Capital One Adds 3 Transfer Partners

This is the September 28, 2025 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.

Capital One just added three new transfer partners: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, I Prefer Hotel Rewards, and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. That brings their total to 22—the most of any U.S. bank.

As per usual, the ratios are odd: JAL transfers at 2:1.5, I Prefer at 1:2, and Qatar at 1:1. With JAL, the value is there for premium cabins, though the base ratio (1,000 Capital One miles = 750 JAL miles) is weak without a transfer bonus. Fortunately, the partnership launched with a 30% bonus, which helps. I Prefer can be useful for upscale hotels, and Qatar’s real benefit is the chance of a Qatar-specific Avios promo, since Capital One already has two Avios partners, British Airways and Iberia.

None of this fixes Capital One’s core issue: no true “star” partner like Alaska or Hyatt, and limited value on economy redemptions. But the Venture X remains a standout for its ultra-simple 1¢ redemptions on any travel, with upside if you decide to dive into transfers. And its moderate fee and simple credits offer a nice contrast from Chase and Amex’s fee-and-credit arms race

In other words: still great for lazy travelers, only getting better for the nerds.

Quick Points of the Week ⚡

Special offers ✨

Rent Day is coming—and so is a chance to shape the next one. October Rent Day is this Wednesday, and like always that means double points (up to 1,000 bonus points) on non-rent Bilt Mastercard spending, a chance to win free rent via the in-app Rent Free game show, free goodies at Bilt HQ and special comedy, fitness, and dining experiences. There’s no transfer bonus or status opportunity this month. You can get bonuses on redeeming points for your rent payment or Amazon purchases, but the value is still poor even with the bonuses.

If you’d like to learn more about Bilt and have a say in future rewards partnerships and Rent Day promotions, you can apply in the app to join Bilt’s Close Friends for a “seat at the table” and a chance to “shape the future” of Bilt, according to CEO Ankur Jain. 

New products 🆕

Earn cryptocurrency with a credit card? Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has a new credit card that offers crypto back on purchases: 4% on gas, 3% on dining, 2% on groceries, and 1% on other purchases. There’s no big bonus or special features on offer, but it could be a useful rotation card for the right person. 

Play Fetch. Receipt-scanning app Fetch just launched its own credit card. You can earn up to 10 points per dollar on retail… but those points are worth a fraction of a fraction of a cent, in my experience. I’ll pass on this one. 

More value 📈

Barclays adds merchant offers. It’s not clear exactly which cards will ultimately have them (none of mine yet), but they are a great way to snag more rewards from your everyday spend. (FrequentMiler)

Giveaways 🎟️ 

Fly to Hobbiton. Air New Zealand is offering a chance to win tickets to Auckland. 

Status boost ✈️

Match your status to AA–and get an upgrade. If you have airline status (maybe even easy status) you might be able to match it to AA and move up a tier for 4 months. And if you earn enough Loyalty Points in that time period you could keep your status until 2027. (AwardWallet) 

Sign-up bonus of the Week 🎯

In all my excitement about the Atmos Summit, I may have neglected the card’s younger sibling, the Ascent, which is offering a bonus of 80,000 miles plus a $99 companion fare (plus taxes and fees) after spending $4,000 in the first 120 days after account opening. I’m not as keen on the Ascent because it can be hard to break even on the $95 annual fee unless you’re an Alaska regular. I’m also not sure how good this offer is—75k offers on the pre-Atmos version of this card were common, so something like this offer might be relatively easy to come by any time going forward. Maybe. But 80k Alaska miles is enough for a round-trip flight to Japan from most of the US, so this is a pretty solid offer, even if you can’t use the companion fare. Heat scale: 🔥

The main reason I wanted to write about the Ascent, though, is to make a periodic reminder that for airline cards, you can often beat the public offer in the airport, on the plane, in the app, or while booking your flight. This week I used my Summit card to visit the Alaska lounge, where I saw the Ascent was offering an 85,000-mile bonus if you applied with an in-airport code from an Alaska employee. So it’s always worth searching around to see what deals people are getting, and might even be worth holding off to apply until your next trip. 

Other great current bonuses

100k + 25k companion certificate on the Alaska Atmos Summit (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥)

125k on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)

100k on the Citi Strata Elite (in-branch) (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)

80k on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select (our take: 🔥🔥)

165k on the IHG Premier (our take: 🔥🔥)

80-125k on Delta credit cards (our take: 🔥🔥)

50k on the Mesa Homeowner’s Card (our take: 🔥🔥) 

75k miles on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (our hot take: 🔥)

100k Avios on Chase cards (our take: 🔥)

$300 (kind of) on Capital One no-fee cards (our take)

Enjoy the weekend! 🦥

Don’t feel bad about being lazy—Venture miles are one of the easiest ways to book the travel you actually want, whether that’s the cheapest hotel you can find or a fancy Japanese ryokan.