New Capital One airline card?
Mar 14th, 2005, 11:19 AM
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New Capital One airline card?
Got an offer from Capital One Visa for a new non-specific airline card that allows travel on over 100 airlines with no blackout dates and no annual fee. The number of points you need for a ticket depends on the cost of the ticket you want to get x 100. So a $150 ticket would cost 15,000 miles. The nice part is that the cardholder gets to chose the itinerary/tickets. And Capital One is still charging 0% over the MC/Visa interbamk exchange rate overseas (at least for now).
Does anybody have this card? Is it as good as it seems? I'm thinking of getting it since I don't have a Visa and I've already been to some places that accept only Visa.
Does anybody have this card? Is it as good as it seems? I'm thinking of getting it since I don't have a Visa and I've already been to some places that accept only Visa.
Mar 14th, 2005, 11:43 AM
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The "multiple number" USED to be 80 so apparently that has changed???
Even though there are no blackout dates, etc., I am not convinced that the number of points needed for some of the flights is comparable with a lot of airline-specific cards which may very well offer a better deal even though there are blackout dates and the number of seats available is capacity-controlled. Only you can decide for sure I suppose.
Even though there are no blackout dates, etc., I am not convinced that the number of points needed for some of the flights is comparable with a lot of airline-specific cards which may very well offer a better deal even though there are blackout dates and the number of seats available is capacity-controlled. Only you can decide for sure I suppose.
Mar 14th, 2005, 12:04 PM
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I was perusing my bank's website and noted that they offer a rebate version and a miles version of one of the credit cards.
With the miles version, I would have been required to buy my tickets (assuming I ever charged enough to earn the miles) through a specific travel agency. We are frequent fliers on one airline, and struggle to keep status (25,000 miles flown) each year, so the mileage option on the credit card didn't seem to be advantageous to me, as the specific travel agency very well could put me on another alliance. I opted for the bird in hand rebate version of the card.
I would be interested in reading about people's experience with these non-specific airline cards. How easy is it to get seats, for example.
With the miles version, I would have been required to buy my tickets (assuming I ever charged enough to earn the miles) through a specific travel agency. We are frequent fliers on one airline, and struggle to keep status (25,000 miles flown) each year, so the mileage option on the credit card didn't seem to be advantageous to me, as the specific travel agency very well could put me on another alliance. I opted for the bird in hand rebate version of the card.
I would be interested in reading about people's experience with these non-specific airline cards. How easy is it to get seats, for example.
Mar 14th, 2005, 12:26 PM
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I'm not interested in the card as you can't combine the miles or points earned there with all the other things I do that I earn miles for -- like actual flights, buying flowers, long distance carriers, dining programs, etc.
I don't plan to cash in miles for such things as a simple domestic coach ticket which with a little planning I can get usually for a couple of hundred dollars. I instead prefer using my miles for something like a European business class ticket with a couple stopovers that's worth somewhere over $5000. I wouldn't be charging enough on one card to do that, and meanwhile I wouldn't get enough miles from my other activities to earn that either, without the help of credit card miles. So I'll stick with my AA citibank aadvantage card -- and just not use it for foreign purchases -- a minor point.
I don't plan to cash in miles for such things as a simple domestic coach ticket which with a little planning I can get usually for a couple of hundred dollars. I instead prefer using my miles for something like a European business class ticket with a couple stopovers that's worth somewhere over $5000. I wouldn't be charging enough on one card to do that, and meanwhile I wouldn't get enough miles from my other activities to earn that either, without the help of credit card miles. So I'll stick with my AA citibank aadvantage card -- and just not use it for foreign purchases -- a minor point.
Mar 14th, 2005, 06:41 PM
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Well, since I'm not going to Europe this summer, guess I'll worry about that next year. By then, who knows? Maybe all cards will add 2 or 3% on foreign exchanges. Otherwise, maybe I'll look for another card -- or actually look at the two or three I get unsolicited in the mail every week.
Mar 14th, 2005, 07:04 PM
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We decided to get the Capital One Go Miles card for travel in Europe just because they do not add a conversion fee for foreign purchases. But I'd be interested to know of a better "miles" card that does not have an added conversion fee.
Mar 15th, 2005, 10:40 AM
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I strongly recommend the Capitol One. As for clevelandbrowns concern about travel agency limitation, you can pick the airline, the flight number and the seat. They really don't care. It's your choice.
I had mine for several years and used it to purchase domestic airline tickets, gotten cash back, etc. They are super easy people to work with.
Curious
I had mine for several years and used it to purchase domestic airline tickets, gotten cash back, etc. They are super easy people to work with.
Curious
Mar 15th, 2005, 12:42 PM
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I'll second the Capital One visa. You can purchase your tickets on your own, and then call them to reimburse you for the tickets, assuming you have the miles. The only restriction we have is you must fly on a USA carrier, but we've been able to work with that rule when we've used it. As long as you can find a ticket / seat Cap One will pay for it.
I also like that it is not a set number of miles to fly, but rather flexible based upon the price of the tickets.
I also like that it is not a set number of miles to fly, but rather flexible based upon the price of the tickets.
Mar 15th, 2005, 12:59 PM
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The New York Times ran this article which is appropriate to this discussion.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/1...Pry9B4xC3BMqIw
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/1...Pry9B4xC3BMqIw
Mar 15th, 2005, 01:23 PM
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If the multiplier is 100, then it's no better than a 1% rebate card. With a 1% rebate card, you can use the money or other stuff, not just travel.
If the multiplier is 80, then you're getting a 1.25% rebate. That makes a little better.
If the multiplier is 80, then you're getting a 1.25% rebate. That makes a little better.
Mar 15th, 2005, 01:36 PM
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If the miles necessary to redeem a ticket are based on the cost of the ticket x 100 (essentially a 1% rebate), wouldn't it be better just to get a cash rebate card instead? Assuming you can earn at least 1% (and often more) on a cash rebate card, you'd have money in your pocket to do whatever you want with it, instead of being limited to only using certain air carriers. Unless the issue is that you're charging more than the annual rebate cap. But there are still ways to get around that. Get more rebate cards (most have no annual fee anyway). If you're married, have your husband/wife get his/her own separate account with you as an additional cardholder.
I guess I just don't see the attraction of these non-airline affiliated 'mileage' cards. Seems that if you're going to go that route, a straight cash rebate card makes more sense.
The primary reason I stick with cards affiliated with frequent flyer programs is for the opportunity to redeem miles for business class travel, something that would be impossible to achieve with bank reward cards.
I guess I just don't see the attraction of these non-airline affiliated 'mileage' cards. Seems that if you're going to go that route, a straight cash rebate card makes more sense.
The primary reason I stick with cards affiliated with frequent flyer programs is for the opportunity to redeem miles for business class travel, something that would be impossible to achieve with bank reward cards.
Mar 15th, 2005, 01:45 PM
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I have a Capital One card, but I'm part of the old program (not sure if it's available to newcomers anymore), where you can redeem (among other things) 65,000 miles for a plane ticket to Europe up to $1000. I'm terrible at math, but that's definitely more than a 1% rebate. Still no blackout dates, and I get to choose the airline, times, etc. They have a search engine similar to Expedia (or it may be directly linked to Expedia...I forget), but your miles are paying for it. Since we fly out of a small airport, flights are expensive so we always maximize the value of the free ticket(s). If you live near a major airport on the east coast, I can see how this wouldn't be as good a deal. We do have an annual fee, but I can't remember what it is (maybe $30 or so?).
Mar 15th, 2005, 02:22 PM
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I think when these types of cards first appeared, they mimicked the airline frequent flyer programs, i.e. a set number of miles gets you a roundtrip ticket to a certain destination up to a maximum dollar value. But I think many of these cards have now switched to using a multiplier that's directly tied to the cost of the ticket. Perhaps they realized they were losing money as people were buying tickets for close to the maximum allowed value???
Mar 15th, 2005, 03:15 PM
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I'm with Patrick on this one. In examining these "mileage" cards, they don't really strike me as having much of anything to do with miles except in terms of marketing. The "miles" are just a proxy for money.
The very best way to leverage a mileage-earning card -- in my opinion -- is to have the ability to combine activities from various sources into one account, including flying. That is what will put the holder in a position to redeem for tickets as frequently as possible, instead of holding "orphan balances" in a number of separate programs. The "universal mileage" card products don't help the holder to do that and it really limits their value. To me, these cards actually reduce the utility of the holder's frequent flyer account, compared to having a card that would work synergistically with it.
The very best way to leverage a mileage-earning card -- in my opinion -- is to have the ability to combine activities from various sources into one account, including flying. That is what will put the holder in a position to redeem for tickets as frequently as possible, instead of holding "orphan balances" in a number of separate programs. The "universal mileage" card products don't help the holder to do that and it really limits their value. To me, these cards actually reduce the utility of the holder's frequent flyer account, compared to having a card that would work synergistically with it.
