paragbmehta

Just out of curiosity... for someone who is looking at travel in India, how does this compare with citi ultima card , especially getting the plat tier with Ultima... is it worth the .annual fee of 50 k ?

A2A

Everyone would value the plat tier differently. And ultima is way tougher to get and you don't get jp miles on daily basis (you can convert, but not at 6:100 still). Plus a 50k fee...as compared to 10k

Keyser

i've been using the ultima for a couple of years now & find the benefits to be pretty good....the annual fee is high but in return the 3 benefits that make it worth it for me are:

1. top tier priority pass membership with unlimited free lounge access for upto 3 guests....

2. membership in the itc culinary plus program that gives me upto 50% off on meals in all their restaurants....

3. two free weekend night certificates at itc properties....

these 3 benefits save me well over inr 50k a year....

the one thing that you may want to keep in mind is that the jet platinum membership through the ultima card is considered a complimentary membership & you are not entitled to the 5 upgrade vouchers....jet tried to screw me out of this even though i had re-qualified the regular way....it took a number of calls to sort this out....

A2A

keyser I thought you'd moved to or were using the 15k version?

anyways, just to add on this:
a) top tier priority pass for primary member as well as add-on
b) culinary plus membership also comes with quite some number of free meal vouchers.
c) as for the jet airways membership to plat, the 5 vouchers are a stated benefit on the product material and if there should be trouble, just bump it to citi who will sort it out with jet!

Keyser

always had the inr 50k version....

the priority pass membership is a great benefit for me....specially when traveling in north america where they don't offer lounge access if you don't have elite status, even if you are traveling domestically in business....

i forgot the mention the free meals but the discount is on unlimited meals & another great benefit for me as i end up eating at an itc restaurant a couple of times a month....

i did bump it with citi but they got back to me saying that jet won't offer it as its a complimentary membership....then i had to get in touch with jet to remind them i had qualified the regular way as well....

paragbmehta

if they dont give the platinum upgrade vouchers (surprising since it is mentioned on the ultima website), then I doubt the value of the 50k annual fee.

@keyser: if one is a regular at ITC, then it definately makes sense.....

Keyser

the website does mention it but i was entitled to them in any case, even before i got the card, so i never pressed the issue with citi....maybe if i had then i would have gotten them through citi as well....

the itc benefit is really good if you use it regularly....if you won't make use of the culinary plus & priority pass membership then i won't suggest it for you....the rest of the benefits are pretty average....

jasepl

I've had the American Express platinum and they have the same fee (plus tax, so about 56,000), but the benefits are good. I don't use them near as much these days, but when I did, they were definitely worth it:

- free unlimited Priority Pass
- oneworld gold membership (through Marco Polo / Cathay)
- Starwood gold membership
- free access to all Delta Crown Rooms (including a guest)
- free Hertz #1 gold membership
- free Travel insurance
- free emergency medical assistance (this has been a Godsend once!)
- free Overseas medical insurance for a week per trip
- free wine bottles and dessert at some restaurants (and, yes, it's usually nasty Rivera or something)
- 25-50% discount at some restaurants
- No fee for add-ons (hence why the maid and driver!)
- Concierge service (reservations, restaurants etc)
- Taj Epicure membership
- ITC membership
- Free nights / wine / upgrades / spa treatments etc at Taj/Oberoi/Starwood/Banyan Tree/Six Senses etc (some have conditions)

A2A

err. this is where you said about the 15k version in your wallet

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16349378-post79.html

Keyser

read the post again....i said i got all the benefits but only paid inr 15k....so i never had the 15k version....

i got it for inr 15k the first year due to the financial relationship i had with the bank....but like i said in that post, it was the inr 50k version of the card (i.e. i got the 50k benefits)....

A2A

ok, clear! only you could swing it that ways. that would mean you get the 50k miles for 15k

Keyser

only for the first year though....i had to pay inr 50k for this year....

A2A

i will try for a discount next year then :P

divinedoc

I've had the 50K Ultima for sometime now.
Besides the benefits mentioned one also gets 50,000 JP miles upon renewal ( in addition to the Jet Platinum status & 5 platinum upgrade vouchers ).

A2A

and a 50k travel insurance, and a toy lamborghini on signup