👀 How to turn any purchase into travel

Happy weekend, friends!

This weekend I’m running my first half-marathon, which means a few things: lots of carbs, lots of nervous energy… and probably a very long nap later. 😌

But before I go run 13.1 miles for fun (?), let’s catch up on the biggest travel news from the week.

✈️ Have elite status with another airline? Southwest may match you to A-List or A-List Preferred.

🤝 Rove just added SAS EuroBonus as a new transfer partner (yay!).

🏨 Marriott just improved Free Night Awards, raising the top-off cap from 15k to 25k points (yay, again!).

✈️ Spend $350 on Trip.com and earn 15,000 miles through Capital One Offers.

🎥 Learn why an $800 credit card fee isn’t as crazy as it sounds in this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video.

🏆 Our Favorite Pick: Why we kept talking about this travel card all week

If you noticed us bringing up the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card a few times this week… you’re not going crazy. 🙂 

It came up more than once because it’s one of those cards that’s surprisingly powerful without being complicated, which is honestly kind of rare in the points and miles world.

You earn 2 miles per dollar on literally everything you buy.

Groceries. Gas. Flights. Bills. Pizza slices. All the things!

There are no bonus categories to track, no quarterly calendars, and no weird mental math trying to remember which card to use where.

For many people, that alone makes this card appealing. You can just use it for everyday spending and know you're consistently earning (double) rewards.

But the bestest things happen when you transfer those miles to airline partners.

Yes… bestest is a word… don’t look it up. 😙

Instead of redeeming miles at a flat value, transferring them can give you waaaay better redemptions, even on flights within the U.S.

For example, here’s an upcoming Delta flight priced at about $191 in cash.

Instead of paying cash, that exact same flight could be booked for 5,000 miles plus about $12 in taxes through Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France and KLM.

That works out to well over 3 cents per mile in value.

Since the Venture card earns 2 miles per dollar, a redemption like that effectively turns everyday spending into 7% (or more) back in travel.

And again… that includes groceries, gas, and everything else you put on the card.

The other reason this card kept popping up in the newsletter this week is the current welcome offer.

Right now it includes:

• $250 travel credit to use in Capital One Travel
• 75,000 bonus miles after meeting the minimum spend

And the fun part is that the $250 travel credit posts almost immediately after approval.

Yup — just some super sexy travel credit sitting in your account that you can use on flights, hotels, vacation rentals, or rental cars.

Considering the card has an annual fee of under $100, getting $250 in travel upfront is a pretty strong start, even before factoring in the extra miles.

It’s not often we see an offer that combines instant travel credit PLUS a large mileage offer, which is exactly why we wake up every day thinking about it.

👉 If you want to dig into the details, you can check out the Venture offer here.

👀 This Week’s Must-Reads

🌍 Week in Review

• Monday: 💳 How to get 7% back on... everything

• Tuesday: ✈️ Another transfer partner? In this economy??

• Wednesday: 🥂 Live like a billionaire (with points)

• Thursday: 🏨 Two awesome credits I used this week

• Friday: 🏨 Marriott did something... very good

Alright, that’s the week!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got 13.1 miles to run and a post-race nap with my name on it. 👊

See ya next week,

40°39'41.4"N 73°56'22.0"W

With contributions by Mike Dodge, April Wilson, and Sam Anthony