I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
There’s no question that Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the most exciting premium rewards card of the last couple of years. It has a nice front bonus offer, strong points-earning, airport lounge access and a host of premium benefits. (See rates and fees)
Capital One miles now transfer 1:1 to:
- Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Finnair Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Aeromexico Club Premier
- Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Virgin Red
- Hotels: Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges
Capital One miles also transfer at 2-to-1.5 into EVA Air Infinity MileageLands. And they transfer 2-to-1 into ALL Accor Live Limitless.
Here are the 19 things I’m loving about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card:
- Initial bonus offer. 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Minimum of 2x on everything. The card earns 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, and 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked at Capital One Travel as well as 5 miles per dollar on flights booked via Capital One Travel.
- Minimum 2% rebate towards travel. Capital One’s miles let you buy any flight without worrying about restricted award availability. This is most useful for people who use their rewards for domestic economy flights, and can be especially valuable over peak travel dates. You pick the flight you want and don’t inconvenience yourself based on what’s available at the saver level.
- Double threat. It’s a single card that works great as a travel rebate product, and great transferring to airline frequent flyer programs.
- Transfers to Air Canada Aeroplan They’re a great Star Alliance partner with most awards bookable on their website and great pricing for business class to Europe.
- Transfers to LifeMiles This is the only Star Alliance frequent flyer program with an award chart and no carrier-imposed surcharge. You can redeem United domestic flights starting at just 3500 miles.When you are flying a ‘mixed cabin’ itinerary (say, for instance, Los Angeles to Tokyo in first class and then connecting in business class to Beijing) the program will charge you proportionately for each flight segment.
A first class award between the US and North Asia is listed at 90,000 LifeMiles on the award chart. If you flew Los Angeles – Tokyo Haneda non-stop in first class it would cost you 90,000 LifeMiles. However if you added a connection in coach beyond Tokyo Haneda then the price of the award drops — add Tokyo – Beijing in economy and you can get the price down to just over 66,000 miles. That’s a generous perk no other program offers.
- Transfers to Air France KLM Flying Blue. Air France offers better award availability when you’re using Flying Blue miles than when you’re using partner miles. I often transfer to Flying Blue because I find they have business class award seats to Europe when other airlines don’t. What’s more flights to Europe – especially connections to Central and Eastern Europe – are reasonably priced. For instance flying between the U.S. and some European cities will price under 60,000 miles each way in business.
- Transfers to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands. EVA Air is a totally underappreciated mileage transfer partner.Flying business class between the US and Asia on EVA Air costs a reasonable 75,000 or 80,000 miles each way depending on the US gateway used. One real hidden gem is that they charge just 25,000 miles each way for business class intra-Asia awards. They also offer Star Alliance round-the-world awards.
US-Europe Star Alliance awards in business class is 65,000 miles each way, 85,000 miles in first class. US-Mideast Star Alliance awards in business class is 67,000 miles each way. And two stopovers permitted on a roundtrip award (one in each direction). Changes to date and flight up to three days in advance of travel are free while additional changes and also cancel/mileage redeposit cost $50.
While many people skip over the program because they add fuel surcharges to partner award tickets you don’t need to get excised about fuel surcharges for awards on EVA’s own flights e.g. $43 Los Angeles – Taipei and $56 Los Angeles – Taipei – Bangkok.
- Transfers to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. Since everyone transfers to Singapore it’s easy to build up their miles. And Singapore Airlines offers much better award availability to travel on Singapore’s own flights when you’re using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles than if you’re trying to use miles from a partner frequent flyer program.
- Transfers to Emirates I’ve found upgrades to be easier to get with Emirates than on most other airlines, but you need their own Skywards miles to upgrade a paid ticket or to redeem for Emirates first class.
- Access To Capital One’s Own Network Of Airport Lounges The Capital One Venture X card comes with unlimited access to Capital One airport lounges, including access for 2 accompanying guests. The Dallas – Fort Worth lounge is open along with Washington Dulles an Denver. I was extremely impressed with the Dallas airport lounge. They even encourage you to take food and drink with you to go.
- Priority Pass With Unlimited Visits and Guests. The card also comes with Priority Pass Select.
- Airport Lounge Access For No Annual Fee Additional Cardmembers The Capital One Venture X card lets you add cardholders to your account for no fee.
- $300 Annual Travel Credit Up to $300 credit annually for bookings made at Capital One Travel (including airline tickets, so easy to use this)
- Bonus miles every year, not just your first year. 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary (equal to $100 towards travel, or transfer to other loyalty programs)
- Hertz elite status This card comes with complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status which is their top public tier. This benefit is for primary cardholders, authorized users and account managers. Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at that status level through the duration of the offer. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.
- Purchase and travel protections There’s primary car rental protection; lost luggage reimbursement; trip delay + cancellation/interruption reimbursement; cell phone protection; and extended warranty protection.
- Earn more points referring friends to the card. Cardmembers can earn up to 100,000 miles per year for referring friends (25,000 miles per referral, up to 4 referrals per year).
The Capital One Venture X carries a $395 annual fee. That’s on the low end for premium travel cards and a great price. Consider that competitor products generally run $450 to $695, they clearly made a conscious decision to pack a lot of value into their card and charge less than American Express, Chase, or Citibank.
With an initial bonus offer worth well over $1500 in my view, exceeding $395 in value by a lot the first year should be easy even without statement credits but they’ve set up benefits that make the card pay for itself quite easily.
Visa/Mastercard: For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply
Hertz: Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply
While Accord points have a fixed value in concept, note that it’s 1000 Accor points = 20 Euros so you can actually do a bit of currency arbitrage in times when the US dollar is weak against the Euro.
Great article. I could think of at least another 19 reasons to love the fantastic new Capital One Venture X!
I like the card but their travel portal is very bad. It does not show all available flights or premium cabins in many flights (for example IAD-CDG on UAL in business class is not shown at all)
I have found that booking cars through their travel portal you have to be careful, the car reservation is prepaid and not cancelable.
Do they allow statement credits in lieu of travel redemption?
Who loves the $10K signup bonus
So about spending $10k on a signup bonus
@Joes – but it’s spread over a reasonable period
Got it also why not 20 reasons make it an even number
Would someone explain why American Airlines isn’t one of this card’s partners?
One big reason to hate – they have the most finicky approval of any of the banks that I have tried to get a card from ( says a guy with almost 7 figure income, 800 score and no marks on credit history with last card opened about 10 months ago )
Sometimes I think they just shake a magic 8 ball for an answer!
@Gary I am an Authorized User on my wife’s Venture X card. Do I need to cancel and come out before I can apply for my own card?
I have applied for the Capital One card last December and was rejected. I have 11/5 hard Inquiries on Equifax/TransUnion which includes Credit cards, car loan, mortgage refi etc ., my credit score is 825/831 in Equifax/TransUnion. What are my chances of approval for Venture X card?
They have a lower AF to attract lower-end customers, yet have an insane sign-up bonus spend requirement when compared to the Amex Platinum.
@BeingBlessed – You should be eligible to apply for a card even if you are an authorized user on an account.
I can’t speak to your approval odds specifically, but we’ve certainly seen people who have been denied for other Capital One cards get approved for this one. I was surprised by my own instant approval as well.
So what are the real advantages of this card compared to the Cap One Venture card? It is still 2 pts/$ and I believe it is the same transfer ratio to other airline programs as you describe above. Is it just 10x (instead of 5x) if you book through their travel engine, access to lounges, Hertz elite, good intro offer?
It’s a card no doubt and I instantly signed up for it for me and my wife. The things to HATE is that even though they give you Hertz Gold President’s Circle you can’t actually use it when booking on their own portal! I guess it used to work gut starting this week, Hertz will NOT allow you to add in your Hertz Gold #. I’ve had agents try this week that previously said it worked.
But now Hertz tells them third party “Hopper” bookings (engine that Capital One Travel uses) is NOT allowed. Crazy as I booked on Expedia which is also third party and it instantly lets you add in your Hertz #.
And as someone else mentioned, they give you non -cancellable car rentals or you have 48 hours notice. No way I’d book that these days with undependable travel.
When you try to use the travel credit for hotels you can’t enter your frequent traveler loyalty #. Those things suck.
Priority Pass With Unlimited Visits and Guests.
Is there at two guest limit?
Well i understand u had to do this post. But between VFTW and OMAAT (and ofcourse TPG), i think this VentureX is getting advertised wayyyy tooo much. Its almost like a “not-so” subtle mind-control to get everyone to sign up for this card.
Well my worry is that once everyone and their pet dog has this card, we’ll see the same overcrowding in CapOne lounges as we see with Centurion. I think C1 will be forced to increase the AF pretty soon.
Capital One has
a) poor customer service
b) no mechanism to move credit lines between cards.
c) hard to get approved for an increased credit line if you’re not maxing out existing line. I have 800 credit score, high six figure salary and a 5,000 line from Cap One. I’ve told them the line doesn’t fit my personalneeds. Lines over 30 with Barclays and Amex, 25 with Chase and Citi. I just can’t push too much business there with such a small line
d) Points on their portal is the same issue with Amex Travel. AMEX is AWESOME until you have an issue with AMEX Travel than they suck balls and bounce you around
e) no chat services online
f) few if any targeted bonuses after initial offer
Be careful with the Capital One Travel portal to Ryan Air. You will get screwed. The system allows you to buy a ticket but there is no means or provisions to pay for luggage. Instead you are finding yourself needing to purchase baggage options separately from Ryan Air at post booking prices – very expensive. In my view this is a scam set up. I discussed this significant deficiency with a Capital One Travel agent. She said I was not the first customer to complain. We did a pretend booking and she pointed out where it is cleverly disguised that luggage is not include, will cost you extra money and there no mention of how to make that happen. I am very disappointed in Capital One Travel. This is something they need to fix. Regrettably I will have to be very leery of other travel arrangement I make through COT.
@Gary – can you share how long after meeting the min spend requirement it took for the 100,000 bonus miles to post? Did it occur within a few days of meeting the minimum spend? After first statement closing post meeting spend requirement? Etc. There’s some rare award availability right now I’d like to use the bonus miles for and I’m trying to decide if it’s worthwhile to use the card to make a tax payment to hit the min spend requirement right away.
@Tyler – My miles posted super-fast. I got the card just before a large, expected expense, met the $10k spend a day after the card arrived, paid my charges off after they posted, and had 120k points in my account in less than a week. (As I recall, most of the time was spent waiting for all of my charges to finalize.)
One more reason- booked a flight through the travel portal, and got this email today!
“Hi there,
Prices for your Boston to Zurich flight have dropped, which means you’re getting a $50 refund to your original payment method.*”
Nice!
Just applied through your link and was approved! I’ve been denied at least 2 or 3 times in the past 3 years for the Venture card, and I was reluctant to try for this new premium card. I saw others reporting that they had denials in the past similar to me, but that they were approved for this one, so I took a shot. I can also report that past consistent denials for the Venture card won’t necessarily repeat for this Venture X. Instant approval with the same big credit line as others.
Considering Amex Business Platinum had a $15,000 spend requirement and Amex Business Gold had a $10,000 requirement, both in THREE months, I find the fact that I have 6 months to meet that type of spending a relief. If you need to find ways to meet the spend, do what I did. Buy a lot of store gift cards that you know you shop at a lot in addition to your other spending. It’s basically like paying yourself if you know you will use the gift cards anyhow.
My only temptation at this is the cheap lounge access. The only partners I have use for at this moment are SQ and Flying Blue to some extent for specific routes, but EVA, Etihad, and most sadly CX are pretty much useless thanks to Covid and there are easier ways to earn Avianca and Aeroplan.
A useful post, and some very useful comments presenting both advantages and disadvantages of the card. Thanks to all.
While I do like the Venture X card and recently received the 100,000 point bonus, I do prefer and think the Chase Sapphire Reserve is a better card, even with the higher annual fee.
Hey Gary – Why not talk about all the reasons to dislike Capital One? Don’t you think people would appreciate a well rounded article?
@R Thomas – I don’t really dislike this card, but you’re welcome to offer your reasons. I guess “doesn’t have ANA as a transfer partner while Amex does!”…?
Hi Gary,
I read your excellent article on American Airlines Threatens To Fire Flight Attendants Who Leave Their Base While On Reserve. Is there any advice, how one can defend him/herself from being fired because of just 1 or 2 such events? The Union seems not helpful, do you think AA HR can be approached for any favorable consideration to avoid firing?
I would highly appreciate your response.
Nadeem, when you don’t show up for work, you get fired. This is a good thing for AA’s customers. Not so good for lazy employees.
The Cap One card is free. $395 annual fee. $300 annual travel credit plus 10,000 points a year. ( worth $100). I got Auth User cards for both of my 20 something children for Priority Pass. Plus IAD is my home airport. Who knows? Someday they may open that Lounge.
I too was turned down ( 1 credit card in last year, 820 FICO) and applied 3 months later 3 credit card (805 FICO) instant approval.
One thing I like is that each addional card member gets their own card number and charges and charges are seperated and tallied on the bill. Usual for business cards but not personal. If others are helping make spend requiremennt or use a particular card number for a certain prupose.
They do not collect social security numbers so you do not have to worry about the addtional card members having this appear on thier credit reports.
It took 2 days for my 100k bonus to post.
I can’t believe you’re still describing Hertz status as a thing you love. Maybe it’s just too difficult to edit this old post.
Gary, first I’m shocked Turkish miles and smiles isn’t up there. They’ve got to be a top 3 program for Capital One. Second, the line…
“However if you added a connection in coach beyond Tokyo Haneda then the price of the award drops — add Tokyo – Beijing in economy and you can get the price down to just over 66,000 miles. That’s a generous perk no other program offers.”
That’s not really true. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles does this as well. I booked Asia Miles from Dallas to Doha to Sydney for only 112k miles for a business/F combo. The Doha to Sydney route in F would be 135k by itself. So I basically added a 14 hour Qsuites flight and saved 23k miles.
Other than that, great article!
Follow-up comment after using the Capital One travel portal multiple more times. In general, don’t do it- not worth the extra points given the hassle. Car rentals, as mentioned above, are not cancellable, and also often do not show the whole fee- I rented a compact on Dollar through them for 2 days out of NYC. Amount shown at the time of booking was $260 (hey, cheapest I could find), but then I had to pay another $140 in taxes and fees at the counter!
Also booked a Delta Comfort Plus through Capital One that was a code share on ITA (hey, cheapest I could find). Checked in for the flight, not assigned Comfort Class seats. Called Capital One, who called ITA then Delta, all agreed that it should have been Comfort Class, but no one was willing to do anything about it. Lots of hassles booking through a 3rd party travel agent- not worth it.
Otherwise, card has been great. I note you did not mention the $200 credit on AirBnB rentals, which as automatically applied to my account- maybe that benefit has gone away?
Instant approval here as well.
I love how they promised a Cap One club at IAD a in 2021 and there is no progress on actually building it. Bait and switch.
Gary, my wife is an authorized user on my Venture X, but while I’ve received my Priority Pass card, she hasn’t, and it’s been six months or so. (I didn’t know that an AU having a PP was a perk till your post today.) Is there something I should click on to get her the card? Thanks!
Using the Chase Reserve for restaurants. Most of our flights are on United (Florida and back) so use Chase Club Visa for those. Used to use it a lot when they gave 1.5 miles for everyday spend but stopped when they moved to 1 point.
And use my Capital One Venture X for everything else. I have a Platinum AMEX that I get very little use of and considering adding/switching to AMEX Gold. Did use the Platinum to pay for Economy Plus upgrades on United so that moderated my fee.
Funny, we are people who flew around the world in the front of the plane thanks to points. Of recent, we are loath to go anywhere other than our Florida home. Security takes so long that lounge access does’t mean what it used to. I do get my $200 back from Platinum for the upgrades and usually get aroiund $60 for Uber credits. I liked it better when my business paid for it!
Good post Gary – as usual.
Does Hertz President’s Circle mean you get a better jail cell when Hertz gets you arrested on false charges?
I was at the DFW Cap-One lounge a few weeks ago and I could not get in. It was too crowded. With everyone signing up for the X card, I think I’ll dump mine and take a different path.
Capital One has limited customer service and horrible technology problems.
Gary, perhaps you should update this particular sales pitch so that your are helping and not hurting your readers. Don’t believe me? Jump on Flyertalk for a few and catch up on the Cap One problems.
** If you have an issue, you have to call in and wait (almost 75 minutes for my last call).
** They took away the ability to use any points via transfers to airlines for several weeks, with no notice, and you couldn’t even call in to make the transfers. No apology or explanation afterwards.
** Past few months, they have an on-going issue with the $300 travel credit posting – expect a fight to get that.
** The $200 credit for charges from AirBnB, etc that they offered from Nov, 2021 – March, 2022… same on-going issue with that credit posting – expect a fight to get that (if you signed up under that bonus).
Bad technology issues and hard-to-reach customer service is a really horrible combination made worse with a sales pitch for benefits Capital One is currently fulfilling.
“Capital One’s miles let you buy any flight…”. Has someone figured out how to book Southwest?
Good luck finding anything but prepaid hotel reservations on the travel portal. Not as useful as advertised!
I was denied for the card but approved for alternate Capitol One card with 10K limit, I declined their offer. Got the AMEX Platinum instead with instant approval.
I have only applied for the Venture X CC. I was denied. When I called, the agent was not allowed to tell me the real reason, wait for the denial letter. The denial letter was vague, but I could read between the lines, that I had to much unused credit. There is speculation that people who had ING Direct accounts, are usually declined. I had an IHG Direct. ING was another horrible bank to deal with!
I have written off Capital One! Cap1’s primary business is credit cards for sub-prime borrowers. Over 90% of the Cap1 CCs issued are for borrowers that have blemished credit. Cap1 pulls all 3 credit reports. So you get 3 hard pulls. Cap1 has terrible customer service. Probably based in some foreign country, from my only call. Can’t speak on the Cap1 portal because I don’t have a Cap1 CC.
Then Cap1 recently announced that Cap1 VentureX will lose Priority Pass restaurants. With this news, I have totally written off Cap1. Could my opinion be different if I had a Cap1 CC? Maybe, but I doubt it I will ever apply again. Capital One is notorious for declining apps. Why even try if you get 3 hard pulls for one app?
Sorry Gary, to me, VentureX is a con game that makes me distrust bloggers who promote it! Why would bloggers push a CC so hard? Especially one that has a bad reputation.
I think Capital One looses a lot of trust when they remove benefits and then blame it on others like with Priority Pass restaurants. They said it was a Visa Infinite issue yet Chase Sapphire Reserve (a Visa Infinite card) continues to have these benefits.
So are 19 benefits important if you only need a few and those are the ones that are cut. There simply aren’t enough lounges everywhere either operated by Capital One or Priority Pass.
You’ll pay taxes on referrals