Relative newbie here with some questions about Capital One's Travel Portal.

1. Is there a "discount" on reservations made through their portal? I have the Venture X but I had a Capital One card several years ago. I seem to remember them advertising that if you redeemed your points for travel you got 25% more. I no longer see a reference to that. Am I simply remembering something from several years ago that no longer exists, or am I imagining things? Also, what is the point of redeeming their points for travel? You could redeem the same points for cash, and then use cash to buy the travel, and get 10 points per dollar spent. If you use points you don't earn any points for the non cash transaction, and there is no discount for using their portal anyway.

2. I seem to only have negative experiences with the Capital One travel portal. Their inventory is narrower than what I can find on kayak or google flights, and their fares no better. Also, it seems like what they are selling you is some sort of second-class ticket. The airlines are unable to change the ticket because its part of some separate inventory. This happened to me twice in the past month. Its similar to trying to change a Priceline hotel reservation or ask for points - the travel partner says no dice. For air travel, this is extremely troubling as any number of things may require flexibility. Also, this lack of flexibility came as a complete surprise to me - it is not advertised well if at all.

3. What are the benefits if any of booking travel through Capital One? The seem to have some sort of price protection if the fare drops (does that ever happen?) and offer some not cheap travel insurance. I don't see any other benefits, and certainly none that make up for the lack of flexibility. This is an important question because with a $395 annual fee you have book through their site to recoup a $300 travel credit. What am I missing?