Best Travel Credit Cards in India

Best Travel Credit Cards in IndiaBest Travel Credit Cards in India


You might be an employee or business men or professional. If you are frequently travelling within India or abroad, considering a travel credit card is a good idea. Travel Credit Cards offer reward points, travel benefits at airports and various discounts on tickets and hotels. However, choosing a good travel credit card is little Tuff. We have filtered some of the best travel credit cards in India where you can choose based on your requirement. Which are the Top and Best Travel Credit Cards in India?

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What are Travel Credit Cards?


Travel credit cards are reward cards that help users earn free travel, achieve elite member status with airlines, hotels and enjoy many other travel-related perks. These cards give you an opportunity to earn rewards from some sort of travel. These cards offer good discounts at the time of booking tickets, grant you reward points, which can be used for further ticket booking and complimentary access to lounges. 

Why do you need to consider the best Travel Credit Cards?


Every traveler has different priorities for travel cards and each card provide differential facilities and rewards. A good travel card enables you to earn free-trips, comes to your aid in travel-related emergencies and does not charge extra fees for using it overseas.

How to choose a Best Travel Credit Card?


While choosing a Travel credit card that suits you best, you must consider a few points:

1) Look at how the card earns rewards and how you can redeem those rewards.

2) Decide for which perks and protections are must-haves for you and ensure your card must have it. For example- If you check-in bags with expensive items regularly, you must seek card that offers lost baggage protection.

3) Those who prefer specific airlines for travel or particular hotel-chain for a stay should go for co-branded travel cards.

4) Sign-up bonuses should not hold that much importance as on-going rewards, especially when you are planning to keep the card for the long term.

Best Travel Credit Cards in India


The following are the details of a few top and Best travel cards in India.

1) American Express Platinum Travel credit card


It is probably one of the best travel cards available in India. Apart from four complimentary lounges visit per year, one gets additional travel vouchers worth Rs. 17,000 and Hotel Taj gift card worth Rs. 10,000 if he spends more than Rs. 4 lakh in a year. You get 1 reward point per Rs. 50 spent and the value of each reward point is minimum of 40 paise. The annual fee of the card is Rs. 3,500 for the first year and Rs. 5,000 from second year onwards.

2) HDFC Diners Club Black


It is an excellent premium card that offers unlimited access to airport lounges. You can access more than 700 lounges in India and worldwide without the need for a separate priority pass. You get 5 reward points worth Rs. 5 on spending Rs 150 which comes to 3.3% savings on everyday spending. The annual fee for the first year is Rs. 10,000 and second year onwards, it is Rs. 5000. If you spend Rs. 5 lakh in the first year, you get the entire fee waiver for next year. There are many other temporary benefits also announced by the company. You must have a monthly salary of Rs. 1.75 lakh or income of 21 lakh per annum to get this credit card. Hence this is classified as top and best credit card in India for high salaried individuals to save money

3) Yes Preferred Credit Card


This card offers complimentary 12 domestic and 4 international lounge access every year. It offers 15,000 points as a welcome gift, 20,000 milestone points on spending Rs. 7.5 lakh, 1000 points on every YES PayNow registration. This way, you can earn up to 36,000 bonus points in the very first year. These points can be redeemed for flight and hotel bookings. The annual and renewal fee is Rs 2,500. You get 8 reward points on          travel agencies and tour operators, domestic airlines and dining.  Other benefits include Rs. 1 crore Life Insurance cover for flight accidents and Rs 25 Lakh of medical insurance coverage when traveling overseas. Yes Preferred Credit Card can be obtained only if you have a monthly income of Rs. 2 lakh or by making a Fixed Deposit of Rs.3 lakh and above.

4) Kotak Royale Signature Credit Card


This card is best suited for those who spend on travel agencies and tour operators. It gives 4X reward points per Rs. 150 spent on airlines, travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, and restaurants. It also gives 10,000 reward points on spending Rs. 400,000. The annual fee is Rs. 999 which can be waived by spending Rs. 1 Lakh. 

5) Citi Premier Miles Credit Card


This card offers you to earn 10 miles for every Rs. 100 spent on booking on any airlines at Citi Premier Web Site. You also get 8 complimentary domestic lounge access per quarter on the Visa Signature Card. You earn 4 miles for every Rs. 100 spent. A welcome gift of 10,000 miles on your first spending of Rs. 1000 and 3000 miles on a renewal is also given. The annual fee is Rs. 3,000 (first-year fee is waived for Citi Priority Card holder). This card does not offer any international complimentary lounge access. 

6) SBI Air India Signature Card


This card is best suited for those who travel often by Air India flights. One can earn up to 30 reward points per Rs. 100 spent on Air India tickets for self and 10 points when booked for others along with 4 reward points for every Rs.100 spent.  It also provides for 8 complimentary domestic lounge visits per year but for international airport lounge access, you need to pay extra. One can cumulate reward points on milestone spend which can later be converted into air miles. The annual fee for this card is Rs. 4,999.

7) SBI IRCTC Credit Card


This is the only credit card available for railway travelers. One can get up to 10% discount and higher reward value especially while traveling in AC classes. Moreover, you need not pay 1.8% transaction fees on all train travel spends and also earn fuel surcharge waiver of 1% across all petrol pumps. The annual fee for this card is Rs. 500 and Rs. 300 as renewal fee. You also get 350 bonus points as a welcome gift. The only drawback is that you can redeem these bonus points only on buying tickets on IRCTC.

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8) Axis Bank Privilege Credit Card


This is the best credit card if you use Yatra for your travel booking as you get a gift voucher worth Rs. 5000 as a welcome gift and one Yatra voucher worth Rs. 5,000 on spending Rs. 2.5 lakh.  One also gets 8 complimentary domestic lunge accesses at selected airports in the country. The annual fee is Rs. 1500 which can be waived by spending Rs. 4 lakh. You can also earn 5 reward points per Rs. 100 spent (except fuel) and up to 15% discount at selected Fine Dining restaurants.

Note: There were few nice travel cards which were being offered by banks in collaboration with Jet Airways. Due to Jet Airways crisis, we have excluded them.

Conclusion: The Travel Credit cards are really a bonus to those who travel frequently. They can accumulate huge reward points through card spending and enjoy privileged benefits. Hit the milestones to get a bonus gift, and enjoy the redemption of points against hotels. 

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Suresh KP

Best Travel Credit Cards in India

Suresh KP

2 comments

  1. Sir I appropriate your informative articles in finance field.
    Want to know regarding best Mediclaim policies . I have my company policy for my family . However since now my son is reached above 25 years age he is not covered . I want to purchase suitable medical policy for him. Pl guide.
    Also do you have any article on retirement planning?
    Pl help with links if you have published articles on both.
    thanks in advance,

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