How Long Does The Capital One Travel Credit Take To Post?
As some of you may know, I recently grabbed the Capital One Spark Travel Elite credit card for the large 250,000 point welcome offer. If you had been considering the card I share with you a way to get it in the article. I am always one to use perks and credits as quickly as possible so that I can check it off the list. That means my newly minted $300 Capital One travel credit was no different. This is the same credit that the very popular Capital One Venture X has so I figured I would share my experience using the portal and share how long the Capital One travel credit takes to post.
Using The Capital One Travel Portal
Our readers have shared more than a few issues with the Capital One travel portal and I have heard gripes throughout the web. I think it is mostly the same issues you run into with any bank travel portal. When everything goes smoothly, it works well. But, when you have issues it can be a world of hurt since you have an intermediary company to deal with now. That is why I would only book flights, hotels or car rentals you are near 100% sure that you could take.
We had wanted to take a trip to Florida early next year for the kids to go to Universal, see my parents and make one more stop at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique before my daughter fully outgrows it. All miles options were pretty bleak and the price that was the best was from the low cost carriers. I figured this was the perfect time to put my new travel credit to use.
The best price originally was from Frontier Airlines. I got everything all set up and added in my wife and kid’s names and then hit purchase … then a message popped up. It said that price was no longer available and that it was now $80 more. Google Flights still showed the old price as well so I am not sure if this was games by Capital One or Frontier really changing prices last minute. I did a new search and now Spirit Airlines was the best option when taking into account the higher Frontier price. Frontier was still coming up at its old price when searching the portal but it would keep giving me the error if I attempted to book it.
I went ahead with Spirit which had slightly better times and was my preferred airline of the two anyway.
How Long Did It Take For The Capital One Travel Credit To Post?
Here is my timeline for the travel credit:
- Purchase made October 24th
- Credit posted October 28th
That was pretty quick turn around. I made the purchase on a Monday and the credit posted to the account on that Friday. I did redeem some points to cover the rest of the charge, I had some since they accrue as charges settle versus at statement time, and that credit posted in around 2 days, so a bit quicker.
Final Thoughts
I am glad I was able to use the Capital One Spark Travel Elite travel credit pretty much right away. That already offsets most of the $395 annual fee. You don’t get the 10,000 bonus points to offset the rest until after the 1 year anniversary.
The process was pretty much like any other bank travel portal, although the pricing change last minute was annoying. That wasn’t necessarily Capital One’s fault though. It was nice to see that the credit posts within 4 days or so, at least excluding weekends. It may be possible to double dip it in the first year if you act quickly.
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Booked Hotels in late September, didn’t credit till 11/1/22.
I’ve had a bunch of problems with capital ones travel services. I don’t recommend them.
For Venture X:
Flights Booked 9/24
Traveled 10/1-10/2
Credit posted: 10/27….3 days after statement cut.
Interesting – thanks for the DP Chris
I didn’t have the same experience. Booked two hotels on 09/29/2022 through the portal. $300 credit finally just hit on 11/01/2022! YMMV
Wow, surprised it took so long.
I just got the Venture X card and used it to pre-pay a hotel in Italy for next year via the Cap1 Travel portal. The charge posted on Oct 25 but as of Nov 02 I do not have the $300 credit.
It seems like Cap One likes to update things at night. I would be surprised if it hits tonight.
Is that per calendar year or cardmember year?
Cardmember year
Just used mine yesterday for a trip to Miami in February. Glad to know the credit is posted relatively quickly.
Nice! I hope it posts as quickly as mine did.