The Capital One Venture X Could Be The Best Travel Card For Families

Steve Cummings

the best travel card for families

Credit Card companies and banks compete to be in everyone's wallet. They offer big bonuses, lucrative bonus categories, and plenty of cash-back options. It can take time to choose the best card to pick. 

In the travel rewards credit cards, there are so many to choose from, but looking at prioritizing your family for travel means getting the most bang for your buck. Which card can help minimize the cost of travel?

Looking at the many options between Chase, American Express, and Capital One, the choice for traveling families is the Capital One Venture X card. The Capital One Venture X card has made itself one of the best credit cards for traveling families. 

The Capital One Venture X allows many benefits for traveling families, such as four free authorized users, lounge access, and flexibility with their miles. With a low annual fee of $395, the Capital One Venture X card will have a bonus of 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 in 90 days. That is a bonus of at least $750 towards travel. 

Here are a few reasons this card is the best travel card for families. 

The Capital One Venture X Benefits Pay For Itself

When looking at credit cards, finding the best value is always what people want. For families, you want a great card that doesn't cost you additional money from the annual fee. 

The Capital One Venture X card pays for itself. The annual fee of $395 is something that most people will balk at, but in reality, the benefits make it seem like it is almost free. 

Benefits of The Card:

The card comes with several benefits that add significant value.

  • $300 travel credit when buying travel through the Capital One Travel Portal
  • There is a 10,000 Mile bonus at each Anniversary year. That is worth $100. It can be used to offset a travel purchase or even transfer to several airline and hotel partners. 
  • Excellent Lounge access
  • Cell Phone protection when paying for the contract with the card
  • Primary Rental Car insurance for any rentals when using the card.
  • Hertz President's Circle Membership to get better rates and upgrades when renting cards
  • 2x miles on every purchase, like the Citi double cash card 

You can make this one excellent family traveling card with the card's additional benefits. As you can see, with the $300 travel credit and the 10,000-mile bonus, you can walk away without paying anything for the card. Then the extra benefits are like the cherry on top. It is a win-win. 

Capital One Venture X

75,000 Capital One Miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months. Great Premium Card!

Many Free Authorized Users Can Be Added

Most of the benefits of the Capital One Venture X can go straight to the single card holder, but the free authorized users make it the best travel card for families. 

Adding an authorized user to your credit card account is a great way to earn more points, share benefits with all, and experience more with that credit card. It should be easy to add, but other large banks have made adding an authorized user pretty pricey. 

Capital One Venture X card allows up to four free authorized users to be added to the account. That means each user can share the various benefits as the primary user. Those benefits include:

  • The same lounge access as the primary card holder. 
  • They will get primary insurance for their rental cars, phone insurance, and many other protections on items purchased.
  • It allows them to get 2x miles on every purchase, but the miles go to the primary card holder. It is perfect for giving to your spouse or children. 
  • Hertz President's Circle membership

These are just some of the shared benefits of being an authorized user. It makes it great to carry around this card if you are in a traveling family. 

The Other Card Companies And Authorized Users

The main competitors to the Capital One Venture X card would be the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the American Express Platinum card. These two cards have hefty annual fees and charge for an authorized user to be added to the account. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550, and adding an authorized user will cost an additional $75 per year. That is a whopping $625 per year in annual fees. 

The American Express Platinum Card has a hefty fee of $695. It has many credits and benefits, but adding an authorized user would cost $175. Those fees combined would be $870 altogether. 

Capital One's free authorized users allow the family to have a card, and it does not break the bank. That is one of the most excellent reasons it is the best credit card for traveling families. 

The Lounge Access Saves Money

With a family, traveling costs money. That is a no-brainer. You must pay for food, accommodations, and activities. When traveling through airports, the food can be expensive, and that is different from where you want to spend your travel budget. 

Capital One Venture X has partnered with two large lounge networks and has started its lounge network to bring about savings to its members. 

Capital One has opened up its first lounge at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, and it has been raved about by so many travelers as one of the best lounges in the U.S. Capital One is not stopping there. They are opening up lounges in Denver, Dulles, and possibly one in Las Vegas. The great thing is that you can bring in two guests with the Capital One card. 

Capital One also has partnerships with Priority Pass and Plaza Premium lounges. They are allowed two guests with Plaza Premium lounges and unlimited guests with the Priority Pass. Their Priority Pass membership will lose out on restaurants starting in 2023, but having unlimited guests beats all the other card companies. 

With Capital One Venture X, you can add your spouse and bring in a family of four with additional guest passes. The Chase Sapphire Reserve can get Priority Pass for an authorized user, but that user costs $75 per year. 

American Express has its lounge network on top of having access to Priority Pass. The Centurion lounges will start restricting guest access beginning in 2023. Each guest will cost $50, and children under 12 will cost $30. 

As I see it, the amount of money you need to fork over for Chase and American Express makes it not worth it for a family. Capital One Venture X saves money with its lounge access. That is a huge plus. 

The Low Annual Fee

Traveling costs money, and you want the best value for your spending and cards. Capital One Venture X does not cheapen out on the benefits. 

You can get a $300 credit for booking travel through the Capital One travel portal. With an annual fee of $395, you will get lounge access, primary car rental insurance, Hertz President's Circle membership, and more. If you spend at least $300 on travel through the portal, you will walk away with Capital One paying you $5. Lastly, you will get 10,000 miles on your anniversary. Those 10,000 miles are like a $100 bonus for keeping the card for another year. 

Compare that to the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum, with much higher fees; you will have to use their many credits and spend more to break even. Chase gives a $300 travel credit, but you have to earn enough points to cover the $250 extra. American Express Platinum has a $695 fee. It would help if you used more of their many different credits to make the fee worth it. 

The Capital One Venture X makes things simple. Spend at least $300 in the travel portal, and you have paid for the card. They are now paying you. 

Combining Venture Miles With The Family

The exciting thing about having a family with Venture Cards is that you can transfer miles to each other. That makes accumulating miles much easier when booking hotels or flights. 

The great thing is that these miles can be transferred to anyone. Capital One wanted to be different from the other major credit cards. 

  • Free transfer of miles to anyone with a Capital One Venture card. 
  • The cardholder does not have to live at the same address.
  • There is no cap on the number of miles you can transfer
  • There are no blackout dates, expiration dates, or restrictions on the miles. 

That is massive news because many of the other card companies put restrictions on their transfers.

  • American Express allows no transfer for Membership Rewards points.
  • Chase only allows transfers to those living at the same billing address. 
  • Citi will have their Thankyou points expire after 90 days. 

With these restrictions from the other companies, it may be hard to justify saying they are suitable for families, but Capital One Venture X makes it worth it all. 

Final Thoughts:

No one card fits everyone. Several cards work for people and families, but you cannot go wrong with the Capital One Venture X card for those looking for the best travel card for families. It allows free authorized users, lounge access, easily transferable miles, and a low annual fee that pays for itself. If you are looking for a sound travel card for your family, start with the Capital One Venture X. 

Capital One Venture X

75,000 Capital One Miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months. Great Premium Card!

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