The one problem with an airline’s frequent flyer programme is that you cannot pick your choice of airline when you redeem your reward points. If you like to pick and choose your airline, then opting for specialised credit cards makes sense.
Citibank — which was associated with Jet Airways in the past — pulled out its co-branded card and introduced an ‘airline agnostic’ credit card which allows you to earn miles and redeem them across airlines of your choice. Many other banks offer such schemes linked to their specialised credit cards.
Your ‘earn rate’
So, how do these cards work? When you book airline tickets using your credit card, you are rewarded with points or miles. After reaching a particular threshold, you can use these points or miles for purposes such as booking air tickets, hotels stays and car rentals, among others.
So, how do these cards work? When you book airline tickets using your credit card, you are rewarded with points or miles. After reaching a particular threshold, you can use these points or miles for purposes such as booking air tickets, hotels stays and car rentals, among others.
The catch, however, is that maximum points are earned only if you book through the bank’s specified Web site or channel. For example, while Citibank’s PremierMiles card allows you to earn miles for both your airline and non-airline spends, you earn 10 miles for every Rs 100 you spend on all airline bookings made at airline owned Web sites, airline counters or through premiermiles.co.in. But for all other purchases you earn only 4 miles for every Rs 100.
Citibank also has other schemes where you can earn 10 miles for non-airline related spends, but it must be done through their partners, such as Bookmyshow, Jabong and Ferns & Petals.
To make the deal sweeter, banks offer bonus points on enrolling into the scheme. In case of Citibank, 10,000 miles are credited to your account on your first transaction of at least Rs 1,000 made within 60 days of the card issuance date.
The same holds good for other banks’ credit cards, too. In case of HDFC’s Regalia you earn 8 points on every Rs 150 spent on purchases done through its Web site. On all other purchases you get half the points. In case of American Express Platinum Travel credit card, you earn one reward point for every Rs 40 spent. You earn the bonus points on signing up here, too.
Where you can spend
Earlier co-branded cards restricted spending to only one single airline or a particular place. While banks allow you to redeem against purchases only on their Web site or through their channel partners, the scope of spending is much wider.
Earlier co-branded cards restricted spending to only one single airline or a particular place. While banks allow you to redeem against purchases only on their Web site or through their channel partners, the scope of spending is much wider.
You can redeem your Citibank PremierMiles for travel tickets across over 100 domestic and international carriers through premiermiles.co.in. You can also redeem your PremierMiles online for booking your stays at hotels worldwide and car hires in India through the Web site. Citibank also allows redemption of miles on Indigo’s Web site, goibibi.com and yatra.com.
Similarly, in case of HDFC Bank you can convert your points to Regalia voucher and book movies, flights and hotels on hdfcbankregalia.com. In case of American Express, you have the option to redeem the points for Indigo and Taj vouchers or other leading hotels or airlines.
You can also transfer your reward points to your frequent flier programme of different airlines. Citibank allows you to transfer miles to loyalty programmes of leading airlines and hotels, such as British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air India, Taj Hotels and Hilton. In case of HDFC Bank, you can convert your points to miles at leading domestic airlines, such as Jet Airways, Air India, GoAir, Indigo and SpiceJet.
Read the fineprint
The catch in most of the cards is the miles you need to redeem against a ticket. Let’s say you bought a ticket from Delhi to Mumbai on premiermiles.co.in and earned round 593 miles. If you now need to redeem miles for the same route you need 11,876 miles.
The catch in most of the cards is the miles you need to redeem against a ticket. Let’s say you bought a ticket from Delhi to Mumbai on premiermiles.co.in and earned round 593 miles. If you now need to redeem miles for the same route you need 11,876 miles.
This means you have to spend 20 times before you redeem your points for the very same flight. In case of HDFC Bank, you need fewer points to redeem — around 7,900 points. But since the earn rate is much lower than that of Citibank’s, you will need to spend 25 times before you redeem points to buy a ticket for the same route.
Thus, Citibank’s PremierMiles card does seem to score on flexibility of spending as well as higher earn rate. It also has a lower annual fee (Rs 3,000) compared with the other two (Rs 5,000). Besides, it has a unique feature where the miles you earn never expire. But there are some limitations, too. There is a limit of Rs 5 lakh per calendar year, beyond which your earn rate drops from 10 miles to 4 for every Rs 100 spent. Similarly, in case of American Express the points you earn expire after three years. Be sure to look at the fine print before you choose your credit card.
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