Capital One’s Transfer Partners
Capital One has 15 airline and 3 hotel transfer partners, totaling 18. Some (such as Turkish Airlines & TAP Air Portugal) programs are completely exclusive Capital One transfer partners, whereas others (such as Aeroplan & Singapore Airlines) have multiple card issuers that allow point transfers into the programs.
BRAND
Airline Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(C1 → Partner)
Transfer Time
Aeromexico Club Premier
1:1
Usually instant
Air Canada Aeroplan
1:1
Usually instant
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
1:1
Usually instant
Avianca LifeMiles
1:1
Usually instant
British Airways
1:1
Usually instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
1:1
Up to 5 days
Emirates Skywards
1:1
Usually instant
Etihad Guest
1:1
Up to 36 hours
EVA Air
4:3
Up to 36 hours
Finnair Plus
1:1
Usually instant
Qantas Frequent Flyer
1:1
Up to 36 hours
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
1:1
Up to 36 hours
TAP Miles & Go
1:1
Usually instant
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
1:1
Up to 24 hours
Virgin Red
1:1
Usually instant
BRAND
Traditional performance beverages
adaptogen-powered
YES
NO
All Natural ingredients
YES
NO
low sugar
YES
NO
plant-based
YES
NO
MAde for everybody, everyday
YES
NO
BRAND
Traditional performance beverages
adaptogen-powered
YES
NO
All Natural ingredients
YES
NO
low sugar
YES
NO
plant-based
YES
NO
MAde for everybody, everyday
YES
NO
BRAND
Airline Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(C1 → Partner)
Transfer Time
Aeromexico Club Premier
1:1
Usually instant
Air Canada Aeroplan
1:1
Usually instant
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
1:1
Usually instant
Avianca LifeMiles
1:1
Usually instant
British Airways
1:1
Usually instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
1:1
Up to 36 hours
Emirates Skywards
1:1
Usually instant
Etihad Guest
1:1
Up to 36 hours
EVA Air
4:3
Up to 36 hours
Finnair Plus
1:1
Usually instant
Qantas Frequent Flyer
1:1
Up to 36 hours
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
1:1
Up to 36 hours
TAP Miles & Go
1:1
Usually instant
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
1:1
Up to 24 hours
Virgin Red
1:1
Usually instant
BRAND
Hotel Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(C1 → Partner)
Transfer Time
Accor
2:1
Up to 48 hours
Choice Privileges
1:1
Usually instant
Wyndham Rewards
1:1
Usually instant
Earning Capital One Miles
Not all of Capital One’s cards directly earn miles. To access to miles and maximize the value of the miles/cashback you earn, you need to have one of the following credit cards:
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 2x miles on all purchases; $300 annual travel credit for bookings made via Capital One portal; 10k bonus anniversary miles each year; up to $120 global entry/precheck credit every 4 years
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Earn 2x miles on all purchases; up to $120 global entry/precheck credit every 4 years
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card: Earn 1.25x miles on all purchases
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business: Earn 2x miles on all purchase
What About Capital One’s Cashback Cards?
Several Capital One cards are advertised as earning cashback instead of miles:
- Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card ($0 annual fee): Earn 3% cashback on dining, entertainment, and grocery stores
- Capital One Spark Cash Plus: Earn 2% cashback on every purchase
- Capital One Spark Cash Select ($0 annual fee): Earn 1.5% cashback on every purchase
However, there is a way to convert the cashback you earn on the following Capital One cards into miles (but not the other way around). To convert your cash back to Capital One miles, you must first have both an active cashback and miles card. Then, follow these instructions:
- Log in to your Capital One account (website, not the mobile app) and select the cashback card
- Click “view rewards”
- Choose “move rewards”
- In the drop-down menu, choose “one of my accounts” and which miles card you want to transfer your cashback to
- Cash back will then convert to miles at a 1 cent:1 point, meaning $100 of cashback will turn into 10,000 miles
This is an incredibly valuable and powerful feature, as it allows you to leverage the power of some of Capital One’s strong cashback cards to earn more miles.
Examples of High Value Transfer Partners
With so many transfer partner options, it can be difficult to figure out if you’re getting good value out of your miles or not. The key to remember is to always compare the number of miles you are paying relative to the cash cost of the flight.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Capital One transfers 1:1 to Air Canada, meaning 1,000 Capital One miles can become 1,000 Aeroplan points. Air Canada has a fixed reward chart, meaning their flights are priced based off of distance and four “zones” defined as North America, Atlantic, Pacific, and South America.
What’s particularly exciting is that you can find some fantastic value for flights based off of the award chart. For example, on partner flights (e.g. Star Alliance carriers like United or Singapore), you could find business flights flying between North America and the Pacific zones that only cost 87,500 Aeroplan points.
Business class on one of the longest flights in the world runs nearly $3,000 cash, but only costs 87,500 Aeroplan points (or 87,500 Capital One miles before transferring). That’s nearly 3.5 cents per point for a flight normally seen as unaffordable for many. The only challenge is finding that flight, but that’s where Roame comes in to help.
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Capital One is one of three exclusive partners with Turkish Airlines (the other being the Citi Premier card, which is generally outclassed by other cards these days + Bilt), and the value that Turkish provides for its award bookings is enough for some to pursue a Capital One card on their own. Similar to Aeroplan, Turkish still uses an award chart and some incredible sweet spot redemptions arise.
The most infamous one is the ability to fly to Hawaii within North America for just 7,500 miles one-way in economy (or just 12,500 miles in business class) on United Airlines. Why not book United award flights through United? Simply because award charts can offer tremendous value if the right conditions are met. Turkish considers Hawaii as a part of the U.S. when pricing award tickets, so even an east coast flight to Hawaii is considered a domestic flight and is priced 7,500 miles at the lowest. United would likely price the same flight 3x or 4x more.
Examples of Low Value Transfer Partners
Choice Hotels
While Choice Hotels has a large footprint globally, using your Capital One miles to book Choice Hotels is generally a poor use of points. Choice uses dynamic pricing to determine the cost of their award nights, which can make it more difficult to find good value redemptions.
For example, this stay in New York is running at a base rate of 222 USD (before taxes & fees), but costs 30,000 per night. That is representing less than 1 cent per mile, which is how much you could get by booking that same hotel within the Capital One travel portal. Generally speaking, it makes sense to avoid booking Choice Hotels with your Capital One miles, as you can get much larger value elsewhere.
Conclusions
Capital One miles have significant value to them when used properly. Cardholders can gain access to them through the right miles-earning credit cards and can supplement their earnings with one of Capital One’s top cashback credit cards. Miles can then be transferred to one of C1’s 18 different partners, but you should approach each transfer carefully to ensure you can get the maximum value possible.
