Capital One Miles information 2024

1. We predict it’s actually cool so many Individuals are touring overseas and experiencing different cultures.
2. We additionally suppose this booming curiosity in journey highlights the necessity for rewards applications like Capital One Miles. 

As a result of as you’ll come to be taught, the Capital One Miles program has a slight bias towards worldwide journey versus home. It has over a dozen worldwide airline switch companions, a partnership with Accor motels (roughly 99% of that are primarily based abroad) and consists of the most affordable bank card available on the market with limitless airport lounge visits (the Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card). 

But when your passport is amassing mud—and your subsequent massive journey is to Boston, not Bruges—Capital One Miles has much less to give you. There’s not a single home airline to switch factors to, and if you have to convert miles to money again in a pinch, you’re taking a look at a dismal redemption price of 0.5 cents per level. 

We’ll break all of it down and canopy all the pieces you have to learn about Capital One Miles.

What these “miles” are, precisely

Capital One Miles is, merely put, each the identify of the rewards program and the foreign money you earn as somebody who makes use of this system. They aren’t related with “miles” as a bodily measurement of distance nor are they tied to a particular airline like, say, Delta SkyMiles are.

Basically, consider “miles” as a synonym for “factors” when referring to rewards earned.

You earn Capital One Miles primarily by means of spending on eligible bank cards and may redeem them for journey both within the issuer’s portal or by transferring them to companion loyalty applications.

Capital One Miles defined

The very first thing it’s best to learn about Capital One Miles is that Capital One doesn’t appear to make use of two separate names for a) its rewards program and b) the factors you earn inside stated program. 

What we imply is, Chase Final Rewards has Chase Final Rewards factors. Citi ThankYou Rewards has Citi ThankYou factors. However Capital One appears content material with utilizing “Capital One Miles” in each context. 

So we are going to, too. 

Now, let’s cowl the fundamentals. Capital One Miles works like most some other bank card rewards program: you’ll earn miles through the use of a choose Capital One rewards playing cards, and when you accumulate sufficient, you may redeem them for goodies. 

And don’t let the time period “miles” idiot you—you may redeem them for way over simply flights, together with motels, rental vehicles, present playing cards, money again, spa remedies and extra. In impact, they’re versatile bank card factors going by one other identify. 

Now that you understand the necessities, we’ll dive into the small print, beginning with methods to earn ‘em.

Find out how to earn Capital One Miles

You may earn Capital One Miles through the use of any of the cardboard issuer’s three journey rewards bank cards. Right here’s a fast abstract of every, plus a hyperlink to our full overview: 

• The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card expenses no annual charge, affords a welcome bonus of 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases inside 3 months from account opening, and generates 5x miles on motels and rental vehicles booked by means of Capital One Journey plus 1.25X on all different purchases. The VentureOne is one in every of our picks for the best no-annual-fee travel credit cards.
• The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card expenses a $95 annual charge however affords a heftier welcome bonus of 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases inside 3 months from account opening to compensate. Just like the VentureOne, the Enterprise generates 5x miles on motels, trip leases and rental vehicles booked by means of Capital One Journey however its base price is 2x miles on each buy. 
• The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is Capital One’s flagship journey rewards card, providing a welcome bonus of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases inside the first 3 months from account opening, elevated rewards of 10X Miles per greenback on motels and rental vehicles booked by means of Capital One Journey plus 5X Miles per greenback on flights and trip leases booked by means of Capital One Journey, and a base price of 2X Miles per greenback on each buy, every single day. The cardboard expenses a steep $395 annual charge, however the $300 again yearly for bookings made by means of Capital One Journey plus 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 in direction of journey) yearly, beginning in your first anniversary mix to $400+ in yearly worth. And that’s not even contemplating its different perks, resembling lounge entry.

Cardholders have additionally stated in on-line discussions that when you maintain each a cash-back card and a journey card from Capital One, there’s an choice to convert your money again into miles. With that in thoughts, you may select to pair two Cap One playing cards—for instance, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card for elevated rewards on eating, grocery procuring and leisure, and the Enterprise X for premium journey perks and a flat 2X miles on any purchases not within the SavorOne’s bonus classes.

Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card

Intro bonus

Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases inside the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Payment	$395
Buy APR	19.99%–29.49% variable
International Transaction Payment	None

When you’ve chosen the precise card(s) on your pockets and scored a tasty welcome bonus, how must you spend your new fortune in miles? Let’s have a look at redemption choices.

Find out how to redeem Capital One Miles

Capital One provides you eight whole choices for redeeming your hard-earned miles: 

• Cowl journey bills which have landed (pun supposed) in your assertion inside the previous 90 days. 
• Switch miles to one in every of Capital One’s 18 journey companions together with Flying Blue, Wyndham Rewards and extra (see the complete list beneath). 
• Ebook a visit by way of the Capital One Journey portal, the place you may reserve flights, motels or rental vehicles utilizing money, miles, or a mix of each. 
• Share your rewards aka switch miles to a buddy or member of the family. 
• Get present playing cards from an enormous choice of over 285 retail companions. 
• Redeem for money again, changing miles to {dollars} at a price of 0.5 cents a pop (which we wouldn’t suggest until you actually need the money). 
• Pay with miles on Amazon or by means of PayPal. 
• Rating tickets to one in every of 500,000+ occasions by means of Capital One Leisure. 

That’s fairly a menu of redemption choices, however when you’re like us, you’ll naturally gravitate in direction of the choice(s) with the perfect general redemption worth. 

So let’s reduce to the chase—what must you spend your Cap One Miles on? It seemingly received’t shock you that the reply is usually “journey.” Learn on for extra particulars on methods to get essentially the most worth out of your miles.

How a lot are Capital One Miles value? 

Capital One Miles sometimes vary in worth from 0.5 to 1 cent every, relying on the way you redeem them. 

For those who’re redeeming Cap One miles for money again or money equal (e.g. pay with miles or present playing cards), you’ll typically get round a half cent per mile in worth. However when you redeem them by means of Capital One Journey, you’ll get that full penny per level. 

Which means that within the higher “factors financial system,” Capital One Miles are positively one of many weaker rewards currencies on the market. For comparability, Chase and Wells Fargo factors are each value a penny every in money redemption, and when you have the or Chase Sapphire Reserve® playing cards (which rival the Enterprise and Enterprise X playing cards), your factors could be value 1.25 and 1.50 cents in journey portal worth, respectively. 

Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card

Intro bonus

60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening

Annual charge	$95
Common APR	20.74%–27.74% variable

Positive, you may all the time spend your Cap One Miles on journey to get a full 1 cent per mile  in worth—however understand that once you’re spending miles you’re not incomes miles. 

In different phrases, once you redeem 10,000 Cap One Miles for a lodge room by way of Capital One Journey, you earn zero rewards. However when you redeem 10,000 Wells Fargo Rewards factors for $100 and then e book a room together with your Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Visa® Card, you’ll earn 4X from Wells Fargo and extra rewards on the lodge facet when you’re a member of the lodge chain’s loyalty program (e.g. 10X as a base member of IHG One Rewards). 

At this level, chances are you’ll be considering pshh, no biggie, I’ll simply switch my Cap One Miles to a loyalty companion and get greater than a cent in worth that manner. 

And sure, that’s positively a stable technique—however relying on what sort of traveler you’re, there may very well be an enormous “however” hooked up to that possibility, as effectively. 

Capital One switch companions

Capital One’s record of switch companions makes an excellent first impression. There are 18 whole (which handily beats Chase’s 14) and all however two of them settle for Capital One Miles at a 1:1 ratio. 

However veteran vacationers will discover two potential points with the record immediately. 

First, there isn’t a single U.S. home airline amongst Capital One’s switch companions. All 15 out of 15 airways listed are worldwide carriers that you could be solely fly yearly (if ever), which means there isn’t a switch companion that may make it easier to get from San Francisco to New York. 

It’s not the tip of the world when you’re prepared to learn to leverage airline alliances. For instance, you may be capable of switch Capital One Miles to Virgin Pink, then use Virgin factors to e book a ticket on a Delta Air Traces flight as they’re each SkyTeam alliance members.

However this answer isn’t excellent, as airways could launch restricted seating availability to companions. 

The second, extra subjective situation is the trio of lodge companions. In combination, the Wyndham, Selection and ALL networks comprise over 21,000 properties worldwide, which is an undeniably enormous unfold. However once more, when you’re trying to e book one thing home, chances are you’ll shortly really feel the absence of Hyatt, Marriott or IHG. 

On the flip facet of issues, anybody with a quickly filling passport might even see the lengthy record of worldwide companions as an enormous plus. Worldwide flights definitely aren’t low-cost, and every of the companions listed beneath represents a area of the globe you possibly can probably go to for nearly “free” together with your miles (although you’ll nonetheless need to pay taxes and charges in your tickets, as is customary). 

In different phrases, when you’ve ever fantasized about redeeming bank card rewards in trade for a fully-enclosed firstclass suite on Emirates, Capital One Miles stands out as the program for you.

In any case, right here’s the whole record of Capital One switch companions as of this writing:

Airways

• Aeromexico Membership Premier
• Air Canada – Aeroplan
• Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Government Membership
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Visitor
• EVA Air (at a price of 1,000 Capital One Miles to 750 Eva Air miles)
• Finnair Plus
• Flying Blue
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore Airways KrisFlyer
• TAP Miles&Go
• Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Pink

Resorts

• Accor Dwell Limitless (at a price of 1,000 Capital One Miles to 500 ALL factors)
• Selection Privileges
• Wyndham Rewards

How Capital One Miles compares to different rewards applications

Total, as a bank card rewards program, Capital One Miles doesn’t stack up effectively to the stiff competitors it faces in 2024. 

Proper out of the gate, this system’s largest aggressive disadvantage is that miles are solely value half a cent every in cash-back redemption. That’s half the worth of the equal Chase or Wells Fargo level redeemed for money again, and for additional reference, American Specific Membership Rewards Factors are value as much as a full cent in present card redemptions and Citi ThankYou Factors are value a penny every in money again normally. 

Even when you save your Capital One Miles for journey redemptions solely, you continue to received’t get as a lot worth per mile (1 cent) as you possibly can from a Chase or U.S. Financial institution level (as much as 1.5 cents every).

Lastly, it’s value reiterating that Capital One’s lack of home airline companions severely hinders this system’s general versatility. Amex has Delta, Citi has JetBlue, and Chase has Southwest, United and JetBlue. Positive, you may all the time use Capital One Miles to e book home flights by way of Capital One Journey—however your miles are hard-capped at a cent per level that manner. 

All that stated, frequent worldwide vacationers could also be extra prepared than most to forgive this system’s largest shortfalls. They may see the 15 worldwide airline companions and suppose hey, that beats the pants off Chase and particularly Wells Fargo. Then, they may see the Enterprise X card’s $100 World Entry credit score, $300 annual journey credit score, 10X incomes price on motels and rental vehicles booked by means of the portal and limitless Precedence Cross airport lounge entry and suppose OK, I’m in. Time to use and earn that monster welcome bonus.

In different phrases, they could have an analogous revelation to the one our very personal Ben Luthi had that made him decide to keep the Venture X—that regardless of all of its shortcomings, Capital One Miles can have huge area of interest attraction when you’re planning the subsequent stamp in your passport.

Please be aware that card particulars are correct as of the publish date, however are topic to alter at any time on the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the cardboard issuer to confirm charges, charges, and advantages earlier than making use of.