After months without seeing a worthwhile transfer bonus, Capital One cardholders finally lucked out in July. But time is running out to get even more out of your Venture Miles, travelers.
Travelers with cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card can get a 20% bonus when transferring Venture Miles to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, a great mileage program to get from the U.S. to Europe using fewer points. But you've got just hours remaining: This new bonus only runs through Monday, July 31.
Not sure where to start? Read our guide on Capital One transfer partners and how to make it happen!
Using transfer partners like Air France/KLM is one of the best ways to use Capital One Venture Miles for even more value. And these transfer bonuses make it even better – think of it as a way to get some free airline miles. Transfer bonuses to Air France seem to crop up once or twice a year.
No matter how appealing a 20% bonus might be, you should never transfer credit card points willy nilly. This is a one-way street: Once you send your credit card points to an airline account, you can't get them back. That means you'll want to have a purpose for these miles.
Fortunately, there are some great ways to put this bonus to use…
Best Ways to Use This Bonus
We'll never turn down some free Flying Blue miles.
This is the combined mileage program for Air France and KLM, and it's one of the best ways to book flights with SkyTeam airlines including Delta, Korean Air, and Air France or KLM, of course. And it got even better recently with the addition of free stopovers on award tickets, whether you're flying Air France or a partner carrier!
One beauty of transferring Capital One miles is that the bank allows you to fine-tune your transfers in increments of 100 – so long as you transfer at least 1,000 miles. That means you can really dial in how many Venture Miles to transfer rather than having a few hundred miles stuck with Air France/KLM after you book one of these great redemptions.
Read our full guide on using Flying Blue miles!
Fly Air France or KLM to Europe
With low rates and fairly solid availability to actually book these flights with your miles, this is one of the best ways to book business class to Europe.
Whether you want to get to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), or connect almost anywhere flying business class to Europe for just 55,000 to 58,000 miles each way. With this transfer bonus, you’d need as low as just 45,900 Capital One miles to make it happen.
You can also book economy awards to Europe using Air France and KLM miles – including one-way trips from several U.S. cities for less than 20,000 miles. But Flying Blue also passes on some hefty cash surcharges on award tickets that make it less appealing for economy prices, while it can easily be worth paying $228 or so for a one-way business class ticket for Europe.
Finding flights at these low rates may require some flexibility, as you won't find them one very single date. Luckily, Air France and KLM allow you to easily scroll through up to a month's worth of flights to find the best deals. Flying Blue typically tacks on about $200 for a one-way business class award to Europe – and about $380 or more for the way back. That's a small price to pay for $6,000-plus flights.
It’s a great ride across the Atlantic ocean whether you’re flying with Air France or KLM.
Read our full Air France business class review!
Book Discounted Promo Rewards
Every month, Flying Blue unleashes a set of discounted routes it calls Promo Rewards. They can be a doozy.
Just beware: You'll have to act fast, as availability at these rates is flying fast (or has already disappeared) – especially if you want to fly business class. But even in economy, the deals are amazing: With fares as low as 11,250 miles each way, it could easily be worth paying $100 or so in taxes and fees to pull off a trip to Europe this summer or fall.
You have to book by July 31 to get these rates – but it's valid for travel all the way through December!
Economy to Europe
- Boston (BOS) starting at 11,250 Flying Blue Miles
- Chicago (ORD) starting at 11,250 Flying Blue Miles
- Denver (DEN) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Miami (MIA) starting at 12,750 Flying Blue Miles
- Austin (AUS) starting at 18,375 Flying Blue Miles
Business Class to Europe
- Ottawa (YOW) to Paris (CDG) starting at 52,500 Flying Blue Miles
- Quebec (YQB) starting at 52,500 Flying Blue Miles
- Calgary (YYC) starting at 60,000 Flying Blue Miles
Fly to Taipei in Business Class
One of the best ways to get to Taiwan – or connect elsewhere in Southeast Asia – is in China Airlines' spiffy business class seats. And using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles is the best way to make it happen.
Whether you fly from San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX), or all the way from New York City (JFK), you can get to Taipei (TPE) for 92,000 Flying Blue miles.
Factor in this 20% transfer bonus, and you'll need to transfer just 76,700 Capital One miles. Not bad for a 15-plus hour flight in seats like these, right?
How to Transfer Capital One Miles to Air France/KLM
Figure out the best way to use your Venture Miles through Flying Blue but not sure how to actually transfer those miles? Don't worry: This is the easy part.
Just log into your Capital One account and select the option to “View Rewards.”
From there, click “Convert Rewards.”
Capital One will pull up a long list of all 18-plus transfer partners you can send your Venture Miles to. But with this bonus, Air France/KLM Flying Blue should appear at the very top.
Once you choose your transfer partner, you'll get a prompt to enter your frequent flyer account information. Keep in mind that the name on your Capital One account must match your frequent flyer account. So if you're hoping to immediately transfer points to a friend or family member – even an authorized user on your Venture X account, for example – you're out of luck.
Once you've linked your frequent flyer account, it's time to decide how many miles to transfer. Remember that you can fine-tune your transfer in increments of 100 (so long as you transfer at least 1,000 miles). Capital One will show you exactly how many Flying Blue you'll get with this 20% bonus.
Capital One warns that transfers will complete within 24 hours. But in our experience, transfers to Air France/KLM Flying Blue are always instant: You should have your miles in your Air France account, bonus and all, within a few minutes – if not seconds.
Bottom Line
Transfer bonuses are great – it means you need fewer points to book your next getaway. And a 20% bonus when transferring Venture Miles to Air France/KLM Flying Blue is an excellent one for Capital One cardholders.
Just be sure you know how you'll put those miles to use before transferring them to Air France/KLM. And do it fast, because this transfer bonus ends July 31.
Chicago is on promo I believe. I booked Chicago to Vienna via Paris for 11,250 each way and took advantage of the c1 20% transfer bonus too.
Hi. This is very helpful! Do you know if there will be another 20% bonus promo in 2024?