Capital One Miles Are Going Further

Capital One Miles just got better by having most of its key airline transfer partners transferable at a 1:1 ratio. It’s the point system that’s earned through select Capital One credit cards like the Capital One Venture X as a prominent example.

Capital One has historically offered transferable points to select airlines, but at not-so-competitive rates of 2:1.5 ratio on some of its most popular transfer partners.

Capital One Transfer Partners

Capital One has many shared airline partners with other major issuers like American Express, Chase, and Citi. They include:

• Aeromexico Club Premier (Amex Only)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (Amex & Chase Only)
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue (Amex & Chase Only)
  
• Avianca LifeMiles (Amex Only)
• British Airways Executive Club (Amex & Chase Only)
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (Amex Only)
• Choice Privileges (Amex Only)
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Infinity MileageLands (2:1.5) (Citi Only)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (Amex Only)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles (Citi Only)

With unique partners such as:

• ALL Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio)
• TAP Portugal Miles&Go
• Wyndham Rewards

Capital One’s Secret Duo

Capital One has a “secret” duo setup where you can earn a lot of miles for no annual fee! Well, secret meaning that it’s not clearly advertised even by Capital One themselves.

The answer lies within the Capital One Savor One card and the Capital One Venture card.

The Savor One is a cash back card with no annual fee that earns 3x on dining, groceries, streaming services, and entertainment.

Although there’s a $95 annual fee version called the Savor, it’s only worth it if you spend more than $9500 on dining per year (that’s a LOT of eating out) because it adds an extra percent on dining category while having the same on everything else compared to the Savor One.

Some of you may be lucky enough to get the grandfathered version of the Savor, which has the same benefits as the current Savor except for no annual fee!

In order to transfer the cash back to miles, you need to either have the Capital One Venture or the Venture One card. The former has a $95 annual fee, but comes with a higher signup bonus and spending multiplier on everything (2x vs. 1.25x).

There’s also the business lineup called Spark which also earn Capital One Miles. But beware, they report to your personal credit after getting approved, meaning they’re one of the business cards in the market that does count towards Chase 5/24 rule. This rule prevents a user from getting approved for a Chase credit card if they’ve opened five or more credit cards in the past 24 months.

Capital One Application Rules

Capital One has a hard rule where you can only have two personal cards opened. This is not much of an issue as you’d want to get one each from both of the Venture and Savor lineup.

However, Capital One will only approve you for 1 card every 6 months, so application velocity should be kept in mind. At the same time, there’s not much point to rush anyway since Capital One has limited options that earn Capital One Miles.

Capital One Application Strategies

Obviously, a card from the Venture series is needed to have the ability to transfer to airline and hotel partners. I would sign up for the Venture X for the higher sign up bonus, and then downgrade to the Venture One the next year to keep the ability to transfer miles without an annual fee.

For the Savor lineup, I’m leaning hard towards just applying for the Savor One. The issue with the Savor is that the signup bonus is only $300 compared to Savor One’s $200 bonus . The bonus can be translated to 30,000 and 20,000 miles respectively. The Savor also comes with a much higher minimum spending requirement ($3000 in 3 months compared to $500 on the Savor One). Not only that, the Savor also comes with a $95 annual fee, making the higher signup bonus almost null.

Conclusion

Capital One Miles are now more competitive thanks to the new 1:1 ratio when transferring to most of its travel partners. Capital One setup is best served as a “booster setup” where it compliments your main card setups from American Express, Chase, and Citi.

Being able to transfer to travel partners without an annual fee is a strong benefit, with American Express being the only other option with the Blue Business Plus.

It can also encourage one to dip their toes in the points and miles game! As someone who already own the Savor One, I’m looking forward to add one of the Venture cards to my portfolio at some time in the future!