Are you planning a year-end holiday? Then you can consider applying for a credit card offering travel benefits. There are some reward credit cards, wherein you can avail travel benefits by converting the earned reward points into air miles or against hotel or flight bookings. So, if you are not exclusively looking for a travel-focused card but would like to avail such benefits by points conversion a few times a year, these reward cards would be helpful for you. Paisabazaar has compiled a list of the best credit cards that offer significant reward point conversion against air miles.
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Image Source: Yes Bank | YES FIRST Preferred Credit Card offers conversion of reward points into air miles at a value of 10 reward points equal to one InterMile or Club Vistara point. You can redeem reward points against flight or hotel booking through YesRewardz. It offers complimentary priority pass membership to the primary cardholder. During the quarter, you get two domestic lounge access. You can earn 16 reward points on every Rs 200 spent on travel and dining and eight reward points on every Rs 200 spent on all other categories. The annual fee is Rs 999 on this credit card.
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Image Source: HDFC Bank | HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card offers conversion of reward points into air miles at a value of one reward point equal to 0.50 air mile. You can redeem reward points against flights or hotel bookings through SmartBuy. During the year, you get 12 visits to airport lounge access across the world. The card charges a foreign exchange mark-up fee of 2 percent. You can earn four reward points on every Rs 150 spent on retail spending and up to 10X reward points on spending via SmartBuy. The annual fee is Rs 2,500 on this credit card.
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Image Source: Citibank | Using Citi Premier Miles Credit Card, you get to earn 10 miles per Rs 100 spent on airline transactions and four miles per Rs 100 spent on all other categories. You get 10,000 miles on spending Rs 1,000 within 60 days of card issuance as a welcome benefit and you can earn 3,000 miles on card renewal every year. The accumulated air miles never expire. You can redeem earned miles across various airlines, including Air India, Etihad Airways, InterMiles, etc. During the year, you get access to select airport lounges at domestic and international terminals. The annual fee is Rs 3,000 on this card.
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Image Source: American Express | American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card allows transferring of reward points into air miles of select airlines or loyalty points of select hotels. A card user can redeem reward points against vouchers of top brands like Taj Hotels, Myntra, Big Basket and more. You earn 5,000 membership reward points on the payment of the first year annual membership fee. The annual fee is Rs 4,500 on this card. The annual fee is waived on spending Rs 1.50 lakh or above in the previous year of card membership.
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Image Source: SBI Card | Air India SBI Signature Credit Card offers up to 30 reward points for every Rs 100 spent on Air India tickets booked through Air India portals and app, complimentary membership of the Air India Frequent Flyer programme-Flying Returns, and access to over 600 airport lounges with complimentary Priority Pass Programme. You can convert your reward points into Air India miles at a value of one reward point equal to one Air India mile. The cardholder gets eight complimentary visits per year to domestic visa lounges in India. The annual fee is Rs 4,999 on this card.
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Use your credit cards smartly and responsibly. Have a disciplined approach to your credit behaviour. Since credit cards offer a significant interest-free period, there may be a tendency to overspend while travelling with family on vacations. If you spend more than you can repay and cannot pay your credit card bill timely, you will incur hefty interest charges ranging from 28-49 percent p.a., along with late payment fees.
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To shortlist the best credit cards with a feature of airmiles conversion, Paisabazaar compared all the credit cards available within the segment. They selected all the cards based on the travel benefits offered by each credit card, along with other benefits. All credit card information is sourced and updated as of November 17, 2022. We arranged these credit cards according to the least annual fees.
Hiral Thanawala is a personal finance journalist with 9 years of reporting experience. Based in Mumbai, he covers financial planning, banking and fintech segments from personal finance team for Moneycontrol.
