The Best Ways to Redeem Capital One Miles

For travelers with the *venture x* or the *capital one venture card*, Capital One miles have become an indispensable program for anyone who wants to do more for less.

Whether you're just getting started using miles and want a simple option to cover the costs of flights or hotels, or you consider yourself an advanced traveler who's ready to put the nearly 20 Capital One transfer partners to use to maximize your miles, there's a path for you. Simply put, no other credit card rewards program gives you more flexibility to redeem miles toward travel than Capital One.

Here are some of our favorite ways to redeem Capital One miles for travel.

Get alerts for flight deals bookable with Capital One miles straight to your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

Cover Travel Purchases

Let's start with the easiest route. This is what Capital One is really known for.

No airline or credit card company makes it easier to redeem points and miles toward travel than Capital One. Just charge your flight, hotel, Airbnb, or almost any other travel expense to your Capital One card. A few days later, you can go in and remove that charge from your statement using miles.

Read our step-by-step guide to covering travel purchases to see how it's done!

Using this method, every Capital One mile is worth 1 cent. That means you can book a $500 and cover the purchase with 50,000 miles. That may not be earth-shattering value, but it's easy as can be – and it goes far when you find a cheap flight.

Here's a real-world example. Let's say you're a Thrifty Traveler Premium member and received this alert for $367 flights from Boston (BOS) to Barcelona (BCN) next year.

Just pay for that flight with your Capital One card, directly through the airline's website, go to your account a few days later, and cover the charge with 36,700 miles. That's all it takes: It really is that easy.

This is tailor-made for travelers who want a quick-and-easy way to use their miles – plus, there are a few other advantages to covering travel charges with miles beyond convenience.

For starters, it's one of the few ways to make a flight completely free, as your miles will cover the taxes and fees that traditional airline miles will not. And you'll still earn miles with the airline you're flying.

But the real beauty is that it can go, far, far beyond booking flights. Think of any travel expense, and you can cover it using your miles – including expenses that other credit card points can't cover. For example…

• You could cover a $500 Airbnb or VRBO reservation for 50,000 miles
• Charge a $40 train ticket to your Capital One Card, then cover it using 4,000 miles
• Book a tour or excursion through Viator or Airbnb Experiences, then use miles to cover the cost
• Ubers, Lyft rides, a golf trip, boat rides … you name it, you can cover it with miles

The list goes on and on. Needless to say, there's a ton of flexibility and ease when using miles to cover travel purchases. Where other bank points fall short, Capital One miles deliver.

Level Up Using Transfer Partners

There's definitely beauty in the simplicity of using Capital One miles to cover a travel purchase, but if you want to get even more value from your miles, you'll want to turn to Capital One's stable of transfer partners. 

After adding the ability to transfer miles straight to airline and hotel programs back in late 2018, Capital One has steadily added more and more partners, making it a bonafide option with some killer value. With few exceptions, every 1,000 miles you transfer gets you 1,000 airline miles or hotel points.

Here's the full list.

Read our guide to Capital One transfer partners and learn how you can transfer your miles!

It can get even better, as Capital One occasionally offers transfer bonuses, giving you a 15% to 40% bonus when sending your miles to select partners on this list. That's a great way to maximize your miles.

Thrifty Tip: Unlike many other banks, Capital One allows you to fine-tune your transfers in increments of 100 (so long as you transfer at least 1,000 miles).

With that many options, the world is your oyster. But here are a few of our favorite ways to redeem your Capital One miles for big value.

Read more: Save Points When Booking Flights: Transfer Them to an Airline Partner

Business Class to Europe for 50K Each Way

For just 50,000 miles each way, Air France and KLM's incredible Flying Blue program offers one of the most economical ways to fly business class to Europe.

No matter if you're flying from the East Coast, the Midwest, or as far away as the West Coast, business class redemptions flying Air France and KLM price out at just 50,000 miles each way. With a 1:1 transfer ratio, 50,000 Capital One miles is all you need. Many airlines charge close to double that or more!

Just keep in mind that Flying Blue's dynamic award pricing means award rates are still all over the map, so you won't see these lowest rates every single day – especially in business class, where you're more likely to see rates closer to 200,000 miles or more.

Read our guide to booking award tickets with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles! 

But that's where Thrifty Traveler Premium comes in. We do all the legwork for our members: Finding availability, providing in-depth booking instructions, and guiding you to the best credit card points to use to book what's typically a $4,000-plus fare – like this recent deal to fly business class to Paris (CDG) during the peak summer travel months for just 50,000 miles each way.

Only Thrifty Traveler Premium members get award alerts like these to use their points and miles!

Fly to Hawaii From 44K RT

While booking nonstop Delta flights to Hawaii through Virgin isn't as great of a deal as it once was, there are still some savings to be had – especially if cash fares are high. And since Virgin Red – the overarching loyalty program for all things Virgin – is a 1:1 transfer partner, you can take advantage of this workaround to book Delta flights with your Capital One miles. 

Virgin uses a distance-based award chart to price out its Delta flights, so the cost all depends on where you're flying from. 

• Seattle (SEA) to all four Hawaiian Islands for 22,000 miles each way in economy
• Los Angeles (LAX) to all four Hawaiian islands for 22,000 miles each way, too
• Salt Lake City (SLC) to Maui (OGG) for 22,000 miles each way
• Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Honolulu (HNL) for 35,000 miles each way
• Detroit (DTW) to Honolulu (HNL) for 44,000 miles each way
• New York City (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) for 44,000 miles each way

But Capital One occasionally offers transfer bonuses of 30% or more to Virgin Atlantic, which could bring down the cost of longer flights, like the one above, to just 54,000 points roundtrip. That's tough to beat considering Delta itself often charges 100,000 SkyMiles or more for these exact same flights.

Just beware that finding the Delta flights you want can be a bit of a challenge, so be sure to read our guide on how to book these Delta flights for huge savings. And never transfer miles before you've confirmed the flights you want are available.

Read next: Points Stuck in Limbo? Here's Why (& What You Can Do About It)

…Or Fly Lie-Flat to Hawaii for 40K Points Each Way

There's a best way to fly to Hawaii, and it's in a lie-flat suite. Hawaiian Airlines has begun flying some excellent fully-enclosed first class seats from the West Coast to the Hawaiian Islands and back – and made them bookable through partner airline Virgin Atlantic for just 40,000 points each way. 

But there's a catch: Unlike some of the other examples above, you have to pick up the phone and actually call Virgin to book these Hawaiian Airlines flights. 

Start by searching through Hawaiian Airlines if it's available through Hawaiian for 40,000 in first class, you can book it through Virgin for the same rate.

Call up Virgin at 1-800-365-9500 (or 1-800-862-8621 or even an international call center), feed them the dates you found and how many seats you need. Once you've confirmed the flights are available with Virgin, you can transfer your Capital One miles to Virgin to book. Just ask an agent to stay on the line until your points hit your account.  

Biz Class All Over the World From 70K 

If you're looking to use your  miles to fly business class anywhere in the world, Air Canada Aeroplan should be your first stop.

Air Canada Aeroplan is one of the best programs for using points and miles to book flights on Star Alliance airlines (i.e. United, Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Singapore, and more) and also other top airlines like Emirates and Etihad. And, you don't have to fly from Canada or even fly Air Canada to make the program work for you. For U.S. travelers, it's one of the best-kept secrets in award travel. 

Read up on all the best ways to book business class using Aeroplan miles!

Short Domestic Flights For Less 

Are U.S. flight prices higher than you'd like? See if you can book that same flight for fewer miles through one of Capital One's transfer partners first.  

Thanks to Virgin Atlantic's distance-based award chart, Delta flights under 500 miles in distance are only 7,500 points one-way. Going a little further? It’s only 11,000 points one-way for flights between 501 – 1,000 miles. 

That means by transferring your Capital One miles to Virgin, you can book short hops like this one from Minneapolis (MSP) to Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) for as few as 15,000 miles roundtrip! 

This can be a great deal, especially for Delta hub captives, because you’ll always be booking a Delta main cabin ticket when using Virgin points. That means you’ll be able to make changes and choose a seat for free.

For United Airlines flights, turn to its Star Alliance partner, Air Canada. Short-haul United flights under 500 miles cost just 6,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points each way. 

Being able to book a roundtrip flight for just 12,000 miles, plus a nominal amount of taxes and fees, is a pretty stellar deal. 

Bottom Line

Whether you're looking to keep things simple by covering nearly any travel purchase or get maximum value through transfer partners, there are some incredible ways to redeem Capital One miles.

That versatility and value is the key to making Capital One miles work for every type of traveler.