The Extra Mile, July 7: Capital One’s Case for Respect, Big Transfer Bonuses & Avios Math That Actually Pays

💳 Why Can’t Capital One Get Any Respect?

In the world of award travel and credit cards, there’s American Express and Chase and … well, pretty much everyone else.

I say it’s time to put some respect on Capital One’s name. The deeper I’ve gotten into this crazy world, the more I value the bank behind the *capital one venture card*  and its souped-up sibling, the *venture x*.

There’s simplicity, for one. I love how easy it is to recoup even the $395 annual fee on the Venture X. That’s not something you can say about either Amex or Chase’s top-tier cards … which, if I’m being honest, are the entire reason we built a tool to track travel credit cards.

But there’s more to it than that. There are a handful of reasons that Capital One is practically living rent-free in my head these days, including:

• Some standout transfer partners you won’t find with the big dogs of award travel like EVA Air Infinity MileageLands (yes, it’s really called that), Turkish Miles & Smiles (yes it is also really called that), and my beloved JAL Mileage Bank
• And the ability to fine-tune your transfers, which means you won’t wind up with hundreds of miles stranded in an account after booking an award ticket. Unlike most banks which force you to transfer points in increments of 1,000, Capital One allows you to transfer miles in increments of 100 (with a 1,000-mile minimum) which is a small but useful advantage
• A “slush fund” of miles that I can use for anything from flights to hotels to Airbnbs to boat rentals to a boutique safari lodge in South Africa to a private pool villa in Thailand – in fact. While you might get more bang for your buck (err, points) transferring them, the flexibility to book any travel expense and cover the cost with Capital One miles is invaluable to me
• Capital One Lounges are still the top dog, even if there aren’t nearly as many of them as I’d like. Every time I’m in a Capital One Lounge, I marvel at how much better they are than virtually any other credit card-backed lounge

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Check out my full writeup on why I’m loving Capital One more than ever these days.

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: Iceland from $320 RT!

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥

Why we love it: Fares on flights to Iceland (KEF) dropped from several U.S. and Canadian cities – all under $380 roundtrip!

Best availability this fall (Sept./Oct.) – a perfect time to beat high season crowds, but still get good weather.

Sign up now to get all the details on this deal & don’t miss the next flight deal alert.

Already a member? Log in to see all your deals. (Not seeing it? Remove your airport filters to see every deal.)

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

🎯 Get up to 50% More Points With a Big Transfer Bonus

If you’re sitting on a stash of points from banks like Amex, Chase, Capital One, and more, now’s as good of time as any to book a vacation.

Banks routinely roll out transfer bonuses of 10% to 40% (or more) when you move points to select airline and hotel partners, creating a limited-time opportunity to squeeze out an award booking you might not otherwise be able to afford.

Here’s what’s live right now:

• Amex to Avianca LifeMiles: 15% bonus, through July 15
• Amex to Virgin Atlantic: 30% bonus, through July 31
• Amex to Hilton Honors: 20% bonus, through July 14
• Chase to Virgin Atlantic: 30% bonus, through July 14
• Capital One to EVA Air: 30% bonus, through July 31
• Citi to Accor Live Limitless: 50% bonus, through July 18
• Rove to Frontier Airlines: 25% bonus, through July 31

A few standouts worth acting on before it’s too late:

The Amex-to-Virgin bonus (matched by Chase for another week) is one of the best of the bunch. Virgin points can unlock Delta flights to Europe and lie-flat seats to Japan at a steep discount. Meanwhile, Virgin’s own business class from the East Coast to London can be booked for just 23,000 Amex points each way with the bonus – just beware of the recently increased taxes and fees.

With Avianca LifeMiles, a 15% bonus makes for some great business class deals to Europe even better. Case in point: SWISS business class from New York-JFK to Zurich for just 54,010 miles – only 47,000 Amex points after the bonus.

And that 20% bonus from Amex-to-Hilton brings the usual 1:2 transfer ratio up to 1:2.4, which can help offset some of Hilton’s recent devaluations if you’ve got a particularly high-value stay in mind.

One big catch: These transfers are a one-way street. Once your points land at the airline or hotel, there’s no sending them back. Have a real redemption in mind – and a backup plan – before you hit transfer.

Read more about all the current transfer bonuses and the best ways to use them!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🎙️ On the Pod: An Incredible Hawaii Points Deal

✈️ The guys break down all the news – including Kyle’s discovery of one of the best points deals for Hawaii flights, some Delta news, and both of your hosts got a little booksy – so where are the guys heading and what did they book?

Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

🤔 Avios & Money: Does the Math, Math?

Normally, the award price you see is the price you pay. Short on points? You’re stuck buying more – usually at a bad rate – or booking with cash instead.

But a handful of Avios airlines break that rule. Book with British Airways or Iberia, and you’ll often see a sliding scale of “Avios & Money” combinations for the same seat. That’s good news if you’re short on points, and honestly, it’s still good news even if you’re not – sometimes it’s worth paying a little more cash to hang onto Avios for your next trip.

The catch? Not every option on that list is a good deal. Figuring out which one is takes some math – and we know nobody wants to do math before hitting “book.”

Take this flight from London (LHR) to Paris (CDG) on British Airways, for example. The standard price: 10,000 Avios + $5. But BA will also let you drop to as few as 3,250 Avios if you throw in more cash.

Take a look across the sliding scale, and you’re effectively “buying” those extra Avios at rates from about 0.7 cents to 1.7 cents each – which can be a pretty good price (at least on the low end), since Avios are typically worth more than that when redeemed well.

The best value on this route: 5,250 Avios + $40, where you’re paying an extra $35 to save 4,750 Avios. If you were planning to transfer Chase points to British Airways to book, you could (I probably wouldn’t) cash out 3,500 points to cover the extra $35 you’re spending. In that case, you’re paying 8,750 points and still just $5 out of pocket.

Saving 1,250 points isn’t Earth-shattering, but every little bit counts.

Iberia works the same way. A one-way Barcelona (BCN) to Dubrovnik (DBV) economy flight runs 8,250 Avios + $38. Drop to 2,000 Avios, and you’ll pay $94 instead – again landing somewhere in the middle (4,500 Avios + $68.50) is usually the best “value,” if you’re OK with paying a bit more in cash.

Long-haul routes from North America to London or Madrid (MAD) offer the same kind of sliding scale, but it’s rarely as lucrative of a proposition. BA’s surcharges on long-haul flights are already steep, so shifting more of the cost to cash just means paying more steep surcharges.

There’s no universal right answer as to when this makes sense – it depends on what you’re optimizing for:

• Cash is tight? Skip the Avios-saving options and just book the base price.
• Avios are tight (or you’re saving up for a bigger redemption)? Paying extra cash for a lower Avios price is worth considering, especially when the rate is under a penny per point.

Bottom line: Avios & Money bookings aren’t automatically a good deal – but on short-haul routes, they certainly can be. Check the full pricing ladder before you book, and look for options where you’re “buying” points for under a penny each.

That’s typically the sweet spot.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• ☕️ Chase plans to build a 14,000-square-foot Sapphire Lounge in Miami (MIA), complete with a Cuban coffee window and rum bar. (View From the Wing)
• ⛽️ Today: Save 50 cents per gallon at 7-Eleven (or Speedway) by texting ALLIN to 711711 – or 96001 for Speedway. (Doctor of Credit)
• 🛰️ Panama-based Copa Airlines’ first Starlink-enabled aircraft entered service over the weekend – but unlike every other airline with Starlink connectivity, it’s not free for everyone. (Paxex.Aero)
• 🛠️ Bad news: One of United’s brand new 787s with Polaris business class suites is headed back to Boeing for repairs. (OMAAT)
• 💙 Looking for a cheaper way to get … well, just about anywhere? Air France/KLM Flying Blue is the answer – and earning those miles is easier than you might think.