FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Would *A be suitable for me, and which carrier?
Old Mar 19, 2018, 2:03 am
  #10  
dvs7310
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, NH Plat, Former UA 1K
Posts: 5,557
Originally Posted by Eizugal
2 years and half in Japan. Already have a CC for a year (the Amazon card with SMBC), my credit history is flawless. Even though you're right, in Japan you can get rejected for whatever reason they find appropriate when reviewing (and this is something I know might happen)
As for Asiana cards there are 2 advertised on the Japanese website:
- one is a JCB so little interest outside of Japan
- the 2nd one is with UCCard and can be either a Visa or a Mastercard. The Gold one appears quite interesting as it's not particularly expensive and opens up access to some lounges in Japan/Korea.
JCB isn't bad outside of Japan these days actually. They partner with Discover in the US and UnionPay in China. Additionally anywhere where there are a lot of Japanese tourists, usually JCB exists as a payment option as well. I've had their United Mileage Plus card for years, back when it was my primary card, I found it to be accepted pretty easily in North America and Asia. UC is good if you can get it, but they are owned by Mizuho so wouldn't hold my breath as a foreigner. A Gold JCB (if one exists for the Asiana card) would likely have access to the same lounges in Japan/Korea as the UC card, though prepare for severe disappointment with the ones in Japan.

Unfortunately having a clean record with SMBC doesn't necessarily carry much weight with other Japanese card issuing banks. They are just now starting to get centralized credit reporting here and many companies are not yet subscribed to it. There are many other arbitrary factors that play into deciding whether to give a card here than just credit report, unfortunately your name in Katakana instead of Kanji factors into that decision at some banks.

Originally Posted by geminidreams
Just for your interest I have an Australian issued Diners Club card and there are many Diners club lounges in Asia. For the Annual feel it would pay for itself in 3 lounge visits. As far as accruals fo check the earnings table before booking. I used to fly PEK to BNE regularly on SIA and paying $100 extra would get me a more flexible ticket and 100% miles against 50% on the cheaper fare which is about 1.5c per mile which is good when initially chasing status. I was posting to Turkish as they have a good requalification criteria. I also used to fly Korean which is good for points not expiring but not so good for elite status qualification.
I have the Japanese Diners Club and it's wonderful for international travel in places where I'm not flying Star Alliance in terms of lounge access, however Japan is a dark hole in their network. Yes, they do have some options at Narita and Haneda but they are terrible. The same ones you'd get with a much cheaper Japanese credit card, not the higher quality business class lounges you get in most countries. I think in Korea Incheon is ok for Diners lounges, but Gimpo is another black hole. With the OP's travel pattern, it may not be worth the cost (About US$220 a year in Japan). However we do have a very cheap option for the unlimited Priority Pass here, Rakuten Premium card comes with the full priority pass for about $100 a year. Priority Pass and Diners Club lounges almost always mirror each other.
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