nsx

With the Venture X card, Capital One now has enough interest and enough complexity to warrant a forum. The current Venture X megathread has more posts per day than many forums and encompasses several topics. Readers would benefit if those topics had their own threads.

SanDiego1K

This is worthy of consideration. The bloggers talk a lot about Capital One.

Thoughts from other members?
@mia, as our resident credit card guru, what are your thoughts?

tcook052

FT is IMHO far too quick to create new forums but far too slow to ensure they're actually used once birthed so would like to see the threshold for new forum creation set much higher so we aren't launching a new forum with only high hopes and good intent as there are too many moribund forums which began this way but garner barely a dozen posts per year. More is not always the answer to every question although that is of course merely MHO and YMMV.

GUWonder

If there was a Capital One forum, maybe more people on FT will notice things like C1 points transferring to AY with a 100% bonus over the usual transfer rate.

Perhaps unlike with the T&D section of FT, more specialized forums — specialized on a service provider — the better it is on average for the general audience.

mia

Historically, when a credit card program added transfers to airline or hotel partners, I thought a separate forum was warranted because there was sustained discussion of transfer rules, strategies and problems. This hasn't happened for Capital One. Yes, the Venture X thread has been active, but we have been here before and discussion fizzled:

Some history.
2011-2013: The Venture "status match" thread had 2818 posts in 25 months, about 3.75 posts per day
2021-2022 The Venture X thread has 975 posts in nine months, about 3.6 posts per day.

In between those two was one primary discussion thread:
2010 - 2022 The Venture thread has 838 posts in a dozen years, about 1.33 posts per week.

On the other hand, it would be straightforward to break out the Capital One threads from Credit Card Programs over a few days, and it would be very easy to move them back into Credit Card Programs if discussion wasn't sustained. (There are other technical considerations I will raise if we decide to try this.)

moe8555

I think it warrants its own forum for reasons already mentioned here, but in particular:

1. Capital One appears dedicated to investing in and updating the product and points ecosystems, as well as the ancillaries (i.e. Capital One lounges), unlike the defunct Barclays Arrival Premier, for example
2. As with other point programs, Capital One also offers multiple complementary products, which enables strategizing and comparing/contrasting to alternatives (i.e. Venture X combined with Savor/SavorOne)
3. The Capital One travel portal is somewhat innovative with the price matching, fare locking, and price reduction protection features. And the pricing is reasonably competitive and differentiated, as opposed to Expedia clones with other issuers.
4. Capital One offers a suite of travel insurances and retail purchase protections, which facilitates discussion regarding ease of making claims, claim settlements, etc.
5. Capital One approval algorithms are nutty and there has been much discussion regarding that (i.e. sharing of data points, strategies, etc.)

​​​​​​

nsx

Topics which should be separated include:
- What transactions qualify for the travel credit and for the AriBnB credit, and how long it takes to get the credit.
- Which types of travel are competitively priced on the Capital One portal and which types are not.
- Rental car damage insurance experiences and concerns.
- Qualifying for a referral bonus if your family member has had a Capital One card in the past.
- Card application approval criteria.
- Priority Pass experiences, positive and negative. For example, highlight to newbies that there is not a single PP lounge or restaurant at LAX.
- Capital One cafe experiences. (These are quasi-branches with ATMs that can accept payments.)
- Venture X vs. Venture vs. holding both cards

sdix

I’d like to see a dedicated forum

SpaethCo

I do think there would be benefits to separating out things into different topics, which would be more easily facilitated in a dedicated sub-forum. Capital One has started incorporating transfer partner bonuses (recently FlyingBlue just had a 25% bonus) and having those opportunities tracked in a separate thread would help with visibility.

To add to nsx mention of Priority Pass, recently the "Access lounges on your payment card" feature made the rounds on all the travel blogs, but as far as I'm aware currently the Venture X is the only US-based card that actually supports that right now. This would be a good opportunity to discuss data points when it comes to trying to use the card as a lounge access method.

While I see mia 's argument that the discussions have slowed down in the past, I believe that Capital One's journey to expand beyond a limited 2% "cash back"-style miles program has been a more recent development. I could be wrong, but I only see interest growing to a broader subset of travelers when more people discover that you can pick up a VISA that earns 2x points on everything without category limitations or foreign transaction fees, and now you can transfer those points 1:1 into programs that many people are already playing in today.

dayone

I support the proposal to add a Capital One forum. The Venture X card in one of the best value premium travel cards available. It seems to be well received and will only grow more so as the new Capital One Lounges open in DEN and IAD.

GUWonder

And with the miles and points bloggers pushing the cards, interest in the cards among current and prospective FTers should trend upwards quite a bit in the time ahead.

TTT103

The VX is a relatively new product that received quite a bit of hype from the credit card and travel bloggers. The interest will likely subside, as it did with other new card products.

ffI

I too thought that for a while
But as I use the cards I have learnt quite a bit about the intricacies of Capital One

I had a Capital One card for a while on and off - varying cards - I usually wait for a $2k-$3k bonus offer and jump on it - cash it out for cash and then forget - rinse repeat
The venture X hits quite a few check boxes
I found that for UNBONUSED spend it is one of the best cards - It used to be the Amex Business Plus 2x

The transfer partners that matter all get 2 points for $ spend compared to Amex - 50k limit and Chase 1.5x unlimited
AC,and Lifemiles for Star Alliance
AF for Skyteam,
BA (IB, QR, AEwith all linked Avios accounts) & Qantas for OneWorld (Cathay too but I do not know how much longer the airline can last)

The hotels not imprisoned by Amex and Chase - can be transfer partners

4 Users - unlike Amex Plat 175$ for 3 or Chase with 75$ per Reserve user
The Hertz status and discounts help with bookings - used it in April for a car at SFO - it was nice to book a cheapo car and walk to the Presidents circle and pick a SUV
The 300$ travel credit is easy to use for airfares
I used the 200$ HOA credit - my HOA charges 15$ for card spend - but even then 185$ x 8 cards was a good rebate
It s not a full Amex coupon book, but certainly cheaper than Citi and Chase to keep a card for the PPass
It now allows access to Plaza premium lounges like Amex

Then is the major issue of combining points - not possible with Amex at all and only with some limitations with Chase
Citi transfer expire in 60 days - and my 900k stash of Double Cash could not be used as my Premier application was refused
Luckily my cap One account accepted unlimited transfers and I was able to book 5 trips UK to NZ on SQ for 2023 (and waitlist for F class!)

My friends and family group went big on both offers - and we now combine and have a stash of MMs of points - available at a moments notice
The only delay at times is calling to transfer to get the points to the Cap One account connected to the airline account that needs miles

So as of now,
5x Amex for Airfare - goes to a lot of partners too including DL = lost cash back = 0.525c
5x Chase Ink for Office stores and (transfer to UA, WN and Hyatt for most value) = lost cash 0.525c
BofA premium/Unlimited Rewards and Cap One for all unbonused spend - lost cash 1.32c per airline mile
AS / AA - using a card loses 2.62c - makes no sense when you can buy on sale for 1.75-1.9c routinely (and for domestic saver awards BA is good enough)
You can fine tune with Amex Gold for 4x groceries etc etc, but most regular spend for cash back / flexible points - Including at Costco as it is a Visa - Cap1 Vx

There are problems with Capital One - Allocation of credit lines
Citi used to move them but no longer - now I product change my citi cards instead of moving lines !
Unlike Amex and Chase credit lines are lower and unlikely to move between accounts
I have 3 business accounts with 30k and they cannot be combined

But like Amex, when you pay off the balance online the credit line is usable immediately
My BofA card releases the line next day (AND THEN locks it up again for a week for the "check" to clear) - it is only because the rebate is so good that I stay with it
Chase releases next day - while Citi takes a day as well

Card downgrades - possible in the past,(I have done in the past when I got tired of annual fees) but not sure now if upgrades and downgrades a la Amex or Chase are possible still

I think there are many more good reasons to test drive the new toy for the group and a separate forum or even subforum will be fine

AND Most importantly

tcook052

Those airport lounge discussions should be held in the proper place for them, the dedicated Airport Lounges forum, as is happening in two active threads at present.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airp...ge-2022-a.html

Capital One Lounge at DFW

Let's please think this through before rushing to mint a new forum to house discussion already underway in other entirely appropriate places.

dayone

My mention of additional Lounges was to suggest that they will increase interest in the Venture X card and Capital One. And we're discussing the value of and need for a new forum, which seems very measured.