Anyone have the Venture Card?

[dudspizza]

Capital One is offering a miles match for people to switch to the Venture Card. Annual fee is $59 and they will match up to 100,000 miles.

Does anyone have one and have you found it easy to use to book airline flights?

 

[Psychodisney]

I have it and love it. You get 2% on all purchases. Also, they have a shopping portal for internet purchases and you can earn extra points there too. The best thing is that you do the shopping for your airfare...whatever airline.Then, once the charge is posted, you can redeem on the phone or online. I do it online. The redemption amounts are based on the price of the ticket, car rental, hotel etc. For example, the price of your ticket is $260, it would take 26,000 points. My cruise excursion $400....need 40,000 points. There is also an option to redeem for gift cards(stores, gas, etc).
I would say their offer of matching your miles from another card is a great deal. There really areno restrictions! I'd say the only negative is for high priced airfares(>$500).

 

[rlduvall]

How funny you just posted this. For years I have resisted applying for an airline rewards credit card because of the annual fees. BUT, with airfares just getting higher and higher, yesterday I researched and researched which credit card gives the best % for airline miles and the consensus was Venture. I was approved in about 2 seconds and now I am just waiting on the card.

Now if I can only give up using my Disney Chase card; I just love getting dollars towards my Disney trip . . . and my Tinker Bell design always gets comments.

 

[Psychodisney]

Here's some incentive on not using your Disney card.....my charges from Disney show up in the travel expenses so ou can use your rewards for Disney! This way you get twice as many!
I even worked it out with the latest Chase 3% promotion I still came out ahead with my Venture card!

 

[dudspizza]

Here's some incentive on not using your Disney card.....my charges from Disney show up in the travel expenses so ou can use your rewards for Disney! This way you get twice as many!
I even worked it out with the latest Chase 3% promotion I still came out ahead with my Venture card!

It sounds like you can "shop" around for airfare and wait until you find an acceptable price to buy it for. Airfares constantly fluctuate, so essentially your miles to buy the flight will fluctuate as well and if you are diligent you can find a good deal.

I am going to have to consider this card...... I have the AA card with 136,000 miles on it so would get a 100,000 mile match with Venture. AA only flights with connections out of MSP to the places I go, so the Venture card would possible allow me to book any airline that flies non-stop to where I am going.

As far as price, is the the final price after taxes and fees? My last flight was on Airtran for 259.00 including al taxes. If I am reading this right, my flight would have cost me 25,900 miles, correct. Would I buy the airfare with the card thru the Venture site and then get credited back?

Duds

 

[dudspizza]

Did some digging on the site and found that it looks very easy to request credit for travel expenses........

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Did some digging on the site and found that it looks very easy to request credit for travel expenses........

Gary Leff who writes the View From a Wing blog and the folks at Milepoint have been talking about this offer. Even if the card is not very interesting, its hard to turn down $1100 value in sign up bonus for those having 100,000 miles in another program and good credit.

Funny how not long ago everyone was talking about the end of rewards cards as we know them! Since all that doom and gloom, the sign up bonuses have been crazy, but this may be the craziest since the bonus value is so easy to monetize. -- Suzanne

 

[dudspizza]

Another question....

when booking thru the Venture site, are the airfares the same as if you were booking with the airline itself? Or, can you book with the airline itself and then ask for credit?

 

[Psychodisney]

I've never booked with their travel agents. I always have booked my own flights with whatever airline I chose, then got reimbursed/credited through the website.

And yes, it is the total cost that of your ticket $259 would equal 25,900 points. (12,450 dollars charged).

 

[dudspizza]

I've never booked with their travel agents. I always have booked my own flights with whatever airline I chose, then got reimbursed/credited through the website.

And yes, it is the total cost that of your ticket $259 would equal 25,900 points. (12,450 dollars charged).

So I can go to www.airtran.com (or any airline site), book my flights with the credit card and then request reimbursement after paid for? Am I following this correctly?

 

[Psychodisney]

You got it exactly. Once it gets posted, you can request credit. You don't have to wait until it's paid for as long as you have enough points. They give you up to 90 days to request credit.

 

[dudspizza]

next question... do the miles expire?

My AA accounts miles never expire as long as I have activity on my account once every 18 months. Since I use my AA card monthly, the expiration date is always 18 months from posting date.......


I would hate to get this card and have to scramble to use the miles.

Duds

 

[Psychodisney]

Not sure. I don't think there is a limit to how many you can earn but I never have them laying around collecting dust. If it gets to that point, you can cash out for gift cards......Target, gas, etc.