Capital One Transfer Partners: Which Programs Give the Best Value?

Finding ways to redeem your miles for good value can be the harder part of playing the award travel game. Luckily, Capital One’s transfer partners offer many ways to redeem and get great value from your miles.

Not all transfer partners are equal in value, however. Let’s take a look at them and see how the best ones lines up.

Capital One Transfer Partners

Below are Capital One’s airline and hotel transfer partners, its transfer ratio (Capital One to the program), and the time it typically takes for the miles to complete the transfer.

• Accor Live Limitless: 2:1 ratio (36 hours)
• Aeromexico Rewards: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Avianca LifeMiles: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• British Airways Club: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Cathay Pacific Cathay: 1:1 ratio (36 hours)
• Choice Privileges (limited to U.S.-based accounts): 1:1 ratio (24 hours)
• Emirates Skywards: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Etihad Guest: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• EVA Infinity MileageLands: 4:3 ratio (36 hours)
• Finnair Plus: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• I Prefer Hotel Rewards: 1:2 ratio (instant)
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank: 4:3 ratio (instant)
• JetBlue TrueBlue: 5:3 ratio (instant)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Singapore KrisFlyer: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Virgin Red: 1:1 ratio (instant)
• Wyndham Rewards: 1:1 ratio (instant)

Note that all of these programs require a minimum of 1,000 miles to transfer.

Capital One miles can be earned through the program’s travel credit cards, which are:

• Capital One Venture X: 10x miles on hotels & rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel, 2x miles on other purchases. $395 annual fee.
  • Intro offer: 100,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 during the first six months.

• Capital One Venture Rewards: 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 2x miles on other purchases. $95 annual fee.
  • Intro offer: 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 during the first three months.

• Capital One VentureOne Rewards: 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 1.25x on other purchases. $0 annual fee.
  • Intro offer: 20,000 bonus miles after spending $500 during the first three months.

• Capital One VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit: 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 1.25x on other purchases. $0 annual fee.
  • Limited time offer: N/A.

• Capital One Venture X Business: 10x miles on hotels & rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel, 2x miles on other purchases. $395 annual fee.
  • Intro offer: Up to 400,000 bonus miles; 200,000 miles after spending $30,000 during the first three months, and an additional 200,000 miles after spending $150,000 during the first six months.

• Capital One Spark Miles for Business: 5x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel, 2x miles on other purchases. $0 intro fee for first year, $95 after.
  • Intro offer: 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 during the first three months.

Unsure of which card to apply for? Try Capital One’s pre-approval link (referral) and get a result in seconds, with no impact to your credit score.

Capital One’s Best Transfer Partners

Not all of Capital One’s transfer partners line up equally. Here are the programs that offer the best value, in my opinion.

1. Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada’s Aeroplan is a great way to book premium cabins on Air Canada’s Star Alliance partner carriers. Unfortunately, Air Canada uses dynamic award pricing for a select number of carriers, such as United, Emirates, Etihad, and Flydubai. However, redeeming miles on other partner airlines still offers a reliable value with its award chart.

Business class to Asia on airlines like EVA Air and ANA starts at 55,000 miles (depending on distance/place of origin in the United States). Similarly, premium cabins to Europe on Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian can be redeemed for 60,000 miles.

2. Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Business class flights to international destinations start at 60,000 Flying Blue miles each way, which is great if you can find that Saver availability.

Although it may take a bit of time and effort, keeping an eye out for the monthly promo awards can also help find better value for your miles.

3. Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca is another program offering some of the best deals for those looking to book award tickets on Star Alliance carriers. Premium products like first class on Lufthansa, business class on ANA, and others to international destinations can be redeemed at relatively reasonable rates.

Sweet spots can also be found on U.S. domestic routes, such as premium transcon routes on United’s business class.

Additionally, fuel surcharges and other fees don’t get passed on with Avianca’s award tickets, which allows for the total cash cost of the redemption to stay low.

4. British Airways Club

British Airways uses a distance-based award chart for its Avios currency. This award chart can be a help when looking for sweet spots for British Airways and its partners.

U.S. domestic on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines start at 12,000 British Airways Club Avios. Premium cabins on other Oneworld partners, such as Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways, can be great redemptions if you can find the availability.

5. Qatar Airways Privilege Club

With Qatar Airways increasingly limiting award space for passengers booking through partner airlines, the Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a great way to book award space on the airline, especially for those looking to board the airline’s Qsuite business class.

If you can find the Saver availability, you can book the Qsuites for 70,000 Avios between North America and Doha.

6. Virgin Red

Although Virgin utilizes dynamic pricing for its awards now, you can still find sweet spots with the right dates and flexibility.

Additionally, the program is a great way to book first class on ANA. You’ll be able to find space from the U.S. to Japan, which are tickets that regularly cost well over $10,000 if booked with cash.

Flights from Los Angeles can be booked with 72,500 points, and flights from New York can be booked with 85,000 points, plus fees.

Double It Up with Alerts

Finding award space can be a challenge, no matter how good a loyalty program appears to be. This is where I recommend a service which will send alerts for award space, with Thrifty Traveler Premium and Seats.aero being my favorites.

Occasional sweet spots can be taken very quickly, often in a matter of hours or less. These services allow you to filter your desired trip/award ticket, and send you alerts right to your inbox when it finds availability.

Thrifty Traveler Premium is great when you have a lot of flexibility and are not tied to a single destination and/or a few dates. It also sends deals on cheap cash fares.

The Premium subscription costs $99 per year, but $20 off when you use our referral link (sponsored) or promo code ALTITUDE at checkout.

Disclosure: Altitude Yes will receive commission if you sign up using this link.

Seats.aero is also great for when looking for specific award space on a specific program. The service costs $9.99 a month, or $99 annually.

Bottom Line

In addition to the six programs listed, you can also find deals through JAL Mileage Bank, Finnair Plus, Singapore KrisFlyer, and several others. Keep in mind the transfer ratios and the amount of flexibility some programs require with their award space.

All in all, Capital One is a fantastic program and gives you a lot of options when looking for award space. Whether you have lots of flexibility and are open to different destinations, or are looking for a specific premium cabin on a specific route, Capital One miles should be a strong option for many.

Featured image by the author.

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