How I Split an Airfare Payment via PayPal To Hit 2 Welcome Bonus Offers

Flying a family across the globe is a huge expense, whether you’re talking about miles or cash flights.

Facing a purchase of several thousands of dollars in holiday flights gave me an opportunity to evaluate if applying for a new credit card would be an easy way to quickly build my points and miles balance. I could use the flight purchase to help meet the minimum spending requirement for that card’s welcome bonus offer and use the bonus miles to help plan my next big vacation.

Since the flights in question were so expensive, I started thinking about how I might be able to split this expense across 2 new credit cards. I enlisted my Player 2 (my husband), and we both applied and were approved for new cards with the hopes of earning 150,000 total welcome offer miles for our big flight purchase.

Let’s learn more about how I decided what cards to apply for and how I split this expense across these 2 cards using PayPal’s Split feature.

Facing a Big Purchase

I am based in Doha, Qatar, where the FIFA World Cup was held in November and December of 2022. Knowing that we wanted to visit the U.S. over the 2022 winter holidays, I spent a few months tracking award availability and cash prices from Doha to the U.S. during the same timeframe.

Qatar Airways and its partners had blocked most of the ideal award availability during this timeframe, so the unfortunate reality sank in that unless I wanted to take 3 to 4 flights and spend over 35 hours of traveling time with my family (and still make it to the U.S. in 1 piece), I would need to buy cash tickets.

Knowing that I faced over $8,000 in flight costs, I immediately thought about what welcome bonuses I could easily knock out by meeting the minimum spending requirements with this purchase. This led my husband and me to both apply for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Applying for the Capital One Venture Card

Terms Apply / Rates & Fees

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

U.P. Rating

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!

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Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!

Welcome Offer

Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

75,000 miles

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$1,350

Annual Fee

$95

APR

19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent Credit (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the most popular rewards cards on the market. It’s perfect for anyone in search of a great welcome offer, high rewards rates, and flexible redemption options.

Frequent travelers with excellent credit may benefit from this credit card that offers a lot of bells and whistles. And it offers easy-to-understand rewards earning and redemption.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5x miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2x miles per $1 on all other purchases
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit
• No foreign transaction fees (rates & fees)
• Access to Capital One transfer partners

Cons

• $95 annual fee (rates & fees)
• Limited elite benefits

Card Highlights

• Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
• Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
• Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options
• Miles won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how many you can earn
• Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck^®
• Use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase—or redeem by booking a trip through Capital One Travel
• Enrich every hotel stay from the Lifestyle Collection with a suite of cardholder benefits, like a $50 experience credit, room upgrades, and more
• Transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Card Categories

• Credit Card Reviews
• Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Best Sign Up Bonuses

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The Capital One Venture card offers some amazing travel benefits:

• 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2x miles on all other purchases
• A Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
• No foreign transaction fees (rates & fees)
• Access to Capital One transfer partners

We would both easily be able to hit the $4,000 minimum spend requirement with half of the upcoming airfare purchase, earning 2x miles (16,447 total miles worth ~$296), and we wouldn’t pay any fees for using our cards abroad.

One of the most attractive benefits of 2 Capital One Venture cards was that we would each be able to use a Global Entry application fee credit for 1 of our kids, meaning that since 3 members of our family already had Global Entry, our entire family of 5 would now have Global Entry for our return trip to the U.S.  

When working towards the welcome bonus offer, the Capital One app lets you track your progress and gives you the option to add your card as a payment option for a variety of websites, including PayPal, Netflix, and Airbnb. This is a convenient way to remind you to use your new card when checking out to help meet your bonus.

Using PayPal To Make a Split Payment

I wanted to keep my family’s travel all under 1 reservation/record locator, so I wracked my brain trying to think about how to use 2 credit cards to make 1 purchase with Qatar Airways. When purchasing the flights directly from QatarAirways.com, I noticed a PayPal payment method option and explored this possibility.

I selected the PayPal option, logged into my PayPal account via a pop-up window, and noticed a toggle to Split the payment. When toggling to Split, you can adjust the amount you want to be charged to each card.

Once you select the custom charge for 1 card, the balance is charged to another payment option of your choosing (you’ll see the “Everything adds up” message).

Since I had preloaded both new Capital One Venture cards as payment options in my PayPal account, I could easily split the $8,000+ charge between the 2 cards to meet the $4,000 minimum spend requirement for each card’s bonus.

When you split the payment, click Continue, then click Complete Payment upon confirmation.

Hot Tip: You can only split a PayPal purchase between 2 payment methods.

Here is how the completed sale looked in my PayPal account:

The charge was processed as Qatar Airways on my credit card statement, not PayPal, so keep this in mind if you’re using a card that rewards travel purchases.

Bottom Line: PayPal can be used for payment on various airline websites, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. Just look for the PayPal logo when submitting your payment.

Final Thoughts

I was given a unique opportunity to share a big expense across 2 new credit cards. By splitting our airfare payment via PayPal, my husband and I quickly hit our minimum spend requirements for our new Capital One Venture cards. Over 83,000 total Capital One miles were deposited just as quickly into each of our accounts. If I only had the option to use 1 of the new cards for this $8,000+ purchase, I would have just earned 91,000 miles on 1 card vs. the ~166,000 miles we earned by using 2 cards.

Considering that my family doesn’t have too many “big” purchases like this, having gone through this experience, I now look at every big upcoming expense as an opportunity to knock out a new minimum spend on a new welcome bonus. My oldest son is about to go into braces, so you know I’m already scrutinizing our guide to the best credit card welcome bonus offers to see how I can come out ahead on this expense!