Nov. 26, 2025
Is the Capital One Venture X Still Worth It?
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Click MORE to see Ad disclosures I used to call the Capital One Venture X a "no brainer," but with the major changes coming in 2026, I now consider it more of a "full brainer." In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what is changing and helping you calculate if the card is still worth the $395 annual fee. I cover the solid benefits that remain that still help to offset the cost. I’ll also walk you through the massive new limited-time welcome offer of 100,000 miles and share critical appli...
Click MORE to see Ad disclosures
I used to call the Capital One Venture X a "no brainer," but with the major changes coming in 2026, I now consider it more of a "full brainer." In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what is changing and helping you calculate if the card is still worth the $395 annual fee. I cover the solid benefits that remain that still help to offset the cost.
I’ll also walk you through the massive new limited-time welcome offer of 100,000 miles and share critical application tips, such as why you might want to freeze your Experian credit report before applying. Whether you are a current cardholder looking for a retention offer or someone trying to navigate the new family card eligibility rules, this deep dive will help you decide if the Venture X still makes sense for you.
ACTION STEPS:
- Check for Retention Offers: If you are a current cardholder, call Capital One when your annual fee posts to see if any retention offers are available.
- Activate Benefits: Ensure you have manually signed up for Hertz President’s Circle and Priority Pass if you haven't already.
- Evaluate the New Offer: If you don't have the card, check the limited-time 100,000 mile welcome offer to see if it fits your strategy.
- Plan Purchase Protection: Decide which card you will use for items that need return protection or purchase security (Venture X is a strong contender here).
- Check Eligibility: If you recently opened a Venture X, review the list of other Venture-earning cards to see if you can continue earning miles despite the new family language rules.
RESOURCES:
- Venture X Guide: https://katiestraveltricks.com/venturex/
- Venture X Card (my affiliate link): https://katiestraveltricks.com/portfolio-items/capital-one-venture-x-rewards/
- Hertz Status Guide: katiestraveltricks.com/hertz_presidents_circle/
- Newsletter: katiestraveltricks.kit.com/news
- Pros and Cons of Booking Portals: katiestraveltricks.com/pros-and-cons-of-booking-through-a-bank-travel-portal/
New Here?
Hi, I’m Katie from Katie’s Travel Tricks! I am here to help you learn the secrets that my family has been using for over a decade, using everyday expenses and welcome offers to supercharge your points earning. When you learn to do this, you can cover entire vacations every year.
Our family has been to Hawaii, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe — and more — all thanks to strategically earning and redeeming points. We've done this on a limited travel budget and now want to help you do it, too.
More from Katie’s Travel Tricks
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Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the card links and other products that appear on this podcast are from companies which Katie's Travel Tricks will earn an affiliate commission. Katie's Travel Tricks is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. The content in this podcast is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available. Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the autho...
00:00 - Is Venture X Still Worth It?;
02:07 - Welcome Offer And Game Plan;
03:11 - Who Should Keep Or Skip;
04:58 - The Three-Legged Stool Revisited;
06:16 - $300 Travel Credit Explained;
08:20 - Anniversary Miles And Break-Even Math;
10:26 - Hertz Status And Return Protection;
12:36 - Cell Phone Coverage And Workarounds;
15:07 - Travel Protections: Use Sapphire Instead;
17:21 - Capital One Travel: When It Wins;
19:33 - Lounges In 2026: The Big Cut;
21:10 - Solo Travelers Vs Families;
24:04 - Pairing Cards For Full Coverage;
26:00 - Venture Miles Strategy Updates;
27:28 - New Eligibility Rules And Order;
29:09 - Earning More Miles Without Venture;
30:45 - Action Steps And Retention Play;
33:00 - How We Fund The Content
WEBVTT
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I used to consider the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card a no-brainer, but now I consider it more of a full brainer.
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Today we're talking about if the VentureX is still worth it in 2026.
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I want to help current cardholders understand the recent changes and also speak to people who've never had it, but are considering it to help you figure out if it actually makes sense for you.
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The VentureX welcome offer just bumped up for a limited time to 100,000 miles after you spend$10,000 in the first six months.
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This matches the highest offer we've ever seen on this card, and we haven't seen an offer like this since 2022.
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Today I'm going to walk through the changes, the perks that remain on this card, and talk about strategy shifts for Venture Miles in 2026 and beyond, as well as approval tips.
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Welcome back to Points for Normal People.
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I'm Katie and I'm here because I know that travel costs add up, especially for a family.
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But I believe travel isn't just for the rich.
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That's why on Points for Normal People, I share the tips and tricks that my family has been using for over a decade to help you use your everyday expenses and credit card welcome offers to supercharge your travel points so that you can pay for entire vacations every year.
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I only call a limited number of cards no-brainers, and that's really reserved for cards where I think the value or the offer of the points are so good that they really make sense for almost everyone who can responsibly use credit cards.
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And the VentureX used to be one of those cards, but now it no longer is.
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That doesn't mean I don't think it's worth getting, and that doesn't mean I don't think it's worth keeping, but now I do think that every person has to take some time to understand the benefits on this card and how it works in order to make an informed decision.
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Now when there's a limited time offer and you can earn more points than normal, it can skew the analysis toward getting a new card, and that's fine.
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But once you have it, it's important to make sure you're using the perks and that it makes sense to keep year after year.
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Whether the VentureX is worth it depends on who you travel with, what other cards you hold, and how you value the benefits.
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We'll walk through all of that today so you can make an informed decision.
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Now I can't give a definitive recommendation because it also depends who you travel with, what other cards you hold, and how you value the benefits.
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But I'll share my tips.
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This card has an annual fee of$395 a year.
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So that's a bit hard to swallow when you're getting started with travel points.
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And for some people, you'll listen to this episode and realize it's not worth it for you.
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And that's fine.
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That's what I hope most of all, that you can listen to these podcast episodes and come out confident knowing whether a card is or isn't for you.
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If it isn't for you, you move on to something else.
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If it is for you, you'll know exactly how to extract all the value out of it.
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One of the big reasons this card used to be a no-brainer was that it was kind of like a three-legged stool with a trifecta of solid benefits.
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Yes, it has a$395 annual fee, but it also gives you a$300 travel credit each year and$10,000 bonus miles per year, which is worth a minimum of$100.
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Then on top of that, it had some of the most family-friendly lounge access policies.
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Between those three things, it was a winner and it had extra benefits to boot.
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But in 2026, it's losing those generous guest policies for lounges.
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Right when we heard that announcement, it felt like the stool had a broken leg and now it was wobbly and it was hard to figure out if it was worth salvaging.
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But now that I've thought about it more, it feels more like it was a three-legged stool that used to have a really comfortable cushion.
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And it lost the cushion.
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But the stool itself still has some good craftsmanship, so we don't need to just throw it away.
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We just might need another cushion.
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And that's kind of a pain because it means making a decision and it's going to cost a little bit more money.
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That's how I see it anyway.
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I'm going to discuss all the major benefits on this card, but I'm going to leave those lounge access benefits to discuss towards the end of the episode because they're a bit more convoluted.
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Let's start with the easy to understand benefits, the solid benefits that aren't changing.
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Right off the bat, this card will give you a$300 annual travel credit each year.
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To use this, you have to make a booking at Capital One Travel.
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So it isn't as easy to use as the travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but it's easier to use than some of the travel credits on other cards.
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The way the credit works is that your VentureX account essentially has a$300 coupon preloaded for Capital One travel.
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You don't have to use it all at once.
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You can, for instance, book a$150 hotel room and then book a car rental later for$200.
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It would use up$150 for the hotel and then use up the rest on the car rental and you just pay what's left.
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This is a card member year perk.
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That means you get access to it as soon as you sign up for the card.
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And then every year it will reset on your card member anniversary, which is essentially when you get charged the annual fee again.
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Previously, you could only use that$300 for flights or hotels or rental cars.
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But some good news is that Capital One Travel has now added activities and you can book those with your credit as well.
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And I think that addition really helps the credit become more valuable.
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We've typically used our credit to book rental cars or to book independent hotels or hotels in smaller towns that might not have a hotel that's otherwise easy to book with points.
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But some years it's been a little harder to use, especially if we're getting down to the wire and we haven't used it.
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That happened to me this year, and I had$90 left to use right before it was going to expire.
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I was really struggling to figure out how to use it, but then I started browsing the new activities tab.
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And on there I found a lot of great fun options.
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This can work even in your hometown, but also for trips.
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The one I personally picked was that I booked an escape room in Denver for my daughter and two of her cousins while we were visiting there.
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And the pricing was the same as booking other places online.
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There's also tours and museum entries and all sorts of options on there now.
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In addition to that$300 credit, you'll also get 10,000 miles every year on your account anniversary.
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So you don't get this the first year you have the card, it's just in the subsequent years when you're paying your annual fee again.
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Now the first year, of course, you'll get a welcome offer, so you earn some extra bonus miles that way.
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This is one of the very few cards that earn transferable miles that also gives you anniversary bonus miles.
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And those 10,000 miles can be transferred to various travel partners.
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They can also be used just to give yourself a statement credit for any travel purchase you've made.
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So at the very least, those can be redeemed for$100 worth of travel.
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Now these two benefits can effectively cover the$395 annual fee.
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And overall, they arguably make this more of a keeper than the$95 venture card, because you can mentally break even with the annual fee.
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Instead of with the venture card, you're out$95 each year, you're keeping it.
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The only effort you have to put in is remembering to use your travel credit every year.
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Because this is a premium card, it also has some premium card benefits.
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But it gets those benefits at a relatively low annual fee.
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I don't think$395 is a low annual fee overall, but compared to other premium cards that have annual fees of$795 or$895, yes, it is less.
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So one of those premium benefits is Hertz President's Circle Status.
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It's important to note that this isn't automatic and you do have to sign up at a certain Hertz website and link your Hertz account with your Venture X card number.
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But when you do, you'll automatically get Hertz President's Circle Status.
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We use this a lot for car rentals in the US.
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And what it gives you is that if you book a mid-size category or higher, at most US airports, you'll get to choose from what's called the ultimate choice aisle when you arrive.
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So usually you can pick an upgraded car like an SUV or even a convertible or a Tesla.
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As a side note, I really don't recommend booking with Hertz outside of the US, as their international franchises are notorious for extra fees and high pressure insurance sales.
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We've had a few bad experiences overseas with Hertz, but within the US, we generally have a good experience.
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Even if you don't like booking with Hertz, you can also take that president circle status and ask other car rental companies to match it to a higher status with them, with your preferred company.
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There are a few tricks to making sure you get your president circle status recognized and for status matching it.
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So I'm going to link an article in the show notes if you want to read more about either of those.
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The VentureX also has return protection, which is another nice premium card benefit.
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Return protection means that if you buy an item and you aren't happy with it, and if the retailer won't take it back and give you a refund or exchange, you can still get reimbursed for that item.
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Now this is time limited, so it's within 90 days of purchase.
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And there are some other limitations.
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Like you can't return holiday decor or live plants that died.
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But most things are covered.
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One time I used this benefit was when I bought a few swimsuits on final sale online and they turned out not to fit my daughter.
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Because they were final sale, the store would not accept a return, so I filed a return protection claim.
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I was given instructions to ship back the item to a certain warehouse address, and the cost of shipping was deducted from my final reimbursement, but I was still pretty happy to get anything back at all.
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This can also help when stores have a short return window, like Amazon often only gives you 30 days to make a return.
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Especially if you're like me and sometimes you miss those shorter return windows, this can be helpful.
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The terms even state is applicable even if the item is open, so if a store won't take it back because you opened it but you decide it isn't what you want, this covers that too.
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The VentureX also has cell phone protection, but unfortunately this one is becoming harder and harder to use.
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The way this works is that you need to pay for your sell bill with your credit card.
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And just paying for the bill activates this benefit.
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And if your cell phone is stolen or damaged, you can get$800, or up to the value of your phone.
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If it needs repair, the coverage may just be for the repair.
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There is a$50 deductible for this, but that's pretty low compared to other cards with cell protection.
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Now the big frustration for a lot of people is that a lot of cell services now charge extra for using a credit card to pay the bill.
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Like with T-Mobile, I now lose my auto pay discount of$5 per line if I pay with a credit card.
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And there used to be a workaround for this for T-Mobile, but as of November 2025, this is now closed.
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So I would have to pay$20 each month just to pay with my credit card, which is nuts.
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There is still a Verizon workaround, but it's fairly laborious and requires you to go and pay in person at a kiosk in a store.
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So the usability of this benefit varies a lot on your cell provider and if they let you pay with a credit card.
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As of now, I'm researching debit card options that give some cell phone protection so I can keep my auto pay discount for T-Mobile and still get some sort of included protection.
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Once we have a more in-depth article on that, I'll send it out in the newsletter.
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So sign up if you're not on the list already.
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The newsletter goes out every Saturday morning and just includes all of our up-to-date tips.
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So those are all some solid benefits:$300 a year to Capital One travel, 10,000 bonus miles on your account anniversary, return protection, cell phone protection, and Hertz president circle status.
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In addition to all of those, the VentureX also has some benefits that are a little more common.
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So these might overlap with ones you have on other cards, but they're still worth mentioning here.
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So you'll get a credit for$120 every four years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck.
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And now that Global Entry allows a parent to add all of their children under 18 to an application, any family really only needs two cards that have this benefit to cover this for both parents and everyone under 18.
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The VentureX also includes primary car rental insurance.
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So if you use this card to pay for a car rental and you get into an accident, your personal car insurance rates won't be affected.
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Now this benefit is also available on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for reference, so if you have that one, you do already have that over there.
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Other benefits it doubles up with the Sapphire Preferred on are purchase protection and extended warranty benefits.
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I discussed these in detail in season one in an episode all about Sapphire Preferred benefits, but I just wanted to mention that these benefits are on this VentureX card as well, in case you're wondering.
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As a quick review, purchase protection or purchase security covers you if you have a new item that you've purchased in the past 90 days and it's stolen or damaged.
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The damaged part is really key here because it is the worst when you just bought something and you accidentally break it.
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But with this, you're covered for the repair or the replacement.
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So items that you buy that have a warranty, this extends that by a full year.
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The Venture X also has trip delay insurance and trip cancellation protections, but this is one area where it's generally not up to par for a premium card.
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In fact, it's not as good as the coverage on the Sapphire cards, so I recommend using one of those instead.
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That's because the Chase Sapphire cards offer trip cancellation protection for flights, cruises, rental cars, and lodging, whereas the Venture X only offers it for flights and cruises and other transportation.
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With this in mind, it means I'd recommend using a Chase Sapphire over the Venture X if you're specifically using it to lock in travel protections.
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The coverage amount is actually more with the Sapphires 2.
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To be honest, this isn't an area I've always paid attention to for our personal travels because most hotels we book are refundable, or we're paying with some kind of points that are refundable.
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But I think it's helpful to know if you aren't using points and you have a Sapphire and AventureX to choose from, I really recommend choosing the Sapphire for the better travel insurance benefits.
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With AventureX, you also have access to booking travel through Capital One Travel.
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And Capital One Travel has some unique perks.
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Now you'll likely be booking at least$300 of travel through Capital One Travel because you'll be trying to use up that$300 credit.
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Now, one disadvantage of booking with a third party like Capital One Travel is that if you have any hotel status with a particular chain, your benefits won't be applied.
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So I don't mind booking this way for independent hotels or with chains that we don't need to use status perks at.
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You also do earn 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels if you book them through Capital One Travel, so sometimes that can really make sense.
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With flights, it's a little bit more complicated.
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Some people strongly prefer to book directly with an airline so it's more straightforward for any flight issues.
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When you book with a third party, you often have to deal directly with that third party instead of with the airline up until the day of travel.
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Now, personally, I've had equally good and bad experiences with airline customer support and third-party customer support.
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So I personally haven't seen it make a huge difference either way.
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So we generally just follow the deals.
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One thing I do like about Capital One Travel is that it offers a price drop guarantee on airfare.
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So if your airfare drops in price, it actually gives you a travel credit for Capital One Travel to use in the future.
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This is automated, and we once got it on a flight, and it was such a nice surprise.
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And that's something you don't ever get by booking direct.
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You can also choose to buy extra protection for flights that allows you to change to any flight available if your flight is canceled.
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I purchased this once when I was buying a ticket for a friend, and I just really wanted the peace of mind that if her flight was canceled, we could get her on any other flight that day.
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But still, I think booking flights in Capital One Travel is best for flights that you're really sure you're gonna take.
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There's also a price match guarantee you can use for hotels and car rentals, so if you find a lower price elsewhere, you can submit it to them and you can get a credit for Capital One Travel for the difference.
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I do think it's important to weigh various pluses of booking with Capital One Travel rather than just instantly writing it off.
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There's a lot of bloggers and creators who just say point blank, you should never book in a bank's travel portal.
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But I think that that's simplistic and honestly somewhat naive.
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There are lots of reasons you might want to book in a bank travel portal, but you just have to be aware that it won't help you earn hotel status, and your customer service experience might be different.
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We have a detailed article all about booking and travel portals that I will link in the show notes if you want to read more up about that.
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One more tiny perk I want to mention is that if you're near a Capital One Cafe, you can get 50% off drinks just by showing your Capital One card.
00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:56.960
We don't use this frequently, but we do when we're in Chicago, as there's a Capital One Cafe right down in the theater district.
00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:02.320
So inside there's a Pete's coffee with a full coffee menu, and so you can get 50% off there.
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:06.400
Now I want to transition to talking about lounge benefits and how they've changed.
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:09.440
Then we'll talk about strategy and application tips.
00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:15.519
Lounge access used to be a great perk on this card, but no longer is a slam dunk.
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.119
There are a few cases where it is still really useful though.
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:27.599
Last week we talked about lounge access, and I mentioned how the VentureX lounge access is really going downhill starting February 1st, 2026.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:39.359
The biggest changes is that starting February 1st, as a Venture X cardholder, you don't automatically get to bring any guests in with you to Capital One or Priority Pass Lounges.
00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:44.880
And your authorized users won't automatically have lounge access for either network either.
00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:53.279
If you want access for guests, you'll have to either pay per visit for guests or spend a lot of money each year on your card.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:18:00.480
So if you spend$75,000 a year on that card, you can then get two guests in the lounges with you every time you go.
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:07.039
Or you could pay$45 for an adult guest to visit the Capital One lounge or$25 for a child.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:18.559
Or if you really want a specific person to have unlimited lounge access for themselves, you can pay a$125 annual fee for an authorized user to upgrade to lounge access for themselves.
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:26.480
It was a surprise for me to see such a pendulum swing, from some of the most generous guest access to the absolute worst.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.279
Least affected, of course, are solo travelers.
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.720
If that's you, this card still works for you for lounge access.
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:40.240
But if you happen to travel occasionally with a friend or family member, you'd have to either pay for them to access the lounge or leave them outside.
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:45.200
For priority pass access, this is truly the worst access of any card.
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:49.680
I can't think of any other card that gives you no priority pass guests.
00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:55.759
Really, the only truly unique benefit of this card is the ability to access Capital One lounges.
00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.079
But to be honest, Capital One has really fallen behind Chase when it comes to continuing to open new lounge locations.
00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:10.640
Once the currently announced lounges are all built, the only airport that will have a Capital One lounge but no Sapphire Lounge is Denver.
00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:16.400
Every other airport with a Capital One lounge will also have a Sapphire Lounge as an alternate option.
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:23.119
So for all those other airports, you could pursue getting a Chase Sapphire card or even better, a Ritz card for good, really good lounge access.
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.440
But I think about this a lot because we fly to Denver a lot to visit family.
00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:32.480
If you're in and out of Denver frequently, this feels like a more complicated decision.
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:44.559
So if that's you, if you fly in and out of Denver a lot, my recommendation is just to do the math to see how often you go and if paying$125 for a second adult to get access really makes sense.
00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:52.240
Since it costs$45 to enter, you'd have to go a minimum of three times a year to even break even versus paying per visit.
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:59.920
Kids cost$25 per visit, so you'd have to take a kid more than five times to make it worth it to get another card in their name.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.359
But also remember that you can take items to go as well.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.359
So you could send the cardholder in and have them come out with snacks for everyone.
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:17.119
Another option is that if you find the Capital One travel credit easy to use, you could double up in a household and get two Venture X cards for your household.
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:28.480
Or one person could get a Venture X and the other could get a VentureX business card, which the business version actually will still give at least priority past guest access for two guests.
00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:34.799
Other than that, specifically for lounge access, you'll need an additional card if you're a family or even a couple.
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:41.039
The Venture X is no longer a standalone card for people who want lounge access and travel with others.
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.079
It doesn't mean the VentureX isn't worth having.
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:47.119
You can see this has a good number of other benefits.
00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:52.400
It's just that the lounge access in particular is really only good for one person.
00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:58.880
Overall, most people will need to pair this with another card or two to get a full suite of travel perks and benefits.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:10.000
Now that's not intrinsically a bad thing because if you follow along with me, you'll see that opening multiple cards help you earn more rewards, more benefits, and you can do it all while keeping your credit score high.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:18.079
But the downside here is that if you're looking for a very simple solution and a one card that can sort of rule them all, this isn't it.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:23.920
One quick exception would be if you're a solar traveler who wants to keep it as simple as possible.
00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:29.200
In that case, you could get this card and get all the premium benefits and lounge access for yourself.
00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:36.079
And then you could supplement the travel insurance on the card if you're booking non-refundable reservations for cruises or lodging.
00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:44.079
And if you're worried about the lack of the travel insurance for lodging, you could supplement travel insurance by buying it for specific trips.
00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:50.240
For the rest of us, this card, this Venturex, can still be a strong component of a big picture strategy.
00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:55.519
Generally speaking, I think frequent travelers should have a well-balanced wallet with a few key perks.
00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:01.359
And that's probably a whole podcast episode in and of itself, building your ideal well-balanced wallet.
00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:03.200
For me, I like to have the following.
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:08.640
So I like to have good protection for purchases of items and goods, including return protection.
00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:14.480
I like to have good trip protection that activates even if I pay just a small amount on the card like taxes.
00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:21.039
I used to say cell phone protection was really important to me, except that now that I'm a T-Mobile customer, that's no good to me anymore.
00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:25.440
And then one more is that I value the ability to get our whole family into lounges.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:32.880
And then I also like having cards in different ecosystems to keep transferable points alive and for different earning opportunities.
00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:37.519
Sometimes the cards I'm using to cover all of these bases may change from year to year.
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:42.240
For me, this card used to check the box for lounge access, but it doesn't anymore.
00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:48.480
It will still get at least one of us into the Capital One lounges, and we'll probably get some food to go when we're in Denver.
00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:50.240
But that's now a small perk.
00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.079
It could still check a box for good purchase protection and return protection.
00:22:54.240 --> 00:23:00.960
It could check the box of cell phone protection if I had a different provider that took credit card payment without penalizing me.
00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.279
But the biggest reason I will personally keep it is that it allows me to earn venture miles and keep my venture miles alive.
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:11.839
I have a whole other episode on how to use venture miles and specific sweet spots.
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:19.200
I won't go into all of that here, but while I'm on the topic, I want to mention two notable changes to venture mile transfers.
00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:25.920
Capital One actually added a few transfer partners, and the most notable one is Japan Airlines, or JAL.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:32.480
This is especially great if you're planning a trip to Japan because JAL is one of the nicest ways to fly to Japan.
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:37.519
And JAL releases a lot more seats that you can book with points to its own loyalty program.
00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:45.920
If Japan is on your list, definitely check out our new JAL article, which is very in-depth about all of this about creating a strategy to fly to Japan with points.
00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:53.920
A bit of a sad news is that one of our favorite Capital One transfer partners, Wyndham, is losing the ability to book Vicasa Vacation Homes.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:57.759
This is a loss for families and groups, and we are sad to see this go.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:03.519
Again, we do have an in-depth episode about great uses for venture miles that I will link in the show notes.
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:10.960
There's a lot of options there, and so overall I like keeping my venture miles alive by holding at least one card in the venture family.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:18.880
It also keeps me eligible for Capital One offers, which sometimes have some really strong earning opportunities for online shopping.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:31.920
Maybe in the future I'll choose to try to downgrade it to a no annual fee venture one card, but for my own purposes right now, it doesn't take me too much work to use my$300 travel credit each year, now that I can redeem it for activities.
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:36.559
So it's worth it for me, and I do like some of the bonus perks like Hertz Status 2.
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:42.960
And I like the option of going to the Capital One Lounge, even if we might have to pay for it, we might do that for a long layover.
00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:55.599
The Venture X can be a particularly good option to pair with a Chase Sapphire Preferred, because you can get the better purchase protections on the Venture X, and then you could use your Sapphire card to book travel and get the better travel protections.
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