Southwest giftcards never expire and I'd assume they're travel purchases.

I'm not familiar with other airline giftcards.

If the miles come before the end of March, $1400 would buy 100,000 *A miles in US Air's half-price promo.

$450 would buy an AmEx Plat card with 50K MR bonus plus all perks, and with current 50% Delta or 40% BA bonuses.

No one has the card yet, so no one can answer the question. Reading through the coin thread won't help either.

Would you give more info on the HOW TO?

We just returned from Big Island yesterday and I am playing catch-up on this. I decide to figure out the reward side first before jumping in.

Also it does not seem clear to me about the "airline credit card earned miles" about the matching requirement.

I'm wondering if there would be any problem using the Capital One points towards the renting of a condo through VRBO. I'm assuming it depends on how the transaction is coded. The website just says that you can use the points towards any travel purchase, but it does not say how it is determined that a purchase is travel-related. Obviously, a purchase through American Airlines or Westin is travel-related, but how else is that determined? Does anyone with the Capital One Venture Card know?

won't this be purchased thru points.com and thus not be a travel purchase?

You sure about this? Best to have all the facts before giving people advice on how to spend their money, especially if there's a chance their purchase won't be reimbursed with their newly found Cap One points. Then they'd be left owing quite a bit of money that they would not normally have spent.

Also, and I'm not familiar with the Cap One program, but I believe you make the travel purchase first and then designate it for reimbursement after the fact. If that's correct, then you don't need the Cap One points before making the purchase from US. If you're going to buy US miles anyway (not dependent on if you can get reimbursed by Cap One), then there's not much downside (just the opportunity cost of using the Cap One card instead your normal card) to buying the US miles as soon as you get the Cap One card. However, my guess is that most people (especially those on FT) go through $1120 of travel charges per year, so there's not a whole lot of incentive to spend on the Cap One card if you're not sure you can get reimbursed when you can just put absolutely reimbursable items on it instead.

Before buying US miles I'd confirm with C1 that miles purchased through points.com would qualify as travel (and I'd get it in written message confirmation).

VRBO question as well
 

I am in the same boat in a couple weeks. I went back to last year and traced down the MCC code which was miscellaneous, not lodging. Therefore the reduced lodging points requirement will not be a possibility I don't think. You can still pay with the rental but it will be at a much higher points requirement. Airlines, hotels and car rentals require lower points burn than general expenses.

Please let me know if you learn otherwise or figure a way to get this to work out.

Many rental owners on VRBO don't take CC. You may have to change your criteria to find the one who does. Is it worth it?

I'll be buying a Paris Metro card soon. Do you think that will qualify as "travel" spending on the card (and be reimbursable)?

How about travel related items such as meals, museums, etc while in Paris?

Also I'll put a hotel on it which, obviously, will qualify.

I don't have to change any criteria because I've already rented the condo with an initial deposit with a credit card. The remainder is not due for months, and I'm asking a question to determine whether using Capital One Points would work or not? I'm guessing that they may not work (it may depend on the merchant code) and am asking for information from anyone that knows? Particularly, anyone who has used the points in the program previously.

I would also like to know if anyone knows how Capital One determines that an expense is travel-related. For example, one could take a trip and rent equipment (scuba gear, fishing gear, etc.), does this count as travel-related? What if you pay via credit card for a scuba diving trip with a charter boat? Besides the obvious (airline/hotel), how is it determined that an expense is travel-related?

I can't think of any scenario in which you could pay for the annual fee for an Amex platinum card with the C1 Venture card. And even if you could, I am fairly certain C1 would never consider this a travel expense.

Likewise, I can't think of any scenario in which a new C1 card holder would see their C1 miles show up before the end of March.

I think there a lot of good options for using the 110K points, but neither of these is workable.

Travel related expenses
 

The catagory of each and every charge is determined by the MCC code that vendor uses. Google MCC for a listing. There are codes for hotels airlines, retail, gas etc. This MCC code is used to determine travel related as the codes that qualify are predetermined. The problem is, we don't know which ones they are. I have asked my VRBO owner to have his CC processor change his code but they will not respond to him for some reason.

Purchase airline ticket for friends?
 

Is it possible to use the points for airline travel for a friend or is it only for myself?

Also is hotel in foreign country allowed as long as they accept credit card for payment, I mean like Thailand and China? Thanks

Tickets
 

as long as the airline charge is on your card you shouldn't have an issue