Have the Capital One Venture Rewards Card but new to points and miles? Here’s what you need to know
Editor's Note
Quick summary
If you love to travel and want to learn how points and miles could help you pay for your next trip, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a great option to start your rewards journey.
When you spend on your Venture Rewards card, you'll earn Capital One miles. This is a valuable currency that you can use to book travel through the Capital One Travel portal at a value of 1 cent per mile.
And, once you're ready to leverage Capital One's multiple transfer partners, you could unlock high-value redemptions.
In this guide, I'll explain how to use your Capital One Venture card to maximize your spending and start traveling in luxury.
Capital One Venture welcome offer
With most cards, the bulk of the value you'll earn is in its welcome offer, and the Capital One Venture Rewards is no exception.
You'll earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on the card within the first three months of account opening.
You can use these bonus miles in multiple ways, including a simple redemption through the Capital One Travel portal at a value of 1 cent per mile. However, you'll find the most value if you leverage Capital One's transfer partners.
TPG's March 2025 valuations deem Capital One miles worth 1.85 cents apiece, which means these 75,000 miles could be worth up to $1,388 when used to book with loyalty partners.
On top of the welcome offer, you'll earn an unlimited 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, and an unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases.
The Capital One Venture Rewards comes with a moderate $95 annual fee.
Related: Current welcome offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards
How to use Capital One miles
The best way to get the most value out of the miles earned with your Capital One Venture Rewards card is to transfer them to one of Capital One's 15-plus transfer partners.
You can do this by signing up for hotel and airline loyalty programs (it's free) and searching for award availability with these partners. Be sure there's award space to book before you transfer your miles to a partner.
And yes, Capital One does allow you to use miles to cover travel purchases on your credit card statement. However, this may not be the best use of your hard-earned miles since the value is fixed.
Redeeming miles as a statement credit or to cover purchases made through Capital One Travel will only net you a maximum value of 1 cent per mile.
That falls short of TPG's March 2025 valuation of Capital One miles at 1.85 cents per point when using transfer partners. So, learning how to leverage loyalty program partners will pay out in the long run.
Related: How to redeem Capital One's 75,000-mile welcome offer for maximum value
Capital One's transfer ratios
Now that you know the basics of transfer partners, here are some more details on the loyalty programs that partner with Capital One.
Each program transfers miles into its own currency at a unique ratio. Here are the ones to know:
- Aeromexico Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1 transfer ratio
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue: 1:1 transfer ratio
- ALL 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 (only U.S.-based accounts): 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
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 5:3 transfer ratio
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1 transfer ratio
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: 1:1 transfer ratio
- TAP Air Portugal 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
For the most part, miles transfer at a 1:1 ratio. The exceptions are EVA Airways Air Infinity MileageLands, JetBlue TrueBlue and ALL Accor Live Limitless.
Related: Ultimate guide to Capital One airline and hotel transfer partners
Redemption options
Some airline transfer partners can be better than others, and this is based on their respective award charts.
For example, you can use Air Canada Aeroplan to book a flight from San Francisco to London in business class for 70,000 miles.
Where things get interesting and what makes Aeroplan a lucrative transfer partner is their stopover program for award tickets.
Let's say you want to fly from San Francisco to London and Istanbul. You can book a stopover ticket by flying from San Francisco to London in United Polaris, staying four nights and then continuing onward to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, all for 95,000 miles in business class.
If you prefer a first-class seat, you can transfer your miles to Etihad Guest to book an American Airlines flight.
You can fly in first from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) or Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) for only 62,500 Etihad Guest miles each way. However, award availability can be difficult to nail down.
It's always important to remember that many airlines use dynamic award pricing for their award tickets, so it may take time and patience to secure a great deal. Specific award ticket prices can be hard to secure and may change at any time.
Related: Cashing in Capital One miles? How to get the maximum value when redeeming miles
Bottom line
These are just a few of the easy award redemptions you can make with Capital One miles. Building up your bank of Capital One miles gives you more redemption options, including transferring miles for premium cabin airfare or higher-category hotel rooms.
It's good practice to stay up to date with airline award and hotel award charts to better understand how you can maximize your miles and enjoy your travels.
To learn more, read our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards.
Learn more: Capital One Venture Rewards
Related: Why I keep the Capital One Venture Rewards card in my wallet