Best Travel Credit Cards in India 2024 | Compare & Apply on Paisabazaar

Travel credit cards are designed to help frequent travellers save a significant amount on flights and hotel bookings along with benefits on other travel spends. Users can save considerably through free flight tickets, air miles, discount with popular travel brands, complimentary lounge access, travel insurance and more. From cards co-branded with popular airlines/travel portals to cards that offer substantial savings in the form of air miles/rewards, the options are endless. To help you compare and make the right choice, here is the list of top 10 travel credit cards in India.

Updated: 04-10-2024 07:03:44 AM

Video: Best Low Annual Fee Travel Credit Cards

Best Low Annual Fee Travel Credit Cards

Note: Details mentioned in the video have been sourced from the issuer’s website as of May 2024. For updated information, refer to this page.

Best Travel Credit Cards in India for 2024

Travel credit cards are typically offered in collaboration with popular airlines or travel portals, allowing individuals to avail benefits on the collaborated brand. However, there are some cards through which you can earn Air Miles on your purchases and later redeem them against your travel bookings. So, here is a list of the best travel credit cards, including both co-branded and generic credit cards.

Table of Contents

General Travel Credit Cards
Travel Credit Cards Co-branded with Airlines
Travel Credit Cards Co-branded with Travel Portals
Premium Travel Credit Cards
Credit Card Points to Airmiles/Hotel Loyalty Points Conversion Table

General Travel Credit Cards

Here is a list of general travel credit cards that are not co-branded with airlines or hotels and offer benefits in the form of miles, allowing cardholders to redeem them according to their preferences:

Axis Atlas Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 5,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 5,000

Axis Atlas is the best air miles credit card available in the market. Cardholders can earn EDGE Miles on every spend and later redeem them across 20+ travel partners, including popular airlines and hotels. The card offers all-round travel benefits and works on a different tier-based structure, where users are rewarded as per the spends they make in a year.

Key Features and Benefits:

Welcome benefit of 2,500 bonus EDGE Miles on making the first transaction within 37 days of card setup
5 EDGE Miles per Rs. 100 spent on monthly travel spends of up to Rs. 2 Lakh
2 EDGE Miles per Rs. 100 spent on monthly travel spends above Rs. 2 Lakh
2 EDGE Miles per Rs. 100 spent across all categories
Redeem EDGE Miles through Travel EDGE platform at a ratio of 1:1 (1 EDGE Mile= Rs. 1)
Value of 1 EDGE Mile = 2 Partner Points; except for 2 EDGE Miles = 1 Marriott Bonvoy Point
Up to 12 international lounge access in a year*
Up to 18 domestic lounge access in a year*
Milestone benefit of up to 5,000 EDGE Miles*

*Subject to annual spends.

Axis Atlas credit card is an excellent option for those who spend a substantial amount every month on travel as well as other expenses. The card gives up to 5% back on travel spends and 2% back on other categories in the form of EDGE Miles, which can be transferred to domestic and international loyalty program partners of Axis Bank (both airlines and hotels). Atlas also offers the highest conversion ratio of up to 1:2, where users will get 2 travel partner points for each EDGE Mile. Moreover, the card has a unique tier-based structure; hence, putting maximum spends on the card can help you upgrade to the highest tier that comes with higher benefits. However, being a travel credit card, the only disappointing bit is that this card charges a high forex markup fee of 3.5% and offers no concierge services.

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American Express® Platinum Travel Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 3,500 | Annual Fee: Rs. 5,000

American Express® Platinum Travel Credit Card offers travel benefits majorly through travel vouchers and lounge access. However, high spenders who can easily spend Rs. 4 Lakh in a year can make the most out of this card by availing bonus reward points and complimentary vouchers as milestone benefits.

Key Features and Benefits:

Welcome benefits of 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points that are redeemable against Flipkart voucher or Pay with Points option in American Express® Travel Online platform worth Rs. 3,000*
1 Membership Rewards Point for every Rs. 50 spent
8 complimentary domestic lounge visits per year (Max. 2 visits per quarter)
Complimentary Priority Pass Membership, with the US$99 annual membership fee waived off
15,000 Membership Rewards Points and additional 3,400 Regular Membership Rewards Points on achieving the spending milestone of Rs. 1.90 Lakh in a year
25,000 Membership Rewards Points, additional 3,600 Regular Membership Rewards Points and Taj Stay voucher worth Rs. 10,000 from Taj, SeleQtions and Vivanta Hotels on annual spends of Rs. 4 Lakh

*Subject to spending Rs. 15,000 in the 90 days of card setup.

American Express® Platinum Travel Credit Card comes with a reward earning rate of 2% across all spends. Cardholders can accumulate reward points and later redeem them against vouchers or Pay with Points option in American Express® Travel Online platform. The card is designed to offer travel benefits in the form of vouchers, lounge access, and reward points for frequent travellers. However, the card needs to improve when it comes to international travel with a high forex markup fee of 3.5% and no complimentary international lounge visits, especially when cards like Axis Atlas offer better benefits in the same fee range.

Axis Bank Horizon Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 3,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 3,000

Axis Bank offers Horizon Credit Card as an airline-agnostic credit card with lucrative travel and reward benefits. Axis Horizon allows the cardholders to earn EDGE Miles across their card spends and redeem them against multiple travel partners. Free domestic and international lounge access, along with EDGE Miles as annual bonus, further help in making this card a decent option among the travel credit cards.

Key Features and Benefits:

5,000 EDGE Miles as joining benefit and 1,500 EDGE Miles on card renewal
5 EDGE Miles per Rs. 100 spent on Travel EDGE portal and at direct airline websites/counters
2 EDGE Miles per Rs. 100 spent on other spending categories
1 EDGE Mile = 1 Partner Point
Up to 8 international airport lounge visits per year, 2 per calendar quarter
Up to 32 domestic lounge visits for Visa cardholders and up to 24 domestic lounge visits for Mastercard users every year

Axis Bank Horizon Credit Card offers EDGE Miles with a 5% value-back rate on travel bookings and a base rate of 2% on other card spends. Though the value-back on travel spends is similar to that offered by Axis Atlas, Horizon offers this 5% rate only on Travel EDGE platform and standalone airline platforms. Moreover, Axis Horizon’s EDGE Miles to travel points conversion ratio of 1:1 is quite good, but you can avail a better conversion ratio to 1:2 by paying a slightly higher card fee of Axis Atlas. The number of complimentary visits to domestic airport lounges offered by Axis Horizon is quite high when compared to other cards that come with a similar annual fee. For instance, Axis Atlas offers up to 18 visits per year but this benefit is spend-based and can only be maximised on making annual spends of at least Rs. 15 lakh. No such condition is applicable on Axis Horizon. The bonus EDGE Miles every year is another feature to benefit the frequent travellers.

Axis Bank Miles & More World Select Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 10,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 4,500

Axis Bank offers two variants of Miles & More Credit Card: World and World Select. Both variants allow cardholders to earn Miles across various categories and redeem them against flight upgrades, hotel bookings, shopping stores, and car rentals. Besides the rewards program, priority pass membership and free lounge visits make this card a reasonable choice for frequent travellers.

Key Features and Benefits:

Welcome benefit of 15,000 bonus Award Miles
6 Award Miles per Rs. 200 spent with no expiry date
Redeem Award Miles for flights & upgrades, hotel bookings and car rentals
Annual bonus of 4,000 Award Miles
8 complimentary domestic lounge visits per quarter
Complimentary Priority Pass Membership with 4 international lounge visits per year

Axis Bank Miles & More World Select Credit Card offers benefits similar to Axis Atlas and American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card, where cardholders can earn Miles and redeem them against travel bookings. However, this card has an edge over American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card with a higher reward earning rate of 3% and complimentary international lounge visits at a similar annual fee. One thing that makes this card a struggling competitor to other similar cards is the higher joining fee; however, the card compensates for it by offering the Award Miles equivalent to the joining fee.

Best Travel Credit Cards Co-branded with Popular Airlines

Below mentioned are the co-branded travel credit cards with popular airlines, offering benefits on the collaborated brands like free tickets, complimentary memberships, accelerated reward points, and more.

Club Vistara IDFC First Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 4,999 | Annual Fee: Rs. 4,999

Club Vistara IDFC FIRST Credit Card is an airline co-branded credit card offering a highest reward rate of 3% among other Vistara co-branded credit cards. Cardholders are rewarded with CV Points for their spends which are redeemable across award flights at a ratio of 1:1. Cardholders can also earn up to 6 complimentary Premium Economy tickets as welcome and milestone benefits along with a low forex markup fee of 2.99%.

Key Features and Benefits:

1 complimentary Premium Economy Ticket Voucher, 1 Class Upgrade Voucher and Complimentary Club Vistara Silver Membership as welcome benefits
6 CV Points on every Rs. 200 spent on cumulative spends up to Rs. 1 Lakh in each statement cycle
4 CV Points on every Rs. 200 spent on cumulative spends above Rs. 1 Lakh in each statement cycle
1 CV Point on every Rs. 200 spent on fuel, insurance, utility, rent & wallet load
Up to 5 complimentary Premium Economy Class tickets in a year as milestone benefits
Up to 6,000 bonus CV points on achieving spending milestones
2 complimentary visits to domestic lounges and spas per quarter*
1 complimentary international lounge visit per quarter*
Low forex markup fee of 2.99%

*Subject to spending Rs. 20,000 in a month.

Club Vistara IDFC FIRST Credit Card has an edge over other Vistara-co-branded cards like Axis Vistara Signature and Club Vistara SBI Card Prime due to its higher reward rate of 3%, a low forex markup fee of 2.99%, and up to 5 complimentary Premium Economy Class tickets as milestone benefit. The card rewards its users with CV Points across all spends, even on mostly excluded categories like utility bill payments and wallet loads. Cardholders who can spend Rs. 1 Lakh in a month can maximize benefits out of this card by earning a higher reward rate (3%) and 5 free flight tickets. All of these benefits combined not only compensate the fee charged but also allow cardholders to get substantial savings on travel spends.

Air India SBI Signature Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 4,999 | Annual Fee: Rs. 4,999

SBI Card offers two variants of this co-branded credit card: Air India SBI Platinum and Air India SBI Signature Credit Card. With the Signature variant, cardholders can earn up to 30 points per Rs. 100 for Air India bookings, along with up to 1 Lakh bonus points and complimentary lounge visits. However, being a co-branded card, users can only maximize benefits on Air India bookings.

Key Features and Benefits:

20,000 reward points and complimentary membership of the Air India Frequent Flyer program as welcome benefits
Up to 30 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India tickets booked through airindia.com or mobile app
10 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India tickets for self or others, booked through Air India booking offices or call centres
10 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on SuperSaver booklet purchases
4 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on other categories
Redeem reward points at a value of 1 Reward Point = 1 Air India Air Mile
Up to 1 Lakh bonus reward points on achieving spending milestones every year
8 complimentary domestic lounge visits annually (Max. 2 per quarter)

Air India SBI Signature Credit Card is one of the best travel credit cards for Air India loyalists, with a basic reward rate of 4%, which can go up to 30% for Air India bookings. This card can be a suitable option if you are a frequent domestic flyer, as you can earn accelerated rewards on Air India spends along with up to 8 domestic lounge visits per year. Also, if you are a high spender who can spend Rs. 20 Lakh in a year, you can avail free tickets worth Rs. 1 Lakh by accumulating 1,00,000 bonus reward points. However, the disappointing feature of this card is the high forex markup fee of 3.5% and no international lounge visits despite offering the Priority Pass Program.

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Intermiles HDFC Diners Club Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 5,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 5,000

Intermiles HDFC Diners Club Credit Card is the second credit card offered by HDFC Bank in collaboration with Intermiles, apart from the HDFC Intermiles Signature Credit Card. The card charges an annual fee of Rs. 5,000 and offers travel benefits through bonus Intermiles, complimentary InterMiles membership, and discount vouchers for flight/ hotel bookings. Cardholders can earn 2X InterMiles (16 per Rs. 150) on travel bookings and later redeem them at a ratio of 1:1 to avail free flight tickets.

Key Features and Benefits:

Complimentary InterMiles Gold Membership and up to 25,000 bonus InterMiles as welcome benefits*
Flight discount vouchers worth Rs. 2,000 and hotel discount vouchers worth Rs. 3,000 for the first year as welcome benefits
16 InterMiles on every Rs. 150 spent on flight tickets & hotel bookings via InterMiles
8 InterMiles for every Rs. 150 spent across all categories
Up to 10% off on Etihad Airways
Unlimited domestic airport lounge visits under the Diners Club Lounge Access Program
Unlimited complimentary golf games every year

*Subject to achieving spending milestones.

Intermiles HDFC Diners Club Credit Card is best suited for frequent air travellers. With a high reward rate not just on travel but across all categories, the card can be a good option for those who put maximum spends on their credit cards, as they would be able to make the most of the rewards program. In addition, you can get up to 10% discount on booking business class flight tickets and up to 5% on booking economy class tickets with Etihad Airways. However, considering that for many people, InterMiles is not the preferred choice for travel bookings, this card cannot be a suitable option for some consumers. However, those who prefer booking through InterMiles can maximize the benefits of this card.

Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 3,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 3,000

Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card is the middle variant of Vistara co-branded cards with Axis Bank. While the base variant (Axis Vistara Platinum) comes with a lower annual fee, Axis Vistara Signature charges an annual fee of Rs. 3,000 and offers benefits on Vistara Economy Class. The card offers CV Points across all spends, which cardholders can use to avail free flight tickets. Cardholders can maximize the benefits by earning 4 free Premium Economy Class tickets on achieving the spending milestone.

Key Features and Benefits:

1 Premium Economy Class ticket and Complimentary Club Vistara Silver Membership as welcome benefits
4 CV Points for every Rs. 200 spent
Rewards can be redeemed for booking flights and other upgrades
Up to 4 complimentary Premium Economy tickets on achieving spending milestones
2 complimentary domestic lounge visits per quarter on spending Rs. 50,000 or more in the previous 3 months

Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card is suitable for Vistara loyalists, as cardholders can earn 2% CV Points across all spends and redeem them for flight upgrades and free flights. Cardholders who frequently travel and can spend Rs. 9 Lakh in a year can maximize the benefits by earning 5 free Premium Economy tickets. However, the card lacks when it comes to international travel, with a high forex markup fee of 3.5% and no benefits on international travel. Overall, the card is a suitable option for Vistara loyalists who frequently travel domestically. However, in a similar segment, IDFC Club Vistara offers better value back at a slightly higher annual fee.

Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 2,500 | Annual Fee: Rs. 2,500

Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL is an upgraded variant of Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards Credit Card. The card rewards its users with 6E reward points, which can be redeemed on IndiGo flight bookings. The card comes with a base reward rate of 2% and a reward rate of 6% on IndiGo spends. Apart from the rewards program, cardholders can also avail domestic lounge access and a discounted convenience fee on Indigo flights.

Key Features and Benefits:

Complimentary IndiGo air ticket worth Rs. 3,000 as a welcome benefit
6 points on every Rs. 100 spent on IndiGo airlines
3 points on every Rs. 100 spent on partner merchants (Dining, Grocery, Entertainment, etc.)
2 points on every Rs. 100 spent on other categories
Complimentary Prime add-ons worth Rs. 899, including priority check-in, choice of seat, complimentary meal and quicker baggage assistance
8 complimentary domestic lounge access every year

Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL Credit Card majorly offers value back through the rewards program. The card offers benefits similar to HDFC IndiGo XL, including accelerated reward points on IndiGo spends, domestic lounge access, and a discounted convenience fee on IndiGo tickets. However, at a slightly higher annual fee, this card marginally surpasses HDFC IndiGo XL with a reward rate of 6% on IndiGo spends, offering better value back. When it comes to international travel, the card fails to offer basic benefits like international lounge visits, especially at an annual fee of Rs. 2,500, users would expect at least one or two international lounge visits.

Best Travel Credit Cards Co-branded with Travel Portals

Here is a list of the top travel credit cards co-branded with popular travel portals, allowing you to avail discount or rewards on the collaborated brand along with generic benefits on other spends.

Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 350 | Annual Fee: Rs. 350

Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip is one of the best travel credit cards that offers instant discount on travel bookings at EaseMyTrip, along with complimentary domestic as well as international lounge access. At an annual fee of Rs. 350, cardholders can save up to 20% on hotel and flight bookings. The card works on a model similar to Yatra SBI Card by offering discount and reward points.

Key Features and Benefits:

20% discount (Max. Rs. 5,000) on domestic hotel bookings at EaseMyTrip
20% discount (Max. Rs. 10,000) on international hotel bookings at EaseMyTrip
10% discount (Max. Rs. 1,000) on domestic flight bookings at EaseMyTrip
10% discount (Max. Rs. 5,000) on international hotel bookings at EaseMyTrip
10 reward points on every Rs. 100 spent at standalone airline/hotel websites, mobile apps or outlets, except any travel aggregators
2 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on other categories
Redeem reward points at a value of 2 Reward Points = Rs. 0.50
1 complimentary domestic lounge visit per quarter
2 complimentary international lounge visits per year

Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card offers the highest benefits on your bookings via EaseMyTrip. With this card, you can get a direct discount on your flight and hotel bookings without any minimum transaction limit. The card offers benefits similar to Yatra SBI Card by offering discount along with reward points. However, Yatra SBI Card comes with a minimum transaction limit. While co-branded cards like MMT ICICI Platinum restrict their benefits to the MMT portal only, this card offers accelerated rewards on travel spends other than the EaseMyTrip portal as well. This is an ideal option if you want to earn basic travel benefits and don’t want to pay a high annual fee.

Yatra SBI Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 499 | Annual Fee: Rs. 499

Yatra SBI Card offers benefits on domestic as well as international bookings through Yatra.com. Unlike other co-branded credit cards, this card not only offers accelerated benefits on Yatra spends, but cardholders can also earn accelerated reward points on day-to-day spends as well, such as departmental stores, groceries, movies, dining, etc. Also, at a joining fee of Rs. 499, the card offers welcome benefits worth Rs. 8,250 via Yatra vouchers.

Key Features and Benefits:

Welcome vouchers of Yatra.com worth Rs. 8,250
Rs. 1,000 off on domestic flight bookings on a minimum transaction of Rs. 5,000
Rs. 4,000 off on international flight bookings on a minimum transaction of Rs. 40,000
20% off (Max. Rs. 2,000) on domestic hotel bookings on a minimum transaction value of Rs. 3,000
6 reward points on every Rs. 100 spent on departmental stores, grocery, dining, movies, and entertainment
6 reward points on every Rs. 100 spent internationally
1 reward point for every Rs. 100 spent on other categories
Redeem reward points at a value of 4 Reward Points = Rs. 1

Available at an annual fee of Rs. 499, Yatra SBI Credit Card offers welcome benefits worth up to Rs. 8,250 in the form of Yatra Vouchers. Users will also get a direct discount on their flight and hotel bookings made via Yatra. Also, being a travel credit card, the reward earning rate of 6% on day-to-day spends like groceries, dining, etc. is a decent benefit. Users can redeem the accumulated reward points against Yatra.com discount vouchers. However, one thing that reduces the overall value of this card is the low redemption ratio of 4:1. This is a suitable option for people looking for a card with all-round benefits, primarily inclined towards travel.

MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank Signature Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 2,500 | Annual Fee: Rs. 2,500

MMT ICICI Signature Credit Card is a higher variant of MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank Platinum Credit Card. The card also offers access to an invitation-only MMTBLACK Exclusive Membership with 2% cashback on travel bookings made via MakeMyTrip for hotel and holiday spending and 1% cashback for flight bookings. Cardholders can redeem the earned My Cash at a 1:1 ratio against travel bookings at MMT.

Key Features and Benefits:

1,500 My Cash, MMT holiday voucher worth Rs. 2,500 and Complimentary MMTBLACK Exclusive Membership as welcome benefits
1.25 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on domestic transactions outside MakeMyTrip
1.50 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on international transactions outside MakeMyTrip
2 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on flight bookings via MakeMyTrip
4 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on hotel/ holiday bookings via MakeMyTrip
1 complimentary railway lounge access in a quarter to participating lounges in India
2 complimentary domestic airport lounge access by spending Rs. 5,000 in the quarter
1 international lounge access per year through complimentary Dreamfolks membership

MMT ICICI Bank Signature Credit Card offers exclusive benefits on MakeMyTrip, with a welcome voucher and an impressive reward structure. All rewards earned are transferred to the MMT account as My Cash, at a value of 1 My Cash = Rs. 1. However, unlike other co-branded cards, such as Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip or Yatra SBI, this card offers benefits only on the bookings at the MMT portal. Users are not rewarded for travel spends other than the MMT portal, which might affect some consumers. Therefore, if you are someone who relies completely on MMT to plan your vacations, this card can be a suitable option for you.

Ixigo AU Credit Card

Joining Fee: Rs. 999 | Annual Fee: Rs. 999

Ixigo AU Credit Card is designed for domestic travellers who prefer railway and bus travel. With this card, users can earn 20 points per Rs. 200 on railway bookings and a 10% discount on bus rides. Also, at an annual fee of Rs. 999, the card comes with a zero forex markup fee and 2X reward points on all online spends. The accumulated reward points can be redeemed against flight/ hotel bookings, and much more.

Key Features and Benefits:

Zero forex markup fee
20 reward points for every Rs. 200 spent on train bookings via Ixigo
16 complimentary domestic railway lounge access every year
10% off on bus bookings, up to Rs. 300 once per month via Ixigo
10% discount on flight bookings, up to Rs. 1,000 per month via Ixigo
1 complimentary international lounge access every year
16 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits every year
5% off on hotel bookings, up to Rs. 1,000 once per month via Ixigo
Bonus 1,000 reward points and Ixigo money vouchers worth Rs. 1,000 as welcome benefits
10 reward points for every Rs. 200 spent online
5 reward points for every Rs. 200 spent offline

Ixigo AU Credit Card targets people who frequently travel by bus and train. With direct discount on Ixigo spends and accelerated reward points on online spends, cardholders can save on their travel bookings other than Ixigo as well. Also, the discount on Ixigo spends can be availed every month, making it a suitable option for frequent travellers. If you are a beginner or an Ixigo loyalist, this credit card can be a great way to save on travel spends, especially if you do not have any other credit card. However, apart from a zero forex markup fee, this card does not offer any benefits on international travel, which might be a drawback for some consumers.

IRCTC SBI Card Premier

Joining Fee: Rs. 1,499 | Annual Fee: Rs. 1,499

While most of the travel credit cards are offered in collaboration with popular airlines or travel portals, this card is specifically designed for people who frequently travel by train. Cardholders can get a value back of up to 10% through reward points on bookings through IRCTC. Besides this, the card also offers accelerated reward points on dining and utility spends, along with complimentary railway lounge access.

Key Features and Benefits:

1,500 reward points on the payment of joining fee
10% value back on AC1, AC2, AC3, AC CC as reward points for your ticket purchases via IRCTC website or mobile app
5% value back on air ticket & e-catering purchases on IRCTC
1% transaction charge waiver on railway ticket bookings through www.irctc.co.in
1.8% transaction charge waiver on airline ticket bookings through www.air.irctc.co.in
3 reward points for every Rs. 125 spent on dining and utility
1 reward point for every Rs. 125 spent on other purchases
8 complimentary railway lounge access in a year to participating lounges in India
Up to 5,000 bonus reward points on achieving spending milestones

IRCTC SBI Card Premier is an advanced version of IRCTC SBI Platinum Credit Card. At an annual fee of Rs. 1,499, the card offers decent benefits for people who travel domestically via train. With a slightly higher annual fee, this is the best credit card among other IRCTC co-branded cards like IRCTC HDFC or IRCTC BoB by offering a value back of 10% along with 1 reward point per Rs. 125 on IRCTC bookings. Also, the card compensates for its joining fee by offering 1,500 reward points worth Rs. 1,500 against your travel bookings at IRCTC.

Premium Travel Credit Cards

Top Travel Credit Cards: Airmiles/Hotel Loyalty Points Conversion

Premium Travel Credit Cards

Given above is the list of best travel credit cards that help you save a fortune on your travels from low to moderate annual fees. However, some premium credit cards offer travel benefits as well as significant savings across other categories. Such cards usually come with more stringent eligibility criteria including a high income requirement.

Given below are some of the premium credit cards with travel benefits for high-spenders:

Credit Card	Annual Fee	Travel Benefits
Indusind Avios Visa Infinite Credit Card	Rs. 10,000	Welcome benefit of Gold Tier Membership with Qatar Airways Privilege Club + 20,000 Avios OR 55,000 Avios after the payment of the joining fee with British Airways 25,000 bonus Avios on first spend of Rs. 8 Lakh in a year 25,000 bonus Avios after second spend of Rs. 8 Lakh in a year 5 Avios per Rs. 200 spent at select preferred international destinations for PoS transactions 2 Avios per Rs. 200 spent on Qatar Airways & British Airways website and app 1 Avios for every Rs. 200 spent on online spends 10% discount on flight bookings through Qatar Airways website or mobile app 10% additional discount for Privilege Club members on all flights originating from India, if booked via Qatar Airways platforms Complimentary Priority Pass membership with 2 international lounge visits per quarter 2 complimentary domestic lounge visits per quarter Low forex markup fee of 1.5% 2 complimentary meet-and-greet services per year
Axis Vistara Infinite Credit Card	Rs. 10,000	Complimentary Business Class Ticket voucher & Club Vistara Gold Membership as welcome benefits 6 CV Points per Rs. 200 spent across all categories 1 complimentary Business Class ticket each on reaching spending milestone of Rs. 2.5 Lakh, Rs. 5 Lakh, Rs. 7.5 Lakh and Rs. 12 Lakh 2 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per quarter on spending Rs. 50,000 or more during the previous 3 months 6 complimentary rounds of golf at select golf courses
HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card	Rs. 10,000	Low forex markup fee of 2% Complimentary Club Marriott, Forbes, Amazon Prime, Swiggy One (3 Months) and MMT BLACK annual memberships on spending Rs. 1.5 Lakh within the first 90 days or upon first-year fee realisation 2 monthly vouchers from cult. fit Live 1-month membership or BookMyShow or TataCLiQ or Ola vouchers worth Rs. 500, every month on spends of Rs. 80,000. 5 reward points for every Rs. 150 spent 10X reward points on SmartBuy spends 2X reward points on weekend dining Unlimited airport lounge access worldwide for both primary and add-on user 6 complimentary golf games per quarter
HDFC Infinia Credit Card	Rs. 12,500	Low forex markup fee of 2% 5 reward points per Rs. 150 spent Up to 10X reward points on SmartBuy spends 12,500 bonus reward points on joining and renewal fee payment Unlimited domestic lounge access for primary and add-on cardholders Unlimited international lounge access via Priority Pass for primary and add-on cardholders Book stay for 3 nights at participating ITC Hotels and pay for 2 nights 1+1 complimentary buffet at participating ITC Hotels Complimentary Club Marriott membership for the first year as welcome benefit Unlimited complimentary golf games every year

Top Travel Credit Cards: Airmiles/Hotel Loyalty Points Conversion

To help you find the right travel credit card that best suits your needs, here is a table containing the reward points to airmiles or hotel loyalty points conversion ratio of some of the top credit cards for travel. You can browse through the list of cards and the corresponding points transfer ratios to get a better idea about the how to best utilise the rewards conversion options and the final value-back that you can earn through the given cards.

Common Benefits of a Travel Credit Card

How to Find the Right Travel Credit Card?

How to Compare Travel Credit Cards?

Travel Credit Cards: Do's and Don'ts

Common Benefits of a Travel Credit Card

There are a number of travel-centric benefits that issuers offer on their credit cards. Some common benefits are:

Airport Lounge Access: Travel credit cards come with domestic and international lounge access. Priority Pass is a common lounge access program, the membership to which costs US $99. However, travel credit cards may offer complimentary membership to this program, along with a limited number of free visits to the partner lounges.

Accelerated Reward Points on Travel: Based on the type of card, the card offers accelerated reward points on a particular category. On travel credit cards, you can earn extra reward points when you book air tickets or make a holiday booking. These points may later be used for gifts, merchandise or for more travel benefits.

Air Mile Earnings: Instead of reward points, travel-centric credit cards may offer Air Miles. These miles can be used to book air tickets on the dedicated travel website of the bank. Some cards allow you to transfer their Air Miles to select frequent flyer programs while others may also let you convert your reward points into Air Miles of the given airline partner.

Co-branded Benefits: A number of providers have launched travel credit cards in association with airlines or a travel portal. For example, SBI has launched cards in collaboration with Air India and ICICI Bank offers cards co-branded with MakeMyTrip. Such cards are beneficial for those who are loyal to a particular brand.

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How to Find the Right Travel Credit Card?

With so many options available in the market, it can be confusing to find the right credit card. Here, we will talk about a few things that will help you choose the best travel credit card.

The first step towards finding the best credit card is to understand your spending habits. It is easier to find a card that suits your lifestyle better when you know exactly what you are looking for.

You need to ask yourself the following questions:

Do I need a co-branded credit card or one with general benefits?
Do I want to earn Air Miles?
On which category do I spend the most?
Would free lounge access be beneficial for me?
Do I need travel insurance along with other perks?

Based on your answer to the above questions, you can shortlist a few cards and then proceed.

Choose a card with lounge access if you are a frequent flyer

If you need to travel frequently for business, free lounge access will be very beneficial. Go for a card that offers access to international or domestic lounges as per your needs. The number of visits will, however, be limited. So, after you exhaust all the free visits, you will have to pay for the same. But if your card issuer has enrolled you on a lounge access program such as Priority Pass, the same is likely to continue.

Choose cards with extra rewards on travel if you want the flexibility of usage

For those who wish to travel more, a card with accelerated reward points on travel will help. These cards also come with shopping, dining, and other benefits which enhances the overall card value. Even if you do not use the card for travel often, you can still capitalize on other benefits. And when you use it for travel, it will reward you better.

Choose co-branded travel cards if you are loyal to a brand

Card issuers also offer credit cards in association with airlines like Air India and British Airways or travel portals like Yatra, MakeMyTrip, etc. You should choose these cards only if you are loyal to the said brand and book tickets or holidays quite often. Benefits may come in the form of free tickets on joining or reaching a spending milestone, flat discount with the brand, complimentary travel vouchers or extra reward points.

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How to Compare Travel Credit Cards?

You should compare credit cards, once you have shortlisted two or more of them, on the following parameters to narrow down your search and choose the best travel card:

Annual Fee: The first point of comparison should be the annual fee. You may get excellent travel benefits on a card but you must know whether these benefits make up for the cost of maintaining the card. Common benefits such as air miles and domestic lounge access for an exorbitant annual fee would not be a good bet. Choose a card that charges a reasonable fee for the services you can avail.

Rewards/Air Miles: A lot of users do not pay attention to the rewards program on their credit cards. However, they also add to the benefits of owning a travel credit card. You must compare the rates at which you can earn reward points or Air Miles on the card. Also, read about the ways in which you can redeem the accumulated reward points. Choose the card that offers better reward points and redemption value.

Sign-up Bonus: When a card is issued to you, the provider offers a sign-up bonus, commonly known as a welcome gift. In case of travel credit cards, this benefit may come in the form of travel vouchers, bonus Air Miles, flight tickets, etc. When you have narrowed down the searches as per annual fee and rewards, you should look for the sign-up bonus next. See if the joining fee of the card is equally compensated by the welcome bonus. Such benefits can also be availed on reaching certain spending milestones or on card renewal.

Lounge Access: Travel credit cards usually offer access to international and domestic airport lounges. The number of visits, however, differs from one card to another. You must compare the international/domestic lounge visits that the cards offer. As mentioned earlier, lounge visits are helpful only if you are a frequent flyer. For someone who travels only once or twice a year, such benefits would not make much of a difference.

Travel Credit Cards: Do's and Don'ts

While travel credit cards come with multiple benefits, you should make proper use of it in order to make the most of the rewards program. Here are a few do’s and don’ts:

Do’s

Understand the travel benefits on your card and plan your travel around it
Register for the lounge access program as soon as you get the card in order to avoid any last-minute hassle
Maximize your air mile earnings by putting the highest-earning purchases on the said card
If you plan on getting a new credit card for a big travel, look for sign-up bonus and welcome gifts that help in making the trip easier for you
Redeem the accumulated reward points for travel spends

Don’ts

Ignore the rewards/air mile program on the card
Use the card for cash withdrawal in a foreign country as it would incur finance charges from the day of withdrawal along with a forex markup fee
Keep your bills overdue as it will lead to high-interest charges which will nullify the value of the benefits that you could avail
Use the reward points for non-travel vouchers or merchandise from the card issuer’s catalogue

4 Comments

MOHAMMED ZUBER KHALID QURESHI

November 5, 2023

Best Airline credit card

Team PaisaBazaar

November 6, 2023

Most travel credit cards in India are launched in collaboration with popular airlines like Vistara, Air India, or IndiGo. You can choose an airline card that offers exclusive benefits with an airline you prefer and also allows you to maximize the benefits through a decent rewards program. Here are some popular airline credit cards to begin your search with: Club Vistara IDFC First Credit Card, Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card, Air India SBI Signature Credit Card and Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL Credit Card. However, if you do not have an airline preference, you can consider cards like Axis Atlas that allow point-to-miles conversion across multiple airlines.

MUKESH DUA

September 4, 2023

which credit card is best for travelling without paying more annual fee and joining fee ? and much more benefits also.

Team PaisaBazaar

September 20, 2023

If you are looking for a travel credit card with a low annual fee, you can consider applying for Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip or Yatra SBI Card. It’s important to note that both of these are co-branded credit cards that primarily offer higher benefits related to their respective partnered brands. Similarly, if you are loyal to a specific airline, you can consider getting an airline co-branded card. However, if you are looking for cards that offer general travel benefits without brand restrictions, you may have to pay a higher annual fee.

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