Capital One Venture X Details

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Updated 3/15 with new intro offer information

Capital One has launched a new card, and I’m very excited about this one. The card_name is a premium card that is comparable to other premium cards such as Chase Sapphire Reserve.

A lucrative welcome bonus, benefits, plus solid earn and redemption potential make this card worth considering, especially for anyone who is over 5/24. In this post, I’ll discuss card details plus your options for redeeming the miles that this card earns.

Earn 75,000 miles for opening the card

There is an exciting welcome offer on this card. You’ll earn 75,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.

75,000 miles are worth at least $750, but Capital One has transfer partners. And y’all know how much I love using transfer partners. If you redeem Capital One miles as a purchase eraser, they’re worth 1 cent per point. But with transfer partners, we are often able to get at least 2 cents per point, and sometimes significantly more. I’ll discuss redemption options a little more in a moment.

Earn at least 2 points per dollar on every purchase

The best card for you depends on several factors such as spending habits. This card earns at least 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, so that alone makes this a card to consider. Most comparable cards earn 1 point per dollar on non category bonus purchases.

With this card, you’ll earn 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars, 5 points per dollar on flights booked via Capital One Travel, and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.

Capital One Venture X comes with some benefits and statement credits

First let’s talk about the annual statement credit and bonus miles. This is important because it can more than make up for the high annual fee.

Cardmembers will receive an annual credit of $300 for bookings made on Capital One Travel.

Each account anniversary, you’ll receive 10,000 bonus miles. 10,000 bonus miles would be worth at least $100, but more if you learn how to utilize transfer partners.

The annual fee is $395. But if you’re able to take advantage of the $300 statement credit and then the annual bonus miles that are worth at least $100 in travel, that’s $400 in value.

Then there are these other benefits:

Unlimited access to Capital One Lounges and over 1,300 Priority Pass lounges internationally
$100 credit for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry

This card also comes with exclusive benefits via Capital One Travel:

Predictive pricing models and tools to ensure you’re getting the best available deals
Free price drop protection
Option to freeze a price and come back 14 days later to book

Capital One Venture X redemption options

Before you open ANY credit card, I encourage you to learn about the reward currency said card earns. The card_name credit card earns Capital One Venture miles.

There are two ways to redeem Venture miles for travel:

Redeem miles/points at a fixed value for travel purchases.
Transfer to airline or hotel partners. Venture miles become airline miles or hotel points. You can redeem them according to the rules and redemption prices of the airline or hotel program to which you transfer.

Option 1: Redeem Capital One Venture miles at a fixed value for travel purchases

The first way to redeem miles from the card_name credit card for travel is to use the points/miles for travel purchases.

The advantage to this (as opposed to transferring to airline partners) is that you have lots of options. Also, some people prefer this because it’s a little less complicated than learning the ins and outs of transfer partners.

The disadvantage is that you will be redeeming the points at a fixed value. Sure, there are no blackout dates to worry about. You also don’t have to worry about award seat availability. The problem is, a more expensive plane ticket/hotel stay (think holidays) is going to require more miles/points.

To redeem Venture miles as cash for travel purchases, you can use the card to book the travel. After that, you have 90 days to log in to your Capital One account and use your miles to ‘erase’ all or part of any travel purchases. People who prefer cash-back type travel rewards will love this because it is about as simple as you can get.

The value of a Venture mile is 1 cent per point when redeeming. The welcome bonus of 75,000 miles is worth $750 in travel when you redeem this way.

75,000 X 1=75,000
75,000/100=$7500

Option 2: Transfer points/miles to airlines or hotels

The second way to redeem miles from the card_name credit card is to transfer them to airline or hotel partners.

Capital One has 3 hotel partners: Wyndham, Accor, and Choice. You can transfer Venture miles to Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges at a 1:1 ratio and to Accor Live Limitless at a 2:1 ratio. I have not had a chance to analyze these programs in depth. But I have had lots of experience with some of Capital One’s airline partners.

Transferring Venture miles to airline partners is how you can potentially get more value than 1 cent per point, and Capital One has 14 airline transfer partners.

capital one and ultimate rewards transfer partners, business class to italy, best credit card offers 2021 — *If you want to use miles and points to book long-haul business class flights, transferring points to airline partners is going to result in a MUCH lower redemption rate!*

A lot of people don’t want to bother with this, but it’s how Ryan and I have stretched our points to make all of our travels happen over the past 8 years! Using transfer partners can make your points at least two times more valuable than if you redeem them as a purchase eraser.

All Capital One Venture transfer partners except Accor (hotel) and EVA Air are 1:1.

This is what 75,000 Venture miles would yield:

75,000 miles for 1:1 partners OR
50,000 miles for 2:1 partners

capital one venture x 2023 business class — *We were able to fly to the Maldives in Emirates business class by transferring points to Emirates*

Are the transfer partners useful?

Some people may look at the airline partners and immediately write off this card based on the fact that none are the programs of US common carriers.

That is where indirect partners come into play, though! For example, we booked business class flights to Japan on a flight operated by American Airlines by using Etihad miles. Our redemption price was less than what AAdvantage would have required. Etihad miles are also great for booking other American Airlines routes such as US-Europe.

Actually, this Japan route is a great example of why having the ability to transfer to airline partners is so important. With Venture miles, you still have the ability to use the miles as a “purchase eraser” for flights, hotels, and other travel expenses (also known as a cash back redemption) when it makes sense. The value is always going to be 1 cent per point when you redeem COV miles as cash back. When fares and hotel rates are low, it’s nice to have the ability to redeem this way. Cheap flight=low points required. But for more expensive airfare, particularly premium cabin tickets, you’re going to want to be able to transfer to Venture miles to airline partners.

Depending on how you redeem Capital One miles, the exact same flight would require either 450,000 Capital One miles or just 82,500 Capital One miles.

capital one airline partners 2023 Etihad — *We booked business class tickets to Japan on an American Airlines flight with Etihad miles. You can transfer Capital One Venture miles to Etihad at a 1:1 ratio*

Here are two different ways to redeem Capital One Venture miles to book the exact same American Airlines flight

It’s always nice to sit in business class on long haul flights, but what we often do is fly to the destination in business and then fly home in economy. There are a couple reasons for this:

The way we book (transfer partners) is only possible if an award seat is available. Award seats may not be available for premium cabins both ways, but economy is often much easier to find.
Booking one way in economy saves miles/points on the overall total.

So that’s how I’m going show the two ways to book this one. I’ll give redemption pricing on a nonstop AA itinerary between DFW and Tokyo. The flight to Japan is in business class and the return flight is in economy.

1. Transfer Partners

Venture miles do not transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage. But there are 5 airline partners that you can use to book flights operated by American Airlines.

Etihad is the partner you’re going to want to use for this route.

Etihad is not in any of the 3 major airline alliances in the world, but the frequent flyer program, Etihad Guest, partners with several airlines for which you can redeem Etihad miles. American Airlines is one of these partners.
So after finding award seats available for the dates I’m using in this example, I could transfer Capital One Venture miles to my Etihad Guest account. Award tickets are always subject to availability. I am totally glossing over this step but I cannot stress enough how important it is to search for availability before transferring any points. Click here for instructions on searching for AA partner award space.
Once the Capital One Venture miles are moved to my Etihad account, they become Etihad miles. I can redeem the Etihad miles to book the DFW-Japan AA itinerary.
When you redeem this way, the partner with which you book (Etihad) determines the redemption price, not the airline operating the flight (American Airlines)
The amount of miles required with Etihad’s frequent flyer program for this route is less than what AAdvantage requires for the exact same flight.

Here is the Etihad redemption table for flights operated by American Airlines

UPDATE: Etihad has changed its chart and most of these prices are now different. I will update this soon! But the point is, using transfer partners is still the best way to maximize points for premium cabin seats.

These are for one way and Japan is considered Asia 1. “EO” is economy off peak and the dates I’m using happen to be off-peak, so I think this itinerary will actually price out less than I thought.

North America to Japan (Asia 1) in business class is going to be 50,000 miles. In economy, it will be either 32,500 or 25,000 (Peak/Off-peak). So the total for roundtrip would be 75,000 or 82,500 miles. This is a great deal… just wait until you see the cash price of this itinerary. To compare, AAdvantage requires 60,000 for business and 32,500 for economy, so 92,500 total. Even if I could transfer Capital One Venture miles to AAdvantage, I still would want to use Etihad because it results in a better redemption cost.

Assuming you can find award availability, you would transfer 75,000 or 82,500 Capital One Venture miles to your Etihad account. Then you would complete the booking with Etihad. Here are instructions. That post is about transferring Amex to Etihad, but now that COV miles transfer at 1:1, the steps also apply to COV.

Etihad allows one-way bookings, so you could use Etihad for one way and a different Capital One airline partner for the other way if award availability is an issue. In fact, I know in the past Etihad was weird about mixed cabin itineraries, so you may have to book an itinerary like this one as two separate one ways.

There’s one little catch here. Unlike Amex Membership Rewards which usually transfer immediately to Etihad, COV miles can take 24-48 hours to reach your Etihad account. You run the risk of the award space not being there once you do have the miles. With economy seats, this usually isn’t too much of a problem as more are available, but with premium cabins, award space gets booked quickly. Etihad may hold award tickets if you call and ask, but I cannot find any official information about holds. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

Total COV miles required: 75,000 or 82,500

Another example of using transfer partners for business class to Asia would be with Avianca. Avianca Lifemiles can be redeemed for Star Alliance partner flights such as EVA Air, ANA, or United. You can find more information in this post about booking Thailand.

2. Purchase eraser (Cash back)

When you redeem Venture miles using the purchase eraser, it’s the same thing as cash back. You would buy your flights with the card then redeem the Venture miles at a value of 1 cent per point. You have 90 days to log in to your Capital One account and use your miles to ‘erase’ all or part of any travel purchases. Since we need to determine the fare in order to determine the redemption price, I’m searching the exact dates I found above with the award availability to book with Etihad miles.

Roundtrip DFW to Tokyo with one way in business and the other in economy is ~$4500. This is typical for this route/these cabins.

how to redeem capital one miles for American Airlines flights

To use Capital One Venture miles to erase the purchase, you’re going to need a lot more than 75,000 or 82,500. COV points can be redeemed this way at a fixed value of 1 cent per point.

To fully cover a $4500 ticket with COV miles using the purchase eraser redemption method, you would need ~450,000 Venture miles. That is 6 times the amount of miles needed when you use Etihad to book (75,000 miles).

Even if you book this roundtrip route in economy, you would need over 103,900 Capital One Venture miles because the ticket is $1,039. If you transfer Capital One Venture miles to Etihad and then use Etihad to book roundtrip economy, you would only need 50,000 miles roundtrip (off peak dates) or 65,000 miles roundtrip (peak dates).

capital one venture transfer partners 2021 — *Highly recommend Mari Kart in Japan*

Foreign airline partners are probably more useful than you thought, huh?

A really important takeaway here is that even though bank points such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and now Capital One Venture miles have few partnerships with airlines you’re probably more familiar with, partnerships with foreign airline programs can be extremely valuable. Capital One has some great partners.

Final thoughts

capital one venture airline miles 2021 — *Avianca miles are a great way to fly to South America, but they’re also great for other routes. You can transfer Capital One Venture miles to Avianca at a 1:1 ratio*

Is the Capital One Venture X card worth opening?

The card_name credit card is definitely one to consider. The only reason I would advise against it is if you’re under 5/24 and you have not yet opened all of the Chase cards that you want. If you’re unfamiliar with the 5/24 rule, please read this before applying for any cards.

If you’re brand new to award travel, we suggest starting with a Chase Sapphire Preferred® card.

It is best to open Chase 5/24 cards first, particularly the card_name. It currently has a welcome bonus of 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Those points are worth at least $750 but in this post I have 36 ways to redeem for even more with transfer partners.

Given that Capital One Venture X is an ultra-premium card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred isn’t really a comparable card. Capital One Venture would be the more comparable card to CSP (You can read more here: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture). But the CSP is a good card for beginners because the annual fee is reasonable at $95, the welcome bonus is worth at least $750, and the min spend required to get the bonus is reasonable. Ultimate Rewards points are easy to earn and easy to redeem.

card_name offer: Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.

Here are the earn rates:

Earn 5 points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
2 points per dollar on all other travel
Instead of the old earn rate of 2, you can now earn 3 points per dollar on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout)
3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases (this excludes Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
3 points per dollar on select streaming services
Earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

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