One thing that the big three banks (Chase, Amex and Citi) had over Capital One (iMO) was that you had the ability to transfer their rewards points to airline loyalty programs. Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards all were able to be transferred to various airline frequent flyer programs.
Now, Capital One wants to play too……
If you have a Capital One Venture Rewards Card or VentureOne Rewards Card or a Capital One Spark Miles Business Card or Capital One Spark Miles Select Business Card you know that you can use the Purchase Eraser feature to redeem your miles and receive an account credit for the cost of your travel purchase that you paid for with your card. Specifically, you simply multiply the cost of your travel purchase by 100. For example, if your travel purchase costs $200, you would multiply that by 100 to determine you need 20,000 miles to redeem.
However, starting in December, you will have another option as to how to redeem your Capital One Miles that you earn with your card, you can transfer them to one of 12 airline loyalty programs at a rate of 2 Cap One Miles to 1.5 airline miles. (2:1.5). And since the higher level cards (Venture Rewards, Spark Miles Business) earn 2 miles per dollar, these cards have essentially become a 1.5 miles per dollar card.
Aeromexico
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France/KLM
Alitalia
Avianca
Cathay Pacific
Etihad
EVA
Finnair
Hainan
Qantas
Qatar.
Since the card earns 2 miles per dollar (good for 2 cents towards travel), it essentially has become a 2 cents per dollar OR 1.5 miles per dollar card
It may be time for me to seriously consider a Capital One card, if only they would approve me (they haven’t so far).