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Consolidated India-based mileage related Credit Cards thread - 2015 onwards

Old Jan 11, 2015, 5:15 am
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Last edit by: SuperFlyBoy
Consolidated Info for Citi PM Card. (Currently under amendment - 28 July 2014 - SuperFlyBoy)

10x PM miles earned on the following websites:
(Expired Link - doesn't work any longer): Link here for fully updated info: http://www.online.citibank.co.in/car...les-offers.htm

-All airline websites

-Amazon.in (until 9 November 2014)
-GoIbibo.com
-PremierMiles website
-Jabong.com (until 31 March 2015)
-Ezeego1.com
-Groupon.co.in
-fnp.com
-www.onemi.in (until 31 October 2014)
-www.paytm.com (Transactions above Rs. 200/-)
-Yatra.com (extended until 31 December 2014)
-yebhi.com/citibank (Now extended until 30 April 2015)
-www.zansaar.com (Until 10 October 2014)

(Expired Link - doesn't work any longer): Also on these online/offline stores: www.online.citibank.co.in/portal/pdf/PM-10X.pdf

(Expired Link - doesn't work any longer): Also Extra Miles on these Offline stores: http://www.online.citibank.co.in/por...-Locations.pdf
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Consolidated India-based mileage related Credit Cards thread - 2015 onwards

Old Jan 15, 2019, 8:13 am
  #586  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
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Originally Posted by onlysuites
You can transfer to AA too right?
You used to be able to. Those were the days.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 9:04 pm
  #587  
 
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Originally Posted by L_D_M
You used to be able to. Those were the days.
Yeah... that was what 4...5 years ago? Seems like forever. They had AA, DL, VS, AC, MR etc. etc. etc. etc. then. Ah sigh.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 7:26 am
  #588  
 
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
Yeah... that was what 4...5 years ago? Seems like forever. They had AA, DL, VS, AC, MR etc. etc. etc. etc. then. Ah sigh.
I would think like 2-3 years back. I came to India in Sep 2015 and AA was a transfer partner for quite some time after that.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 7:36 am
  #589  
 
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Originally Posted by vishalgupta22
I would think like 2-3 years back. I came to India in Sep 2015 and AA was a transfer partner for quite some time after that.
As far as I remember they held on to AA for longer. They dropped DL, VS etc. before that.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 11:39 am
  #590  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
Yeah... that was what 4...5 years ago? Seems like forever. They had AA, DL, VS, AC, MR etc. etc. etc. etc. then. Ah sigh.

with that said, the sbi etihad card is to launch soon. would be interesting
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 11:43 am
  #591  
 
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
As far as I remember they held on to AA for longer. They dropped DL, VS etc. before that.
DL was dropped only about a year or a year and a half ago...
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 11:49 am
  #592  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
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Originally Posted by Kingboomer
with that said, the sbi etihad card is to launch soon. would be interesting

No it won’t. SBI will likely have a very ordinary rewards rate. And EY’s redemption charts are also very average with loads of YQ. So I wouldn’t really be excited.

It might make sense for folks looking at mid-tier cards & associated miles accruals.

I’m hoping these newer players like Axis & Yes do something exciting... and Diners of course... do something exciting (again) please!

Last edited by PiperAtGatesofDawn; Jan 21, 2019 at 11:57 am
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 11:55 am
  #593  
 
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Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy
DL was dropped only about a year or a year and a half ago...
Man Im getting old. They dropped AA & AI last if I remember correctly and that was towards the begining of 2017. And DL was a few cycles before that.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 5:12 pm
  #594  
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I also have the HDFC regalia card. Their website is quite bad, who can I transfer to? Is there an easier way to transfer as all I can find is a form which needs to be faxed to transfer miles.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 10:16 pm
  #595  
 
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Originally Posted by onlysuites
I also have the HDFC regalia card. Their website is quite bad, who can I transfer to? Is there an easier way to transfer as all I can find is a form which needs to be faxed to transfer miles.
Have you checked the netbanking->credit cards options...Diner points can be transferred to miles using netbanking.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 10:39 pm
  #596  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn



No it wont. SBI will likely have a very ordinary rewards rate. And EYs redemption charts are also very average with loads of YQ. So I wouldnt really be excited.

It might make sense for folks looking at mid-tier cards & associated miles accruals.

Im hoping these newer players like Axis & Yes do something exciting... and Diners of course... do something exciting (again) please!
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
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Old Jan 22, 2019, 12:17 am
  #597  
 
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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.
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Old Jan 22, 2019, 12:28 am
  #598  
 
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Originally Posted by onlysuites
I also have the HDFC regalia card. Their website is quite bad, who can I transfer to? Is there an easier way to transfer as all I can find is a form which needs to be faxed to transfer miles.
If you're being asked to fax stuff that means that webpage hasn't been updated in decades! Which airlines can you transfer miles to? Their website is very opaque. So I'm suspecting none.

Why don't you call in?
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Old Jan 22, 2019, 1:19 am
  #599  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
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.
I disagree with you completely. Amex @70k gives u 100k MR points. Now if u can get someone to refer you for the plat charge, u get another 10k extra points plus they get 25k MR points. So @110k points - convert this into Marriott at 1:1, book 2 nights at a category 8 property (think AL MAHA Dubai that retails @ $1500/night). So u are paying around $1k and getting $3k worth.
Obviously your goal behind getting any card should be towards a particular objective. Plus, the plat charge has a 15x offer on all international/domestic hotel bookings- it effectively gives back 37.5% of your booking cost back through points - with no limits (unlike the legendary smartbuy offer)

So it all depends. if you have a lot of international travel, the amex plat would be the best card followed by prestige
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Old Jan 22, 2019, 2:33 am
  #600  
 
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Originally Posted by Kingboomer
I disagree with you completely. Amex @70k gives u 100k MR points. Now if u can get someone to refer you for the plat charge, u get another 10k extra points plus they get 25k MR points. So @110k points - convert this into Marriott at 1:1, book 2 nights at a category 8 property (think AL MAHA Dubai that retails @ $1500/night). So u are paying around $1k and getting $3k worth.
Obviously your goal behind getting any card should be towards a particular objective. Plus, the plat charge has a 15x offer on all international/domestic hotel bookings- it effectively gives back 37.5% of your booking cost back through points - with no limits (unlike the legendary smartbuy offer)

So it all depends. if you have a lot of international travel, the amex plat would be the best card followed by prestige
You're talking about a very very very specific sweet spot redemption. As soon as you step outside the 5-10 super super premium hotels the whole equation falls flat. Now you may have wanted to and then done this and so it has worked out for you. But that's not for everybody.

Here's how I see it: 100k MR points = 50k airline miles. I conservatively value airline miles at Re.1. So they're charging me 70K and giving me 50k in return (there are some more benefits but this is the main one). And yes I may get Rs. 2/mile during redemption but that's not how I'd do the valuation. There's worse value for taking 40k Taj Vouchers for 70k upfront fees.

Secondly the earning rate... 1.25% domestic and 3.75 international at the same valuation is terrible. More so for such a premium card.

Thirdly the 15X MR on hotel bookings is a time limited promotion not a feature on the card. And Amex has been doing plenty of promotions in the last 2-3 months (which is good). Including accelerators for paying school fees and insurance and what not. But these are promotions. So if you have hotels to book during this limited period you get benefits. If you don't you're back at getting the measly 1.25% rewards on hotel bookings.

Fourth The card costs $1000!!! That's an insane amount of fees for very limited value. Which other country does Amex charge such insane fees and then give you so little!

Citi Prestige on the other hand: 20k fees = 10k miles + 10k Taj. So you've made your money back. 4% rewards in India & 8% international. No other accelerators though.

Bottom line... would I pay 3.5x Citi fees in the hopes that some promotions come up along the way. No I wouldn't.
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