Nerdy takeaways
- Capital One miles are worth exactly 1 cent apiece when redeemed for a statement credit towards travel purchases.
- Capital One miles are worth around 1.3 cents each when transferred to Avianca LifeMiles.
- Wait for a credit card transfer bonus to get even better value for your transfer.
Capital One miles are worth up to 1.3 cents each, but that value depends on how you redeem them.
You'll get 1 cent per mile as a "baseline" value when they're redeemed through the Capital One Travel portal or for a statement credit against travel purchases.
But you can often do better by sending miles to Capital One’s transfer partners.
Based on our analysis, Capital One miles are worth around 1.3 cents each when you transfer points to Avianca LifeMiles — Capital One's most valuable transfer partner. And you can get even better value for your transfer if you wait for a credit card transfer bonus.
» Learn more: The best travel credit cards might surprise you
The value when booking through Capital One's travel portal
Your Capital One miles are worth exactly 1 cent apiece when you use them in Capital One's travel portal.
But that's the same value you get when you redeem miles for a statement credit against travel purchases.
For that reason, you'd do better to use your card to pay for travel directly with the airline or hotel, then redeem points against the purchase. That way you earn miles from your card on the purchase and gain the benefits of booking directly, which often include more favorable pricing and cancellation policies, plus the ability to earn additional airline or hotel rewards and elite points.
Another downside to using the travel portal is a lower value for your points. Getting 1 cent per mile isn’t terrible, but you can often do better with transfer partners.
» Learn more: Credit cards that earn Capital One miles
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» Learn more: How the Capital One Miles program works
What’s the value when transferring to Capital One partners?
Based on the transfer partners we analyzed, Avianca LifeMiles is Capital One's most valuable partner with points worth around 1.3 cents each.
To arrive at that median value, we compared cash and points prices for a main cabin economy seat across 40 domestic and international flights booked between 15 and 180 days before departure.
Full list of Capital One transfer partners
Airlines
- Aeromexico (1:1 ratio).
- Air Canada (1:1 ratio).
- Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).
- Avianca (1:1 ratio).
- British Airways (1:1 ratio).
- Cathay Pacific (1:1 ratio).
- Emirates (2:1.5 ratio).
- Etihad (1:1 ratio).
- EVA (2:1.5 ratio).
- Finnair (1:1 ratio).
- Japan Airlines (2:1.5 ratio).
- JetBlue (5:3 ratio).
- Qantas (1:1 ratio).
- Qatar Airways (1:1 ratio).
- Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).
- TAP Air Portugal (1:1 ratio).
- Turkish Airlines (1:1 ratio).
- Virgin Red (1:1 ratio).
Hotels
- Accor (2:1 ratio).
- Choice Privileges Hotels (1:1 ratio).
- I Prefer Hotel Rewards (1:2 ratio).
- Wyndham Rewards (1:1 ratio).
Avianca offers good value on Star Alliance partners like United Airlines and Air Canada, and you won't pay carrier-imposed surcharges when you book partner awards.
Even better, you can use a limited-time credit card transfer bonus to get increased value from a points transfer.
Here's how the value of other Capital One transfer partners stack up. There are more Capital One transfer partnerships than what's shown above. These are the partners for which we have an estimated value.
Transfer partner | NerdWallet value |
|---|---|
Air Canada Aeroplan | 1.1 cents |
Air France/KLM Flying Blue | 1.0 cent |
Avianca LifeMiles | 1.3 cents |
British Airways Avios | 1.2 cents |
Emirates Skywards | 1.0 cent* |
JetBlue TrueBlue | 1.4 cents* |
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 0.8 cent |
Wyndham Rewards | 0.7 cent |
*Capital One miles transfer to JetBlue at a 5:3 ratio and to Emirates at a 2:1.5 ratio. | |
Although JetBlue TrueBlue points are individually worth more than Avianca LifeMiles, Capital One miles transfer to JetBlue at a less favorable 5:3 ratio. That means 10,000 Capital One miles become just 6,000 TrueBlue points, compared with 10,000 LifeMiles through Avianca’s 1:1 transfer ratio.
How much are Capital One miles worth?
Use our calculator below to convert any given number of Capital One miles to dollars, based on both the baseline and NerdWallet estimated values.
Credit cards that earn Capital One miles
The simplest way to amass a large number of Capital One miles is to earn a sign-up bonus and ongoing rewards from a credit card.
Here are our favorites:
Top Capital One travel cards
Annual fee
$95.
$0.
$395.
$95.
Rewards rates
• 2 miles per dollar on purchases.
• 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
• 1.25 miles per dollar on purchases.
• 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
• 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases.
• 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
• 10 miles per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
• 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases.
Bonus offer
LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Enjoy $300 to use on hotel and vacation rental bookings through Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening – that’s more than $1,000 in travel value.
Earn a bonus of 40,000 miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $400 in travel.
Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
Earn a one-time welcome bonus of 100,000 miles once you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
Limited-Time 150K Points + $250 Credit Offer
"No-Brainer for Travelers." NerdWallet values this hotel favorite bonus at $1,300. Rare offer ends 9/30/26. Terms apply.
How did we determine the value of Capital One miles?
NerdWallet estimates the value of Capital One miles at 1.3 cents based on the transfer partner with the highest value rewards: Avianca LifeMiles.
To arrive at this median value, we looked at cash and award prices across 40 flights booked at 15 days, 60 days, 90 days and 180 days until departure.
» Learn more: The best Capital One credit card offers for travel
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2026:
- Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph® Card
- Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Luxury perks: American Express Platinum Card®
- Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
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