Capital One travel credit card questions.

[carl2591]

capital one is advertising a new venture card with a special deal.

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcar...nkid=WWW_1010_CARD_TGUNS11_Z_Z_01_T_CP26815EW

my question is how many "miles" are needed for trips.. say for instance i want to go from RDU, (raleigh nc) to MCO (orlando) which is about 600 miles one way.

how do you figure the amount of miles needed for the trip.. do they have a special website you use to book flights or how does it work..

I have a travel card now with first citizens bank that provides a certificate for $100 off and we use Expedia for airfare rates. so if the fare is $500 and i have 2 certs then the cost is $300..

thanks for the help.

 

[momeason]

We have had this card for about a year. We love It! It is very simple to use and understand. We got the card when Capital One was offering to give you are many miles as you had on your other credit card miles program up to 100,000. I had close to 100,000. When I called the agent said, does your husband want one also? So he got one also and they matched his miles, another 70,000. We cancelled his card later, but before we did we were able to transfer his rewards to my account with no fee!
Best deal ever! But ,alas, that deal is no more.

You just use your card for everything you can. We use it all the time (except sometimes we use the 5% cash back deals from Discover). We have household bills being paid automatically with the card, also. Including MFs. For each dollar you spend, you get 2 miles, no restrictions. (We were building a very large addition. the builder let us pay his suppliers last year.) So every month we get thousands of miles.

When you use the card for airlines or hotels or exchange fees, you do not have to do anything in advance. Just get and book the best deal you can. When the travel expenses show up on your statement, you go to the redeem rewards site on line and those travel expenses will already be separated out.
You check what you want to redeem and it will be automatically subtracted from your balance due. So easy! If you spend $200, it takes 20,000 miles to get your $200 taken off your balance. If you spend $161, you must redeem 16,100. All the info is there for you to just check off and it will show you how many miles you have left.
I think Capital one will help you with booking also but we have not done that.
It even puts the little things like paying a parking fee to a resort on there as a travel expense.
Does anyone out there have a better rewards deal than this for travelling?

 

[Skittles1]

I second everything that Momeason said. I have used a Capital One miles card for years, and have been able to fly my family to Disney 3 times in 5 years for free, thanks to the miles I have accumulated. I switched to the Venture card last year, and I LOVE it. You accumulate miles twice as fast, and I love that you can just use the miles that you need based on the cost of the ticket (ie, if the airfare is $158, you use 15,800 miles), versus the tiered system of miles redemption with my other Capital One card (ie, airfare under $150 roundtrip is 15,000 miles, $150-$350 is 35,000 miles, etc). You will love this card, I recommend it to everyone!

 

[Laurie]

I love the Venture card because you can redeem miles (ie get credit back against your new balance) up to 90 days after the expenditure, as momeason explained. I don't ever book travel thru them, I shop for best deals and redeem later.

And not just for airline miles - depending on how resorts code their postings, you can sometimes use for timeshare maintenance fees, meals and any other purchases at a resort (CapOne paid for my mouse-ears souvenir last week), and other travel-related expenses: tours, transportation tickets, auto rentals of course, etc.

If you have business expenses you normally charge, you can rack up lots of miles every month. Plus check out the bonus miles - e.g. shopping for an appliance? Go thru their portal to Sears, place the order online, and pick up at your local store same day (as long as you've confirmed local availability first). A $500 purchase gets you 3500 miles, because Sears gives 5 bonus per $1 in addition to the normal 2 per $1. Etc.

We never got a special deal as they may be offering this time, but like the card anyway, plus it's the best for travel outside the US because no currency conversion fees. Also I've found customer service to be excellent.

 

[carl2591]

who do you book flights through with capital one.. With my first citizens card we go through a travel agency affiliated with the "bank miles" place.

we look on expedia and get prices and then go through them.. How can i use capital one with the certificates i get or have with mybank miles plan.

just trying to figure out the logistics of this. Do they rebate you after you pay with the credit card for air fare kinda deal?

reread momeason and see how to do it now.. thanks

 

[JoeWilly]

We have the capitol one card too--love it. You can book flights on any airline, no restrictions. Whatever you pay for a ticket, they times by 100 and that's how many miles it takes. Getting reimbursed for the price of your ticket and deducting the miles from your account is so easy. Just go online or call to get reimbursed, but you must put in for reimbursement within 90 days of purchase.

 

[ScoopKona]

I just take my miles and use them to pay down my Capital One bill. Works EXACTLY the same way, and I don't need to wait until I buy a ticket.

 

[Timeshare Von]

I just take my miles and use them to pay down my Capital One bill. Works EXACTLY the same way, and I don't need to wait until I buy a ticket.

Credit card deals come and go, and I've been through A LOT of them for the freebies in bonus miles . . . but Capital One is the only card I'm loyal to and continue to keep beyond the redemption of the bonus miles of the others.

Not only is it easy to use the "miles" (I do the same as Scoop, although often I'll redeem for g/c's at restaurants we frequently visit such as Outback and the Darden Group), but their customer service and fraud detection services are outstanding.

I have also moved our primary checking and money market accounts to Capital One as well. I love the internet banking era!

 

[carl2591]

pulled the trigger last night and did the unfreeze thang on credit files to apply.

filled everything out online and got approval in 2 mins.. or less..

now to get statement from current miles card to use for more miles.

thanks to all for the info.

ps if you dont have a freeze on your credit files.. get to it.. its easy to do and not that hard to unfreeze when you need to plus it prevents anyone from stealing your credit. period,, better that life lock or anything else.. :annoyed:

 

[PClapham]

So if you are racking up miles on a single airline the miles count there? we like to keep elite status.

Anitak

 

[sue1947]

So if you are racking up miles on a single airline the miles count there? we like to keep elite status.

Anitak

You don't earn miles, you earn points. If you buy an airline ticket for $200, it costs 20000 points. Or if you spend $200 on lodging, you can pay it off with 20,000 points. Or if you spend $200 of groceries, you can pay it off with 20,000 points. So you aren't limited on how you will spend the points earned. You have to earn at least 5000 and then can use it to pay down whatever bill you want.

I got one to use in Canada to avoid foreign transaction fees. That aspect can be a hassle. Their fraud detection worked so well that they flagged my use in Canada twice within 24 hours in Canada even after I called them. I have since used it on short trips in Canada without problems, but the first one was a major pain in the neck. Each time I had to call and 'got' to talk to a person who didn't understand English very well. I escalated until I got somebody I could understand and it was finally settled, but it was an eye opening experience on how much data (much of it incorrect) they had gathered about me.

The other negative: you can't get into first class as cheaply. I used miles in Alaska to get a first class roundtrip for 50000 miles. Most earned on the Alaska credit card. Those same points on the Cap One card will only pay off $500 and I couldn't get first class seats for that price. So if upgrades are important, you might want to go with a miles card. However, for ease of use and flexibility, Cap One is pretty good.

Sue

 

[hypnotiq]

Wanted to thank everyone for this thread.

Switched over to the Venture card and got the 100,000 bonus miles. Pretty happy about that

 

[heathpack]

I got my confirmation email that Cap One has set aside 90,600 points for us pending our $1k spend.

We are waiting until we get to Cabo to spend the $, we are working on the spends for two new AA Citibank cards first. No foreign transaction fees with the Cap One card, should work well for us in Mexico.

The million dollar question for us is whether this card will give our Starwood Amex a run for its money. That has been our go-to card for many years. Cap One looks good, but it sure is nice to have free hotel stays in your back pocket to flesh out a TS trip- the way my work schedule is set, if I take a week off, I can usually actually be gone 10 days. So it's nice to throw two or three nights at some pricey hotel into the mix. I probably would not stay at the Royal Hawaiian for example, if I had to spend my Cap One "cash" on the stay.

H

 

[hypnotiq]

Yeah, Im looking fwd to the no foreign transaction fee for our trip to Cabo too. They said that the points are there but will show up in my account after the first billing cycle. I renewed my season tix for the Seahawks, so that put me over the $1k in 90 days pretty easily.

 

[Timeshare Von]

The one thing I really like is that I can cash in the points for gift cards to use at places I shop anyway. I haven't used for travel per se, but money is money regardless of the form you get it in.

 

[momeason]

Wanted to thank everyone for this thread.

Switched over to the Venture card and got the 100,000 bonus miles. Pretty happy about that

Congrats. did that last year...love it!

 

[momeason]

I got my confirmation email that Cap One has set aside 90,600 points for us pending our $1k spend.

We are waiting until we get to Cabo to spend the $, we are working on the spends for two new AA Citibank cards first. No foreign transaction fees with the Cap One card, should work well for us in Mexico.

The million dollar question for us is whether this card will give our Starwood Amex a run for its money. That has been our go-to card for many years. Cap One looks good, but it sure is nice to have free hotel stays in your back pocket to flesh out a TS trip- the way my work schedule is set, if I take a week off, I can usually actually be gone 10 days. So it's nice to throw two or three nights at some pricey hotel into the mix. I probably would not stay at the Royal Hawaiian for example, if I had to spend my Cap One "cash" on the stay.

H

Congrats yo you also. the double miles per $1 are great and it is so easy to use. We love it!

 

[Ken555]

It appers that this is just a 2% cash back card in another form. So, with that in mind, and discounting the advantage of the initial bonus possibility, why would you opt for this card vs a 2% cash back card?

 

[heathpack]

It appers that this is just a 2% cash back card in another form. So, with that in mind, and discounting the advantage of the initial bonus possibility, why would you opt for this card vs a 2% cash back card?

Because I get a 90,000 point sign up bonus, or $900. That's the entire reason.

H

 

[carl2591]

i found another great benefit as well. on the rewards side you can find preferred partners to do business with and get more miles..

I was looking for a hotel for upcoming business trip and was going to book at hiltons website when i remembered this feature.. I held off and when back to rewards site i had up and found hotel.com link.. they are paying 6 miles per dollar when you go through cap one website to hotels .com. The price was a couple cents less than best price i had found so i booked through hotel.com and get 6 miles per dollar on 300 dollar deal..

nice

be sure to check it out at capitalone.com

the have a lot of popular names in a lot of categories.

 

[PClapham]

It appears that the offer is still one the Cap One website. If so, what does it mean by trips on another travel rewards card and an "official" year end accounting? Does this mean that because we charged our trips on the AmEx Costco card we would not get any miles?
Is it therefore worthwhile?

Thanks

Anita

 

[carl2591]

It appears that the offer is still one the Cap One website. If so, what does it mean by trips on another travel rewards card and an "official" year end accounting? Does this mean that because we charged our trips on the AmEx Costco card we would not get any miles?
Is it therefore worthwhile?

Thanks

Anita

I think that is referring to the bonus miles or something like that.. if the AMex card is a miles or travel bonus card ie.. you get miles or like with us we get a certificate for $100 off airfare card, then the total you spent will be doubled with cap one card.. say you spent $15,000 on amex you can can get 30,000 miles on cap one card after you open the account and send in year end statement. My card did not provide one,, said to use monthly statements to determine years purchases..

cap one will not accept month statements according to term and conditions stuff..

that what i was told by cap one rep when i called about the same thing.

some one else may know as well.

 

[joyzilli]

I just applied for the card and the rep told me it's the year end statement from my current charge card and all charges apply toward the bonus.

 

[heathpack]

It appears that the offer is still one the Cap One website. If so, what does it mean by trips on another travel rewards card and an "official" year end accounting? Does this mean that because we charged our trips on the AmEx Costco card we would not get any miles?
Is it therefore worthwhile?

Thanks

Anita

The idea is that the Capital One Venture card gives you 2 cents back in travel rewards for every dollar spent, whereas most other travel cards give you 1 cent or 1 mile per dollar spent. In this promotion Cap One wants you to see what it would feel like to have their rewards in contrast to your current one.

Therefore, if you already have a credit card that earns you miles or cash back FOR TRAVEL and you can provide them a year-end summary of spending for 2011, you they will match your 2011 earnings for the other card at a ratio of 2:1. For example, last year we charged just over 45,000 on our Starwood AMEX. Cap One will give us 90,000 points to be used for travel if we sign up for the card and spend $1000 in the first 3 months we have the card.

H

 

[PClapham]

Thanks- this helps a lot!

Anita