Best Travel Credit Cards in India

Travel Credit Card is a kind of credit card which offers rewards to the users in the form of points or miles and the same can be used for travel-related purchases.

Updated: Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 12:08 [IST]

When it comes to travel, people will look for coupon's, cash backs, discounts and so on to cut down the travel expenses as much as possible. Today, most of the firms across the globe incur a huge travel expense which forms the second biggest business expense for a company and the one which is considered as toughest to control. Analysts predict that the travel expenses for corporates are likely to rally up to touch a whopping $1.7 trillion worldwide by 2022. Hence it is better to work towards minimizing the travel costs which will ease the burden of frequent travellers.

What is a Travel Credit Card?

A Travel Credit Card is a kind of credit card which offers rewards to the users in the form of points or miles and the same can be used for travel-related purchases be it for booking a hotel room or flight tickets. The rewards offered by the travel credit cards are lucrative and some of them come with an annual fee with higher interest rates.

Benefits of Travel Credit Cards

Travel Insurance - Few of the credit cards provide an elaborate insurance cover which protects the cardholder from any kind of unforeseen expenses which may arise owing to a medical emergency, air accident, loss of ticket or baggage or passport and so on.
Welcome Gift - Most of the travel credit cards provide reward points or air miles to the cardholders, as a part of welcome gift on joining. These points can be redeemed for air miles at both domestic and international airlines. Some of the credit cards even provide free tickets on selected airline carriers.
Waiver on Annual Fees - Some of the travel credit cards are available with no annual costs. Some of them come up with an annual fee waiver on selected cards if in case, the holder spends a specific amount during the previous year.
Airport Lounge Access - Few of the travel credit cards provide complimentary airport lounge access which can be availed at both domestic as well as international airports. The cardholders can sit, relax in selected airport lounges if in case there is a flight delay and can enjoy the privileges which are available a the lounges at no additional cost.

Let's take a sneak peek into the list of Best Travel Credit Cards in India.

1. Amex Travel Platinum Credit Card

This travel card rolled out by the American Express offers a series of benefits which includes travel vouchers, airport lounges facility, additional travel vouchers, milestone bonus membership reward points and so on.

Joining fee: of Rs 3,500 + applicable GST charges
Annual Fees (second year onwards): Rs 5,000 + applicable GST charges.
Interest Rate: 40.2% per annum

Features of Amex Travel Platinum Credit Card

Earn a welcome gift of 5,000 milestone bonus membership.
The earned reward points can be redeemed for travel vouchers which are worth Rs 4,000.
On every Rs 50 spent on the card for fuel, insurance, cash transactions, utilities, the cardholder will earn 1 Membership Rewards Point. (1 Membership Reward Point = Rs 50 spending on the card)
On spending Rs 1,90,000 in a year, the cardholder will get a travel voucher which is worth more than Rs 7,700.
Get exciting discounts of up to 20% every time you eat at a list of selected restaurants in India.

2. CitiBank’s Premier Miles Credit Card

Offered by CitiBank, the Premier Miles Credit card is one of the best travel credit cards which offers an array of benefits to its users with free miles and other exciting travel-related offers. It is one of the best cards to go for those who travel frequently. Those who opt for this card earn high reward points and win miles by making payments using the card.

Joining Fee: Nil
Annual Fee: Rs 3000
Interest Rate: 3.10% per month

Features of CitiBank's Premier Miles Credit Card

The cardholder can earn 10,000 miles points on the first card spends of Rs 1,000 or more within 60 days of issuance.
The first-year fee is waived for Citi Priority Clients and no fee will be charged for Citi Gold clients.
On renewal of the credit card, the cardholder will earn 3,000 miles points.
Accumulated miles points do not have an expiry date.
Redemption of earned miles points can be down as per the requirement of the cardholder.
Earn 10 miles per Rs 100 spent on all the airline based transactions (any airline across the globe).

3. Jet Privilege HDFC Diners Club Card

Issued by HDFC Bank, this travel-based credit card comes in hand if your flights use the InterMiles platform for booking flight tickets. The unique feature of this card is it has the lowest interest rate at 1.99% per month. As the credit card has tie-ups with Etihad Airways, the cardholders can get a discount on booking tickets with Etihad.

Joining Fee: Rs 10,000 (Waived if the cardholder opens a new current or savings account)
Annual Fee: Rs 5,000 (Waived on spending Rs 8 lakh within 12 months of issue of card)
Interest Rate: 1.99% every month

Features of Jet Privilege HDFC Diners Club Card

Enjoy unlimited complimentary gold games at selected golf courses both in India and abroad.
Earn JetPrivilege Tier Points on every spends. Every time, the retail spends cross Rs 1,50,000, the cardholder will earn 1 JetPrivilege Tier Point.
Get fuel surcharge waiver and get a maximum refund of Rs 250 per cycle if the transactions range between Rs 400 - Rs 5,000.
Cardholders can get dining discounts of up to 15% on food and beverage bills at selected fine dining restaurants across various cities in India.

4. Axis Bank Insta Easy Credit Card

The Axis Bank Insta Easy Credit Card is one of the best credit cards which comes in handy for travellers as it helps them to reap travel rewards when you need a card against a fixed deposit. A minimum amount of Rs 20,000 has to be parked in the fixed deposit to get this card and this card does not charge any annual fee nor there is any age or income bar to secure the card.

Joining Fees: Nil
Annual Fees: Nil
Interest Rate: 2.50% per month

Features of Axis Bank Insta Easy Credit Card

Get flexible credit limit with the card. The cardholders can get a credit limit of their choice and up to a maximum limit of 80% of the fixed deposits principal value
Cardholders can withdraw up to 100% of credit limit starting from day one.
Enjoy 50 days of free credit at no extra charges on purchase-related transactions. (There should be no outstanding amount on the credit card i.e., all the previous bills should be fully settled on the payment due date).

About the Author

Archana has been covering investment planning and personal finance for more than two years.