5 Reasons Why Capital One is King in My Wallet

American Express and Chase might be top dogs when it comes to travel credit cards. But if you ask me, Capital One deserves a place at the podium – and maybe the gold medal.

The bank is behind the ultimate travel card for beginners, the *capital one venture card*, and the premium *venture x*, both are beloved for their simplicity: Swipe your card for virtually any travel expense, then go back and cover the cost with points. Yet for travelers looking to go the extra mile (pun very much intended), there are excellent Capital One transfer partners to which you can send your Capital One miles, too. That versatility alone makes Capital One cards stand out among their competitors, and it's a big part of why I'm falling (back) in love with my own Capital One cards. But there's much, much more to it than that.

While other points programs can help you cover flights and hotels, Capital One also shines for all the other travel expenses – from Airbnbs to boat rentals in Bora Bora. That's a sneaky advantage to Capital One miles that you won't find with any other bank. And there's one under-the-radar advantage I'm enjoying more than ever: Capital One's technology is second-to-none, making its platforms much easier to deal with.

Just so we're clear: Capital One isn't paying me to say this. They won't see these words until you do – maybe even after.

But a handful of experiences lately have me thinking about what sets them apart – and reasons why I'm loving Capital One travel cards more than ever these days. Here they are.

Instant Card Number & Speedy Tech

I applied for my *capital one venture card* in a pinch this spring. And I'm still shocked at how smoothly everything went.

Staring down a sudden major home expense, I wanted to earn a bunch of extra points. But I needed to make the purchase that day, and that put me in a bind: I'd need a card that could provide a digital card number immediately upon approval. And that limited my options.

Capital One is one of just a few banks that you can readily rely on to provide a digital card number upon approval … but not always. It seems this is only available if you already have an account with Capital One. Lucky for me, I was an authorized user on my wife's *venture x*, and that did the trick.

So within mere moments of hitting the “apply” button, I had my new Venture Card number to make my purchase. That was enough to knock out the minimum spending requirement of $4,000 in the first three months in a matter of minutes – I earned the card's 75,000-mile bonus in one fell swoop, then paid off the full balance before the statement due date.

Other than American Express, no other bank makes it so easy to do that. But here's where Capital One pulls ahead: With many other banks, you'll wind up waiting a month or more to actually see the welcome bonus points in your account – typically not until after your next statement closes, if not longer.

No more than five days later, I woke up to that 75,000-mile bonus in my Capital One account. And since you also earn 2x miles for every dollar you spend, I had a grand total of 83,000 Capital One miles to use in less than a week.

That's a testament to Capital One's speedy technology, which makes practically every other bank's platforms and processing look ancient in comparison.

It might be a little thing for others, but it proved invaluable for me.

My ‘Slush Fund' of Miles

Part of the reason I'm writing this story is because I'm confident my co-workers are sick of me referring to my “Capital One Slush Fund.”

(It's a good thing, I promise.)

I love using Chase points to book Hyatt hotels and flights through the Chase Travel℠ portal when airfare is cheap. And I use my Amex Membership Rewards almost exclusively to book flights: Think deeply discounted Delta SkyMiles flash sales, lie-flat seats to Europe, and even the best business class in the world, Qatar Airways Qsuites.

But I couldn't use points from either program to rent a private boat for the day to cruise around Bora Bora for hours on end, chasing after stingrays in the picture-perfect blue water and soaking in the view of Mount Otemanu. I did that with Capital One miles.

Read more: The Weirdest (& Coolest) Things We've Done with Points & Miles

The same goes for a daytime cruise out into New Zealand's jaw-dropping Milford Sound. My wife and I booked our tickets through Viator, then went back a few days later to cover the purchase using Capital One miles.

And just this week, I used the bulk of that big new Venture Card bonus to cover a safari in South Africa next year. Safaris aren't cheap … but thanks to Capital One miles, ours will be (nearly) free.

That's the beauty of Capital One miles: If it codes as travel, you can cover it with miles. Pricey seaplane ride from the Maldives (MLE) airport to your resort? Done. Airbnb or VRBO? Sure thing. Parking fees? If you want to.

So whether other points programs fall short with travel expenses, Capital One fills the gap. Using this method, every Capital One mile is worth a flat, 1 cent toward travel.

Could I have squeezed more money out of those miles by sending them to a Capital One transfer partner like Turkish Airlines or Avianca LifeMiles? Sure. Do I care? Not in the slightest … because the entire purpose of using points and miles is for experiences. And boating around Bora Bora, all on our own, was one of the best travel experiences we've ever had.

Capital One miles made that happen.

Fine-Tune Your Transfers

Whether you want to keep things simple or go next level, Capital One miles gives you the best of both worlds.

In addition to an easy way to cover almost any travel purchase, you can also transfer Capital One miles to more than a dozen different airline partners and three hotels. These transfers are the key to unlocking maximum value from your miles with top-dollar redemptions like first or business class flights.

There are plenty of worthwhile transfer partners where it could make sense to transfer your Capital One miles. For example, right before Turkish Airlines raised award rates, I kicked over 90,000 miles to book two Turkish business class seats to Istanbul (IST) for a trip early next year.

Read our full guide on Capital One transfer partners!

There are a few duds here. And there are plenty of partners you'll also find with other big banks like Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Emirates Skywards, Singapore Airlines, and others.

But when it comes time to transfer miles, Capital One offers a sneaky feature you won't find with other banks. Other programs like American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards always require you to transfer points in flat increments of 1,000.

With Capital One, you'll need to transfer at least 1,000 miles at a time … but from there, you can transfer in 100-mile increments. That's quite nice, as it means you can tailor your transfer to precisely how many miles you need – and not a mile more. Aside from Wells Fargo, which just recently introduced a limited list of transfer partners, this simply isn't an option.

So for this 12,500 United Airlines flight from New York City (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX), I could transfer exactly 12,500 Capital One miles over to my Air Canada Aeroplan.

Using points from Chase or Amex, I'd have to transfer a flat 13,000 points instead … and then have 500 points left over in my Aeroplan account after booking.

Is that the end of the world? Hardly. But it's another advantage with Capital One miles that you won't find with most banks.

Capital One Lounges Are (Still) Second to None

The airport lounge wars are in full swing between the big banks like American Express and Chase – not to mention the airlines themselves. But back when I first visited Capital One's first lounge in Dallas-Fort Worth, I believed the bank had “thrown down the gauntlet.”

“This space in Dallas is fantastic, on par with, or better than, anything you can find in the U.S. – and in many airports abroad, for that matter,” I wrote.

That was in October 2021. Nothing has changed: Capital One Lounges are still the best in the U.S. if you ask me.

Read our full review of the Dallas Capital One Lounge!

It took a while, but they're up to three lounges and counting with locations in Denver (DEN) and Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) as well as that Dallas outpost. More are on the way in Las Vegas (LAS) and New York City (JFK).

But what Capital One Lounges lack in quantity they make up for in quality.

Years after we wondered how long Capital One could afford to keep churning out food this good, the snacks and meals available at Capital One haven't missed a beat. The drinks – tailored to each location – are fun, tasty, and free.

And at a time when many other airport clubs are overcrowded with lines spilling out the door (here's looking at you, Amex Centurion Lounges), Capital One is clearly managing capacity wisely to ensure travelers and cardholders have a great experience inside.

While I sadly don't live in a hub with a Capital One lounge, I'll go out of my way to connect through Dallas, D.C., or Denver before a big trip abroad so I can sneak in a visit before departure. Personally, I'll pick the Dallas Capital One Lounge over the American Airlines Flagship Lounge next door 100 times out of 100. Meanwhile, I practically dread the thought of visiting the nearby Dallas Centurion Lounge, where long lines to get inside are a fixture.

That says something, doesn't it?

Simplicity is Lovely

I've got a laughably long note on my phone tracking all the monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual credits to use on my American Express cards. It's not quite that bad with Chase, but the bank has steadily added new credits to use (or forget), too.

And then there's Capital One, which keeps things remarkably simple. That's no accident.

“Right now, there is a gap in the market as (travelers) are looking for the right travel card. They don't want to pay $600 for a card that has travel benefits,” Lauren Liss, Capital One's head of premium products, marketing, and rewards, said back when the bank launched the Venture X Card. “And they don't want to have to take the time to continue to track a laundry list of benefits that they have to remember to register for.”

That's a direct shot at American Express and its notorious “coupon book” mentality if I've ever heard one. And honestly, not having to worry about using up that laundry list of benefits is a breath of fresh air. So long as we use the $300 annual travel credit on the Venture X Card each year, we're pretty much set.

To be clear, Capital One has cut some benefits and tweaked others. And an annual fee increase on the Venture X Card, in particular, still feels inevitable.

But squeezing the value out of Capital One's top travel cards doesn't require a spreadsheet. I appreciate that a lot.

Room for Improvement

Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and neither is traveling with a Capital One card.

While I'm on my soapbox, here are a few things Capital One needs to work on

• Yes, Capital One Lounges are great … but there should be more of them. Since opening its first lounge nearly three years ago, there are just three open and two more locations publicly confirmed. In half that time, Chase has already opened five Chase Sapphire Lounges – with another six locations and counting lined up. While quality might be more important than quantity, the airport lounge wars are a numbers game: Capital One simply needs to build more of these great spaces.
• When it comes to credit card points, nothing beats a transfer bonus – who wouldn't want an extra 20% to 50% bonus when transferring miles? Capital One offers these promos occasionally (like a 20% bonus to Qantas available as of publication), but nowhere near as often as the likes of Chase or American Express.
• Overall, Capital One's tech is great until it comes to fraud alerts. In my experience (and I'm not alone here), Capital One is far more likely to flag innocuous purchases for fraud than other credit card companies. And clearing those purchases can sometimes take several times, even requiring a phone call – something that's not always feasible depending on where you're at in the world.

Bottom Line

Consider me a Capital One convert.

Maybe I'm late to the party – or maybe I was always a fanboy and didn't realize it? But the versatility of Capital One miles, its excellent technology, and even better lounges have me keeping my Capital One cards at the front of my wallet.

How about you?