Capital One Miles Redemption: How To Use Capital One Miles

Capital One offers fixed-value redemptions for most of its rewards. This means that unless you transfer your miles to a travel partner, you’ll typically receive 1 cent per mile. Capital One has made redeeming miles seamless and effortless, with all your options available directly on the Capital One website or through the Capital One app.

Redeem For Future Travel

Capital One has an intuitive travel portal that makes it simple to redeem your miles. Search the Capital One travel portal for your city, dates and the number of people traveling. Then, on your checkout page, you can charge your card or redeem your miles at 1 cent each to cover some or all of the cost. So 25,000 miles would offset a $250 hotel stay.

Redeem for Recent Travel Purchases

If you’re unsure if you want to pay cash or miles at the time of booking, Capital One will let you use miles to offset past purchases from your credit card. Once logged into your account, choose the option called “Cover Travel Expenses,” and you’ll be presented with a list of purchases you’ve recently made on your card that are eligible for this redemption option.

This is a fantastic way to use your miles later, even if you didn’t feel comfortable committing to using them beforehand. Whether you book with miles before travel or use them afterward, you can redeem them at the same rate. There’s no downside to waiting for the charge to post first.

Even if you don’t have the miles needed to cover the stay today, you can likely book the room with your card with no financial risk. That’s because when you book with a hotel directly, the hotel often won’t charge your card until your arrival. Until then, you’ll have extra time to build your rewards balance.

Transfer To Travel Partners

Capital One has over 15 transfer partners to choose from. Moving points from Capital One to these partners allows you the chance to find even more value for your points. Here’s the full list and their transfer ratios.

Program	Type	Transfer Ratio
Aeromexico Rewards	Airline	1:1
Air Canada Aeroplan	Airline	1:1
Air France-KLM Flying Blue	Airline	1:1
ALL-Accor Live Limitless	Hotel	2:1
Avianca LifeMiles	Airline	1:1
British Airways Executive Club	Airline	1:1
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	Airline	1:1
Choice Privileges Rewards	Hotel	1:1
Emirates Skywards	Airline	1:1
Etihad Guest	Airline	1:1
EVA Air	Airline	2:1.5
Finnair Plus	Airline	1:1
Qantas Frequent Flyer	Airline	1:1
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	Airline	1:1
TAP Miles&Go	Airline	1:1
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	Airline	1:1
Virgin Red	Airline	1:1
Wyndham Rewards	Hotel	1:1

See More See Less

When logged in to your account, head to the “Convert Rewards” box and click. This will take you to the list of all the transfer partners.

Find your program of choice and click on Transfer Miles. A popup window will appear where you can enter your account membership number. This is the membership number for your airline or hotel program, not your Capital One account.

Your name on your Capital One account has to be the same as your airline or hotel account. Otherwise, the transfer could be delayed or denied.

The last step is deciding how many miles you want to send. You’ll need to send them in 100-mile chunks with a minimum of 1,000 miles. Many transfers are instant, but some can take about 24 hours.

Redeem for Cash Back or Gift Cards

Though redeeming for cash back and gift cards is not a great option, it’s important to know that it exists. When redeeming for cash back, you’ll receive 0.5 cents per mile redeemed, a 50% loss compared to the option for eliminating travel purchases.

Most gift cards can be redeemed at a rate of 0.8 cents per point, while some may offer a better redemption value.

Before redeeming your miles for less than 1 cent a piece, consider whether you can wipe out a travel purchase or get more value from your miles another way.

Redeem for Tickets, Experiences and Events

You can redeem miles through the Capital One Entertainment platform for tickets to shows and sporting events. There are also several cardholder exclusive offers throughout the year such as presale or discounted tickets and VIP packages.

These events tend to sell out fast. So if you see something that catches your eye, don’t wait too long.

Since all travel redeems for 1 cent a piece with Capital One, you may think that it doesn’t really matter how you use your miles. However, baseball ticket redemptions and travel partner transfers could yield a higher value.

Capital One Baseball Tickets

One of the most underutilized and unique ways to use your Capital One miles is to attend a baseball game at your favorite stadium. For most games, Capital One has at least four tickets available exclusively to cardholders at lower-level seats in the stadium for only 5,000 miles each.

Game dates will vary, but finding tickets is easy. Scroll past the “Cardholder Exclusive” section and you can see the “Shop By” section. You can filter by the dates you’d like to search and the Sports category. If Capital One Exclusive ticket dates are available, you’ll see the 5,000-mile tickets listed.

Transfer to Airline Partners

There are over 15 transfer partners, but there are a few great ones where you can get the most value out of your Capital One miles.

British Airways

British Airways uses a distance-based chart that can provide some nice sweet spots. For example, while the airline doesn’t fly to Hawaii, its partners Alaska Airlines and American Airlines do. So for 15,000 Capital One miles converted into British Airways Avios, you could fly one way from the U.S. West Coast to Hawaii.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles partners with U.S. carrier United Airlines and offers a low redemption value of only 10,000 miles one way for domestic flights. Fly across the country from New York to San Francisco or even all the way to Hawaii for only 20,000 miles round trip.

United Airlines isn’t the only value in the Turkish Airlines’ repertoire. Flights on Turkish Airlines in business class can be redeemed for as few as 40,000 miles each way. Onboard you’ll have a lie-flat seat for a restful flight over the Atlantic Ocean and a personal chef to whip up great meals customized to your liking.

If you connect somewhere in Europe, Asia or the Middle East, consider spending time in the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul. Between the free Wi-Fi, endless buffets, cinema, kids center and even a masseur, finding something to do during your layover is a breeze.

Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels is known for its budget friendly hotel brands like Sleep Inn and Comfort Inn, but one of the best-kept secrets is its partnership with Preferred Hotels. Starting at just 25,000 miles, you can book luxury independent hotel stays worldwide.

Air Canada

Air Canada includes dozens of partners through its Star Alliance membership and other unique airline partnerships. Emirates recently partnered with Air Canada and has given them access to both business and first-class seats. While first-class seats often cost hundreds of thousands of miles, business-class seats are generally much more attainable. Flight costs are variable so make sure to check your origins and destination, but we were able to find a flight from Newark to Athens for 70,000 miles in business class.

The best way to maximize your Capital One miles is through travel partners. This offers many opportunities to earn much more than the standard 0.5 cent to 1 cent per point value that you’ll get through other redemptions. Take the time to study your options for transfer partners and consider how to move your miles to airlines and hotels for maximum value.

You’ll need an eligible Capital One credit card to earn Capital One miles. Excluding purchases made through Capital One Travel, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card cards will net you 2 miles per dollar while the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card earns 1.25 miles per dollar.

If you have any of these cards, the best way to earn Capital One miles quickly is to book travel through the travel portal. For hotel and rental car bookings, you can earn up to 10 miles per dollar. Flights booked through Capital One Travel earn up to 5 miles per dollar.

Your experience with the Capital One Rewards program depends on which Capital One credit card you have. Some cards will offer higher bonuses for travel and general purchases compared to other cards. Dig into more detail on the earnings structure of each card and learn all about the program by reading our full Capital One Rewards guide.