Positive Changes to Capital One — Transfer Miles to 12 Partner Airlines!

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Capital One just announced an amazing enhancement to their program, specifically for their Venture and Spark cards. Right now with those cards you earn miles that are worth a fixed amount when you redeem them on travel — every mile is worth 1 cent per travel. This is a great option for those who do not want to worry about award redemption availability or have other travel expenses that are outside your normal point and miles option.

But that is about to change! Similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You points, you’ll also be able to transfer your Capital One miles earned to 12 different partner loyalty programs. This is a great addition to the program as you might be able to get more than a 2 cent per point redemption! All Capital One miles earned will transfer at a 2:1.5 ratio.

As you probably noticed, these are all international airlines, but still extremely valuable programs, and many have partner airlines to allow you to fly throughout the US. I personally am glad to see Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, and Air France/KLM FlyingBlue. For example, you can redeem just 25,000 Avianca miles to fly business class across the country on United (one-way). Also, many of these 12 airlines have other partner airlines, so you there is a much broader reach then what you see!

I do hope that eventually they are able to secure some deals with domestic airlines as they continue to enhance their program.

New Value of Your Miles

Your miles can still be redeemed at the current rate where 1 mile is worth 1 cent towards travel. That is not going away. And for some, that might still continue to be the better way to use your miles. But with a 2:1.5 ratio, you might find better value in transferring your Capital One miles over. Especially for those comfortable with the international airline programs. Or, if you are looking to fly business or first class, I can promise you that transferring your miles will be a much better value then redeeming through the current program.

For example, if were able to earn a total of 300,000 miles from spending on your Capital One Spark Miles for Business Card (Learn More), when transferring them to one of the partners above, that will net you 225,000 miles in that particular program. If you were to transfer them to the Avianca LifeMiles program, this could get you 4.5 roundtrip transcontinental tickets in business class. Typically those tickets run around $1,100 roundtrip, giving you a $5,000 value! If you were to redeem those 300,000 points through their current redemption that would be worth a fixed $3,000 — quite a big difference in value!

So if you are sitting on a stash of Capital One miles you might have hit the jackpot! Just keep in mind that these changes will not officially take place until December so sit tight!

Overall…

This is a great change to the program as your miles are now more valuable. I love how they are keeping the current program in place without any devaluation and then also adding an additional opportunity to use your miles with a favorable ratio. This will now give you more options for using your miles which is awesome for Capital One cardmembers!

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