One of the best ways to use Capital One Venture Miles is currently unavailable – and has been for almost a week.
Travelers with cards like that Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card can transfer those Venture Miles directly to nearly 20 airline and hotel accounts on Capital One’s list of transfer partners. But users who log in and attempt to transfer those miles are currently faced with a “Down for Maintenance” warning for each individual partner – and according to reports from Thrifty Traveler readers, that option hasn’t been available since at least last Thursday.
Here’s what Capital One cardholders see now after selecting the Convert Rewards option in their accounts.
Going a week without one of the most valuable ways to use Capital One miles is unacceptable – especially considering the bank hasn’t directly communicated the issue to cardholders. In response to an email Wednesday, Capital One confirmed the outage but gave no timeline for when transfers would come back online.
“We are currently making system improvements to some of our rewards platforms and as a result are temporarily offline,” said a spokesman for Capital One.
From Chase Ultimate Rewards to Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points, transfer partners occasionally default on major credit card points programs. But usually it only affects one or two transfer partners at a time and is resolved within days if not hours.
Seeing this mysterious issue drag on and counting for almost a week is worrying, especially considering that Capital One is known for its superior technology compared to other credit card companies.
A brief history of Capital One Transfer Partners
Capital One first introduced the ability to transfer Venture Miles directly to airline partners in late 2018, adding a new way to use those miles. But with poor transmission conditions, the Capital One Transfer Partner weren’t a good option…but now they are.
After significant improvements and additions over the past year, Venture Miles will now roll over on a 1:1 basis to almost all 18 airline and hotel partners. This means that with 50,000 Venture Miles you can earn 50,000 Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles miles, 50,000 Emirates Skywards miles, 50,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points and much more.
Here is the full list of Capital One’s transfer partners.
| program | Type | relationship | transfer time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| AirFrance/KLM | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| Avianca LifeMiles | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| British Airways | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | airline | 1:1 | Up to five business days |
| Emirates | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| Etihad | airline | 1:1 | Up to 1 day |
| EVA air | airline | 2:1.5 | Up to five business days |
| Finnair | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| Qantas | airline | 1:1 | Up to 1 day |
| Singapore | airline | 1:1 | Immediate |
| TAPAirPortugal | airline | 1:1 | Same day |
| Turkish Airlines | airline | 1:1 | Same day |
| Virgo Red | Miscellaneous | 1:1 | Same day |
| accord | hotel | 2:1 | Up to two business days |
| Wyndham | hotel | 1:1 | Same day |
| choice hotels | hotel | 1:1 | Same day |
Flight and hotel transfer partners are just one of many ways to use Venture miles, along with using miles to fund travel purchases and the Capital One travel portal. But there’s no question that transferring miles to airline and hotel partners can get the most value from your Venture Miles.
bottom line
The ability to transfer Capital One Venture Miles to partner airlines and hotels is currently unavailable…and has been for almost a week and counting. It’s unclear what the issue is or when the ability to transfer miles will be available.
