Capital One Venture, Venture X (which is the one I carry), Venture X business as well as VentureOne and Spark Miles let you transfer their miles to a variety of airline and hotel loyalty programs.

They’ve just added (3) new transfer partners: Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, and I Prefer Hotel Rewards.

• Qatar Airways Privilege Club: transfers are 1:1. Capital One already transferred to British Airways and Finnair, whose points move back and forth with Qatar, but this cuts out a step for those interested. And more direct transfer partners is better because it means the opportunity for more transfer bonuses (sometimes those are run on the airline side, even, not just by the card program).

  

• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank: Transfers are 2:1.5. They’re a fairly unique transfer partner, none of the other banks have them. Bilt, though, added them at 1:1 in May. Historically, JAL required accounts to be open 60 days prior to redeeming points. However this is relaxed to 7 days with transfers. Open an account now just in case you need it!

  They have a good partner award chart, good upgrade pricing, but they do add fuel surcharges to awards.

  

  

• I Prefer Hotel Rewards: transfers are 1:2. Citi, though, transfers at 1:4. Capital One would point out that you’re earning 2 points per dollar on all spend (so 4 I Pefer points per dollar) but you can earn 2x with Citi Double Cash and combine those into a transferable account like Strata Premier with accelerator categories or Strata Elite whose minimum earn is 1.5x. So I’d have liked to see the transfer ratio better here. Even still, you can get better value for Capital One point than redeeming directly against the cash cost of travel.

None of these adds are transformational, but all add value to the program. Capital One entered the transferable points space, and premium card space, in a big way. Their program is now highly robust. These are the transfer partners they now offer:

• Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, TAP Miles&Go, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

• oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

• SkyTeam: Aeromexico Club Premier, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Red

• Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, JetBlue

• Hotels: Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, Accor Live Limitless, Preferred Hotels I Prefer

Capital One Venture X remains a strong go-to card across several dimensions for me.

• Cost: The card has an annual fee of $395 (see rates and fees) so it’s priced much lower than comparable products from Chase, American Express and Citibank. It comes with $300 in credits annually for bookings made through Capital One Travel, and 10,000 points each year at cardmember renewal which I value at more than $100. So I view these as covering my card cost fully, then giving me access to Capital One’s lounge network on top.

• Generous Initial Bonus. The card has an initial bonus to earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

• Strong points-earning. At 2x on all purchase spend, it’s my ‘catch all’ card for spending that does not earn an accelerator bonus somewhere else.

• My favorite bank lounge network. They don’t have as many lounges as American Express or Chase (and I do really like Chase’s LaGuardia and Philadelphia lounges). Capital One does a really fantastic job with the product though.

  They have lounges at Dallas – Fort Worth; Washington Dulles; Denver; New York JFK and Las Vegas.

  

  Sit me down at the JFK cheese counter, or give me the bagels with pastrami… with lox… with smoked whitefish… and I’m in my happy place.

  

  

  They also have a restaurant concept, Capital One Landing, at Washington’s National airport and another one announced for New York LaGuardia. The Capital One Landing at DCA has some of my absolute favorite lounge food in the U.S. I make reservations (not strictly speaking required) whenever booking tickets out of this airport.

  

  

  

  

I’m earning valuable points that are increasingly flexible, and getting great perks, so I’m a big fan of what Capital One has been doing for the past roughly seven years in building out these products.