Consumer complaint received 2025-08-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
Capital One Travel # XXXX XXXX NUMBERS XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, I booked XXXX flight tickets from XXXX ( XXXX ) to XXXX ( XXXX ) and back ROUND TRIP using Capital One Travel. Payment : {$2100.00} USD - XXXX adults, XXXX child, XXXX infant Due to the XXXX outbreak in the XXXX surrounding area and my youngest daughter being too young to get the XXXX vaccine, I decided to check what the cancellation policy for this flight was. 

I cancelled this flight on XX/XX/XXXX being told the following from the Capital One Travel website.

1 ) I would have to pay a rebooking fee of {$120.00}.

2 ) The {$2100.00} credit must be with XXXX ( the original airline ) and must take place prior to XXXX  months from the original booking/payment date. 
I felt these terms were fair and chose to cancel my flight. 

My husband and I decided to use the entire {$2100.00} credit on a XXXX XXXX XXXX tickets instead of ECONO round trip tickets. I had been checking and looking at fares for the last month and finally decided to book it. ON XX/XX/XXXX, I used the Capital One Travel website, indicated I wanted to use my XXXX credit and submitted my request for XX/XX/XXXX XXXX way premium tickets from XXXX to XXXX. The website indicated there was an error and I should try again later or call customer service. I decided to try to call later. XXXX hours later, before I was able to contact anyone from Capital One XXXX, I received an email that I had purchased XXXX XXXX ( XXXX fare class below XXXX ) XXXX way tickets from XXXX to XXXX and I would be charged an additional {$600.00} USD. 

I immediately called Capital One Travel and spoke with an agent. She was not helpful and insisted there was nothing that she could do despite me never accepting this purchase. 
I then asked to speak to the supervisor who reversed the transfer and returned to me my credit but informed me that any purchase I made using my {$2100.00} credit would require a payment of {$600.00} for penalties. This made me furious as nowhere in my original cancellation was this brought up. After further discussion, the supervisor told me my original cancellation email indicated that the airline may have " rebooking penalties ''. While I can confirm this on the email, this was informed to me after my cancellation and it was never informed how much those penalties would be. I was then told by the supervisor that I must call to use my {$2100.00} credit and can not use the website. 

I called Capital One Travel on XX/XX/XXXX to book my flight using my credit. The first agent stated he had no record of any of my conversations or my credit. I asked to speak with his supervisor who found it immediately. This is frustrating that every time I try to use my credit, I am met with obstacles and a huge lack of transparency. 
The supervisor then told me that if I wanted to book one way premium tickets, it would be {$1600.00} USD in addition to my {$2100.00} credit. I found this to be obscured as XXXX website indicates the exact same tickets are {$1600.00} USD. I stated this to the supervisor and she insisted that there was nothing she could do and those were the fees. I then asked if I could purchase XXXX one way tickets instead and she stated that she had no access to such tickets despite me seeing access to them on the Capital One Travel website. I then asked if I could use my {$2100.00} credit to purchase XXXX one way tickets and she told me I would have to pay the {$600.00} USD " rebooking penalty '' out of pocket and I was not allowed to use my credit for it. 

I first tried to reason with the supervisor that this does not seem correct. And even using Capital One Travel website for the fare fees, the fares that she was telling me do not match up. She was rude and abrupt. The agent continued to gaslight me and inform me that I was confused about the fares when I can clearly see that the fare charges she was giving me were well beyond any fares seen on XXXX, XXXX, and Capital One Travel themselves. She told me there was no one above her that I could speak to and that I could try XXXX instead. She then gave me the following number : XXXX Upon speaking with a XXXX agent, I was told that this number was to be used by agents only. NOT clients. XXXX agent informed me they had no process/protocol to help me and that I needed to work with Capital One Travel . The XXXX agent did confirm with me that there are rebooking penalties. She said it was {$100.00} + TAX per ticket ( infant not included ). That would be {$300.00} + TAX. I then ask, why was Capital One Travel charging me {$600.00} then? 

At this point, between XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX, I had spent over XXXX hrs on the phone to get no where. I am writing this to CFPB to indicate the following complaint against Capital One Travel : 1 ) Lack of transparency and proper information in regards to their cancellation policy. I was informed there would be a {$120.00} rebooking fee. I was not told there would be a rebooking penalty by the airline until AFTER my cancellation. I was never informed what that penalty was until I tried to use my {$2100.00} credit. In addition, CAPITAL ONE IS POCKETING THEIR AIRLINE PARTNER 'S REBOOKING PENALITIES. The XXXX agent informed me that it would be {$100.00} + tax per person. That's {$300.00} + tax in this case but I was told by Capital One Travel agents that I would have to pay {$600.00}. I was only booking one way, not round trip.

2 ) Customer Service - Abusive and Unprofessional.

Customer service interactions were persistently unproductive. There were multiple long holds and transferred. I feel strongly that such unprofessional and unproductive interactions were intentional and used to prevent the customer from making further attempts to use their credit properly. They additionally gave up information of another company ( XXXX XXXX ) to deter me further from any resolution. 

XXXX ) Abuse of credit I have a standing credit of {$2100.00}. This is my hard earned money. Yet the fares that the agents presented were obscured. I have attached to this complaint the fares at the time that I was trying to purchase them on XX/XX/XXXX. Even with additional rebooking and surcharges, it is absolutely crazy to think I would need to pay an additional {$1600.00} USD with my {$2100.00} credit for premium fare tickets that are listed at {$1600.00} USD

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief