Capital One has introduced its latest transfer bonus, which cardmembers might find to be valuable. This is the second time that we’ve seen this exact transfer bonus in the past six months.
In this post:
Capital One 30% Virgin Red transfer bonus
Through Thursday, March 30, 2023, you can receive a 30% bonus when you transfer Capital One miles to Virgin Red. For context, Virgin Red is the overall loyalty program for the Virgin brand. While it’s separate from Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, you can transfer rewards between the program instantly and for free at a 1:1 ratio.
Capital One miles ordinarily transfer instantly to Virgin Red at a 1:1 ratio, meaning that with this offer they’ll transfer at a 1:1.3 ratio. This promotion is being offered on Capital One’s end, and is hard coded into the transfer ratio, meaning you should see the bonus at the time that you make the transfer. You can take advantage of this offer an unlimited number of times.
Capital One only added Virgin Red as a transfer partner around a year ago, in March 2022.
Should you transfer Capital One miles to Virgin Red?
Let’s take a look at the value of Virgin Red in the context of being able to redeem through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Virgin Atlantic is definitely a frequent flyer program with more niche redemption opportunities. In addition to being able to redeem Flying Club points for travel on Virgin Atlantic, there’s also good value to be had for redemptions on Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, and Delta.
If you want to redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for travel on Virgin Atlantic, below is what you can ordinarily expect to pay in terms of roundtrip award costs to & from London.
Route to/from UK | Economy | Premium Economy | Upper Class |
|---|---|---|---|
Israel | Standard: 18,000 Peak: 22,000 | Standard: 32,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 56,000 Peak: 66,000 |
India | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 75,000 Peak: 95,000 |
USA – Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York JFK, Washington DC) | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 95,000 Peak: 115,000 |
Caribbean | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
USA – Midwest & South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 45,000 Peak: 65,000 | Standard: 95,000 Peak: 115,000 |
Nigeria, China & Hong Kong | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 45,000 Peak: 65,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
South Africa | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 50,000 Peak: 85,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
USA – West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | Standard: 30,000 Peak: 50,000 | Standard: 55,000 Peak: 75,000 | Standard: 135,000 Peak: 155,000 |
While Virgin Atlantic’s redemption rates are fair, the issue is the significant carrier imposed surcharges (plus the UK Air Passenger Duty), especially for travel in Upper Class. You can expect that a roundtrip itinerary from the US to UK will run you about $1,000, in addition to all the points.
Beyond that, Virgin Atlantic has several airline partners, some of which are more lucrative than others. Probably the best use of Flying Club points is for travel in ANA first & business class. You can find the redemption rates below.
Paying 95,000 and 120,000 points (respectively) for business and first class roundtrip between the United States and Japan is a phenomenal value to start with. Then when you consider the 30% transfer bonus, that means you’re just paying 74,000 and 93,000 Capital One miles, respectively.
All Nippon Airways’ new first & business class are amazing products as well. The major catch is that availability can be really tough to come by.
How to earn Capital One miles
The Capital One mileage program has become extremely useful in recent years, and is now on par with other major transferable points currencies (I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each). There are lots of great cards earning Capital One miles. In particular, the following three cards offer a minimum of 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent:
- The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review)
- The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review)
- The Capital One Spark Miles for Business (review)
Bottom line
Through March 30, 2023, you can receive a 30% bonus when you transfer Capital One miles to Virgin Red. If you have any redemptions in mind, then this could represent a good value. However, I wouldn’t recommend making a speculative transfer.
Do you plan on transferring Capital One miles to Virgin Red with a 30% bonus?
Transferred C1 to Virgin Red today, 3/6/2023. The transfer was NOT instantaneous and it took a few hours. It was showing as pending on the C1 site. When it finally posted, there were no 30% bonus miles posted. Back to finding a C1 phone number to contact them (sigh). Quick google search shows that there was the same problem for bonus miles not posting back in October 2022 when they last ran similar bonus offer...
Transferred C1 to Virgin Red today, 3/6/2023. The transfer was NOT instantaneous and it took a few hours. It was showing as pending on the C1 site. When it finally posted, there were no 30% bonus miles posted. Back to finding a C1 phone number to contact them (sigh). Quick google search shows that there was the same problem for bonus miles not posting back in October 2022 when they last ran similar bonus offer for Virgin Red. It took a few days for C1 to resolve then.
Howdy!
I did a test transfer and the points I transferred and the bonus went through (Capital 1 sends them separately). I did a second transfer with bigger amount but the points I transferred didn't go through but bonus did. (this transfer says pending still on Capital One website). Anyone have this problem? I was under impression Virgin Red transfers were instant.
This happened to me today. Got bonus amount instant and now been a few hours and no actual transfer :/ did yours eventually go thru later in the day?