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Overview
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is one of the best premium rewards cards on the market. With an outstanding 2x miles per dollar flare-rate earning scheme and premium perks like lounge access and travel credits, it’s an epic product.
But there’s a good chance the first thing you’ll notice is the hefty 75,000-mile introductory offer. To earn those miles you’ll need to spend $4,000 within three months of opening the card (adding an extra 8,000 miles to the tally).
From there, you’re free to redeem them in any way you wish. While you could redeem them on Capital One’s own travel portal, you can achieve far more value by transferring to one of Capital One’s brilliant airline and hotel transfer partners.
Here are the best ways to huge those miles for maximum value.
The Bottom Line:
75,000 Capital One miles can take you a long way. With a little effort, they could put you on a few of the finest business class seats on the planet, grab more than ten economy flights, or almost two weeks in a hotel. The scope is endless if you’re willing to take the time and be flexible with your travel plans.
1. Fly Business Class to Europe Using Avianca
There’s no better way to maximize your miles than with a business-class redemption. One of the keys to this value comes from an unexpected place—Avianca, the South American airline. The airline allows travelers to book flights on many of its Star Alliance partners including United, Lufthansa, and Swiss Air.
Avianca also doesn’t pass on the taxes or fees from these airlines, allowing you to keep the cash investment low too.
Business class redemptions from the US to Europe typically hover around 63,000 miles with just $41 in taxes and fees. The cash rates of these flights typically soar beyond $3,000 and even as high as $6,000 at peak times. That’s a pretty epic redemption by any metric.
2. Fly in Qatar’s Iconic Qsuite with British Airways
Qatar Airway’s iconic Qsuite is generally regarded as one of the best, if not the best, business-class seat in the world. The service, the food, the cabin layouts, and even the pre-boarding system are all outstanding. With a reputation like that, it’s no surprise it often commands a price point as high as $10,000 for a one-way flight from the US to Doha.
But believe it or not, it’s possible to grab one of those coveted seats for just 70,000 miles and around $100 in fees using British Airways Executive Club.
British Airways and Qatar share the Avios system and are closely linked within their booking systems. While award availability can be tricky to pin down, some patience, flexibility, and forethought can allow you to book a flight from LA, Chicago, DC, or New York for just 70,000 Avios. It’s a truly spectacular deal that would grab you almost 14 cents per mile if we use the $10,000 valuation. Even on a cheaper day, you’re still pulling 7 or 8 cents a mile.
3. Go Big or Budget with Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club scared everyone last year when it announced an overhaul of its pricing system. While the program did become more dynamic, it also introduced some of the best rates on the planet while dropping some of its controversial fees.
Saver rates are key here as other dates can be unpredictable. Some saver flights from the US to Europe in economy are now set at just 6,000 points while business class flights on the same routes can be just 29,000 points. The taxes and fees are still higher than most, but the rock-bottom points rates mean the deals are often stellar.
With this in mind, you could grab 12 transatlantic economy flights with that Capital One Venture X 75,000 mile bonus.
4. Enjoy free stays with hotel partners
Capital One’s transfer partners are not limited to airlines. While flights will, generally speaking, get more value there are still some excellent redemptions to be had on stays. Wyndham is one of the best partners on the list and could see you grab 10 free nights in one of its properties.
Wyndham has a straightforward redemption system, assigning each hotel a 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 point rate. There are no peak or off-peak rates, so you don’t have to worry about timing it to match quieter times.
Opting for one of the cheaper hotels can grab you ten nights in a hotel. That’s nothing to shake your head at. Think, an extended break in the Big Apple over Christmas. That would set you back thousands even in a cheap hotel. Or maybe a few nights near Disney to leave you extra spending money in the park (hello, fast passes). Of course, the 7,500-point hotels aren’t going to be unbelievable, but it goes a long way in making more expensive destinations affordable.
5. Squeeze a round-trip business class flight with Iberia
Confused? Don’t be. Iberia isn’t one of Capital One’s transfer partners. But British Airways is and allows travelers to move points freely between other Avios-based airlines. That means Qatar, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and now Finnair are all (technically) Capital One partners by default.
Each has its own sweet spots to take advantage of, but few are as strong as Iberia’s business-class redemptions from the East Coast.
While it’s limited geographically, the deal is so good that it’s still good value to find a positioning flight from elsewhere in the States to New York, DC, Boston, Atlanta, or Chicago. If you can find availability, it’s possible to grab business class flights from any of those cities to Spain for just 34,000 Avios. That means you could fund a roundtrip with a few thousand miles left over from your 75,000 miles bonus. Sangria anyone?
6. Use Air Canada’s Award Charts Around the World
Air Canada’s Aeroplan remains one of the best value systems out there. That’s owing mainly to its generous distance-based award chart. As long as you do your research, it’s possible to find some amazing business-class redemptions on some of the best airlines in the world, like Singapore, Lufthansa, and United.
The key is to keep within the upper limits of its distance charts. A partner flight from the US to Europe is capped at 60,000 points as long it stays under 4,000 miles in distance. That pretty much gives you the entirety of Western Europe in business class at that rate. If you sneak beyond that and up to 6,000 miles (the Middle East from the States) it’ll still only cost you 70,000.
I achieved a massive flight from Turkey to Bangkok in business class using this sweet spot. Find out more about the award chart here.
7. Use it on Capital One’s Travel Portal
Look, it’s not the best option, but not everyone is willing to sift through pages of flight results looking for a high-value flight. Sometimes simplicity is key and redeeming Capital One Miles this way does that. You’ll be stuck with a rate of 1 cent per mile, effectively giving you $750 of stress-free travel bookings to play with.
Again, I would strongly recommend taking the time to learn the system even a little. Reading the previous listings should show you the huge value that can be achieved by transferring to one of Capital One’s amazing travel partners.
by your friends at The Daily Navigator
