One of the best ways to use Capital One Venture Miles is currently not available – and it hasn't been for nearly a week.
Travelers with cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card can transfer those Venture Miles directly to almost 20 airline and hotel accounts on the list of Capital One transfer partners. But users logging in and attempting to transfer those miles are currently met with a “Down for Maintenance” warning for every single partner – and according to reports from Thrifty Traveler readers, that option has been unavailable since at least last Thursday.
Here's a look at what Capital One cardholders are seeing right now after selecting the option to “Convert Rewards” from their accounts.
Going on a week without one of the most valuable ways to deploy Capital One miles is unacceptable – especially considering the bank has not directly communicated the issue to cardholders. In response to an email on Wednesday, Capital One confirmed the outage but did not provide a timeline for when transfers would come back online.
“We are currently making system improvements to some of our rewards platforms, and because of that they are temporarily offline,” a Capital One spokesperson said.
From Chase Ultimate Rewards to Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points, transfer partner outages among the major credit card points programs happen occasionally. But typically, it involves just one or two transfer partners at a time and is resolved in a matter of days, if not hours.
To see this mysterious issue stretch on for nearly a week and counting is concerning, especially considering Capital One is known for its stellar technology compared to other credit card companies.
A Brief History of Capital One Transfer Partners
Capital One first launched the ability to transfer Venture Miles straight to airline partners back in late 2018, adding a new way to use those miles. But with poor transfer ratios, those Capital One transfer partners weren't a great option … but they are now.
After major improvements and additions over the last year, Venture Miles now transfer to almost all of its 18 airline and hotel partners on a 1:1 basis. That means 50,000 Venture Miles can get you 50,000 miles with Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles, 50,000 Emirates Skywards miles, 50,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points, and many more.
Here's the full list of Capital One transfer partners.
| Program | Type | Ratio | Transfer Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air France/KLM | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| British Airways | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles | Airline | 1:1 | Up to five business days |
| Emirates | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Etihad | Airline | 1:1 | Up to 1 day |
| EVA Air | Airline | 2:1.5 | Up to five business days |
| Finnair | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Qantas | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Singapore | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| TAP Air Portugal | Airline | 1:1 | Same day |
| Turkish Airlines | Airline | 1:1 | Same day |
| Virgin Red | Other | 1:1 | Same day |
| Accor | Hotel | 2:1 | Up to two business days |
| Wyndham | Hotel | 1:1 | Same day |
| Choice Hotels | Hotel | 1:1 | Same day |
Airline and hotel transfer partners are just one of many ways to use Venture miles along with using miles to cover travel purchases and the Capital One Travel Portal. But there's no question that transferring miles to airline and hotel partners can unlock 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 it has been for almost a week and counting. It's unclear what the issue is or when the ability to transfer miles will become available.
I’ve been trying to get answers about this issue for five days!
I spent over four hours on the phone with Capital One customer service. My call was transferred more than EIGHT TIMES and completely dropped twice…by the same person (Kaitlin in Technical Support)! If you didn’t have an answer for me, Kaitlin, you should have just told me!
Here’s my sitch…
I signed up for the Venture X card ONLY because their partner points transfer program had been touted heavily by The Points Guy. I’ve been saving my miles agressively and watching and waiting for any airline to reduce the miles I needed to take my grandson on his long-dreamt-of (since before covid) trip to Japan.
Well, Japan finally opened up and I found a partner airline running a special reduced-mileage rate on reward flights…within the date-range we needed! Hallelujah, right?!??! WRONG!
I tried to transfer my points and got the “Down for Maintenance” message. i tried every hour on the hour for two days (except when sleeping). I called Capital One and got the run around (see above…thanks a lot Kaitlin), I waited and checked for the next two days, I called Capital One again and when they were unable to help me, I lodged a formal complaint.
Now… the reward seats we needed are no longer available… my grandson is heartbroken… and I am angry. I feel like a contract has been broken. I’m frustrated and sad and have no idea what to do at this point.
I’m relieved to see the issue is being addressed by sites such as this. I’m grateful for the opportunity to comment, if only as a way to release the anxiety and frustration I’ve been experiencing for the past few days.
Bottom line…I’m finding another travel credit card. Any suggestions on a more reliable program?
Thanks for providing this forum!
What a travel disaster if someone is planning a trip lip. Their points transfer system has been down almost a week now. I have Amex MR and Chase UR as well; this is going to make me stop using Capital One Venture X. . The value of earning two points per dollar is not worth the hassle of an outage like this. I am most wondering if it’s on purpose; perhaps they over extended themselves with their rewards plan? I don’t know but six days is way too much in 2022 to have something like this happen.
I’ve called Capital One twice (yesterday and today) and they still have no answers. This is very frustrating and there is a flight I want to catch in 3 days on Turkish Airlines. Last year I switched to Capital One for what seemed to be a great offer. Having their points portal down this long is frustrating and likely going to result with me switching back to Chase.
I am unable to use the Capital One points I have been saving for TEN years!
I have been shopping for flights for my family of 4. I finally found a deal that my points will cover, reserved the flights with Air France/Flying Blue, only to lose it due to Capital One’s incompetence.
I have been put on hold repeatedly, all afternoon. I am being told I simply cannot use my miles, and there is no information about when or if I can ever use them.
BEWARE of Capital One. This company has demonstrated its untrustworthiness.
Is there any recourse for consumers?
I too am left hanging by Captial One. After saving miles for ten years for a family trip, I am being told I cannot use any of my miles. NO explanation. NO information as to when I may be able to use my miles. I am going to lose the reservation that I have been carefully shopping for.
If I had gone with a different travel card, my family would be getting the trip we’ve been planning for so long.
BEWARE of Capital One. This is how long term loyal customers are treated.
I have also a similar story. I found a 1st class award ticket, went to transfer my miles and same thing. I have called twice and filed a complaint. I told them I would be switching back to amex.
This is unacceptable. I encourage everyone to file a complaint. One thing to note, I got capital one to give me 10k miles for my troubles of the outage, I suggest others do the same.
Still no option available to transfer points (to Air France, in this example).
What is our recourse!?!
Hi Paul, these transfers should be available.
Has this issue been resolved yet? Does anyone know?
Hi Peter. Yes, this was resolved back in October.
https://thriftytraveler.com/news/points/capital-one-transfer-partners-back-online/