There comes a time in every traveler's life when they need to, contemplate the true meaning of travel, their role in a global society, and most importantly, get a new credit card. Not necessarily because their old card isn’t getting the job done, but because a new one comes with a ridiculous amount of miles, points, or cash.
My current card was the Capital One Venture card, you know, "the what’s in your wallet?” card. I originally signed up for it at the beginning of my Grand Tour of Europe. It came with 50,000 miles and a $59 annual fee (which now, much like the cost of bourbon, garbanzo beans, and gold, has inflated, in this case to $95). It also came with no foreign transaction fees . . . but then again, is that still really a thing? Either way, that was all almost six years ago, so a new card was most definitely in order.
But which card?
There is no lack of websites that will list the best current credit card offers, displaying a general overview of the benefits and costs of each one. Even Kiplinger offers an opinion. The problem is that as there are so many cards that have so many offers, every listing of them is incredibly long, boring, and constantly changing.
When I worked and had a full-time job, I had barely enough time to review all my options and make a logical choice. Not that I’m retired and have all the time in the world, I can’t be bothered. Being paid by my employer to review my alternatives made the quest for the perfect credit card quite intriguing. It has subsequently become much less so.
So I decided to focus my efforts on . . .
Upgradedpoints.com is well laid out, only displaying credit cards with the best offers. They also rank the them based on their analysis of “redemption options, transfer partners, award availability, and how much Upgraded Points would pay to buy these points.”
I was immediately drawn to the Capital One Venture X card due to its generous “Welcome Offer” of 75,000 miles (~$750). Its “Annual Fee” of $395 was a little on the steep side, though is completely offset by a “$300 annual travel credit on bookings made through Capital One Travel” and a “10,000 bonus miles (~$100) awarded on your account anniversary each year.”
I liked these specific benefits because they were quite quantifiable and very attainable. The requirement to spend $4,000 over three months to earn the 75,000 miles wasn’t particularly onerous, and I had previously used Capital One Travel to book travel and felt their inventory was good and pricing fair.
It also came with a myriad of other benefits that, because of their “softness” I could not quantify or be assured of their usefulness: 10x points on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, unlimited lounge access (although the Missus was excited about this one), and $125 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (I already had both).
There were other cards out there that also offered similar “Welcome Offers:”
The “The Platinum Card® from American Express” offered me 80,000 points, but came with an Annual Fee of $695. It came with various travel credits that were all gimmicky:
- $200 Hotel Credit on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection (what does “prepaid,” “Fine Hotels + Resorts®” or “The Hotel Collection mean?).
- $240 Digital Entertainment Credit for Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The Wall Street Journal. Too bad I didn’t use any of these digital services.
- $155 Walmart+ Credit to cover the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership.
- There were a few others regarding airline incidental fees, Uber, Equinox (whatever that is), CLEAR, Saks, and Soul Cycle . . . you get the idea.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s 60,000 points for $95 also seemed quite attractive.
One unadvertised benefit of the Capital One Venture X is its construction, as it is made out of metal (0.76 mm of stainless steel with a thin veneer of PVC). While it didn’t factor into my decision, the “plunk” factor of this card fascinates some retail clerks, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I decided to go with Capital One Venture X, as even though the initial outlay was more, it seemed a little more lucrative. It didn’t hurt that I already did my banking at Capital One.
Sign-up went smoothly as there is even an option to see if you are pre-approved (I, of course, was). Two months and $4,000 later, I had 75,000 miles and a $300 travel credit to my name, as well as unlimited Capital One lounge access.
The lounge access perk wasn’t all that, as at the time, Capital One only had one lounge in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW).¹ Though, as serendipity would have it, I was passing through the Big D on my way back from CDMX. Unfortunately though, the lounge was two terminals away, which was on the outer limit of my connecting flight timing. I decided to drop in anyway. I’d like to think it was due to journalistic work effort, but it may have been due to spite, as when was I going to be in DFW again?!
Much like some of the clubs I go to, there is a maximum number of guests who can attend at any one time and therefore, the Capital One bouncer made us wait. I was hopeful that she would eject some of the Venture cardholders to make room for this Venture Xer (and his +1), but no joy. After patiently waiting 10 minutes, I exited the elevator into . . .
A spacious, welcoming space filled with delicious, limitless, and complimentary sandwiches, chicken salad, and most importantly margs. As I’ve reached a certain maturity level in life, the idea of free cocktails and beer, while still appetizing, is no longer dangerous. Therefore I enjoyed only one marg and one beer (well, maybe a second beer, but I had to wait on line for over five minutes). The whole place was a very civilized affair, especially the private water closets where I could think great blog thoughts in complete isolation (It's where I wrote the outline for this Report).
Also, the oatmeal cookie(s) that accidentally fell into my carry-on tasted pretty good a few hours later en route MCI. Not sure if it was worth the trek from two terminals away, but after it was all said and done I felt pretty good about it (and myself).
Cardholders can also “enjoy unlimited complimentary access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide through Plaza Premium Group and, after enrollment, complimentary membership to Priority Pass™.”
I subsequently enrolled in a complimentary Priority Pass membership, though it appears most of the lounges are located outside of the U.S., mostly in Asia. I subsequently unsuccessfully tried to use their website to determine my options in LAX and Fiji; it’s not very user-friendly.
Plaza Premium Group appears to offer access to even more lounges, but its website is even more obtuse. Using it to find actual locations reminds me of a super cool speakeasy, you know, the place that is so discreet that you can't find the entrance.
The $300 travel credit was slightly difficult to use as I kept finding that Expedia or booking.com offered more economical or flexible arrangements. I was finally able to use it after about seven months when I booked a flight from LA to Fiji, as the rate quoted by Capital One Travel equaled the one provided by Expedia and the Fiji Airlines website.
If you don’t have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, then the $125 statement credit for applying is a nice bennie. While TSA PreCheck is nice, I can’t do without Global Entry.
I use every time I return to the States, to bypass the masses when going through customs. There is no better way to end a trip than to look at everyone else on my flight waiting on a (very) long line.
If I've sold you on the Capital One Venture X Card, then use this referral link to get yourself one (and all of the benefits mentioned above).
Epilogue
When booking my recent flight to New Orleans, I was offered a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card that offered a $200 statement credit and 10,000 Rapid Rewards points (~$153). I took them up on it as 200 bucks for a $500 spend is quite generous . . . though after I did, I realized it was actually a little less generous, as it came with a $69 annual fee. You can probably get this offer by booking a flight directly at Southwest.com.
In some respects, an even more generous offer can be had by using this link to get your own Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card that comes with 30,000 Rapid Rewards® points and a free Companion Pass®.
Note: The website Going.com has a Card Finder Tool that runs a soft credit check to help find you the best card.
If you are inspired to get a new credit card, please let me know how it turns out.
Endnotes: I wanted to provide some very specific details that, while vaguely interesting, did not contribute to the overall narrative. Perhaps just wait until the end to enjoy.
¹ As I type this, Capital One has three lounges: DFW, DEN and IAD.
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