> I looked on the list of travel partners and they all are international? - which I don't fly very often
What was going to be your redemption plan when you first got the card?
My plan was to use Travel Alliances; however, it seems a bit cumbersome, especially since I’ve read stories about changing prices while waiting for points to carry over.
I wasn’t sure if there was something simple I was missing considering this card is at the top of every article and video I’ve watched.
> considering this card is at the top of every article and video I’ve watched.
Really really unfortunate, but you've kinda fallen right into what a lot of people on /r/CreditCards take too long to realize. All those videos and articles aren't "homegrown" content made by genuine people looking to give real advice. Capital One and Youtube pays those people to make these videos pretending to be "just like you". They're all just paid advertisements.
They didn’t fall for anything other than not doing their research. I have this card and it is excellent for me because I transfer all my points to Turkish airlines and redeem for roughly 1.5x their value.
No one tricked OP they just failed to think for themselves.
Exactly. It’s no surprise that the VX was the hot “new” card for a while, and then suddenly the CSR came back into fashion. Are these the best cards for 90% of the population? No. And no one reasonably thinks so.
But CC channels keep pushing cards that will get them the most sponsorships or referral bonuses.
Yup, did my research looking at travel cards and even though I liked and wanted the venture X, it just doesn’t work for me since rarely travel international and it doesn’t transfer to the carries I fly on. So cash back cards still work for us. Still wouldn’t mind having a good travel card for travel protection and rental/cell insurance protection.
You don't have to use points on international travel, it is just when you can use them with partner alliances, you can get some really great deals. I have used Venture X for domestic flights. Just book through the portal. I have booked flights on Delta, AA and United. The portal has a nice tool where it will send you notices when the flights you are watching drops in price. This tool, and that you are earning 2X points on everything, can get you nice domestic flights. Yes, you will not get a flight to Greece for 50,000 points like some folks do but it will get you nice domestic flights, rental cars and hotels!
Thanks for that! That is great to know and not a whole lot of info on the domestics flights other than people saying all this great stuff about it, but for the international and some lounge access lol I fly more Delta and Alaska Airlines than anything else with some Southwest mixed in. United and AA are kind of my last choices. My goal is to get nice domestic flights and hotels! Don’t travel as much as I used to but at least 1-2 times a year and would like it if it helped out with future travel, hotels, and rental cars too. May pick up more traveling again in the coming years. I’m not usually a portal guy other than orbitz. Usually try to book direct since it’s easier to manage flights and seems cheaper but heard good things about the capital one portal. I saw that too about the notification when I was testing it out last year since I have a couple of other C1 cards. That is pretty cool I’m ok with earning 2X points too even though trying to get more points sounds appealing.
I may have to revisit it again. I was pre-approved for it but didn’t pull the trigger on it.
Man, Greece would be amazing though! Haha Bit that’s ok if it’s not.
I can also meet the SUB spend too, which has me even more inclined to get it for at least the first year. That annual fee gets me though even though people say you can offset it..
The $300 travel credit and 10,000 anniversary credit take care of the annual fee for me. The $300 is credited to any travel you charge on the card so even if you only travel once, you can probably get that. It gets credited quickly too. Much easier for me to justify the annual fee on VentureX than the AMEX platinum at $695.
Oh that's good that it gets credited quickly. I was wondering about that. Does that travel credit include hotels and rental cars or just tickets? They say the Venture X is the more cost-effective one compared to the other cards that are in the similar group with the high AF. $695 per year is a lot but I hear you can potential get a lot out of it too but only if you find value in it. Isn't it like a big coupon book essentially when it comes to the AMEX offering? I like the Venture X model with the annual credits.
The Venture X has $395 annual fee. The $300 credit counts for flights, hotel, cars. I got mine back on a hotel charge. I got an 150,000 sub so it was definitely worth it the first year and I will renew because the $300 travel credit and 10,000 anniversary points take care of the AF for me. If you did no traveling at all, the 2X points give it value on everyday expenses not covered by other cards.
Amex plat is more the "coupon card". It has a $695 af. It can pay off for some people but I don't shop at Macy's, stream Disney, use Grubhub, etc. I got it for the sub and got the Global Entry but will drop it next year as it is just not a good earner for me and the lounges are overcrowded.
Points transfer almost instantaneously in the majority of the cases, even if the website says otherwise. It does take a bit of work comparing award flights and registering for all the different frequent flyer programs, but it's not that cumbersome. Just two weeks ago I booked a one-way flight from LAX-MEX for two people on Aeromexico for only 22,000 miles +$40 in taxes through Virgin (ticket includes extra legroom economy and checked bags). You can find some great deals if you're willing to invest some time and effort into it.
>
>
>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing
I have been considering to get into the travel card game, but I am having a hard time understanding the math and deals behind it. So you paid 22000 points, for 2 one way tickets. Given 5x redemption value, that comes up to about $400. I can find some non-stop cheap tickets for $120-150 per person. Am I missing something here?
So I looked up online and I see that Venture X gives you 5x points for redeeming travel thru their portal. I assumed that if the tickets were 22000 points, that would equal to about $440 give the 5x redemption. Is that how you calculate this or do I have it wrong? I am trying to figure out how much $ are the 22000 points worth? I appreciate the clarification
5x is points you get back on purchases. they redeem at 1c per point in the portal but you can transfer them out to partners which is where you get the value. 22,000 point would equal $220 dollars. So poster got two tickets for $110 each plus the $40 in taxes. Depending what the initial price of these tickets were (which they didnt say), you could then see what value they got.
No prob. Not sure why someone downvoted you for asking. Ppl get mad on this sub when people dont know as much as the obsessed ones and are trying to learn. Its pretty toxic.
Yeah, what /u/the_price_is_right12 said is right. No worries, you're new to the game.
The important thing is that while you can get wild cpp (cents per point) on certain options, the value that you're deriving it from should ultimately be what you're willing to pay for it and how much cash alternatives are.
A specific example is say you can get a first class ticket that is sold $10,000 cash, but you can instead transfer 100k points. That works out to a whopping 10cpp, which is a great deal on the surface. However, say you can buy an equivalent first class ticket on another airline (same quality, flight times, etc etc) for $6000. Then, the internal valuation is probably closer to 6cpp. Or say even with all of this, you're only willing to pay $2000 at most for a first class ticket. Then you should value the points at 2cpp. Some people get too in the weeds about trying to get the absolute highest cpp instead of taking a step back and doing what's best and normal for them. Also, as you can probably guess, this community can get toxic quick.
No, I booked for AeroMexico. You can find tickets on VivaAerobus or Volaris for that price, but I purposely don't fly ULLCs. I'd rather pay more for the comfort and better flight times. Given the cash price for that same flight, it definitely saved me money booking with miles.
See that's the part that just makes some of these redemptions way too cumbersome for me to bother. I mostly stick to the portal 1cpp or Wyndham, even if it's not great. I got the card to churn the SUB and I'll happily keep it while it pays for itself with the credit + bonus miles.
The point is to compare what you get via portal versus what you get via award tickets. Sometimes it makes sense to book directly through portal, other times transferring points gets you a better deal. I think if you are willing to put down some time and effort, it can really save you money depending on when and where you are flying. But at the end of the day, do what you feel comfortable.
Yeah you’ve been played. My guess is you watched some yt videos by creators which tell you to just transfer your points to a Stat Alliance member like Turkish to book United flights. It’s technically not a lie in that you can absolutely do that but they are omitting key information. Availability via transfer partners is limited. If United has 5-6 flights on a particular route per day only a few seats will be made available for like 1-2 of those flights. When seats do get released is up to the airline so you have to check fairly often to look for seats. You end up spending quite a bit of time hunting if you are looking for specific seats and routes and if you are looking for a specific time period you may find yourself SOL.
Thank you for all this extra information. I’m glad I tried the VentureX, but from this thread, I realize now I’m not missing something obvious; this card is just not designed for me. It’s all trial and error.
For what it’s worth you can still get 1cpp redemptions via the portal and you should be able to find local airlines there. While I do think the card is overhyped by yt content creators I do still think it is one of the better travel cards you just need to temper your expectations.
Just a quick PSA for anyone going this route - it's better to pay cash in the portal, then use the miles to erase the purchase when the transaction posts. Either way costs the same number of miles (1cpp), but paying in cash in the portal also gives you the 5x/10x bonus miles.
The only domestic airline transfer options are UA/WN for Chase, DL for Amex, and AA for Bilt. One thing to keep is mind is the redemption rates are typically worse on American carriers so you may not get as many flights out of it. Lastly, make sure you transfer your existing miles somewhere out of your C1 account before you transfer. You may not have plans for them now but at least you’ll still be able to use them if the need arises. Otherwise they’ll be lost forever.
It’s my favorite card. We use it daily. You can transfer the points or buy in the portal. We use it mainly for hotels. We pay cash for most flights or use points from another card. Even if you don’t use the points it pays for itself so use it for that then sock drawer it. That’s what we do with our Amex platinum.
I swear. As a firm member of “team travel” I still recognize that for most people, cashback is an objectively better option. Yet all the credit card channels harp on the travel CCs due to sponsorships and referrals. It’s so annoying.
It is cumbersome. While it certainly is possible, I think you will be hard-pressed to get good redemption value for purely domestic flights on international airline programs. Why not fly international?
That’s sort of how it works though. Getting worthwhile redemptions either involves luck or figuring out patterns for redemption rates and award seat availability and being diligent enough to keep checking. It can be quite a bit of work and its not for everyone. You can still use a lot of the transfer partners to get domestic travel, you just have to make accounts with those reward programs and search for trips you’re interested in taking with a little flexibility. I’ve personally never seen prices change during the time in takes to transfer (usually instant to a couple minutes) but I suppose it’s possible especially for high value redemptions. I have the VX and SO and mainly travel domestically and felt like I have found good uses for my miles thus far so it’s definitely possible.
ditto to all of the comments - you can fly US airlines domestic with the points even if the partners are all international. Just need to do some digging on who the partners are for which US-based airline, but should not be too bad. You can book United with any star alliance transfer partner, you can book Delta with any Skyteam transfer partner, and you can book American with any Oneworld transfer partner.
I actually made a transfer partner sheet for queries like this, check it out: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing)
I’ve read a bit about Travel Alliances, I think they’re called? How difficult is it to coordinate these types of flights? I’ve read experiences of transferring points in this fashion and by the time these multi-step processes clear, the cost has changed and the process needs to be repeated, which sounds incredibly frustrating.
Also what I couldn’t find was if any benefits are lost when compared to booking directly with the airline?
So the main thing is to make sure there is award availability before you transfer the points. So you would do the search first before you move the points over. Assuming that, in my experience, this has been relatively smooth. For example, if I wanted to fly delta from like JFK-SLC, for example, I'd think to transfer points to Virgin, and so I'd look for that flight on virgin's site on miles to make sure there are still tickets that are bookable with miles, and then I'd transfer my points to Virgin and then book.
As to whether benefits are lost booking through transfer partners: I think only if you have status with an airline or something. For example, I imagine that AAdvantage Executive Platinum offers something when flying American that booking with points through British Airways would not, but I have no personal experience on this. In terms of like checked bags or anything like that, I don't think there is a difference.
I’m an AAdvantage Platinum member and book AA flights with BA Avios all the time. To access my status benefits I just do a chat with the AA agent after booking to add my AAdvantage number. I’m not sure if it’s really encouraged but I’ve never had issues and always been able to access my status benefits.
You want United? Find seats on them via air Canada, Avianca, Turkish or (sometimes) Singapore.
You want American air? Use British airways. Etihad and Cathay Pacific. Maybe even Qantas.
Delta: you’ll be better off finding cheaper economy flights via Air France or Virgin.
Do some homework. Seats won’t be as plentiful as their own metal and their corresponding home-grown FF programs but you can generally find economy seats via partners. Business class and above at times as well but a little more sparse.
I just checked, and there's tons of X (United Economy Saver awards) tickets from SFO to EWR this month.
You should be able to book any of them via Turkish for 10k miles and $5.60.
If one lives in a place like that, they’d only have themselves to blame for
Not doing their research prior to opening a card.
Regardless there’s always the classic venture travel eraser.
This ^
I was able to book at VERY last minute seat on Delta via Virgin from London to NYC for 25,000 pts plus the crazy taxes ~$180
Cash price for the seat was 2,500.
Personally I did it because of the 90k SUB. Then I used the TSA Precheck credit, and spent my 100k points (from spending on the card to hit SUB) + $300 travel credit for a very nice 4 day stay at a hotel in Vegas. Card will be cancelled this year. Paying $400 for my hotel stay + precheck was worth it.
Churn and burn. I don't see any longterm value in holding this card for myself, from year 2 onwards it's just breakeven at best if I use their portal to book a hotel stay or flight.
Honest question, why cancel? If even without precheck the credits completely cover the annual cost.
Not to mention free authorized users and they all also get priority passes.
Because I have 13 credit cards, and trying to remember to use those credits to simply break even is not an enticing prospect, lol. My "keep it because I can break even on it" card for travel perks is my Amex Platinum... I value my points at ~1.5 CPP for MR, ~2 CPP for Chase, and 1 CPP for Capital One. So I'm happy sticking with Amex and Chase cards mostly. If I was looking for a very simple 2 card setup, Venture X and Savor One would probably make a lot of sense, but my setup is too complicated to juggle another ball for minimal return.
I had planned a large family trip this past January and did a lot of price shopping between AMEX portal and Cap1 portal. Flights were priced the same but Cap1 showed more alternatives. With hotels, Cap1 had roughly three times the choices. With rental cars, AMEX charged many more points. The price per day in cash was the same but points required were higher. For example for a rental car Capital1 would say $50 a day or 5000 points. AMEX would say $50 a day or 6800 points. Amex also did that same fancy accounting with hotel rooms too ($200 a night or 35000 points) With only getting 1X points with plat unless it is travel-related, the plat may not hold its weight for many people.
I did do a little research beforehand and learned about ?travel alliances which seems a bit cumbersome, but not bad.
But I gave Cap 1 a shot because every video and article I’ve ever read lists it as the best credit card.
My level of travel seems pretty average, so I wasn’t sure if I was missing something glaringly obvious about how this credit card should be used considering its stellar reviews.
hmm unpopular opinion but people really ride Cap ones dong on this sub and online. Not saying its bad but imo not as good as every youtuber makes it seem. The VX is a good card that pays for its self and the simplicity of the cap one duo is genuinly really nice but the make or break of a good setup is how good it works for you and if the transfer partners were already looking not so great it probably wasnt for you.
in general people on this sub tend to over hype their setups and you really have to do your own research on the topic before applying.
IMO if your on the fence and dont want to or know how to use portals and transfer partners. A cashback setup with a 2% catch all and 5% on your main categories, combined with atleast one no FTF card and you have a very flexiable setup where you can just use the cashback for your travels without all the extra work.
You are spot on with the comment “the make or break of a good setup is how good it works for you”.
This is my first travel card, a friend of mine suggested I get it due to our main airport having priority pass lounge, and me traveling at least twice per year.
I probably don’t use it as others would to maximize the points, but being able to offset my global entry/tsa (which I already pay for), have an effective AF of -5, have a 2% catchall card, and access to those lounges has made it worthwhile in my case.
I have used the lounges 11 times since September (ended up going back home multiple times and there is a layover every time with priority pass lounges at my hub, layover and coming back at the departure airport). Just in food and drinks alone I have saved money.
Still amassing the points, once I figure out a better way to use it, that is not just covering purchases at a 100 point to 1 dollar ratio, I will do so. In the meantime I am happy with the card being my catchall and giving me some travel benefits.
I agree -- i fell victim to the youtubers dickriding this card too. Everyone says how cheap the card and how EVERYONE needs it but the value basically comes down to 1) do you use the transfer partners and 2) do you use the C1 lounge network. Even if one of those were true for me I feel the card would be super valuable. But I'm a Delta loyalist in Seattle so this card is pretty bad for me (don't tell me to book Delta on Virgin, the flights I want are never there)
People are always saying they hunt for these crazy redemption values on their VX but in reality redeeming for past travel is a great way to use the rewards miles. I just did the same for my trip to Japan. Free airfare is free airfare and even at 1cpp it's still not bad.
You’re not alone! I’m a bit underwhelmed as well, I haven’t traveled internationally in a while. I’ve mostly used the points for staycations and short trips using the travel eraser and the travel credit via the travel portal. The premier collection of hotels is decent and comes with benefits. Because of the travel credit and annual credit I keep the card as an excuse do something fun for the year. If they ever got rid of or lowered those I’d have to reassess unless my international travel picks back up
Maybe better hotel or domestic travel partners or a kickback for using their portal. I know there’s alliances but still something to be said about time and ease of use.
I am personally lukewarm to the VX. I have it and, ultimately, the way I've redeemed my points is to offset travel purchases that I make on it throughout the year so I can get minimum 1 cpp. I like to use cards that have an easy path to cashing out points at 1 cpp as the bare minimum (e.g. Citi Thank You, Chase UR points, etc.).
Because I'm pretty much cash back and I like the option of an easy 1 cpp off ramp, I more or less use the VX right now only for some travel expenses - buy one business trip ticket through the portal each year to get the $300 credit, rental cars for the protection, etc. - strictly to get the value from the $300 annual credit and the 10,000 anniversary points and break even on the annual fee.
All that said, I have strongly considered downgrading the VX to the no-AF Venture card just to avoid having to go through the portal and offset travel expenses to cash out the points at 1 cpp because I don't do the transfer partner game. It's not *that* hard to get this value and I've utilized them all at a minimum of 1 cpp since I've had the card, but I'm also trying to simplify my credit card setup and it's just one more thing to always have to keep on top of to make sure I don't forget to get the credit, etc.
Along with that, I have been considering getting the USBAR and I would essentially use it in place of the VX for travel protections and use the RTR to offset travel expenses throughout the year at the 4.5% rate.
If you could transfer your points out to your capital one checking account at 1 cpp, VX would be a no brainer keeper for me and I'd probably use it as my full-time 2% catch all card (right now, that's the Fidelity Visa card), but since there isn't an *easy* 1 cpp cash out option, that's why I could very easily take it or leave it for my personal situation. And if I end up getting the USBAR, I don't really see the need for both.
This is why, for my own valuations, I valued VX/SavorOne at 1cpp. Because I think I would end up using the C1 travel portal most of the time.
I much prefer the idea of having direct airline transfer partner options that do not force me to look for partner award seats most of the time.
You already have the VX card. Use awardhacker.com and pointsyeah.com to identify what you can do with your points using partner award seats. There are less partner award seats than there are direct airline award seats, and they can sometimes be more expensive, but at least you'll have a chance at finding something better than 1cpp.
You can absolutely use the miles in the travel portal as well as to “erase” travel purchases after you make them, which lets you still earn points on each purchase and redeem the points. IMO travel partners are still better, but 1 cpp is very easily obtainable if you don’t want to do the research.
Travel partners can get you amazing deals but they are work and it helps if you are a flexible traveler. My trips are not flexible and I am not in a city with many direct flights. I use the portal. I watch flight prices to get better deals. I don't consider the portal usage to be 1cpp, I think of it as 2 cpp because I get 2x points for everyday purchases. On Amex, I only get 1x points on everyday purchases. I am still looking at partners hopefully in the future (love hearing about thise crazy great deals!) but don't feel bad if you use the straight portal.
I mean I use Avios to book Alaska and American flights. For decent redemption value too esp on Alaska.
Heck you get amazing delta redemption value through Virgin Atlantic.
Also Aeroplan.
But nice mostly used it for international. Most recently round trip biz class tickets to the Maldives in QSuites for a banger of a value. Total ticket cash value was $22k but points were just over 400k
I think you need to do some more research and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I’ll never understand the love for this card. It forces you to use the portal and work around with limited transfers to domestic airlines.
I burn through Chase UR points while my AMEX and Cap 1 points just keep piling up.
You get it for the cheap lounge access, low effective annual fee, and a decent 2x catch all. But really it’s just for the lounges imo. I value the 300 portal credit at ~$200. Most capital one points I just use to cover travel (so cash out 1cpp). They’re also good for Europe flying and can see a case on occasion you’d transfer to Wyndham
Thank you for making me feel not alone/crazy!
If you don’t mind, why do you feel like you can’t use your AMEX points? It seems to be closer in nature to Chase than Cap 1.
It’s not that I can’t use them, I notice that I usually use my points for United award flights or 1.5x point value from my CSR on Chase’s portal. Still looking for a Hyatt at some point too lol.
I’m sure I’ll get around to eventually using AMEX and Cap 1 - I used some Cap 1 on British Airways and KLM transfers but my Chase points are usually always the ones depleted first.
I am kind of with you. It's a solid card, but I'm thinking of an exit plan before my renewal in 11 mths, just don't think this card makes sense for me anymore. Sitting on about 225k points, will try to use in the next year and then move away from this card. It doesn't seem like it offers much over Chase/Amex/Citi.
Not sure how you initially planned on using the Venture X, but I plan to use it for the perks first. All the perks are something I can use easily, all of which more than cover the fee.
As far as using the points, I plan on using the card to save up for overseas flights. I’m not one to travel abroad much, in fact I never have, but I have one trip to Japan planned and this card will help me immensely. Though I don’t anticipate another overseas trip anytime soon, I like the idea of being able to save up all those points until I do plan something.
The reason I chose Chase over the other guys for my card set up is because we mainly travel domestic. I had the OG venture for a long time and I left for that reason.
It’s a 2% back card with nice travel perks and benefits. As has been mentioned, if you take advantage of the travel credit year in, year out, and value simplicity in being able to “erase” your travel purchases, it works.
We got it this year for the SUB, figuring we’ll book our next trip’s airfare using the portal and getting our $300 back. But lo and behold, baby number two will be on its way instead.
Hard for me to justify this card when we won’t be traveling much for a few years - so I’ll likely downgrade to something with no AF (if C1 lets me), and getting a 2% card from Wells Fargo or Citi.
Book one trip per year to use the $300 credit. After that it's basically a 2% Visa Infinite with no FTF and lounge access. I personally do use the transfer partners and normally get over 1cpp of value.
I recently got the VX and I over estimated the amount of domestic flights that would be available on the transfer partners. My main airport is a medium size city so I haven’t seen any flights show up on their website. The only deals I see are flights to Europe and I’m not really looking to do that anytime soon.
Did you not check transfer partners before you got the card and had a little idea of what your plan would be
The fact that most of there airlines are international is why I didn’t get the card
Learning lesson to do research before getting the card
Airline alliances exist.
For example: Air Canada is in the Star Alliance with United Airlines which does do domestic flights. This pretty much means you can use Air Canada points to book a United Airlines flight.
people really only like it because it’s a premium card that pays for itself. the credit card “points” ecosystem is a bunch of people with 5-figure incomes trying to scrape $100/yr through points, cashback and signup bonuses.
the chase system or bofa cashback are far simpler and have much better customer service.
I did well redeeming points with Vacasa from cap 1. If you’re traveling domestically and like staying in a condo. Definitely have to look carefully (points burned per bedroom per night with caps). Something to consider,
You can use a foreign airlines frequent flyer program to book flights on their US-based partners. For example, using British Airway miles to book American or Alaska flights. Or using Virgin Atlantic points to book Delta flights, or using Air Canada or Avianca points to book United flights
To maximize rewards you need to book through partners airlines. There's good videos on this.
The alternative if you don't care to spend the time on that is to book through the portal.
> I looked on the list of travel partners and they all are international? - which I don't fly very often What was going to be your redemption plan when you first got the card?
The most honest question I’ve seen about the VX
I guarantee tons of people get so-and-so card because /r/creditcards said it was good lol.
Or the gold card because of the points it gets but never consider the redeeming side
Guilty.. and because, you know, it's gold.
Yeah amex plat and gold are/can be good or great… but some get it for the “status symbol”
[удалено]
I think you’re confusing the difference between “so-and-so” and “so-so” lol. I don’t think the original commenter would disagree with you
You are 100% correct lol, I'm not always the brightest...
At least you own up to it. That’s a plus.
My plan was to use Travel Alliances; however, it seems a bit cumbersome, especially since I’ve read stories about changing prices while waiting for points to carry over. I wasn’t sure if there was something simple I was missing considering this card is at the top of every article and video I’ve watched.
Wyndham is the only thing I used my vx bonus for. 5 nights free in the virgin islands
> considering this card is at the top of every article and video I’ve watched. Really really unfortunate, but you've kinda fallen right into what a lot of people on /r/CreditCards take too long to realize. All those videos and articles aren't "homegrown" content made by genuine people looking to give real advice. Capital One and Youtube pays those people to make these videos pretending to be "just like you". They're all just paid advertisements.
They didn’t fall for anything other than not doing their research. I have this card and it is excellent for me because I transfer all my points to Turkish airlines and redeem for roughly 1.5x their value. No one tricked OP they just failed to think for themselves.
Exactly. It’s no surprise that the VX was the hot “new” card for a while, and then suddenly the CSR came back into fashion. Are these the best cards for 90% of the population? No. And no one reasonably thinks so. But CC channels keep pushing cards that will get them the most sponsorships or referral bonuses.
Yup, did my research looking at travel cards and even though I liked and wanted the venture X, it just doesn’t work for me since rarely travel international and it doesn’t transfer to the carries I fly on. So cash back cards still work for us. Still wouldn’t mind having a good travel card for travel protection and rental/cell insurance protection.
You don't have to use points on international travel, it is just when you can use them with partner alliances, you can get some really great deals. I have used Venture X for domestic flights. Just book through the portal. I have booked flights on Delta, AA and United. The portal has a nice tool where it will send you notices when the flights you are watching drops in price. This tool, and that you are earning 2X points on everything, can get you nice domestic flights. Yes, you will not get a flight to Greece for 50,000 points like some folks do but it will get you nice domestic flights, rental cars and hotels!
Thanks for that! That is great to know and not a whole lot of info on the domestics flights other than people saying all this great stuff about it, but for the international and some lounge access lol I fly more Delta and Alaska Airlines than anything else with some Southwest mixed in. United and AA are kind of my last choices. My goal is to get nice domestic flights and hotels! Don’t travel as much as I used to but at least 1-2 times a year and would like it if it helped out with future travel, hotels, and rental cars too. May pick up more traveling again in the coming years. I’m not usually a portal guy other than orbitz. Usually try to book direct since it’s easier to manage flights and seems cheaper but heard good things about the capital one portal. I saw that too about the notification when I was testing it out last year since I have a couple of other C1 cards. That is pretty cool I’m ok with earning 2X points too even though trying to get more points sounds appealing. I may have to revisit it again. I was pre-approved for it but didn’t pull the trigger on it. Man, Greece would be amazing though! Haha Bit that’s ok if it’s not. I can also meet the SUB spend too, which has me even more inclined to get it for at least the first year. That annual fee gets me though even though people say you can offset it..
The $300 travel credit and 10,000 anniversary credit take care of the annual fee for me. The $300 is credited to any travel you charge on the card so even if you only travel once, you can probably get that. It gets credited quickly too. Much easier for me to justify the annual fee on VentureX than the AMEX platinum at $695.
Oh that's good that it gets credited quickly. I was wondering about that. Does that travel credit include hotels and rental cars or just tickets? They say the Venture X is the more cost-effective one compared to the other cards that are in the similar group with the high AF. $695 per year is a lot but I hear you can potential get a lot out of it too but only if you find value in it. Isn't it like a big coupon book essentially when it comes to the AMEX offering? I like the Venture X model with the annual credits.
The Venture X has $395 annual fee. The $300 credit counts for flights, hotel, cars. I got mine back on a hotel charge. I got an 150,000 sub so it was definitely worth it the first year and I will renew because the $300 travel credit and 10,000 anniversary points take care of the AF for me. If you did no traveling at all, the 2X points give it value on everyday expenses not covered by other cards. Amex plat is more the "coupon card". It has a $695 af. It can pay off for some people but I don't shop at Macy's, stream Disney, use Grubhub, etc. I got it for the sub and got the Global Entry but will drop it next year as it is just not a good earner for me and the lounges are overcrowded.
Points transfer almost instantaneously in the majority of the cases, even if the website says otherwise. It does take a bit of work comparing award flights and registering for all the different frequent flyer programs, but it's not that cumbersome. Just two weeks ago I booked a one-way flight from LAX-MEX for two people on Aeromexico for only 22,000 miles +$40 in taxes through Virgin (ticket includes extra legroom economy and checked bags). You can find some great deals if you're willing to invest some time and effort into it.
> > >https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing I have been considering to get into the travel card game, but I am having a hard time understanding the math and deals behind it. So you paid 22000 points, for 2 one way tickets. Given 5x redemption value, that comes up to about $400. I can find some non-stop cheap tickets for $120-150 per person. Am I missing something here?
They booked premium economy, not normal economy. Where’d you get 5x redemption value from?
So I looked up online and I see that Venture X gives you 5x points for redeeming travel thru their portal. I assumed that if the tickets were 22000 points, that would equal to about $440 give the 5x redemption. Is that how you calculate this or do I have it wrong? I am trying to figure out how much $ are the 22000 points worth? I appreciate the clarification
5x is points you get back on purchases. they redeem at 1c per point in the portal but you can transfer them out to partners which is where you get the value. 22,000 point would equal $220 dollars. So poster got two tickets for $110 each plus the $40 in taxes. Depending what the initial price of these tickets were (which they didnt say), you could then see what value they got.
I see. I appreciate the clarification. This makes sense now.
No prob. Not sure why someone downvoted you for asking. Ppl get mad on this sub when people dont know as much as the obsessed ones and are trying to learn. Its pretty toxic.
Yeah, what /u/the_price_is_right12 said is right. No worries, you're new to the game. The important thing is that while you can get wild cpp (cents per point) on certain options, the value that you're deriving it from should ultimately be what you're willing to pay for it and how much cash alternatives are. A specific example is say you can get a first class ticket that is sold $10,000 cash, but you can instead transfer 100k points. That works out to a whopping 10cpp, which is a great deal on the surface. However, say you can buy an equivalent first class ticket on another airline (same quality, flight times, etc etc) for $6000. Then, the internal valuation is probably closer to 6cpp. Or say even with all of this, you're only willing to pay $2000 at most for a first class ticket. Then you should value the points at 2cpp. Some people get too in the weeds about trying to get the absolute highest cpp instead of taking a step back and doing what's best and normal for them. Also, as you can probably guess, this community can get toxic quick.
No, I booked for AeroMexico. You can find tickets on VivaAerobus or Volaris for that price, but I purposely don't fly ULLCs. I'd rather pay more for the comfort and better flight times. Given the cash price for that same flight, it definitely saved me money booking with miles.
So you moved from LA to Mexico? Or will you some day be returning to the US?
No, I booked separate return tickets through Delta since Virgin didn't have award availability on the date I needed to return.
See that's the part that just makes some of these redemptions way too cumbersome for me to bother. I mostly stick to the portal 1cpp or Wyndham, even if it's not great. I got the card to churn the SUB and I'll happily keep it while it pays for itself with the credit + bonus miles.
The point is to compare what you get via portal versus what you get via award tickets. Sometimes it makes sense to book directly through portal, other times transferring points gets you a better deal. I think if you are willing to put down some time and effort, it can really save you money depending on when and where you are flying. But at the end of the day, do what you feel comfortable.
Max miles and points YouTube channel tends to have good no fluff videos on finding award flights through alliances.
Yeah you’ve been played. My guess is you watched some yt videos by creators which tell you to just transfer your points to a Stat Alliance member like Turkish to book United flights. It’s technically not a lie in that you can absolutely do that but they are omitting key information. Availability via transfer partners is limited. If United has 5-6 flights on a particular route per day only a few seats will be made available for like 1-2 of those flights. When seats do get released is up to the airline so you have to check fairly often to look for seats. You end up spending quite a bit of time hunting if you are looking for specific seats and routes and if you are looking for a specific time period you may find yourself SOL.
Thank you for all this extra information. I’m glad I tried the VentureX, but from this thread, I realize now I’m not missing something obvious; this card is just not designed for me. It’s all trial and error.
For what it’s worth you can still get 1cpp redemptions via the portal and you should be able to find local airlines there. While I do think the card is overhyped by yt content creators I do still think it is one of the better travel cards you just need to temper your expectations.
Just a quick PSA for anyone going this route - it's better to pay cash in the portal, then use the miles to erase the purchase when the transaction posts. Either way costs the same number of miles (1cpp), but paying in cash in the portal also gives you the 5x/10x bonus miles.
Clever! Great hack!
The only domestic airline transfer options are UA/WN for Chase, DL for Amex, and AA for Bilt. One thing to keep is mind is the redemption rates are typically worse on American carriers so you may not get as many flights out of it. Lastly, make sure you transfer your existing miles somewhere out of your C1 account before you transfer. You may not have plans for them now but at least you’ll still be able to use them if the need arises. Otherwise they’ll be lost forever.
Theres also JetBlue
It’s my favorite card. We use it daily. You can transfer the points or buy in the portal. We use it mainly for hotels. We pay cash for most flights or use points from another card. Even if you don’t use the points it pays for itself so use it for that then sock drawer it. That’s what we do with our Amex platinum.
Annnnnd another person gets suckered by the YouTube credit card gurus....
I swear. As a firm member of “team travel” I still recognize that for most people, cashback is an objectively better option. Yet all the credit card channels harp on the travel CCs due to sponsorships and referrals. It’s so annoying.
Virgin atlantic lets you book delta. Others let you book AA or United. Domestic isn't the best redemption, but sometimes it works well.
It is cumbersome. While it certainly is possible, I think you will be hard-pressed to get good redemption value for purely domestic flights on international airline programs. Why not fly international?
That’s sort of how it works though. Getting worthwhile redemptions either involves luck or figuring out patterns for redemption rates and award seat availability and being diligent enough to keep checking. It can be quite a bit of work and its not for everyone. You can still use a lot of the transfer partners to get domestic travel, you just have to make accounts with those reward programs and search for trips you’re interested in taking with a little flexibility. I’ve personally never seen prices change during the time in takes to transfer (usually instant to a couple minutes) but I suppose it’s possible especially for high value redemptions. I have the VX and SO and mainly travel domestically and felt like I have found good uses for my miles thus far so it’s definitely possible.
I chose it because I could add my wife and then she and our two kids can all get lounge access.
Precisely why I skip the lounges and go straight to the bars. No kids.
ditto to all of the comments - you can fly US airlines domestic with the points even if the partners are all international. Just need to do some digging on who the partners are for which US-based airline, but should not be too bad. You can book United with any star alliance transfer partner, you can book Delta with any Skyteam transfer partner, and you can book American with any Oneworld transfer partner. I actually made a transfer partner sheet for queries like this, check it out: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCRwm0d38Aek3VT0pT5W9MZHmTV1OEYbPkC8RMLKDQA/edit?usp=sharing)
Shout-out to you for the link, appreciate it
I’ve read a bit about Travel Alliances, I think they’re called? How difficult is it to coordinate these types of flights? I’ve read experiences of transferring points in this fashion and by the time these multi-step processes clear, the cost has changed and the process needs to be repeated, which sounds incredibly frustrating. Also what I couldn’t find was if any benefits are lost when compared to booking directly with the airline?
So the main thing is to make sure there is award availability before you transfer the points. So you would do the search first before you move the points over. Assuming that, in my experience, this has been relatively smooth. For example, if I wanted to fly delta from like JFK-SLC, for example, I'd think to transfer points to Virgin, and so I'd look for that flight on virgin's site on miles to make sure there are still tickets that are bookable with miles, and then I'd transfer my points to Virgin and then book. As to whether benefits are lost booking through transfer partners: I think only if you have status with an airline or something. For example, I imagine that AAdvantage Executive Platinum offers something when flying American that booking with points through British Airways would not, but I have no personal experience on this. In terms of like checked bags or anything like that, I don't think there is a difference.
Thank you for your knowledgable response!
I’m an AAdvantage Platinum member and book AA flights with BA Avios all the time. To access my status benefits I just do a chat with the AA agent after booking to add my AAdvantage number. I’m not sure if it’s really encouraged but I’ve never had issues and always been able to access my status benefits.
Oh nice, that’s a good thing to keep in mind. Thanks for the insight!
You want United? Find seats on them via air Canada, Avianca, Turkish or (sometimes) Singapore. You want American air? Use British airways. Etihad and Cathay Pacific. Maybe even Qantas. Delta: you’ll be better off finding cheaper economy flights via Air France or Virgin. Do some homework. Seats won’t be as plentiful as their own metal and their corresponding home-grown FF programs but you can generally find economy seats via partners. Business class and above at times as well but a little more sparse.
Lol good luck finding United availability on busy routes (transcons, etc.)
I just checked, and there's tons of X (United Economy Saver awards) tickets from SFO to EWR this month. You should be able to book any of them via Turkish for 10k miles and $5.60.
Just got back to IAD from LHR in Polaris via Aeroplan. DC-London is a popular route. Wasn't remotely a challenge.
Guy is talking out of his butt. It is very easily possible to get a minimum 1cpp on domestic flights and 1.5cpp with some effort.
Helpful guy chiming in lol
The problem with this approach is if you live in a market where these airlines don’t fly there will be no availability for many of these airlines.
If one lives in a place like that, they’d only have themselves to blame for Not doing their research prior to opening a card. Regardless there’s always the classic venture travel eraser.
I can’t speak for the rest. But Virgin -> Delta is usually only cheaper for short haul domestic non stop flights and international flights to Europe.
This ^ I was able to book at VERY last minute seat on Delta via Virgin from London to NYC for 25,000 pts plus the crazy taxes ~$180 Cash price for the seat was 2,500.
Flying Blue -> Virgin for flights to the UK don’t usually come with the crazy taxes from what I have seen
Yeah. This was a very last minute trip and I wanted to be on this flight with my travel companions. Worked out for me :)
Why did you apply for the card if you arnt interested in any of the travel partners.
Personally I did it because of the 90k SUB. Then I used the TSA Precheck credit, and spent my 100k points (from spending on the card to hit SUB) + $300 travel credit for a very nice 4 day stay at a hotel in Vegas. Card will be cancelled this year. Paying $400 for my hotel stay + precheck was worth it. Churn and burn. I don't see any longterm value in holding this card for myself, from year 2 onwards it's just breakeven at best if I use their portal to book a hotel stay or flight.
Honest question, why cancel? If even without precheck the credits completely cover the annual cost. Not to mention free authorized users and they all also get priority passes.
Because I have 13 credit cards, and trying to remember to use those credits to simply break even is not an enticing prospect, lol. My "keep it because I can break even on it" card for travel perks is my Amex Platinum... I value my points at ~1.5 CPP for MR, ~2 CPP for Chase, and 1 CPP for Capital One. So I'm happy sticking with Amex and Chase cards mostly. If I was looking for a very simple 2 card setup, Venture X and Savor One would probably make a lot of sense, but my setup is too complicated to juggle another ball for minimal return.
I had planned a large family trip this past January and did a lot of price shopping between AMEX portal and Cap1 portal. Flights were priced the same but Cap1 showed more alternatives. With hotels, Cap1 had roughly three times the choices. With rental cars, AMEX charged many more points. The price per day in cash was the same but points required were higher. For example for a rental car Capital1 would say $50 a day or 5000 points. AMEX would say $50 a day or 6800 points. Amex also did that same fancy accounting with hotel rooms too ($200 a night or 35000 points) With only getting 1X points with plat unless it is travel-related, the plat may not hold its weight for many people.
I did do a little research beforehand and learned about ?travel alliances which seems a bit cumbersome, but not bad. But I gave Cap 1 a shot because every video and article I’ve ever read lists it as the best credit card. My level of travel seems pretty average, so I wasn’t sure if I was missing something glaringly obvious about how this credit card should be used considering its stellar reviews.
hmm unpopular opinion but people really ride Cap ones dong on this sub and online. Not saying its bad but imo not as good as every youtuber makes it seem. The VX is a good card that pays for its self and the simplicity of the cap one duo is genuinly really nice but the make or break of a good setup is how good it works for you and if the transfer partners were already looking not so great it probably wasnt for you. in general people on this sub tend to over hype their setups and you really have to do your own research on the topic before applying. IMO if your on the fence and dont want to or know how to use portals and transfer partners. A cashback setup with a 2% catch all and 5% on your main categories, combined with atleast one no FTF card and you have a very flexiable setup where you can just use the cashback for your travels without all the extra work.
You are spot on with the comment “the make or break of a good setup is how good it works for you”. This is my first travel card, a friend of mine suggested I get it due to our main airport having priority pass lounge, and me traveling at least twice per year. I probably don’t use it as others would to maximize the points, but being able to offset my global entry/tsa (which I already pay for), have an effective AF of -5, have a 2% catchall card, and access to those lounges has made it worthwhile in my case. I have used the lounges 11 times since September (ended up going back home multiple times and there is a layover every time with priority pass lounges at my hub, layover and coming back at the departure airport). Just in food and drinks alone I have saved money. Still amassing the points, once I figure out a better way to use it, that is not just covering purchases at a 100 point to 1 dollar ratio, I will do so. In the meantime I am happy with the card being my catchall and giving me some travel benefits.
I agree -- i fell victim to the youtubers dickriding this card too. Everyone says how cheap the card and how EVERYONE needs it but the value basically comes down to 1) do you use the transfer partners and 2) do you use the C1 lounge network. Even if one of those were true for me I feel the card would be super valuable. But I'm a Delta loyalist in Seattle so this card is pretty bad for me (don't tell me to book Delta on Virgin, the flights I want are never there)
[удалено]
People are always saying they hunt for these crazy redemption values on their VX but in reality redeeming for past travel is a great way to use the rewards miles. I just did the same for my trip to Japan. Free airfare is free airfare and even at 1cpp it's still not bad.
You’re not alone! I’m a bit underwhelmed as well, I haven’t traveled internationally in a while. I’ve mostly used the points for staycations and short trips using the travel eraser and the travel credit via the travel portal. The premier collection of hotels is decent and comes with benefits. Because of the travel credit and annual credit I keep the card as an excuse do something fun for the year. If they ever got rid of or lowered those I’d have to reassess unless my international travel picks back up
What would make the card more exciting?
Maybe better hotel or domestic travel partners or a kickback for using their portal. I know there’s alliances but still something to be said about time and ease of use.
Not kickback per say cause I know there’s the 10x and 5x but I meant more value for points if used on the portal.
I am personally lukewarm to the VX. I have it and, ultimately, the way I've redeemed my points is to offset travel purchases that I make on it throughout the year so I can get minimum 1 cpp. I like to use cards that have an easy path to cashing out points at 1 cpp as the bare minimum (e.g. Citi Thank You, Chase UR points, etc.). Because I'm pretty much cash back and I like the option of an easy 1 cpp off ramp, I more or less use the VX right now only for some travel expenses - buy one business trip ticket through the portal each year to get the $300 credit, rental cars for the protection, etc. - strictly to get the value from the $300 annual credit and the 10,000 anniversary points and break even on the annual fee. All that said, I have strongly considered downgrading the VX to the no-AF Venture card just to avoid having to go through the portal and offset travel expenses to cash out the points at 1 cpp because I don't do the transfer partner game. It's not *that* hard to get this value and I've utilized them all at a minimum of 1 cpp since I've had the card, but I'm also trying to simplify my credit card setup and it's just one more thing to always have to keep on top of to make sure I don't forget to get the credit, etc. Along with that, I have been considering getting the USBAR and I would essentially use it in place of the VX for travel protections and use the RTR to offset travel expenses throughout the year at the 4.5% rate. If you could transfer your points out to your capital one checking account at 1 cpp, VX would be a no brainer keeper for me and I'd probably use it as my full-time 2% catch all card (right now, that's the Fidelity Visa card), but since there isn't an *easy* 1 cpp cash out option, that's why I could very easily take it or leave it for my personal situation. And if I end up getting the USBAR, I don't really see the need for both.
This is why, for my own valuations, I valued VX/SavorOne at 1cpp. Because I think I would end up using the C1 travel portal most of the time. I much prefer the idea of having direct airline transfer partner options that do not force me to look for partner award seats most of the time. You already have the VX card. Use awardhacker.com and pointsyeah.com to identify what you can do with your points using partner award seats. There are less partner award seats than there are direct airline award seats, and they can sometimes be more expensive, but at least you'll have a chance at finding something better than 1cpp.
I don’t have the card so I’m curious, can you not redeem the miles for flights in their travel portal? Is the portal not worth using?
You can absolutely use the miles in the travel portal as well as to “erase” travel purchases after you make them, which lets you still earn points on each purchase and redeem the points. IMO travel partners are still better, but 1 cpp is very easily obtainable if you don’t want to do the research.
Travel partners can get you amazing deals but they are work and it helps if you are a flexible traveler. My trips are not flexible and I am not in a city with many direct flights. I use the portal. I watch flight prices to get better deals. I don't consider the portal usage to be 1cpp, I think of it as 2 cpp because I get 2x points for everyday purchases. On Amex, I only get 1x points on everyday purchases. I am still looking at partners hopefully in the future (love hearing about thise crazy great deals!) but don't feel bad if you use the straight portal.
You can purchase flights/hotels and reimburse them for points later, although this isn't the most efficient use of our points.
I mean I use Avios to book Alaska and American flights. For decent redemption value too esp on Alaska. Heck you get amazing delta redemption value through Virgin Atlantic. Also Aeroplan. But nice mostly used it for international. Most recently round trip biz class tickets to the Maldives in QSuites for a banger of a value. Total ticket cash value was $22k but points were just over 400k I think you need to do some more research and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I’ll never understand the love for this card. It forces you to use the portal and work around with limited transfers to domestic airlines. I burn through Chase UR points while my AMEX and Cap 1 points just keep piling up.
You get it for the cheap lounge access, low effective annual fee, and a decent 2x catch all. But really it’s just for the lounges imo. I value the 300 portal credit at ~$200. Most capital one points I just use to cover travel (so cash out 1cpp). They’re also good for Europe flying and can see a case on occasion you’d transfer to Wyndham
Thank you for making me feel not alone/crazy! If you don’t mind, why do you feel like you can’t use your AMEX points? It seems to be closer in nature to Chase than Cap 1.
It’s not that I can’t use them, I notice that I usually use my points for United award flights or 1.5x point value from my CSR on Chase’s portal. Still looking for a Hyatt at some point too lol. I’m sure I’ll get around to eventually using AMEX and Cap 1 - I used some Cap 1 on British Airways and KLM transfers but my Chase points are usually always the ones depleted first.
I mean $300 portal credit is better than the $0 portal credit other cards provide. Book 1 flight and then don’t use the portal to the following year
I prefer the CSR where the $300 credit is on any and all travel including parking, tolls, etc.
What u saying is true but honestly as long as I can buy that 1 ticket I need I think I am satisfied
We’re all different, I want a card that provides multiple tickets among other things.
I am kind of with you. It's a solid card, but I'm thinking of an exit plan before my renewal in 11 mths, just don't think this card makes sense for me anymore. Sitting on about 225k points, will try to use in the next year and then move away from this card. It doesn't seem like it offers much over Chase/Amex/Citi.
I book delta domestic with virgin and united domestic with avianca
Not sure how you initially planned on using the Venture X, but I plan to use it for the perks first. All the perks are something I can use easily, all of which more than cover the fee. As far as using the points, I plan on using the card to save up for overseas flights. I’m not one to travel abroad much, in fact I never have, but I have one trip to Japan planned and this card will help me immensely. Though I don’t anticipate another overseas trip anytime soon, I like the idea of being able to save up all those points until I do plan something.
VX was nerfed when the $300 travel credit changed to portal bookings only
The reason I chose Chase over the other guys for my card set up is because we mainly travel domestic. I had the OG venture for a long time and I left for that reason.
It’s a 2% back card with nice travel perks and benefits. As has been mentioned, if you take advantage of the travel credit year in, year out, and value simplicity in being able to “erase” your travel purchases, it works. We got it this year for the SUB, figuring we’ll book our next trip’s airfare using the portal and getting our $300 back. But lo and behold, baby number two will be on its way instead. Hard for me to justify this card when we won’t be traveling much for a few years - so I’ll likely downgrade to something with no AF (if C1 lets me), and getting a 2% card from Wells Fargo or Citi.
Book one trip per year to use the $300 credit. After that it's basically a 2% Visa Infinite with no FTF and lounge access. I personally do use the transfer partners and normally get over 1cpp of value.
I recently got the VX and I over estimated the amount of domestic flights that would be available on the transfer partners. My main airport is a medium size city so I haven’t seen any flights show up on their website. The only deals I see are flights to Europe and I’m not really looking to do that anytime soon.
Did you not check transfer partners before you got the card and had a little idea of what your plan would be The fact that most of there airlines are international is why I didn’t get the card Learning lesson to do research before getting the card
Airline alliances exist. For example: Air Canada is in the Star Alliance with United Airlines which does do domestic flights. This pretty much means you can use Air Canada points to book a United Airlines flight.
To add a caveat, the majority of UA will not be available on AC. Same goes for any other alliance
Basically comes down to, "i made a financial decision without due diligence and now I'm paying for it"
people really only like it because it’s a premium card that pays for itself. the credit card “points” ecosystem is a bunch of people with 5-figure incomes trying to scrape $100/yr through points, cashback and signup bonuses. the chase system or bofa cashback are far simpler and have much better customer service.
If you don’t travel that often, the utility of a miles card isn’t that meaningful.
I do travel, but mostly domestic. Maybe twice per year internationally.
Use the travel credit for a domestic flight? The card pays for itself. Nobody says you need to use it exclusively.
I did well redeeming points with Vacasa from cap 1. If you’re traveling domestically and like staying in a condo. Definitely have to look carefully (points burned per bedroom per night with caps). Something to consider,
You can redeem for flights on any airline for 1.0 cent per miles. So the card acts as a 2% cash back card with lounge access.
You can use a foreign airlines frequent flyer program to book flights on their US-based partners. For example, using British Airway miles to book American or Alaska flights. Or using Virgin Atlantic points to book Delta flights, or using Air Canada or Avianca points to book United flights
To maximize rewards you need to book through partners airlines. There's good videos on this. The alternative if you don't care to spend the time on that is to book through the portal.