Everyone has heard of Capital One miles, but do you know the best ways to earn and use those points for your travel needs?

What are Capital One miles?

For quite a long time, Capital One miles didn’t transfer to any partners–they were called “miles” just for funsies. Despite the confusing nomenclature, the primary use for these miles was just to receive cash back. I distinctly remember having to help correct the confusion amongst others when they thought there was a better use for these “miles” than just to cash them in.

However, towards the end of 2018, Capital One revolutionized its product to enable transfers to other programs. And now, it holds tremendous value. Some of the best uses of these bank programs is the ability to transfer to travel partners. Customers still have the option to cash them out for money, so the flexibility of redeeming how you want is welcome.

The easiest ways to earn Capital One miles

Credit card sign-up bonuses

There are a variety of personal Capital One credit cards that earn miles:

• VentureOne Rewards (1.25X miles everywhere)
• Venture Rewards (2X miles everywhere)
• Venture X Rewards (2X miles everywhere)

On top of that, Capital One has three small business credit cards that earn miles:

• Spark 1.5X Miles Select
• Spark 2X Miles
• Venture X Business (2X miles everywhere)

But you’ll want to be aware of some things with Capital One:

• The bank seems to have different criteria than other banks on who it wants to have their cards (such as it being sensitive to number of inquiries)
• “Churning” the card is possible but only if you haven’t earned the sign-up bonus on the same card within the last 48 months
• You’ll want to start at the bottom and work your way up:
  • VentureOne limits the bonus if you opened or earned the bonus on any of the three cards over the past 48 months
  • Venture limits the bonus if you opened or earned the bonus on either the Venture or Venture X in the past 48 months
  • Venture X limits the bonus to just opening or earning the bonus on the Venture X in the past 48 months
  • Thus, the preferred order would be (1) VentureOne, (2) Venture, (3) Venture X if you want to get all three

Big earnings from Capital One Travel

Typically with Capital One credit cards, you’re limited to just 1X or 2X on all purchases regardless of where they come from. Other credit cards have category bonuses on things like grocery stores, office supply stores, or dining. But Capital One doesn’t have those same category bonuses. Instead, if you want your massive bonus, you’re going to need to look to Capital One Travel.

Capital One’s travel portal will earn you the following with the Venture X (personal and business):

• 10X miles on hotels and rental cars
• 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals

Or, with the VentureOne, you’ll get 5X miles on hotels and rental cars through the portal.

Granted, booking hotels through Capital One Travel might not earn you any elite credit or be valid for elite benefits. But taking in 10X miles on those bookings can help offset that loss, especially if you’re booking an independent hotel.

Capital One Shopping portals

We’ve chatted extensively about the Capital One shopping portals before. There are two shopping portals, but the one you want is the Capital One Offers portal that earns you extra miles on every purchase. This will require you to first log into your Capital One account, then scroll down to see the bonus offers.

This will help you earn extra rewards on purchases you could already be making today. It’s great to shop around on the site and rack up bonus multipliers when shopping at online retailers. That gives us some extra incentive using merchants other than Amazon, which doesn’t get much opportunity for bonused spend these days.

When you really start getting into the points earning craze is when you notice certain times of the year when online merchants might have 100% back offers. That’s the equivalent of “buying” Capital One miles for just 1 cent each. Transferring to travel partners means buying those points for just 1 cent each, which can be much better than what they sell the points for.

There’s a lot of potential here to go beyond normal earn rates if you’re patient and look for the right deals. Some of the better deals tend to happen around holidays (both minor and major). They have extra bonuses sprinkled about regularly, so it helps to check in with the portal frequently.

Spending Capital One miles

Capital One transfer partners

Capital One currently has 18 airline partners and 4 hotel partners to choose from. Below is a list of those programs, along with our primers for each point currency.

Airline programs (18), all transfer at a 1:1 ratio except as noted below:

Hotel programs (4), all transfer at a 1:1 ratio except as noted below:

All of these transfer partners also partner with other bank programs.

Transferring your hard-earned points to partner programs can be the most affordable method to flying in first or business class.

Cashing out points towards travel

If you don’t want to deal with trying to maximize points with loyalty partners or you just can’t find award availability, another option is to just book your travel yourself. You’ll get a value of 1 cent for each Capital One mile used in this manner. On top of that, you’ll earn miles with the airline as though you paid for the flight with cash.

Getting “just” 1 cent per point isn’t quite as good as some of their competitor bank programs, but it’s still a consideration for us. If you’re flush with Capital One miles–perhaps not thrilled with their transfer partners–and found a great cash fare, it might make sense to go forward with this redemption.

You can use these points to “erase” any travel purchases you made on your card within the last 90 days. Or, you can just directly use points if booking with the Capital One Travel portal.

And that’s it for Capital One miles! Other options for redeeming Capital One points typically earn you less than 1 cent per point. We wouldn’t recommend those methods.

Capital One sweet spots

What are the best awards you can get with your Capital One miles? Here are some of the best redemptions to travel partners (in no particular order):

Virgin Atlantic: Book ANA First Class

Consider this a theoretical option for you, but ANA First Class is one of those options that everyone would love to experience. Add on top of that how popular Japan has been lately and the fact that ANA doesn’t release more than one first class seat at or near schedule opening, and you’ll find that it’s tough to take advantage of this. That said, if you’re persistent with checking options within two weeks of departure, you might find more seats open up.

Being able to book ANA First Class for as little as 57,500 points (via Hawaii) or 72,500 points (via West USA) is a treat. Unlike booking with the ANA program, which requires round-trips, being able to book one-ways gives you more flexibility. This is especially relevant if you only find award space in one direction but not the other or if you want to use different award programs to build your award.

Virgin Atlantic: Book Air New Zealand Business Class

Want another difficult-to-find award flight to find? If so, then you’ll love Air New Zealand’s cheap business class awards bookable with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Assuming you are successful in finding flights, you’ll be able to book flights for just 62,500 points. Or you could book Hawaii to New Zealand for only 45,000 points in business class.

Similar to ANA, this is an option that might become available at the last minute before the flight departs when they release how popular (or not) any given flight will be. And this is another award booking that will need to take place over the phone if you are lucky in finding award space.

Avianca Lifemiles: Asia to Australia for 40,000 miles in business class

If you’re looking to travel between Asia and Australia in business class, it’s hard to beat this rate with Lifemiles. Only 40,000 miles for the journey between Tokyo and Sydney? Sign us up for that!

Air Canada: Europe for as little as 60,000 miles in business (no fuel surcharges)

East Coast US to Europe only comes in at 60,000 miles in business. This includes the excellent Singapore Airlines on the JFK to FRA route. Of course, since award pricing doesn’t incur fuel surcharges, you can take any of the European carriers and not be stuck with a fee.

Pricing in first class could be as cheap as 90,000 miles on shorter hops, but more than likely a connection and other marginally longer flights (like IAD-FRA) will push you into the 100,000 mile range.

West Coast US to Europe is theoretically possible for only 10,000 miles more to either cost, but good luck finding the award space in advance.

Air Canada: Cheap stopovers and excellent infant pricing

One thing I absolutely love is when I can piece together multiple destinations on an award trip for an efficient price (5,000 miles). Sure, the old round-the-world style bookings were nice back in the day, but most programs got rid of those. Instead, I’ve been looking more for programs that offer a stopover along the way. Recall that a stopover is defined as a stay that’s longer than 24 hours on an international journey.

On top of that, Aeroplan only charges $25CA or 2,500 Aeroplan points for the lap child. This applies regardless of the cabin booked. Talk about a cost-effective way to bring along your pint-sized loved one! That ranks it as one of the absolute best programs for your infants and one that I would tell parents to go check out.

JAL: Flying business class for a low price

JAL charges a hefty premium for first class on its own flights. However, they offer a very reasonable redemption rate for business class. Flying between Japan and North America in business class for only 55,000 miles? Yes, please! How about flying between Manila and Japan for only 24,000 JAL miles in business class? That’s a steal!

JAL: An efficient price for first class

Let’s say you really want to try out JAL first class. What’s the sweet spot in that cabin? Try flying between Tokyo and Hong Kong for as low as 36,000 miles. Sure, it won’t give you a long time to bask in the service level and cabin. But that route is five hours long, so it’s not bad on a per-hour basis.

Want another cheap route given the distance flown? Try the route between Tokyo and Doha, which sits at 12.5 hours in length. However, the price is as cheap as 70,000 miles for the journey in first class.

Otherwise, it’s not a terrible deal to fly first class between North America and Japan at 110,000 for low season and 140,000 for high season. That turns into a great deal if you pair it with the stopover program below.

Aer Lingus: Off-peak business class between North America and Ireland as low as 50,000 miles

How about business class on the route? That’s also not a bad deal, assuming you can find the award space. You’re looking at only 50,000 Avios between the northeast section of North America and Ireland. Or, expand your horizon and travel from the west coast for only 62,500. The best part? There are no pesky fuel surcharges you have to worry about. That makes this pricing far more attractive than what sister program British Airways charges.

British Airways: Flying on Qatar in business class

If you’re flying on Qatar between the US and Doha, expect the price of the award to be a flat 70,000 Avios. I’m not sure why that holds, but it’s not an unreasonable price to pay. Some flights are operated by their Qsuites product, so it’s worth taking a look.

British Airways: Flying short distances nonstop in economy on some partners

This might sound anti-climactic, but the British Airways program offers a decent award price for economy flights. However, not all economy flights are made the same. The best options are going to be the shortest flights on flights other than British Airways, American, Alaska, Japan Airlines, or Cathay Pacific. Basically, you want the flights that price at 6,500 Avios or the Qatar flights at 8,000 Avios.

Examples of potential flights include Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Sri Lankan Airlines, and China Southern.

Just keep in mind that ideally you don’t want to connect since the price of each segment is additive. So if you happen to take two short flights, the total price might double. Ouch.

Also, importantly for economy flights, please double-check the cash price of the ticket to make sure you’re getting a good deal.

Qatar: Fly on JetBlue

JetBlue has a good Mint product available on transcontinental flights within the United States and between the U.S. and Europe. Pricing is cheaper than what JetBlue would charge in its own program. And if you need to connect (say, Los Angeles to New York to London), pricing isn’t terrible at 95,000 Avios for business class.

Even economy awards aren’t a terrible price compared to cash rates. You might not appreciate the stopover if connecting (and paying 35,000 for the privilege of doing so), but the nonstop economy rates aren’t bad at all.

Now if you could find Mint to somewhere in the Caribbean? That might only cost you 26,000 Avios according to what Qatar Avios charges and would be a steal.

Iberia: Flying off-peak long-haul Iberia in business class

Let’s take a look at some examples. You can find New York JFK to Madrid MAD for only 40,500 Avios in business class. Or maybe you want Los Angeles LAX to MAD for just 50,500 Avios in business class? Despite the devaluation, this is still an efficient way to get to Europe in lie-flat business class. Isn’t that the name of the game anyways?

EVA: Book EVA business class from the US to Asia

Paying just 75,000 miles for routes like TPE-SFO, TPE-YVR, and TPE-CDG in EVA’s business class is a good value. Some of that is driven by others raising their prices, but it’s still a solid value. Flying from Chicago, Houston, New York, or Toronto might cost you an extra 5,000 miles, but paying that is cheaper than booking your own flight to reposition to the west coast.

Even better, you don’t need to go to just Taiwan for the price, but you can connect to anywhere in Asia at no additional cost. Remember that you get a free stopover if you’re booking these long-haul routes as a roundtrip.

EVA: Flights between the Maldives and parts of Asia in business class

How does 47,500 EVA miles sound for a one-way business class flight between Taiwan and the Maldives? Or 42,500 miles for the flight between Southeast Asia and the Maldives? Both are good prices, and you’ll find they are cheaper than what Singapore Airlines charges their own members for the same flights.

We love visiting the Maldives and finding affordable pricing to get there helps offset the high cash price that always comes along with staying there. This particular routing appeals to us because we love stopping off in Asia along the way to extend the trip.

Is there anything to look out for?

It can be hard to get Capital One credit cards

Capital One is a bit picky when it comes to who can get their cards. If you’ve been playing the mileage game with other banks and then try applying for a Capital One card, you might find they won’t give it to you. Thus, our general recommendation is to start with Capital One if you’re just getting into credit cards. Secure this first, then go elsewhere. In some ways, this bank program is the simplest–not much when it comes to spending bonuses, a small portfolio of cards, no unique transfer partners to worry about.

Capital One also has a “pre-approval tool”, but it’s actually not reliable. Even if a card doesn’t appear in this tool, you might still be approved for it. In some ways, using the tool might save some time if the card you want appears there, but it could also waste your time if the one you want doesn’t appear.

Just remember, if you’re going for maximum possible sign-up bonuses, go in the order of: VentureOne, Venture, Venture X. You’re locked out of the VentureOne bonus for 48 months if you get the Venture or Venture X first.

All credit bureaus get pulled

There are three major credit card bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion). Typically when you sign up for a card, only one bureau gets pulled to check your credit. However, with Capital One, all three bureaus will get pulled.

Why is this relevant? There are two main reasons:

• You might have “frozen” one or all of the bureaus to prevent someone from using your SSN to apply for credit fraudulently. Unfreezing–and then later re-freezing–all the bureaus is a bit of an annoyance.
• Each “pull” of your credit card report impacts your credit score. The exact amount differs by report but we’ve seen scores dip in the 5-10 point range.

To clarify, pulling from all bureaus doesn’t mean your score will dip by 15-30 points on each. The pull only impacts the score related to the bureau where it happened. Thus, each will drop by about 5-10 points. If only one bureau were pulled, you’d only see the credit dip in one score.

Are you ready to earn and burn Capital One miles efficiently?

Suggested reading:

• Destinations we’ve visited
• How to Travel with Kids
• How to Book Award Travel Like a Pro