Another PS to my message above. Capital one does not charge the extra 2% foreign additional charge that many others including NWA now do. When we went to Australia, I think the other couple used the Chase miles program and with charging all the hotels, food, excursions etc. It cost them an extra $150 or so for the trip.

I think kathcollins is confused about the addon for foreign currency conversion as the 3% for some cards is the total amount, and includes the VISA/MC 1% already. At least, I've never heard of a card that is charging a 3% addon to make 4% total.

I have a Capitol One FF Miles One mastercard and it is a minimal cost compared to most FF cards, but it is $20 a year. As far as I know, they don't have any card that is free that gives FF miles. I just think of it as a cashback card, really, rather than a FF card, because that's kind of what it is. You can simply get 1% of your purchases back in cash if you don't try to use the FF miles option.

In theory, the FF miles would get you something worth more than the cash, but it's just easier for me to get the money and look for my own flight bargains. I thought the US domestic RT requirement was 25K points, for example (or spending $25,000) and I can get $250 cash back instead of that ticket, if I want. I don't remember the maximum dollar value of the ticket they allow, but maybe $500 or so; it is more than $250, I know.

I guess all Capital one cards are different - for that matter, so are the citibank cards! I use citibank for everything at home and accummulate those miles on my AA FF account...but if I use it overseas it really did charge me 3% over the MC 1%=total 4%!
When travelling out of the country I use the Capital one. I'm half way to a free ticket, and I've been assured those slowly growing miles will never expire as long as I use the card at least once a year. There was no annual fee for Cap one so it doesn't cost anything to have it.