How much are Capital One miles worth?

When it comes to flexibility, the Capital One Travel rewards program offers no limits on what you can earn and has no blackout dates for booking. And there are other perks too, like the value of the miles you can earn. Capital One miles, also known as Venture miles, generally have a high value because the miles you earn never expire and have numerous redemption options, including for travel, cash back and gift cards.

Another benefit of Capital One Travel is that you aren’t required to earn a minimum number of miles prior to redeeming them, and you can use any amount of rewards at any time. That means that you don’t have to worry about having enough miles to cash in the rewards you earn; you have the option to do so at any time. Plus, cardholders of the issuer’s premium cards, such as the Capital One Spark Miles for Business, may transfer their miles to one of Capital One’s transfer partners, which gives them the opportunity to stretch the value of their rewards.

It’s also relatively easy to rack up rewards miles with your Capital One card as well, and cardholders can earn generous introductory bonuses on all Capital One rewards cards, as well as straightforward rewards rates. With perks like these, it’s no wonder the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of our top-rated travel cards.

Capital One miles value

So how much are Capital One miles worth? Well, the value of Capital One miles varies depending on how you redeem them, but the base value is 1 cent per mile. If you choose to redeem your miles for cash back instead of travel, you will lose half of that value.

Value of standard redemption options

Transferring miles to a partner loyalty program is where things get tricky. When you transfer your miles, you can get a transfer rate of 2 Capital One miles to 1 airline mile, 2:1.5 or 1:1, depending on the partner. And because the value of each airline mile or hotel point varies, you can occasionally increase the value of your Capital One miles because the value of the rewards currency (of the partner program) you transfer them to is greater than 1 cent per mile (or point). So, even with a less appealing transfer ratio, you could gain more by transferring your miles.

Value of transferring miles

** The rewards values are provided by Bankrate and The Points Guy.

How to calculate the value of Capital One miles

Since Capital One miles are worth 1 cent per mile for all travel redemption options, calculating the value of your miles is simple. Just divide the number of miles you’ve accrued by 100 to get a dollar value. For example, the Venture card’s 75,000-mile introductory offer (if you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months) is worth about $750 in travel.

Things get a little more complicated when transferring your miles to a partner airline. You’ll have to do some digging to find the point value for each airline loyalty program.

How flexible are Capital One miles?

Capital One Travel offers great flexibility and several redemption options. There are only a few limitations when it comes to earning miles, and rewards don’t expire for the life of the account. However, Capital One fails to match the value offered by several rewards programs — especially when it comes to cash back options and travel partners.

Pros

• Capital One miles don’t expire. You can also transfer your points to another eligible Capital One rewards account if you are planning to close a card.
• There’s no limit to how many Capital One miles you can earn, making it easy to save up for large purchases.
• Capital One offers flexible travel purchase redemptions. Miles can be even used to cover any portion of a travel charge made with a third-party booking site (redeemed as a statement credit).
• You can transfer Capital One miles to more than 15 travel partners at a rate of 1:1, 2:1.5 or 2:1. Despite the apparent drop in value for some partners, a few transfer options get you more for your mile.
• You can redeem any number of Capital One miles at any time. You can apply as little as 1 mile to an eligible purchase and cover the rest with cash.

Cons

• There is no major U.S. airline on Capital One’s list of travel partners. While Chase partners with United and Southwest Airlines and American Express partners with Delta, the transfer options with Capital One are more limited.
• You lose value when you redeem for cash back. Statement credits and checks only get 0.5 cents per mile.
• You don’t get extra value for redeeming through the Capital One Travel portal. While cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve card get 25 percent to 50 percent more value respectively when redeemed through Chase Travel, Capital One miles don’t get any boost.
• Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One doesn’t offer any category cards that you can juggle with your flat-rate cards to maximize your miles earnings on certain purchases.

Are Capital One miles worth it?

Since its revamp of its online portal and rewards cards, Capital One Travel has steadily climbed the racks of issuer rewards programs. These days, while offering top travel cards such as the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Card, Capital One Travel nearly competes with Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards as one of the top rewards programs available to cardholders.

Though the issuer’s transfer partners lacks a major U.S. airline and doesn’t provide a point boost when redeeming travel through its online portal, Capital One Travel makes for up these in incredible flexibility and variety of redemption options. Maybe the best of the redemption choices is the ability to retroactively use your Capital One miles for outside travel purchases, up to 90 days after the purchase date. Overall, earning Capital One miles is a great option, especially if you seek to join the travel rewards space.