Your ultimate guide to Capital One’s airline and hotel transfer partners

Feb. 22, 2023

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20 min read

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Editor's Note

This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

Capital One added transfer partners to its Venture and Spark card families in 2018. Since then, we've seen Capital One add several more transfer partners and introduce a 1:1 transfer ratio for most transfer partners.

Capital One currently has 18 airline and hotel transfer partners. In this guide, we'll discuss how to earn Capital One miles and then walk through each Capital One transfer partner so you can decide which ones to use on your next trip.

How to earn Capital One miles

Some, but not all, Capital One credit cards earn Capital One miles. Here's a list of some currently available cards that earn transferable Capital One miles:

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar on other purchases ($95 annual fee). New cardmembers can earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar on other purchases ($395 annual fee). New cardmembers can earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card: Earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.25 miles per dollar on other purchases (no annual fee). New cardmembers can earn 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 within the first three months from account opening
Capital One VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit: Earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.25 miles per dollar on other purchases (no annual fee).
Capital One Spark Miles for Business: Earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar on other purchases ($0 annual fee for the first year, then $95). New card members can earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 in the first three months of account opening.
Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business: Earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.5 miles per dollar on other purchases (no annual fee). New cardmembers can earn 20,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months of account opening.

The information for the Capital One Spark Miles Select has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Capital One transfer partners overview

As mentioned above, Capital One has 18 transfer partners. Here's each of the Capital One transfer partners and the ratio at which you can transfer Capital One miles to each partner:

Aeromexico Club Premier: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Accor Live Limitless: 2:1 transfer ratio.
Avianca LifeMiles: 1:1 transfer ratio.
British Airways Executive Club: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Choice Privileges: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Emirates Skywards: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Etihad Guest: 1:1 transfer ratio.
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands: 4:3 transfer ratio.
Finnair Plus: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: 1:1 transfer ratio.
TAP Miles&Go: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Virgin Red: 1:1 transfer ratio.
Wyndham Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio.

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Not all of these transfers will occur immediately, though. Check out our guide to Capital One transfer times to see how long transfers to each partner usually take.

Best Capital One transfer partners

TPG's valuations peg the value of Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each. But the value you'll get from Capital One miles depends on how you redeem your miles.

To help you get a high value from your miles, we'll discuss some of the best Capital One transfer partners in this section.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada's Aeroplan loyalty program saw significant changes in 2020. Now, the Aeroplan award chart lists award ranges for Air Canada's flights but has fixed rates for partner awards.

Aeroplan doesn't pass on carrier-imposed surcharges, so you can book Star Alliance award tickets with relatively low taxes and fees. And based on the Aeroplan stopover policy, you can book a stopover on a one-way award for just 5,000 points. But, you'll need to pay a partner booking fee of 39 Canadian dollars (about $29) per ticket for awards with partner-operated segments.

Aeroplan's partner award chart can provide excellent value on short-haul awards to Canada and international premium-cabin awards. For example, partner-operated flights of less than 500 miles within North America cost 6,000 points each way in economy. And, if you can find award space, most transcontinental business-class flights operated by United are 25,000 points each way.

When traveling from the continental U.S. to Europe on one of Air Canada's partners, you'll typically pay 35,000 or 40,000 points for economy, 60,000 or 70,000 points for business and 90,000 or 100,000 points for first class. This is because most transatlantic flights from the U.S. fall into the under-4,000-miles distance band or the 4,001-to-6,000-mile distance band.

However, as the above screenshot notes, Aeroplan prices Emirates-operated awards differently than its other partners.

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca LifeMiles is known for offering cheap redemption rates on Star Alliance partner flights and not passing on fuel surcharges on partner awards. But unfortunately, LifeMiles raised award costs to Asia in late 2022.

There are many things to love about Avianca LifeMiles, though. For example, you can redeem 87,000 LifeMiles for Lufthansa first class between Chicago and Frankfurt with $26.70 in taxes and fees.

You might be able to drop that price even further thanks to a very generous pricing structure for mixed-cabin awards. If you're flying in long-haul first class and connecting to another destination, it's almost guaranteed that your connection will be in a lower class of service.

Avianca refunds you the difference, meaning adding a connection can make your flight cheaper. For example, here's an award with the same flight from Chicago to Frankfurt in Lufthansa first class and a short economy flight that would cost you 84,000 LifeMiles plus $58.30.

Avianca uses a confusing pricing scheme that doesn't always follow its award chart but often works out favorably for domestic travel on United. You can book plenty of short-haul routes for as few as 6,500 miles each way in economy.

And most domestic economy awards cost 13,500 LifeMiles or less each way (plus taxes and fees).

British Airways Executive Club

There are many reasons why you should care about British Airways Avios. For example, you can get significant value when you book short- and medium-haul American and Alaska award flights through British Airways.

There are also many ways to maximize the British Airways distance-based award chart. For example, you can book off-peak business-class flights from select U.S. cities to Madrid for 34,000 Avios plus $116.70 one-way.

You can transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub and Qatar Privilege Club (which all have sweet spots you can enjoy).

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has plenty to love about it. The program still uses award charts and provides an elusive but appealing sweet spot: United flights to Hawaii for just 7,500 miles one-way in economy.

Fuel surcharges can be problematic if you want to fly select Star Alliance carriers. But you won't be charged fuel surcharges on United-operated flights, and fuel surcharges are somewhat reasonable on Turkish-operated flights. You can sometimes get good value when redeeming for Turkish-operated promotional award flights between the U.S. and Europe.

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Virgin Red

Virgin Red is the loyalty program for the Virgin family of brands. Among other things, you can use Virgin points to book flights through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program and Virgin Voyages cruises.

It's possible to unlock incredible value with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. For example, you can fly from the U.S. West Coast to Japan in ANA business class for 45,000 points one-way (plus taxes and fees), although you'll need to call to book. And you can still get solid value on some Delta-operated awards with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, such as this flight from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia:

Mid-tier Capital One transfer partners

Several of Capital One's transfer partners fall into what we'd call the mid-tier group. These programs can offer solid value in the right context, but it's by no means a guarantee. Run the numbers for your bookings before transferring Capital One miles to these programs.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France, KLM, Transavia, Aircalin, Kenya Airways and TAROM, uses dynamic award pricing. This dynamic pricing makes it difficult to discuss specific award pricing as prices fluctuate greatly.

However, there are several Flying Blue sweet spots. For example, Flying Blue can be a good way to book Virgin Atlantic award tickets. And it's relatively easy to use Flying Blue to fly from the U.S. to Europe for under 20,000 miles one-way.

Flying Blue also offers rotating monthly Promo Rewards, allowing you to book select award flights at a fixed discount.

Accor Live Limitless

Hotel chain Accor uses a fixed-value redemption scheme in its Accor Live Limitless program. So, transferring miles from Capital One will always represent a solid — though by no means aspirational — value. Accor Live Limitless allows you to redeem 2,000 points for 40 euros (about $43 based on current exchange rates) off a stay.

Given the 2:1 transfer ratio, you'd need to transfer 4,000 Capital One miles to get $43 off your stay. Meanwhile, you could get $40 from the same 4,000 Capital One miles if you redeemed your miles for recent travel purchases using Capital One's fixed-rate redemption option. While it's only a $3 difference, you'll get a slightly better value by transferring your miles to Accor if you want to stay at an Accor property.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Because Asia Miles uses a distance-based award chart, this program can be expensive if you're looking to fly Cathay Pacific to or from the U.S.

But, there are times when booking British Airways flights with Asia Miles can let you pay lower carrier-imposed surcharges. And you might decide that it's worth it to pay up for Cathay Pacific first class, especially since Asia Miles often has access to more Cathay Pacific award space than partner programs.

You may also find decent value when redeeming miles for shorter domestic flights operated by American Airlines and some Oneworld flights from the U.S. East Coast to Europe.

Emirates Skywards

Emirates Skywards can be useful if you want to book one of the carrier's premium cabins. However, the award rates aren't cheap, especially after several devaluations (most recently raising the cost of U.S.-to-Europe fifth-freedom awards).

Emirates Skywards partners with several other airlines, so you can redeem Emirates miles for flights on select partner airlines. Unfortunately, you can no longer book JetBlue-operated flights with Emirates miles.

Etihad Guest

Despite not being a member of any major alliances, Etihad Guest has a close partnership with American Airlines. And currently, you can get great value when you redeem Etihad Guest miles for premium-cabin awards operated by American Airlines.

Based on the current Etihad Guest award chart for American flights, you can book business class from the U.S. to Europe for 50,000 miles or to Australia for 62,500 miles.

However, Etihad Guest plans to simplify award charts across its partners March 10. It's unclear how the simplified zone-based award charts will look — but we suspect the value of Etihad Guest miles will decrease with the simplification.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Several devaluations have marred Singapore KrisFlyer over the last few years. And most recently, the program increased award prices by more than 10% (including awards on KrisFlyer partners).

At one point, you could only book premium-cabin awards on Singapore Airlines using the Singapore KrisFlyer program. However, you can now book premium-cabin awards on Singapore Airlines through Alaska Airlines and Air Canada (although you'll often get better award availability when you redeem KrisFlyer miles).

You can also often find good value when you redeem KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines' Spontaneous Escapes. Most recently, we saw Singapore Airlines business-class awards from New York to Frankfurt for 56,700 miles.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer uses distance-based charts, meaning long-haul flights from the U.S. to Australia are usually prohibitively expensive.

That said, one of the best uses of Qantas points falls entirely outside the Oneworld alliance. In particular, you can get a good value by booking El Al flights to Israel with Qantas points.

Wyndham Rewards

TPG's valuations only peg Wyndham Rewards points at 1.1 cents each. But it's certainly possible to get more value when redeeming Wyndham points. For example, you can redeem Wyndham points for home rentals at a flat 15,000 points per bedroom per night.

You can also get high value when using the three-tier Wyndham Rewards award chart for expensive nights. In particular, there are some great Wyndham properties outside the U.S. that you can book for just 7,500 points per night. One example is the Ramada Encore by Wyndham Busan Station, where you can book various room types for 7,500 points per night.

If you had paid cash for the above night, the rate would have been $179.84 per night. So, you'd get a redemption rate of 2.4 cents per point if you booked an award stay on this night.

Worst Capital One transfer partners

Between expensive award charts, bad transfer ratios, hidden fees and programs that are difficult to navigate, you'll likely want to avoid some of the Capital One transfer partners. You may find a single redemption within these programs that constitutes a good value, but you'll generally want to avoid transferring to these partners.

Aeromexico Club Premier

Aeromexico Club Premier uses dynamic pricing, and the rates are often high. However, the program does have at least one bright spot: an around-the-world award ticket that lets you stop in up to 15 destinations. You have to call to book, but the ticket costs 224,000 Premier points in economy class and 352,000 Premier points in business class.

Choice Privileges

There's a lot of value to be found in the Choice Privileges program. For example, you can book nights for 8,000 points in Tokyo.

You can now transfer rewards between Choice Privileges and Radisson Rewards Americas. And the programs will combine later this year.

But, especially since TPG's valuations peg the value of Choice points at 0.6 cents per point, transferring Capital One miles to Choice Privileges usually won't make sense.

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

Capital One already partners with two of the best Star Alliance programs for booking awards — Avianca LifeMiles and Aeroplan — so there's no reason to bother with EVA. EVA's award chart is more expensive, and the program is significantly harder to navigate.

Finnair Plus

Finnair's sky-high award rates are reason enough to avoid the program. For example, one-way Finnair-operated awards between Europe and Asia, North America, Doha or Dubai cost 45,000 miles in economy, 60,000 miles in premium economy and 80,000 miles in business class.

But you can sometimes get good value when you use Finnair miles to upgrade your flight.

TAP Miles&Go

TAP Miles&Go has award charts. For example, here's the chart for TAP-operated awards from North America:

But in practice, you'll see other (often higher) rates when you do an award search. For example, here's a one-way economy award flight from New York to Lisbon, Portugal:

However, you can often buy TAP miles for under one cent per mile during buy miles sales. So even if you want to book an award flight using TAP miles, transferring Capital One miles to TAP likely won't be your best option.

Bottom line

Capital One has something for everyone, but not every transfer partner is a winner. This being said, some programs offer such an incredible return that they can almost singlehandedly carry the value of Capital One miles.

Just remember that you should always compare the cash price of your ticket before transferring miles. Sometimes, buying a paid ticket (or stay) and then redeeming Capital One miles at a fixed value to cover your recent travel purchase may yield more value.

Additional reporting by Benji Stawski and Katie Genter.

Featured image by NICK ELLIS/THE POINTS GUY

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.