Travel credit cards have become popular among people who travel regularly. These cards offer excellent benefits and rewards specific to the needs of those who travel, such as earning miles and air ticket credit card offers.
With these exclusive offers and benefits, you can enhance your travel experience – whether it’s a personal or a business trip. Here are the perks of using a credit card for travel.
Top Incentives for Travel Expenses
While managing inflation and escalating expenses is beyond control, using appropriate credit cards can help optimise savings. Apart from cards for everyday spending categories like dining, fuel, and groceries, issuers also provide cards for travel-related expenses.
Here is how they enhance your travel experience while keeping it affordable:
Travel Insurance
In today’s increasingly uncertain world, the significance of travel insurance cannot be overstated. Thankfully, numerous credit cards offer travel insurance, albeit with some coverage limitations. Nonetheless, it helps alleviate stress during challenging circumstances. Here is an overview of the different types of insurance you can get:
- Trip Cancellation Insurance
The reassurance of trip interruption insurance is invaluable when faced with the inability to complete a costly trip. Many credit cards extend coverage for both trip cancellation and trip interruption, reimbursing eligible expenses for qualifying reasons. This beneficial coverage can help you save substantial funds in unexpected situations and reduce the costs of purchasing a separate insurance policy.
- Lost or Delayed Baggage Insurance
Although the likelihood of baggage mishandling is low, its occurrence could significantly impact your trip. Thankfully, several credit cards offer baggage delay insurance or lost luggage reimbursement.
Ongoing Travel Perks
The travel perks allow you to elevate your travel experience. To leverage these, review your existing credit cards and ensure they align with your needs. When assessing cards consider the annual fees, and look at those offering recurring benefits. These include entitlement to yearly free nights, exemption from baggage fees, or elite status benefits to offset the annual fee.
- Airport Lounge Access
As airports become increasingly crowded while food prices rise, airport lounge access can serve as a means to manage costs and elevate comfort levels during airport visits. While credit cards offering lounge access often come with high annual fees, the benefits can be worthwhile if you are a frequent flier.
- Airline or Hotel Elite Status
Recurring card benefits, such as automatic airline or hotel elite status, can yield considerable savings on travel and warrant consideration when exploring new credit card options. You can even get memberships of airlines or hotels, which come with many perks. This can include:
- Free air tickets
- Complimentary courses
- Complimentary or discounted stays
- Discounts on hotel services
- Priority boarding
- Discounted Air Tickets
Many issuers offer air miles for different types of transactions and even with rewards. You can use these to get a discounted or free air ticket. Credit card offers, such as flat discounts or membership discounts also help you travel affordably and without emptying your savings.
Waived Fees
Contrary to the claims of famous travel bloggers, travelling is only partially cost-free, even when utilising points and miles. Resort fees, luggage fees, and award taxes are common considerations. Additionally, you may encounter foreign transaction fees when using your card abroad.
Fortunately, many leading issuers providing a credit card for travel offer no foreign transaction fees. Moreover, several top airline credit cards provide benefits such as complimentary checked baggage. This allows you to save more on some additional costs.
Eligibility to Apply for Travel Credit Card
Issuers have some requirements that you must fulfil to get a credit card for travel. These can vary depending on the issuers and the card you choose. Some common eligibility criteria across issuers are:
- Credit Score: Travel cards require a decent to outstanding credit score. Card issuers often require a score of 670 or higher. The higher your CIBIL score, the greater your chances of being approved and receiving advantageous terms.
- Income: Your income is essential in determining your ability to repay balances on credit cards. Some premium travel cards may have minimum income criteria, so you must meet or exceed those limits.
- Stable Employment: A consistent and stable employment history will help you qualify. Lenders may look at your employment stability and income consistency to determine your capacity to manage credit responsibly.
- Age: You must be 18 years or above to apply for a credit card. Some premium travel cards may have a higher age requirement.
- Citizenship: Some credit cards may have specific requirements for citizenship or residence. Most require you to be a resident Indian.
When selecting a travel credit card, it’s crucial to consider the rewards, perks, and benefits that best suit your lifestyle and spending habits. One option you can consider is the One Credit Card, which offers exceptional flexibility for foreign exchange transactions. You can also plan your travel through its mobile app and get exclusive offers to enhance your trips.
You can earn up to 5X reward points, which have no expiry date and zero charges on redemption, empowering you to maximise your benefits. Apply now to start enjoying these benefits and more.
