FFProgramme and Card! Which one?
 

Hello Professional MileRunners & Reward Collectors,

I am totally new to the game of MileRunning.
Credentials: Age: 26, Inducted In Business Full-Fledged and Privileged to Travel 10-11 Times Annually for work.

I wish to commence collecting my points and avail benefits of MileRunning.

I am looking to commit my loyalty to a FFProgramme - 9W or AI and a Credit Card (I am willing to spend of upto Rs. 10 Lakh on my card per annum)

I really know little. I have done a bit of online research. I need an expert to validate my interpretations


FFProgramme – Choose on Basis of Value Per Miles
- Till December 2015, AI had the best Value Per Miles FFProgramme. But after recent devaluation; Jet Airways offers a better Value for Miles.
- I could use either FFProgramme because I studied the partnering airlines of Jet Airways and that of Air India (Star Alliance). I could use either of them. Both of them cater to the routes I usually use.
- Which FFProgramme does it make sense to stick to on the metric of Value Per Miles?
o Jet Airways
o Air India

Credit Card
- I made a comparison of 5 leading Airline co-branded credit cards. I am going to base my decision on the following metrics.
o Bonus on Sign-Up
o Points Per Spend of Rs. 100
o Rewards/Miles Conversion Ratio
o Online Shopping Points
o Fees
- I haven’t really considered it important to include Freebies, Access to Golf Courses etc because I am not going to use most of them
- Lounge Access is given with most of the cards.
- My Interpretation:
For Jet Airways
o HDFC Diners Black makes sense only till 10X spending on online websites stays in place
o Otherwise JetPrivilege HDFC Diners offers best Bonus, Value For Spends and Rewards/Miles Conversion Ratio
For Air India
o SBI Card offers best Bonus, Value For Spends and Rewards/Miles Conversion Ratio.

However, it makes sense to buy SBI Card only if I were to stick to Air India FF Program.
So Once again my question:
- Am I right in my interpretation that
o 9W FF Programme is best for me?
o JetPrivilege HDFC Diners is the best suited co-branded card?

Or there is something that I cannot read between the lines.

Thanks,

Harsh Sheth

P.S- I have attached the table I prepared to compare various cards.

http://s30.postimg.cc/kl27swbl9/Card_Comparison.jpg

For Jet, the Jet HDFC Diners card is the best out there.. with its earn ratio, both for jet transactions and other transactions, bonus miles and tier points etc.

For AI, the SBI card was the best, even with the mile redemption devaluation that AI had few months ago. But with the bonus deval announced two days ago, I personally am going to cancel this card.

If you can, get both HDFC Diners Black and HDFC Diners Jet

But then I fly a lot with Jet and have plat status with Jet and gold with AI (via the sbi card)

I would recommend Citi Prestige which gives you host of other benefits including unlimited 1+5 Priority Pass, oversea medical insurance, meet+greet, airport transfers. These benefits can come in handy if you travel frequently. Also the points convert 1:4 miles with all major airlines including Jet/AirIndia. If you sign up before 31 March, you also get Etihad Gold status which can be useful when flying Jet.

With the recent devaluation of Air India SBI card, I would not really recommend it. For *G, you could get a status match from Etihad Gold to Avianca Amigo and use it to access *G benefits on Air India and other member airlines.

Firstly HDFC does not let you hold two credit cards at the same time. There are a few exceptions for HNI customers but it's pretty one-off.

Secondly, the Citi Prestige card is pretty hard to obtain, income criteria is around 40L/year.

@ OP - I'd suggest you try and score the Jet HDFC Diners card, but that's also pretty difficult to get if you're just starting out and this is your first credit card. Else just get Jet HDFC World/Plat cards and build up your credit limit and eligibility.

@OP: I have a couple of queries:
- What sector do you fly and what class?
- What do you want to get from a FF? domestic travel or international? If international, do you have preferred destination/s?
- Do you expect to plan your award travel last minute or in advance. Once booked, do your plans have a reasonable probability to change?

if you can get the citi prestige then that is probably the best option in the indian market at the moment....

^^Besides Citiprestige card allows you much more flexibilty - Can be converted into many airlines miles. Noteworthy is Delta & Qatar ..... Because these two airlines do not charge fuel surcharge on redemption of air miles. Hence very productive for award tickets.

qatar is not a partner....

Recently Qatar has become partner . I got e mail from citiprestige.
https://www.online.citibank.co.in/po...ge-program.pdf

that's good to know....

does qatar allow you to search for awards if you are not a member of their program or if you don't have sufficient miles in your account????

Does QR display enhanced award availability for its members on QR's own metal than, for example, BA website does?

We can do it on british airways website. We have to search it segment wise. For eg if i wish to travel DEL-GVA-DEL . I search for Delhi-Doha, & then Doha-Geneva on British Airways website. There is ample availabilty of qatar awards tickets . For Delhi europe return in J shall cost 110000 QR miles & taxes comes to appx INR 5000/-.

Agree.