Capital One Miles information 2024

1. We predict it’s actually cool so many People are touring overseas and experiencing different cultures.
2. We additionally assume 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 inns (roughly 99% of that are primarily based abroad) and consists of the most cost effective 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 huge 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 that you must convert miles to money again in a pinch, you’re a dismal redemption charge of 0.5 cents per level. 

We’ll break all of it down and canopy every thing that you must learn about Capital One Miles.

What these “miles” are, precisely

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

Primarily, consider “miles” as a synonym for “points” when referring to rewards earned.

You earn Capital One Miles primarily via spending on eligible bank cards and may redeem them for journey both within the issuer’s portal or by transferring them to accomplice 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 mentioned 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’ll, too. 

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

And don’t let the time period “miles” idiot you—you possibly can redeem them for excess of simply flights, together with inns, rental vehicles, present playing cards, money again, spa therapies and extra. In impact, they’re versatile bank card factors going by one other title. 

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

The right way to earn Capital One Miles

You may earn Capital One Miles by utilizing 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 evaluation: 

• The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit score Card costs no annual price, provides a welcome bonus of 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases inside 3 months from account opening, and generates 5x miles on inns and rental vehicles booked via Capital One Journey plus 1.25X on all different purchases. The VentureOne is certainly one of our picks for the greatest no-annual-fee journey bank cards.
• The Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card costs a $95 annual price however provides 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 inns, trip leases and rental vehicles booked via Capital One Journey however its base charge is 2x miles on each buy. 
• The Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card is Capital One’s flagship journey rewards card, providing a welcome bonus of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases throughout the first 3 months from account opening, elevated rewards of 10X Miles per greenback on inns and rental vehicles booked via Capital One Journey plus 5X Miles per greenback on flights and trip leases booked via Capital One Journey, and a base charge of 2X Miles per greenback on each buy, on daily basis. The cardboard costs a steep $395 annual price, however the $300 again yearly for bookings made via 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, comparable to lounge entry.

Cardholders have additionally mentioned in on-line discussions that in case 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 Money Rewards Credit score Card for elevated rewards on eating, grocery buying 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.

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

The right way to redeem Capital One Miles

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

• Cowl journey bills which have landed (pun supposed) in your assertion throughout the previous 90 days. 
• Switch miles to certainly one of Capital One’s 18 journey companions together with Flying Blue, Wyndham Rewards and extra (see the full record under). 
• Ebook a visit by way of the Capital One Journey portal, the place you possibly can reserve flights, inns or rental vehicles utilizing money, miles, or a mixture of each. 
• Share your rewards aka switch miles to a good friend or member of the family. 
• Get present playing cards from an enormous number of over 285 retail companions. 
• Redeem for money again, changing miles to {dollars} at a charge of 0.5 cents a pop (which we wouldn’t advocate until you actually need the money). 
• Pay with miles on Amazon or via PayPal. 
• Rating tickets to certainly one of 500,000+ occasions via Capital One Leisure. 

That’s fairly a menu of redemption choices, however in case you’re like us, you’ll naturally gravitate in direction of the choice(s) with one of the best total redemption worth. 

So let’s lower to the chase—what must you spend your Cap One Miles on? It possible gained’t shock you that the reply is usually “travel.” Learn on for extra particulars on find out how to get probably the most worth out of your miles.

How a lot are Capital One Miles price? 

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

Should you’re redeeming Cap One miles for money again or money equal (e.g. pay with miles or present playing cards), you’ll usually get round a half cent per mile in worth. However in case you redeem them via Capital One Journey, you’ll get that full penny per level. 

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

Certain, you possibly can at all times spend your Cap One Miles on journey to get a full 1 cent per mile  in worth—however remember the fact that whenever you’re spending miles you’re not incomes miles. 

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

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

And sure, that’s undoubtedly a stable technique—however relying on what sort of traveler you’re, there could possibly be a giant “but” hooked up to that possibility, as nicely. 

Capital One switch companions

Capital One’s record of switch companions makes a great first impression. There are 18 complete (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 instantly. 

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 every year (if ever), that means there isn’t a switch accomplice that may show you how to get from San Francisco to New York. 

It’s not the top of the world in case you’re keen to discover ways 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 good, as airways could launch restricted seating availability to companions. 

The second, extra subjective situation is the trio of resort companions. In mixture, the Wyndham, Alternative and ALL networks comprise over 21,000 properties worldwide, which is an undeniably enormous unfold. However once more, in case you’re seeking to e-book one thing home, chances are you’ll rapidly really feel the absence of Hyatt, Marriott or IHG. 

On the flip aspect of issues, anybody with a quickly filling passport might even see the lengthy record of worldwide companions as a giant plus. Worldwide flights actually aren’t low cost, and every of the companions listed under represents a area of the globe you can doubtlessly go to for nearly “free” along with your miles (although you’ll nonetheless should pay taxes and costs in your tickets, as is commonplace). 

In different phrases, in case you’ve ever fantasized about redeeming bank card rewards in trade for a fully-enclosed firstclass suite on Emirates, Capital One Miles will be 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 charge 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

Accommodations

• Accor Reside Limitless (at a charge of 1,000 Capital One Miles to 500 ALL factors)
• Alternative Privileges
• Wyndham Rewards

How Capital One Miles compares to different rewards applications

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

Proper out of the gate, this system’s largest aggressive disadvantage is that miles are solely price 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 price as much as a full cent in present card redemptions and Citi ThankYou Factors are price a penny every in money again generally. 

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

Lastly, it’s price reiterating that Capital One’s lack of home airline companions severely hinders this system’s total versatility. Amex has Delta, Citi has JetBlue, and Chase has Southwest, United and JetBlue. Certain, you possibly can at all times 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 means. 

All that mentioned, frequent worldwide vacationers could also be extra keen than most to forgive this system’s largest shortfalls. They could see the 15 worldwide airline companions and assume 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 charge on inns and rental vehicles booked via the portal and limitless Precedence Move airport lounge entry and assume OK, I’m in. Time to use and earn that monster welcome bonus.

In different phrases, they could have an identical revelation to the one our very personal Ben Luthi had that made him determine to maintain the Enterprise X—that regardless of all of its shortcomings, Capital One Miles can have large area of interest enchantment in case you’re planning the subsequent stamp in your passport.

---

CardRatings is an promoting accomplice of Fortune Recommends™ for bank card merchandise. Fortune Recommends™ and CardRatings could obtain a fee from card issuers.

Please be aware that card particulars are correct as of the publish date, however are topic to vary 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.