Just last year, Capital One made a big change to their program — they added the ability to transfer miles to 12 different airline partners. This is huge as it makes your miles potentially more valuable, although the transfer ratios aren’t necessarily the most favorable. During the time of the announcement, only international partners were listed. While this is great for some, it is definitely limiting for those who typically fly domestically and prefer miles that are easier to redeem.
Fortunately, Capital One just added JetBlue as partner. You can now transfer miles earned from the Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card (Learn more) or Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card (Learn more) at a transfer rate of 2:1. To celebrate the new partnership, they are also offering a 50% bonus for all points transferred through May 31, 2019. That means the ratio is 1.5:2 for all miles transferred this month only. While this is a nice addition, you’ll still probably get a better value by transferring points to other programs. And most likely the best value will be for those looking to fly business or first class.
But is this partnership really a good value…
Let’s take this example from Providence to Orlando. It requires 7,600 JetBlue TrueBlue points. With the normal Capital One to JetBlue transfer ratio that would require 15,200 Capital One miles. However, with the current 50% bonus you’ll only need to transfer 10,134 Capital One miles.
Remember though, you can always redeem your Capital One miles towards travel purchases on your Capital One credit card. When redeeming your miles with this method, your miles are worth 1 cent per point. Not only that, since you are purchasing a revenue fare and then redeeming your miles for a statement credit, you are earning TrueBlue miles on your flight.
For this exact same flight from Providence to Orlando, it’ll cost you $112. This means when you redeem your Capital One miles as a statement credit you are looking at spending 11,200 Capital One miles.
If you are comparing the numbers you’ll see that transferring your Capital One miles to JetBlue is actually never a good deal at the normal 2:1 ratio. With this particular example you’d be spending 15,200 Capital One points instead of just 11,200 Capital One points. However, with the current 50% transfer ratio, it does make sense to transfer your miles first to JetBlue and then redeeming your TrueBlue miles for a free flight. With the 50% bonus you are spending just 10,134 miles. This is definitely not a huge difference, but it is something. Although remember, you have to transfer your miles in 1,000 point increments.
Overall…
While I am excited that Capital One added a new partner, I am disappointed in the transfer ratio. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see them offer this 50% promotion quite often. That is definitely the only way anyone would ever take advantage of this partnership. Without this promotion, the partnership is pretty much useless.
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