Capital One Credit Card Rewards: A Guide To Earning and Redeeming Miles
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Written by
Sarah Sharkey
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Edited by
Emily Gadd
Capital One credit card rewards are miles you earn by making purchases with select Capital One credit cards, such as the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.
Once you have Capital One miles in your account, you can use them to “erase” recent travel purchases made with your card, or redeem them for flights, hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars through Capital One Travel. You’ll also have the option to transfer your miles to a selection of airline and hotel partners, which might lead to a higher value for your miles.
You’ve also got other, lower-value redemption options, but the smartest move is to use Capital One miles for travel, which can stretch your travel budget further or allow you to splurge on your next vacation. Let’s look at how to earn and redeem Capital One miles to maximize these valuable rewards.
How To Earn Capital One Miles
Capital One’s travel rewards credit cards earn Capital One miles with every purchase. The exact number of miles you’ll earn per dollar varies by card, and you might be surprised by how quickly rewards add up once you start swiping. One advantage of Capital One miles-earning cards is their relative simplicity; most purchases earn a flat rewards rate (with higher rates of return on select Capital One Travel purchases).
Types of Capital One Credit Cards and Their Rewards
Capital One offers a variety of credit card options, including excellent cash-back cards such as the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. But for the purposes of this guide, we are focused on Capital One travel rewards.
The table below breaks down the personal credit cards that earn Capital One miles.
| Credit Card | Rewards Rate | Annual Fee | Current Welcome Bonus |
| Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card | Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel. Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases. | $395 | Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel |
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. | $95 | Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel. |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card | Earn unlimited 1.25X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. | $0 | For a limited time, enjoy a $100 credit to use towards flights, stays and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel during your first cardholder year. Plus, earn 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening |
| Capital One VentureOne for Good Credit** | Earn 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Earn 1.25x miles on all other purchases. | $0 | N/A |
Small-business owners can also earn Capital One miles from the Capital One Venture X Business, Capital One Spark Miles for Business and Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business.
Capital One Miles Redemption Chart
You can redeem your Capital One miles in a variety of ways, including:
| Redemption Option | Rewards Rate | Description | Best For |
| Flights, hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars | 1 cent per mile | Book travel through Capital One Travel | Straightforward travel bookings |
| Recent travel purchases | 1 cent per mile | Redeem your miles as a statement credit to erase eligible travel purchases made in the last 90 days | Flexibility |
| Transfer to travel partners | Varies | Transfer miles to Capital One airline and hotel partners to book award travel | Maximizing rewards |
| Gift cards | 0.8 to 1 cent per mile | Trade in your your miles for gift cards | Upcoming purchases |
| Shop with rewards | 0.8 cents per mile | Use your miles at checkout with Amazon.com or PayPal | Convenience |
| Cash back | 0.5 cents per mile | Redeem your miles as a statement credit or check | Cold hard cash |
| Entertainment | Varies | Redeem your miles to pay for an experience through Capital One Entertainment | Hard-to-get event tickets and VIP packages |
How Much Are Capital One Miles Worth?
Capital One miles vary in value depending on how you redeem them. Generally, you’ll get the highest rate of return from your Capital One miles when you redeem them for travel — either by erasing recent travel purchases from your statement, booking through the Capital One Travel platform or transferring miles to airline and hotel partners.
Let’s say you have 50,000 Capital One miles. Here are some of the ways you could use them:
- Capital One Travel or erasing travel purchases: At a rate of 1 cent per mile, 50,000 miles is equal to $500 worth of travel
- Gift cards: At a rate of 0.8 to 1 cent per mile, 50,000 miles is equal to $400 to $500 in gift cards
- Pay with miles at Amazon and PayPal: At a rate of 0.8 cents per mile, 50,000 miles is equal to $400 in purchases
- Cash back: At a rate of 0.5 cents per mile, 50,000 miles is equal to $250 in cash back
Best Way to Use Capital One Miles
Transferring rewards to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners can result in significantly higher value than 1 cent per mile, but you’ll have to be willing to learn about award charts and redemptions.
Capital One Transfer Partners
Capital One currently partners with over a dozen travel loyalty programs. This includes frequent flyer programs from all three major airline alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam) and a handful of hotel chains (all transfers are at a 1:1 ratio unless otherwise noted):
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio, so 1,000 Capital One miles = 500 Accor Live Limitless points)
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands (4:3 ratio, so 1,000 Capital One miles = 750 Infinity MileageLands miles)
- Finnair Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue (5:3 ratio, so 1,000 Capital One miles = 600 TrueBlue points)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
If this feels too complicated, you can still get a solid deal from Capital One miles when you book through Capital One Travel, or offset travel purchases made with your card. But you’ll never get more than 1 cent per mile when you redeem this way.
Capital One Travel Redemption and Booking Process
If you decide to redeem miles through Capital One Travel, you should be aware of its limitations. Capital One Travel only allows flight, hotel, vacation rental and rental car bookings, so if you want to use your miles to cover other types of travel, make the purchase with your card and use miles as a statement credit toward the transaction.
Keep in mind, too, that by booking through Capital One Travel versus with an airline, hotel or other provider directly, you’re introducing a middleman. Capital One Travel is much like any other third-party travel site (such as Expedia). If you need to change or cancel your booking, you’ll have to go through Capital One Travel, which can be inconvenient. You also typically won’t earn hotel points or elite status credits if you book through a third party and not with the hotel directly.
On the upside, Capital One Travel is easy to use and comes with benefits (some optional) you won’t find with other booking methods, including price prediction and alerts, flight disruption assistance, and price drop protection. And even you don’t have enough miles to cover your entire booking, you can choose to redeem miles for part of the purchase and put the rest on your Capital One credit card.
In fact, using your credit card to pay for your Capital One Travel booking is a smarter move, because you’ll earn miles for the transaction and Capital One bonus miles, depending on what you’ve booked. For example, the Capital One Venture X earns 10x miles on hotels and rental cars and 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
Suppose, for example, you want to book a $200 hotel through Capital One Travel. If you redeemed rewards, you’d pay 20,000 miles and earn nothing on the transaction. But if you paid with your Venture X, you’d earn 10x miles for the purchase, netting you 2,000 extra miles. And after the charge hits your card statement, you can redeem miles at a rate of 1 cent apiece (same as at Capital One Travel, so 20,000 miles) to erase the purchase.
* Information for the Capital One VentureOne for Good Credit was not reviewed by Capital One or provided by Capital One.
Frequently Asked Questions About Capital One Miles
Can I use Capital One miles for anything other than travel?
Yes. In addition to travel, you can redeem your Capital One miles for cash, gift cards and Capital One Entertainment experiences.
How do I check my Capital One miles balance?
You can check your Capital One miles balance by logging into your Capital One account. You’ll see a box that highlights your Capital One miles balance.
Do Capital One miles expire?
Capital One miles don’t expire if your account remains open and in good standing.
Is Capital One rewards good for international travel?
Yes, you can use Capital One rewards to cover international travel purchases. Plus, you won’t pay foreign transaction fees on any Capital One credit card, so you can use them overseas to earn rewards without incurring extra charges.
Does Capital One transfer to American Airlines?
No, Capital One doesn’t allow miles transfer to American Airlines. However, you can book American Airlines flights through Capital One Travel or use your card to pay for an AA flight directly, then erase the charge with miles. If you’re comfortable with navigating partner award charts, you could also transfer miles to British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair or Qantas to book American Airlines flights, since they’re all members of the Oneworld alliance.
