Originally Posted by
Kingboomer
Well i partly agree with you that- ETIHAD rates are horrendous and YQ is disgusting. However, if they launch something that gives EY Gold status plus have milestone bonuses like the AIR India card - it wouldnt be half bad. Ofcourse, nothing right now can match CITI Prestige, DCB and Amex Plat
ICICI Emeralde looks crap - not sure why hype was created
The SBI AI card at launch was fantastic.*G (almost) for free. Huge mileage accruals & bonuses. Today it's very very average unless you're booking a lot of your own IND-US/EU flights. Meaningful status on airlines are now a thing of the past. I don't think there's a US3 and possibly even a ME3 that's offering any meaningful upfront status.They do offer accelerated earnings and fee waivers though.
But as you say "ETIHAD rates are horrendous and YQ is disgusting" so why would you want to build status with them? Go with SBI-AI where you'll get only horrendous rates and no YQ. Plus the entire *A at your disposable unlike the extremely limited Etihad Partners network.
Amex Plat reward rates are extremely crappy too. I'm not sure what is the value in taking an Amex Plat @ ~70k where you get a miserable reward rate and don't even make back your fees. ICICI Diamante (or whatever) and Emeralde suffer from the same abysmally poor reward rates and no benefits to cover for the upfront fees.