Last week, I wrote the Mileage Earning 101 – India Edition 2013, where I had provided you my views on all the credit cards you could use to earn miles in India. I got quite some feedback and requests, including one for a calculator. That prodded me to pull out an old worksheet from 2011 and add some columns to it, adding all the new information available to it. I hereby present to you Version 1.0 of the worksheet, which you can directly access from Google Drive here. Here is how to use it with just a few simple inputs: Step 1: Input if you are a JetPrivilege Platinum Member or not. Step 2: Input your monthly domestic spend and…
Credit Cards
Category Archives for Credit Cards.
ICICI Bank Jet Airways welcome offer is back for Jan 2013
If you’ve been reading my recently updated Mileage Earning Credit Cards 101, you’ll notice I’ve given a thumbs up to the ICICI Bank credit cards’ top end versions for their mileage earning capabilities. However it is a pain to predict if and when you will get the card because ICICI Bank’s internal systems are not still up-to-speed in this department. I recently received my blue cloud ICICI Bank American Express Sapphiro followed by the Visa Signature version a few days later. I am happily swiping away the Amex version for 7 JP Miles/ Rs. 100 on domestic spends. ICICI Bank had offered a welcome bonus in October 2012 for those who applied for the card in the first month, and…
Mileage Earning Credit Cards 101 – India edition 2013!
I met a fairly well travelled bunch of people this past weekend for a coffee in Mumbai, and I was very surprised at the end of this conversation when we pulled out our wallets to pick the tab. The payment was split between two of the folks, and I was not allowed to pay. However, both the cards used for payment were not mileage earning or anything close! The scene was repeated later that evening with a bunch of friends. Someone beat me to reaching out for the check, and another non-mileage earning credit card went into the payment mode. Look, I have nothing against non-mileage earning credit cards. I was using them at a point of time (when there…
PremierMiles devalued for good by Citibank
For the existing Citibank PremierMiles customers, they would have received an email communication a few weeks back, announcing a new redemption rate of Rs. 50 per 100 PremierMiles. I did not write about it at that point of time because I was not sure if this was an additional method of redeeming miles, or the only way for redemptions on the website premiermiles.co.in. Here is how it looked. Now, the PremierMiles credit card has come a long way from its original promise. I discovered this card in December 2011, when it was an also ran product. When the card first launched into the limelight in May 2012 as a replacement to the Citibank Jet Airways credit card, there was a…
Citibank PremierMiles revises lounge access benefits
I’ve been a big fan of the Citibank PremierMiles credit card, ever since it landed in my wallet almost a year back now. However, the product features have been changing and I’m not exactly impressed by all of them. Overnight, there is a reduction in the lounge access policy, which quietly underwent a change. A reader Gagan pointed this out to me in the comments, and got me to have a look. While the MasterCard version did not have too many lounges to start with, on the Visa network, there were a lot of lounges in India and outside India to go for. However, I cannot blame, but thank Citi for having keeping the lounge access alive. This is because,…
Reminder 2: 3 days to Jet Airways ICICI Bank upto 5k bonus!
I know everyone is excited about the new Jet Airways American Express Credit Cards which were launched a couple of days back. I’ve got tons of mail and tweets and phone calls asking about the cards. I will get down to dissecting all the 3 cards for you folks soon. At this point of time, I wanted to remind you, that if you are looking at the ICICI Bank credit card in tie-up with Jet Airways, you should apply or call up for your card upgrade now, since the November 30, 2012 deadline is close for getting the extra bonus with the card. You could read all about the extra bonus offer here. Related Posts: Jet Airways ICICI Bank CC:…
Breaking: Jet Airways American Express Platinum card launched
The news I’ve been waiting for. Like you know, Jet Airways parted way with Citibank for their decade old co-branded credit card and tied up with three partners instead: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and American Express. I’d talked about the imminent launch of this product last month. HDFC Bank went first with releasing their product, and ICICI Bank went next. These have been in the market for a while now. American Express seemed to take some time, since they had to first disengage with the Kingfisher co-branded credit card they already had in operation to launch the new product with Jet Airways co-branding. Anyways, all the hard work is behind us and the new credit card has now been launched.…
Reminder 1: Register for PremierMiles promotion before November 30
If you’ve been making your Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card work hard over the past couple of months in the festive season, I hope you are aware of the Double Your Miles promotion that has been in place since October 1. The top 2000 spenders this quarter get to double their miles earned on the credit card. Here are all the details you need from the earlier post I made on this. Here is a quick reminder, that the registration for the promotion closes on 30 November 2012, so, if you have not registered, you should do that now. If you have more than 1 Citibank PremierMiles credit cards, you will need to register each one individually for this promotion. Related…
Jet Airways ICICI Bank CC: Increased Sign-up bonuses till Nov 30
You must be wondering why I haven’t spoken much about this card yet. A few weeks back I’d detailed the launch of the Jet Airways ICICI Bank Credit Card range, and also how it was a better product than the HDFC Bank Jet Airways Credit Card. Somehow, the actual delivery of the card to the customers was delayed, but I now hear things are all good to go, and card applications are all set and being processed. ICICI Bank had launched a pre-booking offer, offering 50% bonus on the welcome miles they were going to provide. So, with the highest end card, i.e., Sapphiro, you could earn up to 5,000 bonus JP Miles over and above the 10K you were…
Citibank PremierMiles offers 30% transfer bonus on British Airways Avios & 20% on Etihad Guest miles
I don’t know if Citi is playing catch up with the American Express offer for 30% bonus miles on Avios transfers / Etihad Guest Miles or it is their own initiative, but they just got some new brownie points in my book. I’d been secretly wondering if there were ever going to be bonus offers on mileage transfers via Citi PM, but looks like Christmas did come early. For those of who look to redeem your miles for international travel, I find British Airways Avios to be an acceptable program over some other partners Citibank has for their card. Delta – bad availability, Singapore Airlines – expensive (as compared to others), Etihad – very expensive redemptions. With BA’s distance based…
Citibank PremierMiles: Etihad Guest is a partner, Indigo changes & dynamic redemptions go mainstream
While I write this, I hope you’ve all registered for the PremierMiles top 2000 spenders contest for this quarter where these guys get to double their miles. Contest is opt – in so if you don’t register, you don’t get counted. Now, first for the big news. Etihad Guest, the loyalty program of Etihad airlines, is now a partner with the PremierMiles program. I think this went online today, since last I checked a couple of days back, this partner was not there on the list. From now on, you can also transfer your PremierMiles 1:1 on Etihad Guest account as well, though Etihad charging 147K for a BOM-JFK roundtrip is not giving me a good feeling on these guys…
