Nowadays travelers have lot of options in travel credit card to choose from and these cards offer ample of benefits to the card holders. These travel cards not only offer some extra air miles but have also lot of tie-ups with the particular airlines on which customers can avail discounted fares and these travel cards can also help customers in availing discounts on stays in hotel, to carry on transactions easily in foreign countries, avail discounts on dining etc. Travel credit cards also help customers with large range of benefits which can be availed by the card holders while they are enjoying their holidays abroad.
Advantages of having Travel Credit Cards:
Travel credit cards offer their customers a wide range of benefits, from giving welcome gifts to their clients to providing free access to some of the airport lounges, there are variety of benefits and features that cater to the needs of these frequent travelers.
Some of the popular benefits offered by these Travel Credit Cards are as follows:
- Welcome Gifts: There are lot of Travel credit cards available in the market which offers many reward points as a welcome gift to their client or sometimes even offer sign-up bonuses. The main advantage of these reward points are that they can be redeemed for the air miles at both the domestic as well as international airlines. There are some cards which even offer free airline tickets on the selected flights.
- Free Access to Airport Lounges: There are various Travel credit cards which offers their card holders the complimentary access to the airport lounges at both the international as well as national airports. In case of any delays in flight these cardholders can access these lounges wherein they can sit and enjoy these kind of privileges which are offered by these lounges at absolutely no cost. There are some cards which also provide the free access to the lounges of family and friends of these card holders.
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: This feature is available on almost all the Travel credit cards. Normally using card at the fuel station for purchasing fuel levies a fuel surcharge of around 2 to 2.5% of the transaction made. This fee is basically waived off if these Travel credit cards have a feature of fuel surcharge waiver. The transactions made on fuel does not qualify for those reward points.
- Waiver of Fees: There are times when credit card issuers also offer waiver of renewal fees and other charges, this feature is completely dependent on the amount spend on these Travel credit cards in previous years.
- No Liability in case of lost cards: The cardholders need not to worry if they lose their Travel credit cards in some foreign locations. If the lost has been reported immediately to the issuing bank then the card holders will face zero liability on any kind of fraudulent transactions that are made after the loss of the card.
- Other Benefits: There are also other complimentary gifts like free movie tickets, or some discount coupons on dining, or concierge services available on these Travel credit cards.
- Waiver of Annual Fees: Mostly people look for the Travel credit cards which do not have any annual fee. But it becomes really difficult to get a Travel credit cards which have zero annual fees as these cards offer some of the exclusive privileges to their customers. The card holders can opt for a facility of waiver of annual renewal fee offered by these Travel credit cards. The users can also opt for waiver of annual fees as specified by their banks by spending particular amount in a given year. So if the card holders achieve every year their target spend then they can enjoy the option of no annual fees on their Travel credit cards.
Some of the Best Travel Credit Cards available in India:
Let us analyze the features and benefits of some of the best Travel Credit Cards available in India:
- Jet Privilege HDFC Bank World Credit Cards: This is a type of credit card which offers their customers a complimentary Jet Airways tickets as a welcome gift. If the cardholders use this card to book their flight with Jet Airways then the base fare is waived off for the first domestic tickets which are purchased using this card. The other welcome gifts included with this card are the first 5000 JP Miles bonus when a customer uses this card for the first time and also they would be offered another 5000 JP Miles bonus if the card holder spend around Rs. 75000 or more within 90 days of purchasing this card. These JP miles can be used by the customers when they are travelling with Jet Airways or else they can also use these JP miles at 25 international airline partners. The card holders can also upgrade their flight tickets using these JP miles.
- British Airways Premium Credit Card Account: This is a Travel Credit Card in which the ICICI bank has paired with British Airways to offer their customers with 8000 points as their welcome gifts if they use this card for the first time. In case if the customer books a return tickets from India to London within 3 months using this credit card then they can avail their 25000 Avios. These card members are also eligible for club membership of British Airways.
- Axis Bank Travel credit Cards: This bank offers their customers a co-branded travel credit card wherein customers can avail benefit on 9 airlines of which Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian are also included. One of the card issued by this bank is World travel card which gives their customers a 5000 miles welcome bonus and 3000 miles annual bonus whereas the other card i.e. World Select Card offers its card holders 15000 miles while on boarding them and an annual bonus of 4000 miles.
Hence customers are spoilt with so many options available, therefore they can pick up any Travel credit cards which suits their requirements.