Capital One Miles

The Highlights

Capital One is a flexible point system we use for travel items that other systems don't cover

• Partner transfers are niche airlines and hotel brands, making the points more difficult to maximize
• Using an award search tool such as PointsYeah makes finding flights with those airlines more realistic
• Simple redemptions for erasing travel can be useful for cruises & rental cars (at 1¢/point so value isn’t maximized)
• Capital One is particularly attractive to businesses with large spending

What to Know About This Point System

Capital One Miles fall more into the niche category. The points are extremely flexible, able to be used to reimburse you for any travel charges (Purchase Eraser). This makes their points most valuable for items like rental cars and cruises, which are not typically bookable with points.

Capital One also recently added partner airlines. The most valuable partner is Avianca, where you can book relatively cheap business class flights (30-55K each way) on Star Alliance partner flights like Lufthansa, Swiss Air, United and ANA to name just a few. Etihad Guest, Air Canada and Air France transfers may also be worth checking out -- in that order in terms of value.

The challenge is that it’s difficult to make the $50,000 spend to qualify for their bonus of 200,000 points with the Spark Miles for Business offer. Plus it’s tough to earn enough points for a full trip for two people with Capital One because of the limited number of cards and their approval restrictions. But if you have a business with a very high annual spend, grab this special offer when you see it for an easy 6x return on $50,000.

We call these points niche, not because they don’t have flexibility. It’s just more difficult to earn a high number of points, and Capital One lacks mainstream partners. If you’re under 5/24 and have already gotten all of our highest recommended cards, it might be worth a look at a Capital One card.

How to Redeem

You’ll get the highest value for your Capital One miles by redeeming through their travel partners. There are also several other ways to redeem, most of which are simple and require little effort. These redemptions typically earn 1 cent per point (sometimes less). That is the bare minimum we recommend and should only be used in limited situations.

Capital One Travel Portal

You can book travel through the Capital One Travel Portal at 1 cent per mile. When used strategically, you can often get better value by transferring miles to partners. However, there are a few situations where booking through the portal makes sense:

• Capital One Venture X (personal and business) cards include $300 annual travel credits that can only be used through the portal. Always use these credits first, then top off with points (at 1:1) or cash if needed.
• If you can’t find a good partner redemption for a trip, you can use the Venture X to book through the portal and earn 10x miles on hotels and rental cars or 5x miles on airfare and vacation rentals.

You can still earn airline loyalty points when booking through the portal by entering your loyalty number. However, hotel loyalty points are not earned, and nights stayed won’t count toward elite status.

Cover Travel Purchases

You can use your miles to cover any travel purchase made in the last 90 days. “Travel purchase” is broad and includes more than airfare and hotels. While this redemption is 1 cent per point, it can be valuable for vacation rentals, car rentals, and cruises that lack transfer options.

What You Shouldn’t Do

The following are ways to redeem your Capital One miles, but they offer poor value and should be avoided:

• Gift cards: Only 0.8¢ per point
• Experiences: Through Capital One Entertainment, usually 0.8¢ per point for sports, music, comedy, or theater
• PayPal: Checkout redemptions at 0.8¢ per point
• Amazon: Checkout redemptions at 0.8¢ per point
• Cash: Statement credit or check at just 0.5¢ per point

Visit Capital One Miles