Sharon and I signed up for the Capital One Venture X card when it offered a 100,000-point sign-up bonus. A benefit of the card is a $300 travel credit for reservations booked through the Capital One Travel website.
I’ve already written a post about how the Capital One Travel portal charges more for hotel reservations than you can find on the hotel’s website. Several readers commented that it’s possible to put in a price match guarantee claim, but that’s too much trouble for us.
That was a few months ago, but paying more on the Capital One Travel website for hotels still seems to be par for the course.
I found a room on the Hilton website for $174.
The same room with similar cancellation policies on the Capital One Travel website was $20 more.
However, I found that I could book flights on the Capital One Travel website for the same price I could find on the airline website.
I was looking for a positioning flight to Los Angeles. The best non-stop flight was on Delta, and the price was the same as I found on Delta.com.
I could pay the $239, or if I paid $277, I’d be able to cancel my flight for any reason up to 3 hours before departure.
I didn’t pay extra for Capital One’s cancellation insurance, but I did get price drop protection for 10 days if the cost of the flight went down.
In addition, Capital One reminded me that my flight purchase may count toward the Capital One Travel credit.
I booked two tickets worth $478, and it took five days for the $300 credit to hit our statement.
I’m not afraid to book airfare with the Venture X card, because it includes the following travel insurance coverage:
- Lost Luggage – $3,000
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption – $2,000 (need to pay the cost of the ticket with the card or using Capital One miles)
- Trip Delay – $500 if a trip is delayed by 6 hours or overnight.
If you book a hotel through Capital One Travel, you won’t get any of the benefits of your status. However, you get the benefits of airline status (or co-brand credit card) when booking through a third-party site if you include your frequent flyer number with the reservation.
That means we’ll still get a free checked bag by having a Delta Gold AMEX Business card, even when we booked the flight through Capital One Travel.
Final Thought
I don’t like using third-party booking sites. However, many banks now require you to use their portal to redeem travel credits. Before booking through a portal, always check the airline, hotel or rental car website to make sure you’re not overpaying.
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1 comment
I had a very bad experience booking a hotel through the Capital One website. Fortunately, I have status with the hotel, and they agreed to inform the agency that handles Capital One’s bookings that I could cancel the reservation without penalty. But with your suggestion to use the site for airline bookings, would you get the same ability to get an airline credit if you don’t fly? It seems that with the booking being with Capital One’s agency, you might lose the value of the ticket if you have to cancel the flight?