Travel credit cards can be an excellent option for frequent travellers. With benefits like complimentary flight tickets, air miles, lounge access, direct discount on travel booking, etc., cardholders can save a significant amount and, at the same time, make trips more convenient.

To find the best travel credit card for your needs, here are a few things to take into account.

Co-branded, general

Most travel credit cards with substantial value-back options are generally co-branded with popular airlines such as Vistara, Air India, IndiGo or travel portals like EaseMyTrip, Yatra and Ixigo. The cards often come with complimentary memberships to brand loyalty programmes and discount or accelerated rewards on making travel bookings through the associated platforms. Usually, the points earned on such cards are redeemable only on the partner platforms, thus limiting the flexibility.

On the other hand, brand-agnostic cards such as Axis Atlas and American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card, offer accelerated reward points or air miles on card spends.

The accrued rewards can later be redeemed against various options, including conversion to airline or hotel loyalty points.

Premium all-rounder cards with a high reward rate across categories can also help high-spenders accumulate substantial reward points and redeem them for free flight tickets or hotel stay vouchers.

If you prefer to fly with a specific carrier or make bookings via a particular portal, getting a co-branded card could provide you better savings. On the other hand, general travel cards would suit those who do not have brand inclinations when it comes to travel, instead prioritise savings over brand loyalty.

Core value-back

Most travel cards also come with generous welcome or milestone benefits wherein you could avail substantial value-back on reaching a quarterly or yearly spend threshold. For example, Club Vistara IDFC FIRST Credit Card offers 1 complimentary premium economy ticket each on reaching yearly spends of ₹1.5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, ₹4.5 lakh, ₹9 lakh and ₹12 lakh.

While comparing travel credit cards, it is important to check the reward rate, redemption value and the available redemption options. You should also check if it would be feasible for to reach the spend milestones to avail additional benefits. In case of Club Vistara IDFC FIRST Credit Card, you would be able to maximise the milestone benefit if you can spend ₹12 lakh in a year.

Additional benefits

Most cards also provide additional benefits such as complimentary airport lounge access, complimentary membership to airline or hotel loyalty programmes, travel insurance, low or no forex mark-up fee, etc. Though the features should not be the only deciding factor for card selection, they should still be taken into consideration to understand how beneficial the card could be for your travel needs.

For instance, if you travel multiple times in a year, complimentary lounge access could be quite a valuable feature for you. Similarly, if you frequently travel abroad, a card with international lounge access or low forex mark-up fee could be beneficial for you.

Most credit card features come with a list of exclusions and associated terms and conditions.

Read fine print

Discount on flight tickets could come with a maximum capping, lounge access could come with spend-based eligibility, flight vouchers could be redeemable only for select journeys. Hence, when choosing a card, it is important to read the fine print to understand if applicable terms and conditions could make it difficult for you to extract maximum value out of the card.

Before you compare cards on the above parameters, you should first check eligibility for the cards and the annual fee you are willing to pay for travel benefits. Highly-rewarding travel credit cards generally fall in the fee range of ₹1,500-₹5,000 but if you are looking for extensive all-round benefits, in addition to travel benefits, you might want to consider premium cards with fee going as high as ₹50,000. Premium cards come with high income eligibility.

Picking the right card requires an in-depth analysis of your own travel needs, preferred form of value-back, understanding how a card’s rewards programme works, how efficiently you can maximise the benefits, etc. When chosen by taking the above points into account, the cards can prove to be an asset for frequent travellers and help them save considerably.

Co-branded cards carry complimentary membership to brand loyalty programmes and discount/ accelerated rewards on travel booking via platforms

Brand-agnostic cards such as Axis Atlas and American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card offer accelerated reward points or air miles on card spends

(The writer is Head of Credit Cards Business, Paisabazaar)

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