Best credit card for Flights and Hotels (in and out of India)

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Last Comment 2023-01-07

2023-01-05

Hey there,

My brother is looking for the best credit card in India for flights and hotels. He holds HDFC Money back, Citi Prestige, Amex MRCC, and other LTF cards for their respective benefits. He plans to close the prestige card because of constant devaluation, and migration of the salary account to HDFC. Also, CITI seems to have lost interest in India's business as its exit is nearing. He's an add-on card holder on my Infinia and likes to pick the best card for travel and hotel bookings. I don't know much about credit cards offered by other banks besides HDFC.

He makes more than 24LPA (not bragging, just providing some context), has HDFC imperia, and should be eligible for most cards. Our family spends up to 18L per year on hotels and flights. So, should we use my Infinia or sign up for a different card to maximize the benefits?

PS: His prestige card's renewal fee is 20k + GST which is due in March 2023. So, planning to redeem all the RP and close it.

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https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9007688

Rosh_0007

Admin

2023-01-05

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HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card: This card offers complimentary airport lounge access, discounts on domestic and international flights, and discounts on hotel stays.
ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.
SBI Card Prime: This card offers a range of travel benefits, including discounts on flights and hotels, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access.
Axis Bank Miles & More Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.

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https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9007688

Rosh_0007

Admin

2023-01-05

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HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card: This card offers complimentary airport lounge access, discounts on domestic and international flights, and discounts on hotel stays.
ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.
SBI Card Prime: This card offers a range of travel benefits, including discounts on flights and hotels, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access.
Axis Bank Miles & More Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9008849

harshak9045

2023-01-05

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Rosh_0007 wrote:

HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card: This card offers complimentary airport lounge access, discounts on domestic and international flights, and discounts on hotel stays.

ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.

SBI Card Prime: This card offers a range of travel benefits, including discounts on flights and hotels, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access.

Axis Bank Miles & More Credit Card: This card offers accelerated reward points on flights and hotel bookings, and also provides complimentary airport lounge access and discounts on hotel stays.

Thanks will check the respective cards and take the decision accordingly.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9008947

Ramta_Jogi

2023-01-05

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Only a few make the list then. You should, ofcourse, know how to mint points on them before applying:

Multipurpose:

- Amex Platinum (Charge card, not the TRAVEL credit card) - Axis Atlas - Axis Reserve - Axis Magnus - HDFC Infinia

Following depend on choice of Flight services:

SBI Air India Signature (Shiny Blue colored one) - SBI Etihad Premier (it was devalued, pls recheck before applying) - most now use > Axis Vistara Infinite

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9010249

psujoy294

2023-01-06

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Can axis magnus available lifetime free?

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9010328

jaadugar_goga

2023-01-06

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If your brother has passed out from any prestigious college (IITs, IIMs, FMS, XLRIs etc) you can get HDFC Diners Black as LTF. Its a great card and allows unlimited lounge visits - both domestic and international. Plus you can apply for complimentary cards and comp card users enjoy same benefits.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9010924

harshak9045

2023-01-06

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jaadugar_goga wrote:
If your brother has passed out from any prestigious college (IITs, IIMs, FMS, XLRIs etc) you can get HDFC Diners Black as LTF. Its a great card and allows unlimited lounge visits - both domestic and international. Plus you can apply for complimentary cards and comp card users enjoy same benefits.

No, he's not. His RM said she could get him a DCB right away but had to wait for the Infinia upgrade. Does it make sense to hold a DCB when our family has already one Infinia?

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9010954

harshak9045

2023-01-06

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Ramta_Jogi wrote:
Only a few make the list then. You should, ofcourse, know how to mint points on them before applying:

Multipurpose:

- Amex Platinum (Charge card, not the TRAVEL credit card) - Axis Atlas - Axis Reserve - Axis Magnus - HDFC Infinia

Following depend on choice of Flight services:

SBI Air India Signature (Shiny Blue colored one) - SBI Etihad Premier (it was devalued, pls recheck before applying) - most now use > Axis Vistara Infinite

Thanks for your input.

Amex Platinum Charge: He said there's no upgrade offer for an Amex charge card available on his MRCC but will dial up the cc and request it as his ITR is more than the required amount.

Axis cards: He said he had some bad experiences with Axis in the past and holds an LTF FK Axis card but is never happy with their cc at least in his case. But Magnus seems like a nice contender.

SBI Air India Signature: He currently has 2 LTF SBI cards, SBI IOCL for all our fuel spends, and an SBI IRCTC card for trains in India. Have to look out if SBI offers another card or an upgrade option available.

In a nutshell, I feel the Amex Platinum charge is best when our entire family can use it and justify the fees of 60k + GST. Also, the recent learning from the DD community is the risk of IT notice if CC sends is significantly higher than the filed ITR. Just wondering if spending 60k + GST as a joining fee is worth if it's for his own purpose. However, this feels like a nice card to have. So, just put it on our bucket list.

Also, a small query, if we pay the credit card bill before the bill generation date will the IT department count the debits under the cc bill?

PS: On Infinia for now there are 10x rewards which means effectively we'll be getting 33.33% cashback on flights.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9011016

Ramta_Jogi

2023-01-07

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harshak9045 wrote:
Also, a small query

- If we pay the credit card bill before the bill generation date will the IT department count the debits under the cc bill? - Yes. All "spends" are.

PS: On Infinia for now there are 10x rewards which means effectively we'll be getting 33.33% cashback on flights. - No, it's not. Read TnC.

As i said earlier, apply card(s) only if you have an existing lifestyle to compliment the features of any card. Don't fabricate lifestyle or spends just to show-off or ask around later "how to mint maximum reward points".

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9011176

harshak9045

2023-01-07

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Ramta_Jogi wrote:
- If we pay the credit card bill before the bill generation date will the IT department count the debits under the cc bill? - Yes. All "spends" are.

PS: On Infinia for now there are 10x rewards which means effectively we'll be getting 33.33% cashback on flights. - No, it's not. Read TnC.

As i said earlier, apply card(s) only if you have an existing lifestyle to compliment the features of any card. Don't fabricate lifestyle or spends just to show-off or ask around later "how to mint maximum reward points".

okay, thank you for the clarification regarding #1.

#2, https://offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com/i...ia

Here it's written 10x RP. I need to book to and fro flight tickets to Banglore and found this link somewhere in the DD forum as well as RM mentioned so many times regarding the smart buy. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

What about giftyr vouchers? It's also shown as 10x points for all the vouchers. I purchase at least 2L on Amazon and 3L in Croma stores every year. W/hile card upgrade HDFC CC told me that we'll get 10x points on all these vouchers.

#3, I was never really aware of the RP's until I joined this forum. It's amazing to see how much people are getting benefited using CC spending wisely. Anyhow, I won't be increasing or decreasing my spending because I have got a better credit card.
Here my requirement is a better card for hotels and flights.

The main reason for restricting family CC spending on one single card is IT department notices. To compensate for this we're planning to apply for another card.

So far, only 2 major cards for all purposes, my Infinia, and my brother's prestige unless there's an upfront offer or benefit available on other cards.

Overall, my spending never changed because of Infinia.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9011680

Ramta_Jogi

2023-01-07

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harshak9045 wrote:
. Please correct me if I'm wrong

You are very wrong. Dikhawe pe mat jao, apni akal lago. Read TnC. I really don't understand why nobody reads TnC............

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9012283

harshak9045

2023-01-07

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Ramta_Jogi wrote:
You are very wrong. Dikhawe pe mat jao, apni akal lago. Read TnC. I really don't understand why nobody reads TnC............

Ok, sure as of now I couldn't find the pdf on the HDFC site except for this Infinia. I'll ask my RM to send me the full TnC. Thanks.

What about giftyr vouchers? It's also shown as 10x points for all the vouchers. I purchase at least 2L on Amazon and 3L in Croma stores every year. W/hile card upgrade HDFC CC told me that we'll get 10x points on all these vouchers.

What about this?

Edit: Found the link there's a max cap of 7,500 bonus RP per day. Either HDFC CC hid this fact while upgrading my card or it was introduced recently.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9012576

Ramta_Jogi

2023-01-07

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harshak9045 wrote:
. Either HDFC CC hid this fact while upgrading my card or it was introduced recently.

It's been over 1 and a half year with those tnc.... U really need to start reading things on your own.

https://www.desidime.com/discussions/best-credit-card-for-flights-and-hotels-in-and-out-of-india?page=1#post_9012739

harshak9045

2023-01-07

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Ramta_Jogi wrote:
It's been over 1 and a half year with those tnc.... U really need to start reading things on your own.

Long ago, I visited the HDFC branch and CC showed me a quick comparison of my existing card Regalia with the available upgrades DCB, and Infinia. It sounded like a good deal to me then. But one good thing is, she explained the charges well and all conditions for the renewal fee waive off. After realizing the daily max cap limit, Infinia's value fell drastically in my sight. However, with a base CB of 3.3%, I still feel it's the best card.

TBH, I learned a lot on the DD forum about these CC and finances. Prior to this, never cared much about these aspects. Sure, thanks for your input though.