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If you use our link, you can apply for the Capital One Venture X rewards credit card, which is the best publicly available offer.
I recommend earning your points with your credit cards to give you the most flexibility if you are looking for travel rewards.
Capital One introduced a points currency a few years back, but has done a lot of amazing things. Capital One has introduced an incredible new credit card, the Capital One Venture X rewards credit card. I wanted to provide an updated guide on earning and redeeming Capital One miles.
Capital One mileage program.
Capital One credit cards can be used for travel redemptions. Capital One miles can be redeemed to offset the cost of a travel purchase with the Purchase Eraser option, or they can be transferred to Capital One's airline and hotel partners, which provide outsized value if you know what you're doing.
Capital One credit cards offer an industry-leading return on everyday spending, and the flexibility provided by them is unbeatable.
Capital One miles can be used for amazing travel experiences.
Capital One miles can be earned.
We will cover everything you need to know about earning Capital One miles, including the difference between Venture and Spark miles, and more.
Here are the Capital One credit cards that earn Capital One miles, along with mileage earning rates, and annual fees.
Capital One miles can be earned in other ways. The Capital One SavorOne Cash rewards credit card can be used with any of the above cards to convert rewards into Capital One miles at a rate of one cent per mile. The card has no annual fee, and offers 3% cash back on dining, grocery stores, entertainment, and popular streaming services.
The Capital One SavorOne and Capital One Venture X are two of the best cards on the market.
Capital One miles can be used for business class flights.
What is the difference between Venture and Spark miles?
There is confusion about what the difference is between Venture miles and Spark miles. The reality is that these currencies are the same, with the name of Capital One's mileage currency on personal credit cards and the name of Capital One's mileage currency on business credit cards.
If you have both personal and business cards, you can combine these points to travel. The currencies are the same for all practical purposes.
Capital One miles post time?
Capital One miles is unique because of how quickly the rewards post. It can take a couple of billing cycles for rewards to be sent to your account. In the case of Capital One.
You can post to your account the same time as you purchase.
This applies to welcome bonuses on cards.
You can redeem your rewards towards travel almost instantly, which is a nice feature in an age where people love instant gratification.
Capital One miles can be used to purchase Eraser.
Let's discuss everything you need to know about Capital One miles. The most popular way to redeem Capital One miles has been the purchase option. Each mile can be redeemed for one cent towards the cost of a travel purchase, and the Venture Card and Spark Miles Card offer 2x miles per dollar spent, and each mile can be redeemed for one cent towards the cost of a travel purchase.
You can use the Purchase Eraser feature to wipe out the cost of a travel purchase within 90 days of when you made the purchase on your Venture Card or Spark Miles Card.
This allows you to make a travel related purchase with your favorite travel provider, and then receive a statement credit from Capital One for that purchase at the rate of one cent per mile.
Purchase Eraser will wipe out the cost of travel.
The reason this redemption option is so popular is because there are no hoops to jump through, you don't have to book through a specific portal, and you don't have to worry about airline or hotel blackout dates when redeeming points. You just make a purchase with your card, and you can redeem for statement credits. It doesn't get easier than that.
Capital One Travel portal allows you to redeem miles at the same rate, though most will prefer the flexibility of just being able to book direct with their preferred travel provider.
Capital One miles can be converted into airline miles.
Capital One Venture and Spark miles can be converted into airline miles or hotel points in many programs. Since the program was first introduced, mileage transfer ratios have improved considerably, and Capital One miles transfer to most partners at a 2:1 ratio.
If you transfer to a participating loyalty program, the cards will give you two airline miles per dollar spent, which is a phenomenal return on everyday spending.
Capital One miles can be used for Singapore Airlines first class.
Capital One miles can be transferred to airlines and hotels.
Choice Privileges will be added as a Capital One transfer partner in the near future.
Capital One transfer partners.
How do you transfer Capital One miles?
The process of transferring Capital One miles to airline and hotel partners can be done directly on Capital One's website. The process can be read in this post.
Capital One mileage transfers take a long time.
Capital One partners have different transfer times. For about half of partners transfers are instantaneous, while for others it takes a few hours to a few days. You can read about mileage transfer times in this post.
Capital One transfer ratios and times.
Capital One has mileage transfer bonuses.
Capital One miles transfer to most airline partners at a 1:1 ratio, but sometimes they transfer at a better rate for a limited time. In November and December of 2021, we saw a 20% and 25% bonus on Air France-KLM Flying Blue transfers.
What is the best use of Capital One miles?
Capital One miles have redemption options. I wanted to give people more information about the Capital One mileage redemption option. Are you better off converting Capital One miles into points for partner programs or paying for a travel purchase with Capital One miles?
Purchase Eraser or mileage transfers.
Purchase Eraser was the primary way to redeem Capital One miles. Capital One introduced mileage transfers to airlines and hotels. Capital One miles can be redeemed for travel purchases with no capacity controls, which is great. This is the best option for many because it is a flexible option and has not much of a learning curve.
The benefit of converting Capital One miles into airline miles is that the cost of a ticket when paying cash isn't correlated to the cost of a ticket when redeeming points. You could be getting anywhere from a fraction of a cent of value per mile, to a lot of cents of value per mile with airline and hotel points.
If you want to redeem your rewards for international first and business class airline tickets, Capital One miles into airline miles is the best way to do it. Many people think that these flights are out of reach, but with airline miles they are more reasonable than you might think.
Let me show you a few examples from my travels. I redeemed 55,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way Air France business class ticket from Paris to Miami. The ticket would have cost thousands of dollars if it was paid in cash. The opportunity cost for a travel purchase with Capital One miles is $550.
Capital One miles can be used for Air France business class.
I redeemed 85,000 Emirates Skywards miles for a one-way ticket from Athens to Newark, and transferred Capital One miles to the airline. If you paid with cash, that ticket would have cost over $6,000. The $850 travel purchase with Purchase Eraser would cost 85,000 Capital One miles.
Capital One miles can be used for first class.
I redeemed 100,000 Aeroplan miles for a first class ticket from Chicago to Frankfurt, and transferred Capital One miles to Air Canada Aeroplan. The ticket would have cost thousands of dollars if you paid with cash. The opportunity cost of 100,000 Capital One miles is $1,000.
Capital One miles can be used for first class.
You can access more airlines with mileage transfers.
You can redeem miles on a lot more airlines than you can with a frequent flyer partnership.
Capital One miles can be transferred to a number of airline programs. That is great in and of itself, but the reality is that you have access to more airlines than that.
Why? Many airline loyalty programs have multiple airline partners as well. Transferring miles to an airline loyalty program does not mean you have to fly with that airline.
Capital One miles can be transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan, and you can redeem Aeroplan miles for travel on any of the Star Alliance airlines, including United Airlines.
Capital One miles can be transferred to Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and you can redeem Flying Blue miles for travel on any of the SkyTeam airlines.
You can redeem Asia Miles for travel on any of the oneworld airlines, including American Airlines, if you transfer Capital One miles.
Air Canada Aeroplan miles can be redeemed on Etihad.
Capital One miles give you access to all of the big three alliances, and there are many more airline partners on top of that. The amount of flexibility you are getting with your miles is huge, so look beyond the airline transfer partners.
Transferring Capital One miles isn't always a good idea.
The ability to convert Venture and Spark miles into airline and hotel points is exciting, but there are still plenty of circumstances in which you can get a better deal using the Purchase Eraser redemption method. If you are happy flying economy and staying at reasonably priced hotels, this is especially true.
Ultra low cost carriers in the US have lowered the cost of airfare in many markets. There is no way to transfer miles from one airline to another.
If you have Capital One miles and want to travel to Florida for spring break on Frontier Airlines or Spirit Airlines, the Purchase Eraser feature might be the best option, as you can just buy your ticket and have the cost reimbursed.
Purchase Eraser is great for domestic travel.
Those who are into earning elite status with airlines and hotels might appreciate Purchase Eraser. Why? If you book travel as you would, it would be considered paid travel. You could earn points with both airlines and hotels.
Purchase a business class ticket using the purchase eraser.
Capital One miles can be converted into airline miles.
The Purchase Eraser feature makes it easy to use Venture or Spark miles, which has been a big part of the appeal of the rewards program for years. If you are a cardmember who is used to that, the number of hoops you have to jump through to redeem airline miles might come as a surprise.
If you are going to convert Capital One miles into airline or hotel points, you should go through the following process.
Capital One has loyalty program transfer options.
Look at their award charts to understand how many miles are required.
Find out which airlines you can redeem for with these loyalty programs.
Try to search availability for yourself to get a sense of how many award seats there are; sometimes this can be done directly on the loyalty program's website, while in other instances you have to call.
Transfer your Capital One miles to the loyalty program once you have verified availability and the price.
You will want to book as soon as possible after you find the award availability because it is subject to change.
Make sure the property you are looking at has availability on the dates you need, if you want to book a hotel room.
You should not transfer points to a partner until you know what you want to redeem.
There is a learning curve when transferring Capital One miles.
Capital One miles are worth what?
Capital One miles are 1.7 cents each. The ability to transfer Capital One miles to most airline partners at a1:1 ratio is a great use of points, especially for international first and business class redemptions. I think all points currencies are worth 1.7 cents each, based on partner redemption opportunities.
Capital One cards offer an incredible 3.4% return on everyday spending when you consider that some of them earn 2x miles on everyday purchases.
Capital One has improved mileage transfer ratios so much with its travel rewards cards that they are doing an incredible job. There is going to be a lot of interest in this mileage currency with the Capital One Venture X Card.
Capital One miles are flexible. You can redeem them for one cent each for virtually any travel purchase with Purchase Eraser, and you can also transfer them to over a dozen airline frequent flyer programs, which is where you will really get outsized value.
What has your experience been with Capital One?
