One of the most popular posts on my blog has been about Lounge Access, and understandably so. There are tonnes of ways to get Lounge access, and while status or airline premium cabins are two kinds of them, credit cards are the third most popular kinds. Visa and MasterCard both provide lounge access programs in major cities, and American Express is also now offering lounge access in 10 cities or so.
One of the upstarts in this world was Diners Club, which came back to India with HDFC Bank about a year and a half back. They offer 3 tiers of the Diners Club Card in India, the basic one being HDFC Bank Diners Club Rewardz. This this usually card comes to you free from HDFC Bank for the life of the card.
One of the features of the card is:
Unlimited Access to Domestic Lounges only under the program
Now, as per this list published online, the Bank has the following cities in India online:
- New Delhi Terminal 3 & Terminal 1D
- Hyderabad
- Bangalore
- Ahmedabad
- Chennai
- Kolkata
- Vadodara
- Pune
- Goa
- Cochin
- Mumbai
I think this is great coverage from a credit card perspective, for a card that comes to you free for the lifetime of the card. However, there is no lounge access for +1s here.
Anybody use the Diners Club Rewardz Card for the lounge access?
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i am travelling from mumbai to frankfurt via doha.On these airport which credit cards are acceptable for lunch,dinner or snacks
HI
lets say I am travelling with my family, can I swipe the same card twice itself and give access to my family too.
As it is unlimited lounge access, will it work?
@Sambhav The agents will be cool with swiping different cards but not the same card twice. That would be flagged in the systems of the service provider
I heard the Diners Club Black offers free lounge access for +1 also. Is that true? Because I couldn’t seem to find this information anywhere on their website.
Also, I read in comments that alcohol is not free. Can someone confirm this? I only went to the lounge once that too on a dry day so could not try.
1. No access for +1s. It will be charged additional.
2. Alcohol policy depends on the lounge. Most lounges is not free.
Its bad experience for me when I board from bangalore in domestic area because Plaza Premium Lounge denying for access as diners club card not acceptable now ..why this is???
how many friends along with me can axcess lounge with my dinners club card at indian domestic airport terminals.
Hi,
I hv a Diners Premium card and I’m travelling international for the first time.
Can you suggest me wt all I can avail with the help of this card..?
Is thr a need to pre-book the lounge or something ??
Thanks in advance!
I have the Diners Club Premium variant and had a few questions regarding the 5 lounge visits (international) and unlimited domestic lounge visits.
1. Does domestic mean lounges within India (international & domestic terminals)?
2. Do I need any additional cards, such as a priority pass for accessing the lounges, or would the Diners Premium card be sufficient?
3. I have a combined credit limit along with the Regalia card (which has a priority pass), so would the 5 lounge visits for international lounges be combined between the two or are treated separately, effectively giving me 10 visits through the year?
The reason for asking these questions here in this forum is due to the lack of knowledge that customer care seems to possess when I put forward these questions to them. I am actually fine if they dont know. I just dont want to be misdirected :).
Thanks,
Ashok
@Ashok:
1. Yes
2. No additional cards needed. Diners Card alone is sufficient.
3. Visits are typically linked to the card. So you can swipe the diners at 5 lounges, and the Regalia at 5 more lounges.
I recently used my Diners premium card at London Heathrow for free. I had a red eye from LHR to BOM, so the lounge access was a huge bonus. I ate at the lounge and then slept through the flight.
For a once/twice a year international traveler, I think this card is a big plus.
Thanks ppl @Akash and @Jsg. Travelled to Chennai from Pune for the weekend and got access in both Pune and Chennai lounges.
While sipping coffee inside the lounge, the criminal inside me got awakened. Since lounge access is unlimited with this card, what if we apply for an add-on card and use the same for access to two people(family). No other card offers 1+1 for lounge access. Am I wrong somewhere?
@Raghu, lounge access is limited to primary card holder, so the secondary card won’t authorise.
@Raghu: The card gives completely free of charge unlimited access to Domestic lounges access across India.
This month I flew to US so tried the card on International Lounge of Hyderabad airport too (was just trying my luck to check if access can still be free at International Lounges of Indian airports which is actually not free with this card) and no deduction was made while swiping the card and even my credit card statement has no charged mentioning the lounge access. So, it was free. 😀
However, I would suggest this to try using this card on International Lounge at your own risk because if they charge you it will easily be around Rs. 2000.
One can also upgrade their card for a fee of Rs. 2500 per year, the new card will give 5 free International Lounge access or Unlimited Domestic Lounge access.
@akash when they say domestic, they mean lounges inside India. International = Lounges outside India.
So I finally got my Rewardz card. HDFC predictably wasn’t very helpful. Had to figure out the process from their website and courier in some forms to them.
@Raghu I have used the card a couple of times now at lounges. No $24 registration needed. They just charge you 2rs and that’s it.
HDFC Diner’s Reward Unlimited Lounge Access sound so crazy. Cant believe. Anywhere it is written?
@Arun, of course, on their website.
Heard DIners club members have to spend $24 for registration or something. Is there really some clause like this or is it Rs.2 from the beginning? Maybe @Akash Khandelwal can help. TIA.
Hi,
I am using HDFC Diner’s Card. Altough, I am not much of a air traveler and only recently took my first flight.
Before flying I checked & found that my card gives me unlimited domestic lounge access.
Thus, I used it in Hyderabad as well as Delhi.
When I went to the lounge, gave them my card asking for access and card got accepted (Rs.2 transaction charge was deducted). I asked them what all facility do they provide, and this is where all the happiness lies. 😀
1. Free Wifi- I watched YouTube, it was seamless.
2. Free Water, Cold drink, Tea, Coffee- Unlimited
3. Free Food- Buffet, all though very limited items but still it was all Free & better than airline food option.
4. Bathroom- Yes, you can even take a shower there, I don’t know how that will be possible with you having bag & travelling alone but I gonna try that too some time soon.
5. Sofa Seats with Charging Point- Relax on a Soft cushy seat and charge your Laptop/Mobile while watching T.V or You tube.
5. Spa & Alcohol- Paid
I felt pampered by the all the services I was getting, so I pampered my self more and took a foot massage (this too was the first time I was taking any massage so didn’t quite knew what to expect, I found it costly at Rs. 750). I don’t drink so didn’t asked the prices for alcohol.
Hope it helps.
Hi,
Can we use hdfc bank diners club rewardz card unlimited times in india
Saw the features of Diners Rewardz card and have applied for a swap of cards.
Only Diners cards and Rupay card by HDFC covers the most number of domestic airport lounges in India (ex.Pune, Kolkata etc.,).. Hope I get the diners before my next travel. 🙂
Hi Raghu,
Tell me one thing. When You had applied for an upgrade to Diners Rewardz from Platinum Credit card that you previously held, did they charge you the actual fees of the Dinerz card (Rs 1000 pa) or gave it to you for free? I am asking this because if I apply for an upgrade to Diners Premium Card from Diners Rewardz later on, am I still eligible for a free Lifetime Diners Premium or I’ll have to pay Rs 2500 as annual charges for that? Diners Premium is also offered Lifetime to people who apply online for the first time but I don’t know if they allow a free upgrade to eligible people from Diners Rewardz to Diners Premium or not. Kindly clarify. Anyone can answer please. I know Diners Black is paid one (Rs 20K pa) but Diners Premium is also Lifetime free. So if I upgrade later on from Rewardz to Premium, will it be free or do I have to opt for a paid upgrade?
HI,Aj
May i use Diners club card at delhi airport (domestic).
what facilities i will get there if access is available.
Today i am landing there at 1:30 Pm and again taking flight at 5:25 Pm , i have 4 hrs time is there .
please help how can i use my 4hr in delhi .
Bankbazaar filters suck 😀
Cant seem to pass the eligibility filter to get access to a list with Diners card on it. Its only showing me all high end cards! Have left my number there, lets see.
To clarify, I can get some free visits via my Citi PM, but now it looks like I am going to be traveling much more frequently than the (10?) free visits per quarter I get with the PM.
So looking at options for unlimited access. Same thing for +1s, for those times when the wife or colleagues are with me.
@AJ: Thanks, so the HDFC it is. I have an old HDFC titanium lying around I can probably swap out for this.
What about a paid option for +1s? Whats my best hope?
@JSG you can always swipe your other card and usually the lounges have no problem as long as they get another billing 🙂
Ah! Makes sense. So the HDFC unlimited for me, and can use the PM for the +1, so long as they accept why not 🙂
Thanks!
@AJ,
Long time reader, first time commentator 🙂 awesome job on the blog.
On to my query: as someone who’s started flying domestically for work quite frequently,
1. what’s the cheapest way of getting lounge access with the best local coverage in India?
I am ok getting a card only for the lounge access.
2. Same, best card for +1s?
Right now I have a Citi PM and a Amex platinum travel card.
@JSG HDFC Diners Club Rewardz is the best free card for lounge access in India. Nothing for +1s though.
mr Awtaney pls tell that for how long I can access the lounge before my flight time. I’ve flight at 06.15 on 09.04.2016 and at what time I can enter the lounge with my diners card?
@gmgupta usually they allow 3-4 hours of lounge access
Can I swipe again after 3-4 hours and get another 3-4 hours of lounge access? It is unlimited anyway, right?
@Riya, yes you can
Hey AJ Sir
I have rewardz.. Wish to Upgrade to Black or Premium. Any idea ? n also fee waiver?
Hi Aj, I wanted to check as to how good/bad is acceptance of diners card in India for daily transactions?
I landed on https://leads.hdfcbank.com/applications/webforms/apply/HDFC_DinersAcceptance/HDFC_DinersAcceptanceOnline.aspx & felt I might be constrained to use diners cc as I use visa or for that matter amex.
@sagar while it is not the best, there are over 4 million HDFC bank credit card terminals across india where it is accepted for sure.
As of now, Diners acceptability has drastically improved in India. Diners card is easily acceptible at the POS machine terminals by HDFC, Citibank and Yesbank. The online acceptance has been even better with many wallets and payment gateways accepting Diners Cards. So the websites, might not directly support Diners card but if they support one of the below listed wallets, you sure can shop from those sites. For now the wallets/payment gateways that support Diners Cards are Paytm, Mobikwik, PayUmoney, CCAvenue, Freecharge (they only support Diners card while loading the wallet, not while doing the recharge directly through the card). So because of these recent improvements Diners is getting accepted very widely.
Even Paypal India and Amazon.com (Not Amazon.in) accepts Diners cards. For the Diners Card to work with Paypal, you’ll have to chose the type of card to be Discover. (Paypal India allows VISA, Mastercard, AMEX and Discover). So chose Discover, and it will be added and authenticated.
How come my card is not working 🙁 I tried to add in paypal.. it say you cannot add this card
Did you choose Credit card, did you choose Discover? It is working. I have been using it for quite sometime now. Try using it. Don’t choose, Visa or MasterCard or am ex. Chose discover.
@Aditya,
If we click through the link in your last post, the pdf says first year and renewal fees are waived on spending INR15000 and INR100000 respectively for the Rewardz card.
And in complete contradiction, this page mentions the first year and renewal fees are both 1000:
http://hdfcbankdinersclub.com/diners-club-rewardz
@aditya if you apply via BankBazaar you get it free
How can you get this card free for life? Do you have to be an existing HDFC customer or something?
This page mentions the first year and renewal fees are 1500 and 500 respectively:
http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/credit_card/credit-card/diners-club-rewardz/h8pixbpo
Apply through HDFC Salary Perks app. It will be free for life.
AJ, you forgot to list the (few – 2) Mumbai lounges…
@SuperFlyBoy, thanks, fixed!