the program. They aren’t connected with “miles” as a physical measurement of distance nor are they tied to a specific airline like, say, Delta SkyMiles are.
Essentially, think of “miles” as a synonym for “points” when referring to rewards earned.
You earn Capital One Miles primarily through spending on eligible credit cards and can redeem them for travel either in the issuer’s portal or by transferring them to partner loyalty programs.
Pros
- Backed by three travel rewards cards with solid perks, rewards and welcome bonuses.
- You can use miles to cover travel expenses up to 90 days old on your statement.
- Transfer partners include 15 international airlines and three hotel chains comprising 21,000+ properties worldwide, so it’s a good choice for globetrotters.
Cons
- Miles are only worth a half cent each when redeemed for cash or cash equivalent.
- Not even the top-tier Venture X card gets a bonus multiplier for travel redemptions.
- Transfer partners don’t include Hyatt, IHG, Marriott or any U.S. domestic airlines.
- Three cards still isn’t many options compared to some competing programs.
Capital One Miles explained
The first thing you should know about Capital One Miles is that Capital One doesn’t seem to use two separate names for a) its rewards program and b) the points you earn within said program.
What we mean is, Chase Ultimate Rewards has Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Citi ThankYou Rewards has Citi ThankYou points. But Capital One seems content with using “Capital One Miles” in every context.
So we will, too.
Now, let’s cover the basics. Capital One Miles works like most any other credit card rewards program: you’ll earn miles by using a select Capital One rewards cards, and once you accumulate enough, you can redeem them for goodies.
And don’t let the term “miles” fool you—you can redeem them for far more than just flights, including hotels, rental cars, gift cards, cash back, spa treatments and more. In effect, they’re flexible credit card points going by another name.
Now that you know the essentials, we’ll dive into the details, starting with how to earn ‘em.
How to earn Capital One Miles
You can earn Capital One Miles by using any of the card issuer’s three travel rewards credit cards. Here’s a quick summary of each, plus a link to our full review:
- The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card charges no annual fee, offers a welcome bonus of 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, and generates 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel plus 1.25X on all other purchases. The VentureOne is one of our picks for the best no-annual-fee travel credit cards.
- The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card charges a $95 annual fee but offers a heftier welcome bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening to compensate. Like the VentureOne, the Venture generates 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel but its base rate is 2x miles on every purchase.
- The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is Capital One’s flagship travel rewards card, offering a welcome bonus of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening, elevated rewards of 10X Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel plus 5X Miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel, and a base rate of 2X Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. The card charges a steep $395 annual fee, but the $300 back annually for bookings made through Capital One Travel plus 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary combine to $400+ in yearly value. And that’s not even considering its other perks, such as lounge access.
Cardholders have also said in online discussions that if you hold both a cash-back card and a travel card from Capital One, there’s an option to convert your cash back into miles. With that in mind, you might choose to pair two Cap One cards—for example, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card for elevated rewards on dining, grocery shopping and entertainment, and the Venture X for premium travel perks and a flat 2X miles on any purchases not in the SavorOne’s bonus categories.
Once you’ve chosen the right card(s) for your wallet and scored a tasty welcome bonus, how should you spend your new fortune in miles? Let’s look at redemption options.
How to redeem Capital One Miles
Capital One gives you eight total options for redeeming your hard-earned miles:
- Cover travel expenses that have landed (pun intended) on your statement within the past 90 days.
- Transfer miles to one of Capital One’s 18 travel partners including Flying Blue, Wyndham Rewards and more (see the complete list below).
- Book a trip via the Capital One Travel portal, where you can reserve flights, hotels or rental cars using cash, miles, or a combination of both.
- Share your rewards aka transfer miles to a friend or family member.
- Get gift cards from a massive selection of over 285 retail partners.
- Redeem for cash back, converting miles to dollars at a rate of 0.5 cents a pop (which we wouldn’t recommend unless you really need the cash).
- Pay with miles on Amazon or through PayPal.
- Score tickets to one of 500,000+ events through Capital One Entertainment.
That’s quite a menu of redemption options, but if you’re like us, you’ll naturally gravitate towards the option(s) with the best overall redemption value.
So let’s cut to the chase—what should you spend your Cap One Miles on? It likely won’t surprise you that the answer is typically “travel.” Read on for more details on how to get the most value from your miles.
How much are Capital One Miles worth?
Capital One Miles typically range in value from 0.5 to 1 cent each, depending on how you redeem them.
If you’re redeeming Cap One miles for cash back or cash equivalent (e.g. pay with miles or gift cards), you’ll generally get around a half cent per mile in value. But if you redeem them through Capital One Travel, you’ll get that full penny per point.
This means that in the greater “points economy,” Capital One Miles are definitely one of the weaker rewards currencies out there. For comparison, Chase and Wells Fargo points are both worth a penny each in cash redemption, and if you have the or Chase Sapphire Reserve® cards (which rival the Venture and Venture X cards), your points would be worth 1.25 and 1.50 cents in travel portal value, respectively.
Sure, you can always spend your Cap One Miles on travel to get a full 1 cent per mile in value—but keep in mind that when you’re spending miles you’re not earning miles.
In other words, when you redeem 10,000 Cap One Miles for a hotel room via Capital One Travel, you earn zero rewards. But if you redeem 10,000 Wells Fargo Rewards points for $100 and then book a room with your Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card, you’ll earn 4X from Wells Fargo and additional rewards on the hotel side if you’re a member of the hotel chain’s loyalty program (e.g. 10X as a base member of IHG One Rewards).
At this point, you may be thinking pshh, no biggie, I’ll just transfer my Cap One Miles to a loyalty partner and get more than a cent in value that way.
And yes, that’s definitely a solid strategy—but depending on what kind of traveler you are, there could be a big “but” attached to that option, as well.
Capital One transfer partners
Capital One’s list of transfer partners makes a good first impression. There are 18 total (which handily beats Chase’s 14) and all but two of them accept Capital One Miles at a 1:1 ratio.
But veteran travelers will notice two potential issues with the list right away.
First, there isn’t a single U.S. domestic airline among Capital One’s transfer partners. All 15 out of 15 airlines listed are international carriers that you may only fly once a year (if ever), meaning there isn’t a transfer partner that can help you get from San Francisco to New York.
It’s not the end of the world if you’re willing to learn how to leverage airline alliances. For example, you might be able to transfer Capital One Miles to Virgin Red, then use Virgin points to book a ticket on a Delta Air Lines flight as they are both SkyTeam alliance members.
But this solution isn’t perfect, as airlines may release limited seating availability to partners.
The second, more subjective issue is the trio of hotel partners. In aggregate, the Wyndham, Choice and ALL networks comprise over 21,000 properties worldwide, which is an undeniably huge spread. But again, if you’re looking to book something domestic, you may quickly feel the absence of Hyatt, Marriott or IHG.
On the flip side of things, anyone with a rapidly filling passport may see the long list of international partners as a big plus. International flights certainly aren’t cheap, and each of the partners listed below represents a region of the globe you could potentially visit for almost “free” with your miles (though you’ll still have to pay taxes and fees on your tickets, as is standard).
In other words, if you’ve ever fantasized about redeeming credit card rewards in exchange for a fully-enclosed first class suite on Emirates, Capital One Miles may be the program for you.
In any case, here’s the complete list of Capital One transfer partners as of this writing:
Airlines
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada - Aeroplan
- Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Air (at a rate of 1,000 Capital One Miles to 750 Eva Air miles)
- Finnair Plus
- Flying Blue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
Hotels
- Accor Live Limitless (at a rate of 1,000 Capital One Miles to 500 ALL points)
- Choice Privileges
- Wyndham Rewards
How Capital One Miles compares to other rewards programs
Overall, as a credit card rewards program, Capital One Miles doesn’t stack up well to the stiff competition it faces in 2024.
Right out of the gate, the program’s biggest competitive drawback is that miles are only worth half a cent each in cash-back redemption. That’s half the value of the equivalent Chase or Wells Fargo point redeemed for cash back, and for further reference, American Express Membership Rewards Points are worth up to a full cent in gift card redemptions and Citi ThankYou Points are worth a penny each in cash back in most cases.
Even if you save your Capital One Miles for travel redemptions only, you still won’t get as much value per mile (1 cent) as you could from a Chase or U.S. Bank point (up to 1.5 cents each).
Finally, it’s worth reiterating that Capital One’s lack of domestic airline partners severely hinders the program’s overall versatility. Amex has Delta, Citi has JetBlue, and Chase has Southwest, United and JetBlue. Sure, you can always use Capital One Miles to book domestic flights via Capital One Travel—but your miles are hard-capped at a cent per point that way.
All that said, frequent international travelers may be more willing than most to forgive the program’s biggest shortfalls. They might see the 15 international airline partners and think hey, that beats the pants off Chase and especially Wells Fargo. Then, they might see the Venture X card’s $100 Global Entry credit, $300 annual travel credit, 10X earning rate on hotels and rental cars booked through the portal and unlimited Priority Pass airport lounge access and think OK, I’m in. Time to apply and earn that monster welcome bonus.
In other words, they may have a similar revelation to the one our very own Ben Luthi had that made him decide to keep the Venture X—that despite all of its shortcomings, Capital One Miles can have massive niche appeal if you’re planning the next stamp on your passport.
Please note that card details are accurate as of the publish date, but are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the card issuer to verify rates, fees, and benefits before applying.
