New Capital One airline card?
#42
Join Date: Mar 2005
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I went with Capitol One Visa about 4 years ago when you could fly to Europe 2nd class for 50,000 points and first class for 100,000 points. We were interested in flying 1st class and when I finally had the 200,000 required for 2 tickets, the plan had changed to the 100 multiple. So, we had to use all the 200,000 and could only fly 2nd class.
Another point I don't see in this thread is the stipulation that you must use only 1 carrier for your entire trip. So we had a 6 hour layover in Philly trying to get home when there were other airlines flying to our city that better suited our needs.
Another point I don't see in this thread is the stipulation that you must use only 1 carrier for your entire trip. So we had a 6 hour layover in Philly trying to get home when there were other airlines flying to our city that better suited our needs.
#43
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Another point..not everyone has to use the 100 multiple. I guess we've had ours long enough that we are still required to use the 80 multiple...but I still believe that one-airline CC's are a better deal.
#44
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Intrepid, I applied for ours yesterday. Our "offer" included the 80 mile multiplier, which is what sealed the deal for me.
I'm going to keep my AA card, and DH will have the Capital One card, so we can choose where to accrue the miles. We're going to do some remodeling for big bucks, so if that all goes on Capital One, we can probably get some good tickets.
I also like that you can use whatever miles you have against the ticket price. You don't have to have enough miles for the full credit. And you still get miles for flying in the actual airline program.
We'll see...
I'm going to keep my AA card, and DH will have the Capital One card, so we can choose where to accrue the miles. We're going to do some remodeling for big bucks, so if that all goes on Capital One, we can probably get some good tickets.
I also like that you can use whatever miles you have against the ticket price. You don't have to have enough miles for the full credit. And you still get miles for flying in the actual airline program.
We'll see...
#46
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My only concern about this card is that it appears to require more points/miles for some trips than airline-specific FF programs. Of course, the nice thing is the lack of blackout dates and the fact that you don't have to worry about whether or not any FF seats are available and that is a big plus in my book.
#47
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That's the trade off, Intrepid. American gives you a similar option, but you have to use double the miles to get an Anytime Award rather than a PlanAhead award. So if you compare apples to apples (namely, Capital One to an Anytime Award) it's actually less miles than the comparable American Airline program.
#48
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It really depends on what you would normally use your miles for. I don't even think it's possible to make an apples to apples comparison since the Capital One program is totally dependent on cost of the ticket.
In the instance of business class awards to Europe, most ff programs offer double mileage, unrestricted awards at 180K each. If using a factor of 80, 180K Capital One miles would buy you a $2250 ticket. If using a factor of 100, that same 180K would only buy you a $1800 ticket. $2250 is not always enough to cover an advance purchase restricted business class ticket, let alone a full fare unrestricted one.
The other downside is of course, that you cannot combine the Capital One miles with miles earned from flying or any other method, so the earning rate is slower.
In the instance of business class awards to Europe, most ff programs offer double mileage, unrestricted awards at 180K each. If using a factor of 80, 180K Capital One miles would buy you a $2250 ticket. If using a factor of 100, that same 180K would only buy you a $1800 ticket. $2250 is not always enough to cover an advance purchase restricted business class ticket, let alone a full fare unrestricted one.
The other downside is of course, that you cannot combine the Capital One miles with miles earned from flying or any other method, so the earning rate is slower.