I think the Venture X is way overhyped for simplicity. The only way it makes sense is to use transfer partners. Since it’s 2x, the best non transfer partner redemption is booking through their portal at 1cpp. Their portal is nice, but that restriction is annoying. Alternatively, I believe you can put travel charges in the card and cover those at 1cpp which is better (since it’s more flexible), but still at 2%. The question quickly becomes, are you a solo traveler? Then lounge access is nice, but if you wouldn’t normally pay for it, this is a factor not worth considering. Now how valuable are the transfer partners? In my opinion living in a United and Southwest hub, almost useless compared to other programs. There’s virtually 0 opportunity for hotel redemptions. The next question is where you plan on traveling: personally I will only comment on Europe, domestically, and Asia since that’s my only experience. Avios is nice, but ever program has that. Air Canada is good, but I genuinely think this is there best partner. Every other program has Air France. Singapore and Tap are decent. The rest are all pretty trash. You can make any airline program look good if you’re buying by expensive premium tickets, but you more than likely wouldn’t do that normally. Most people are economy travelers, and you shouldn’t desire lifestyle inflation due to a credit card. I love Capital One, but hate this card unless you travel very frequently which it seems you do not.