If I were to only have one travel credit card, it’d be Capital One Venture X.

I’ll be talking in more detail in this article, but here’s a quick TLDR on why this credit card is essential for international travel, even if you already have a credit card with no international fees:

• Priority pass lounge access
• Sign up bonus of 75,000 miles
• 10x miles on hotel / 5x on flights booked through Capital One Travel Portal
• Great mileage transfer partners with most at 1:1 transfer ratios
• $300 annual travel credit to use in Capital One Travel Portal
• $120 TSA Precheck/Global Entry credit every 4 years
• No foreign transaction fees
• Basic travel insurance
• VISA credit card, so accepted nearly everywhere

The major con: $395 annual fee, however it balances out with the $300 annual travel credit. This is also the cheapest when it comes to credit cards with lounge access.

You can read full details from the Capital One Venture X website. If you do choose to apply for this credit card, please use my referral link to support this website so I can continue to make content for you! This will come at no extra cost to you.

Priority pass lounge access

Honestly, this is the main reason why I got the card.

If you travel internationally a lot, then you definitely want to get a credit card with lounge access. Unfortunately, the lounges in the U.S. aren’t great, and you have to fly internationally to access them, but the lounges in other countries are amazing (specifically, Asia)!

There are a couple of Capital One lounges in the U.S., so if you frequently fly out of DFW, DEN, or IAD, then you can utilize these (please check the Capital One website to see where the lounges are located within the airport).

With the Capital One Venture X, you get a Priority Pass membership which grants you free access to a huge network of lounges internationally upon departure with a confirmed boarding pass (you can’t use the lounges upon arrival).

You can bring in travel companions. The number of companions that you can bring into the lounge varies, so please read the terms and conditions, but generally expect that you can bring in up to 2 guests with you for free. All guests’s boarding pass (and maybe even passport) will be scanned at the lounge entrance to confirm you all are departing.

You can also access multiple lounges in the airport! That means, if priority pass is accepted by both the Plaza Premium Lounge and some other lounge in the airport, you can go to both before your flight.

If you have any authorized users on your Venture X, that authorized user also gets their own Priority Pass membership. And adding an authorized user to your card? Free!

Credit cards having such extensive lounge access seems to be mostly reserved for American credit cards, so you’ll find when you access these lounges internationally they are not very crowded.

You can think of these lounges as a nicer place to relax before your flight with a free buffet selection of food. If you want to check out some examples of the lounges, you can read my lounge posts:

Capital One Miles & Travel Portal

When you sign up for the credit card and meet the minimum spend, you’ll be granted a sign up bonus of 75,000 miles. On it’s own, 100 points = $1. That means, you can spend the 75,000 points on $750 worth of travel. (But I don’t recommended you spend the points that way, and instead use it to transfer to Capital One’s transfer partners. More on this in this section about transferring miles out)!

Capital One has their own travel portal which you will need to use if you want to take advantage of the $300 annual travel credit. You must book via the travel portal to use the credit.

Alternatively, you can pay using your Venture X card to book in the travel portal. You will get 10x points for hotel bookings and 5x points for flight bookings. You can also book flights on behalf of someone else/your travel companions.

In my personal experience, I have booked both flights and hotels in the travel portal. The hotels are typically more expensive than booking direct, however with 10x points and basic travel assistance, you can determine if booking in the portal is worth it if it’s not too much more expensive.

International flights (from the U.S. ↔︎ internationally) are usually the same price as booking direct, in which case it’s a no-brainer to book through the portal. You can also do multi-city bookings via the portal, and they’ve also been the same price during my personal experiences. I have booked multi-city EVA flights and one-way Singapore Airlines tickets with no issues. You receive a confirmation number with each booking, so you can log into airline’s website to manage your booking (seat selection, meal selection, etc) and add your airline’s frequent flyer membership as well.

However, bookings on international budget/low-cost carriers (such as, AirAsia, Scoot) are more expensive in the portal and for those I recommend booking directly, as add-ons (checked bag fees, seat selection fees) are usually more expensive if you don’t do them during the initial booking.

Using the miles to transfer to travel partners

You can use your miles to pay for travel in the Capital One Travel Portal. For example, if you are trying to book a $300 flight in the portal, you can use 30,000 miles.

However, Capital One has a great network of transfer partners. Most of these transfer at 1:1 rate. I’ve taken advantage of transferring miles to book award travel, and it has been beneficial. Here’s an example of what I did:

• The Cathay Pacific flight from HKG → KUL I was eyeing cost $401 USD if I were to pay without points.
• If I were to pay with points directly on the Cathay website to redeem for award travel, the flight would cost 10,000 Cathay miles and $116 HKD in fees (about $15 USD).
• Capital One miles transfer to Cathay Pacific at 1:1, so I initiated a transfer of 10,000 Capital One miles to my Cathay account. The points were in my Cathay account within 1 hour, however this may take longer for other partners.

To put into comparison, those 10,000 points were only worth about $100 worth of travel if I were to book in the portal, so transferring it to Cathay was a steal in order to book my flight! Do note that you can’t transfer back to Capital One after you’ve transferred it out. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to get a limited time deal, so the time it took to transfer into my account was not important.

Comparison to other cards with lounge access

While the $395 annual fee may seem steep, this is quite a good deal compared to other credit cards with the same Priority Pass access.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card has an annual fee of $550, plus $75 for any authorized user, except the benefits are nearly the same (still only get a $300 travel credit, Priority Pass, $120 TSA Precheck/Global Entry credit). As a reminder – authorized users for Venture X is free.

Travel Insurance

Luckily, I’ve never had to utilize the travel insurance but it’s great to know that this card includes basic travel insurance for bookings charged to this card. To qualify for this trip insurance, you’ll need to use your credit card for the booking (doesn’t need to be done in travel portal, just purchased with the Venture X card).

If you want to know what the exact terms and conditions are for the travel insurance, check out Capital One’s benefit page. The Venture X card is a Visa Infinite, so look at the benefits for the Visa Infinite card. It has some benefits regarding trip cancellation and lost/delayed luggage reimbursement, however you should read the exact conditions carefully if you are deciding between purchasing additional travel insurance!

Conclusion

This is a great credit card if you’re looking for one with lounge access or an all-around great travel credit card. This is the card that I use for all my travel bookings and for purchases while traveling internationally as the 2x miles on all other purchases is still technically equivalent to 2% back. I can also create a virtual credit card #, so this is great for making online purchases in internationally currency, or just to ensure another level of security by not exposing your physical credit card’s number online.

If you’re interested in applying for this card, please use my referral link. As a disclaimer, I’ll receive a referral bonus – this will help support my blog, but will come at no extra cost to you. If you have any other questions about my experience with any of the benefits of this card, send me an email and I’ll be happy to let you know.

If you are interested in what ATM cards I travel with, check out the above post. You should also travel with an ATM card that has no foreign transaction fees, and reimburses ATM fees!