Team Article: How We’d Use 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles

Anna Zaks

Capital One wouldn’t approve my husband or me for any cards, so I’m always jealous of my fellow points and miles enthusiasts who can earn Capital One miles easily. However, if one of us would ever get approved, I know I can put 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles to good use.

Capital One Miles transfer 1:1 to 15 airline and hotel partners. For me, the most useful partners are Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and Avianca LifeMiles. I can transfer other credit card points to Flying Blue and LifeMiles, and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles is a partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards.

Turkish Airlines has fantastic award rates to places I travel to the most: Europe and Israel, and award space on Turkish Airlines own flights is fairly easy to find if I plan ahead. Moreover, unlike a lot of other programs, Miles&Smiles is still a region-based program, so we know exactly how many miles we’ll need for Saver-level awards (or, as Turkish calls them, promotional award tickets).

So if 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles miraculously fell into my lap, I’d transfer 45,000 miles to Miles&Smiles for a one-way award to Europe in business class. I’d have to connect in Istanbul if I were flying on Turkish Airlines, so I wouldn’t want to fly to Western Europe. But if I wanted to visit Central Europe, Greece or the Balkans, connecting in Istanbul won’t add a lot of extra flying time to my trip.

I’ve had Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Montenegro in my sights for a long time, and I recently added Romania to my bucket list.

This redemption would leave me with an extra 30,000 miles, which, when transferred to Turkish, is enough for a one-way economy ticket to Europe or Turkey, so that could be my return ticket or another trip entirely.

Megan Heister

Like Anna, I’m yet to diversify into Capital One Venture Miles, but I have experience with a few of the redemption programs including Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.

I also feel confident navigating Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer having spent numerous hours “Netflix and Searching” on each.

Middle Eastern carriers have some strong redemptions for flights on U.S.-based carriers. My favorite is using Etihad Guest miles to fly an American Airlines Flagship First transcontinental flight from New York (JFK) to and from San Francisco (SFO) or Los Angeles (LAX).

American Airlines flies Boeing A321T aircraft on both routes with three classes of service: first, business and economy. Both first- and business-class cabins can be booked for 25,000 Etihad Guest miles and about $15 in taxes and fees per direction by transferring Capital One Venture Miles to Etihad Guest.

Etihad doesn’t allow you to book partner redemptions on their website, rather you need to call in to book.

I use ExpertFlyer to locate the American Airlines sAAver award space and then call Etihad to book the flights. I recommend waiting for an Etihad representative to confirm the award space before transferring the miles over and prefer making the transfer while the agent is still on the phone.

AA Flagship First on the A321T aircrafts has 10 lie-flat pod seats providing privacy to work, sleep or relax for the cross-country flight. Arguably the biggest perk of flying Flagship First is access to the Flagship Lounge at both JFK and LAX which also includes a sitdown meal service with Flagship First Dining. San Francisco doesn’t have a Flagship Lounge, but passengers have access to the Admirals Club instead.

American Airlines often releases partner award space close to the date of travel, so if you happen to have booked an economy flight that’s easy to cancel, I highly recommend setting up award space alerts on ExpertFlyer and grabbing last-minute Flagship First seats should they open up.

It’s a fantastic way to use 25,000 miles, meaning the 75,000-mile Capital One Venture Miles sign-up bonus will get you three one-way bookings.

Jeffrey Lucas Jr.

The number of ways to redeem Capital One Venture Miles left me in paralysis by analysis with this prompt. Ever since my wife and I both received the Capital One Venture bonuses, those miles have burnt a hole in my pocket.

Would I rent a vacation rental? Transfer points for a long-distance flight? Or simply get reimbursed for travel expenditures as they occur? There’s just too many options.

Because I travel with my family in tow, I’m bringing in my Player 2 to complete my trip. If my wife and I both received 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles, we could take the entire family to Hawaii by transferring the points to the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles program.

It’s possible to book Saver-level availability on United Airlines flights using just 7,500 Miles&Smiles miles each way.

Since I originate in the Midwest, flights to Hawaii normally involve a positioning flight to the West Coast. This sweet spot is region-based and works no matter where your departure airport is, as long as there’s Saver space.

The same round-trip flight would cost 45,000 miles through United. Booking the itinerary for just 15,000 miles makes the hassle of using Miles&Smiles worth it. Any saver availability on United is bookable through Turkish Airlines. Although some tickets show up online, you have to call Turkish to book the flights.

With two bonuses totalling 150,000 Venture Miles, we’d have enough for all seven tickets our family needs to fly together and 45,000 miles left over to book a hotel.

Of course, if I played by the rules and only had 75,000 Venture Miles to utilize, I could just take my three favorite kids and leave my wife with the other two. But something tells me that wouldn’t fly.

John Tunningley

I finally was approved for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card a few months ago, so this article comes at a great time for me as I start to look for ways to utilize my bonus points. To my surprise, one of my all-time favorite redemptions was available to me through the Venture transfer partners.

Now before I get into my favorite redemption, I want to share that I have a soft spot for Spain. I was able to study abroad in Barcelona while getting my degree and absolutely fell in love with the city. To this day, it’s one of my favorite countries, particularly San Sebastian in the Basque Country on the northern coast of Spain.

With Spain being my favorite international destination, it’s a no-brainer to utilize the country as my entrance to Europe, and, luckily for me, Iberia makes that even easier.

My favorite under-the-radar redemption is utilizing Avios to fly from the East Coast (New York in particular) to Madrid. The round-trip cost for this route is only 68,000 Avios plus a couple hundred dollars in taxes and fees in business class.

The one caveat is that you must travel on off-peak dates. The other fantastic redemption is economy class priced at 34,000 Avios for the same round-trip flights.

I love this route so much that I’m actually flying my parents and brother and sister-in-law along with myself and my wife to Spain next year to celebrate my parents’ retirement. Of course, I’m getting my family to reimburse the taxes and fees, but needless to say they were all OK spending a couple hundred dollars to book business-class flights to Europe.

Now I imagine you’re thinking Iberia isn’t listed as one of the transfer partners for the Venture X card, but that’s where airline partnerships come in handy. You can transfer 68,000 miles from the Venture account to the British Airways Executive Club.

From there, you can transfer Avios to Iberia, as long as both your British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus accounts have been open for at least 90 days and have had some qualifying earning activity. The good news is if you open the account and transfer award miles from Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, it counts as qualifying earning activity.

It’s also important to make sure the name on the British Airways Executive Club account matches that on your Iberia Plus account exactly and that you register the same email address for both.

Once both accounts have been established, you can go to your British Airways Executive Club account and click on the “Combine my Avios” tab under “Manage my Account.” You can hit “Combine,” enter the information, and just like that, your British Airways Avios are now Iberia Avios that can book you affordable tickets from one of the East Coast airports to Madrid.

Anya Kartashova

Like most writers on the 10xTravel staff, I don’t hold a Capital One credit card. It’s difficult to get approved, and I’m perpetually under 5/24. However, I’m getting dangerously close to the maximum credit limit with Chase, so I’m going to have to branch out soon enough, especially now that Capital One has improved transfer rates to its partner programs.

I’ve traveled a lot in Southeast Asia, and it’s one of my favorite regions, but I haven’t visited a lot of countries in East Asia, except Japan, and I’d really like to explore that part of the world a bit more. Taiwan and South Korea in particular have been on my list for a while, and I have just the redemption in mind to get there.

The airline to help me visit Taiwan (and possibly South Korea as well) is EVA Air, a Taiwan-based carrier.

I’m going to use Air Canada for this example because it’s a Star Alliance partner of EVA Air. The Aeroplan program requires 50,000 points for a one-way flight in economy class to Taipei, Taiwan, and 75,000 miles for a one-way flight in business class. Looks like I’d have just enough Capital One miles for a business-class redemption from the U.S. to Taiwan.

Air Canada Aeroplan offers its members quite a nice perk—stopovers on one-way itineraries for 5,000 additional points, so I could add an extra segment to Seoul, South Korea, on the same one-way journey.

Because the program takes distance into account when pricing its awards, the new reward flight requires 60,000 points in economy and 85,000 points to go all the way to Seoul in business class. So, by adding another 5,000 points to the rate, I could add a stopover in Taipei and continue to South Korea.

I’m the type of person who likes to visit multiple destinations on one trip, so this itinerary combining two countries is totally up my alley. Because we’re working with 75,000 Capital One miles, I’d book this one-way flight in economy class for 65,000 miles (60,000 miles for the flight to Seoul plus 5,000 miles for a stopover in Taipei).

However, both Taipei and Seoul are quite far, so what if I wanted to fly this route more comfortably? Well, luckily Air Canada partners with other transferable currencies, such as American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, so I would top off my account with 15,000 points from either program to get to the 90,000 points I’d need to book this trip in business class.

Because this example takes me to East Asia without a way home, I’d use another program’s miles for a return flight.

Julie Neafach

I have flexible currency in American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Marriott programs, so when I consider how to use a particular type of currency, I view alternatives within my overall redemption approach.

More specifically, I consider what unique (or nearly unique) transfer partners are available and which loyalty programs are options for combining points from two or more flexible currency programs. For loyalty programs with multiple transfer partners, I also compare transfer ratios, including temporary transfer bonuses, to decide which points to transfer.

TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go only partners with Capital One and Marriott. While Miles&Go awards generally aren’t the lowest-priced awards, I find some flight options for TAP Air Portugal’s own flights and its partners interesting.

One is a Star Alliance redemption from the United States to anywhere in South America for 50,000 miles per direction in business class on United Airlines- or Avianca-operated flights. This award is especially valuable for southern South America, which is a separate (more expensive) zone in many other programs.

Since I’m planning to visit Portugal next spring, I’m also interested in economy award flights within mainland Portugal and to nearby areas. These awards start at 3,250 miles each way.

Among hotel programs, Wyndham Rewards is a 1:1 Capital One transfer partner and is most interesting to me.

Wyndham’s award chart has fixed award prices and only three tiers. When hotel prices are expensive, fixed award pricing may provide better value compared to programs with variable award prices that are closely tied to paid rates.

The middle tier, with free nights priced at 15,000 points, also includes Vacasa vacation rental properties which could be full homes with one bedroom. Seventy-five thousand Venture Miles would cover five nights’ accommodations.

I’m strongly considering transferring Venture Miles to partners to use for one of the great redemptions my colleagues discussed, in particular:

• 34,000 miles for one-way Iberia business class from Madrid (MAD) to Washington-Dulles (IAD)
• 45,000 miles for one-way Turkish Airlines business class between Europe and the United States
• Aeroplan points for international travel with multiple stops

Regarding Aeroplan, I haven’t planned anything yet but am thinking about combining countries and regions. The combination of generous routing rules and the ability to have long connections (under 24 hours) and add one stopover longer than 24 hours for 5,000 points makes Aeroplan a great option for visiting a few destinations in one trip.