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Capital One has increased the welcome offer on its popular Venture Card to up to 100,000 miles. It might sound like a lot, and it is, but it’s not going to work for everyone. Let’s take a look at why you should and shouldn’t try to get your hands on this increased bonus.
Capital One Venture Card New Welcome Offer of Up to 100,000 Miles
First of all, the new, limited-time bonus offer on the Capital One Venture Card is tiered. You will earn 50,000 miles once you sign up for the card and spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months. You will then earn an additional 50,000 miles if you spend $20,000 total on the card in the first 12 months of being a cardholder.
If you’ve seen Capital One’s numerous commercials featuring Jennifer Garner, you probably know that the Venture Card earns 2X miles per dollar spent on all purchases no matter the category.
Every mile is worth 1 cent when used to erase travel purchases. The miles also can be transferred to more than a dozen loyalty programs, such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Etihad Guest, to name a few.
Ways to Redeem Capital One Venture Miles
Erase Travel Purchases
One of the ways of using Capital One Venture Miles is to erase a travel purchase, such as airfare, a hotel booking or a train ride in Europe. You simply apply points to wipe out a travel charge made on the card in the last 90 days.
Additionally, the miles earned with the Capital One Venture Card can be used to offset restaurant purchases and streaming services (for a limited time through June 30).
The miles are worth a penny apiece in this case, and their value is fixed, which means it doesn’t go any higher or lower than 1 cent. So, 100,000 miles are worth $1,000 when used as a Purchase Eraser.
Transfer Miles to Travel Partners
If you’re looking for more value than a cent per point, consider transferring your Venture Miles to one of the loyalty programs that partner with Capital One.
| Loyalty Program | Points Transfer Ratio |
| Aeroméxico Club Premier | 2:1.5 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 2:1.5 |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 2:1.5 |
| Alitalia MilleMiglia | 2:1.5 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 2:1.5 |
| ALL Accor Live Limitless | 2:1 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 2:1.5 |
| Emirates Skywards | 2:1 |
| Etihad Guest | 2:1.5 |
| EVA Infinity MileageLands | 2:1.5 |
| Finnair Plus | 2:1.5 |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 2:1.5 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 2:1.5 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 2:1 |
| Wyndham Rewards | 2:1.5 |
Unfortunately, miles don’t transfer at equal rates, and you end up with fewer miles in the end than you started with. Still, there’s plenty of value to be had even with the sub-par transfer ratios if you learn the best ways to use the miles.
For example, you can transfer your Capital One Miles to Air France-KLM Flying Blue and book a one-way business-class seat to Europe on either Air France or KLM starting at 53,000 miles (or 70,666 Venture One Miles). Keep in mind that the fuel surcharges might be on the higher end with this option.
Or you can transfer your miles to Avianca LifeMiles and book a one-way business-class seat on a Star Alliance carrier for 63,000 miles (which comes out to 84,000 Capital One miles) with minimal fees and taxes.
Capital One is also the only flexible rewards program that partners with Wyndham Rewards, and you can find some great value there. For example, Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa goes for 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night (that makes it 20,000 Venture Miles), but the cash rates can be hundreds of dollars on popular dates.
Should You Go for 100,000 Capital One Venture Miles?
The offer’s first tier is quite appealing to those who don’t hold the Capital One Venture Card already. Earning 50,000 miles for spending $3,000 is pretty decent and isn’t unheard of these days. However, the second tier requires a lot of spending on the card.
Let’s break down the math. Spending $3,000 on the card in the first three months will net you a 50,000-mile bonus plus 6,000 miles on purchases because the card earns a flat 2X miles per dollar spent. So, you will earn 18.6 miles per dollar on that first $3,000.
However, earning an additional 50,000 miles requires spending another $17,000, which comes out to a significantly lower reward of about 4.9 miles per dollar.
You have to think of the opportunity cost before going for that second half of the 100,000-mile bonus. Can you get a higher return by spending $17,000 on another card (or three) over the course of a year? Can you reach the minimum-spending requirements in the first place? And how do you plan to redeem Venture miles?
It’s worth mentioning that the card’s previous bonus was for 60,000 miles after spending $3,000 in three months, which is better for those who are not going for the full bonus with the tiered offer.
Another thing to remember here is that Capital One miles don’t transfer to partner programs at a ratio of 1:1. In the best-case scenario, you’ll get 1.5 miles for every 2 miles converted. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll end up with just 1 mile/point for every 2 transferred, so you lose out in the process.
And finally, if you’re under Chase 5/24, the Capital One Venture Card isn’t worth burning your valuable slot for, even with this increased bonus.
Final Thoughts
Capital One Venture Card’s first-tier welcome offer is not a bad one for those who aren’t eligible for Chase credit cards.
The beauty of Venture Miles is in their flexibility: use them to offset travel costs or transfer them to loyalty programs for higher value. However, because transfer rates aren’t 1:1 and the list of travel partners isn’t earth-shattering, the rewards’ value doesn’t end up that high in the end.
If this offer wasn’t tiered or perhaps required a lower minimum-spending threshold, it would be a great one. However, the high spending requirement to receive the second half of the welcome offer makes it just a good one.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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Hey Anya! What you don’t mention (because you earn a referral fee whenever you convince anyone to apply), is that Cap One has decided to fish for lower-qualified cardholders. People like me, with 800+ scores, are being rejected because Cap One would rather have customers with marginal credit histories, so they can milk them for 24.99% interest for years. My wife and I were both immediately rejected, but my son, who has a spotty credit history and absolutely nothing in the bank, was accepted. Go figure. Read other blogs before applying. Cap One used to be a slam dunk (we’ve had this card twice), but no more.
Geoff, thank you for your comment. Perhaps you skimmed the article without seeing both sides of the argument. I mention that the bonus is high, yes, but that the value isn’t as great as it first seems. It takes a lot of spend to earn the full 100,000 miles, plus the transfer rates to partners are sub-par. In fact, I’m advocating that the offer is a good one, not a great one in the final paragraph, implying to wait for a better bonus with a lower spending requirement. As for approval rates, these vary person to person. What was the reason for rejection Cap One gave you in the mail?
Also Geoff – you might want to double check things before making claims because you won’t find one single Capital One Venture card affiliate link in this entire post. So it has nothing to do with whether or not we get paid on this particular product.
Further, Capital One is extremely inquiry sensitive. If you have more than 1 or 2 inquiries in the preceding 6 months, they likely won’t approve you for most Capital One cards. So this was more likely the reason for the denial for you and your wife compared to your son. Additionally, they’re also accounting for more factors these days in approvals, a primary one being the value of the customer. Having the card twice before definitely hurts you in this new metric they’re using as well.
My FICO is 812 and Capital One TOLD me hit the road like 3x in 10 years.