How To Travel For Free With Credit Cards

Credit cards come with great value-added benefits. There are multiple benefits that come packed with credit cards that if used in the right way, can be of great advantage to us. Most the people love traveling but sometimes it proves to be quite expensive and creates a big hole in your pocket. But what if we tell you that if you are a credit card user and you can travel for free. Yes, you heard it right. Credit cards are very powerful tools that help you in various situations, such as travel if used in the right way.

Travel cards such as co-branded credit cards (with the Airlines) provide you with various travel benefits such as domestic and international lounge access, purchase tickets with the points that you have earned using the credit card, etc. This article will provide you with all the details on how to travel for free with credit cards and will also provide you with a list of the best travel credit cards.

What are travel credit cards?

Out of the many credit cards available in the market today, travel credit cards are those credit cards that are designed for frequent travelers and let you earn reward points which can help in reducing your travel expenses. Persistent travelers can opt for travel credit cards that provide them with rewards and cashback on booking air tickets, lounge access, forex benefits, discounts on your hotel bookings, and sometimes even provide you with a complimentary air ticket.

With the best travel credit cards available in the market, you can save a lot of your rupees by using the reward points that you earned to book your flight tickets and get discounts on your stay.

Find here: List of Best Credit Card for Travel India

How to travel for free with credit cards?

As exciting as it sounds to go on a trip, the experience will be more thrilling if you get a trip for free and that too just by using your credit card in a normal routine. You can enjoy your vacation without any stress about how you will pay for a trip. There are various credit cards in India that let you earn reward points while you swipe your credit card and the points can be further redeemed to either book flight tickets or get discounts on hotel bookings. Travel for free doesn’t exactly mean that you will not have to spend a single penny on your travel but this means that you will have to pay very less on your travel expenses as you will get discounts through the reward points that you have earned using your credit cards.
Following are the points that should be considered if you wish to travel for free using your credit cards –

1. Choose a Travel Credit Card that offers great rewards –

To qualify for a great travel credit card that will provide you with generous rewards, you will be required to have a great credit score. Now, travel credit cards are of two types, one of which is a general credit card that provides you with reward points that can be redeemed for booking your flight tickets or hotel. The other one is a co-branded credit card that has partnered with a specific airline and provides you with accelerated reward points or air miles while booking tickets for a particular airline.

2. You can opt for more than one Credit Card –

It is not necessary to have just a single travel credit card. You can always choose to have more than 1 credit card so that you have more opportunities to earn reward points. For example, you can have 1 credit card that provides you with accelerated reward points on travel and you can have another credit card that provides you with Airmiles. These air miles can be used for booking flight tickets and you can use the Reward Points of another card for hotel discount vouchers to save even more.

3. Go through the Terms and Conditions –

You should carefully go through the terms and conditions of the credit card that you opt for and make sure that there is no capping on the rewards that you will earn while spending through your credit card. However, most of the card issuers set a maximum cap on Reward Points/Air Miles that can be earned in a month or a year, but you should make sure that this number is not very less. Also, you should prefer low forex markup fee credit cards if you also travel internationally.

4. Look for Sign-up Rewards –

These credit cards provide you with great rewards once you pay the joining fee of the credit card. Sometimes these bonuses are so huge that you might earn a free flight as a bonus or reward for signing up for the credit card but you have to look for the condition that makes you eligible to earn such bonuses. For example – you have to make a transaction of a certain amount using your credit card within the first 45 or 60 or 90 days of the card issuance to qualify yourself to earn this reward.

5. Try to earn the Milestone Benefits –

These credit cards come with some specific milestone benefits which means that you can earn bonus rewards if you are able to spend a particular amount using your credit card in a quarter or in an anniversary year. If you are a frequent credit card user, you should try to achieve the specified spending and earn milestone benefits on your credit card.

6. Redeem the points that you have earned –

Another thing that you have to take care of is that you should redeem the points that you have earned using your credit card well in time so the rewards points do not get expired. The reward points that you earn using your credit card for various transactions come with a validity date. You should redeem all your reward points for booking your flight tickets and hotel before the expiry date of such rewards.

Following is the list of the travel credit cards that provide great deals –

• Air India SBI Signature Credit Card – This card by SBI provides you with 20,000 bonus reward points as a welcome benefit and a complimentary membership to the Air India Frequent Flyer Program – Flying Returns. You can earn a maximum of 1,00,000 bonus rewards points on the basis of your spends in the anniversary year. Also, you can earn 30 and 10 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India Ticket booking via airindia.com for self and others and 10 Reward Points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India Ticket bookings for self or others through Air India booking offices or call centers and 4 Reward Points for every Rs. 100 spent on all other categories. All the rewards points earned can be converted into Air India Air Miles.

Check here: Air India SBI Signature Credit Card Review

• Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME – The Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME provides you with 1 Premium Economy Class ticket as a welcome benefit on the successful payment of the joining fee. You get 3,000 CV Points if you are able to spend Rs. 75,000 using your Club Vistara SBI PRIME credit card within the first 90 days of card issuance. As a milestone benefit, you get 1 Premium Economy Class ticket each on achieving annual spends of Rs. 1.5 Lakhs, Rs. 3 Lakhs, Rs. 4.5 Lakhs and Rs. 8 Lakhs. You also get 1 Hotel e-voucher worth Rs. 10,000 on achieving annual spends of Rs. 8 Lakhs. The CV points can be redeemed against booking award flights, class upgrades, or seat reservations under Vistara Cash + Points Program.
• Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit card – With this credit card, you get 10,000 bonus Skywards Miles as a welcome benefit and a complimentary Skywards Silver Tier Membership. You get up to 2.5 Skywards Miles for every Rs. 100 spent on all transactions. In addition to all this, as a travel benefit, you get complimentary unlimited access to domestic as well as international lounges. These Skywards Miles can be redeemed for booking flights, hotels, and various other options available on the Skywards Website.

You can check the review of Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit card here

• Club Vistara IndusInd Bank Explorer Credit Card – This card provides you with a complimentary Business Class ticket Voucher as a welcome gift. Also, you earn 8 CV Points for every Rs. 200 spent on Vistara, 6 CV Points for every Rs. 200 spent on travel/hotel/airline bookings, and 2 Cv Points for every Rs. 200 spent on all retail spends. All the CV Points earned using this credit card can be redeemed for booking Air Vistara flights or partner airlines including Air Canada, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, etc. Along with the CV Points, this card also provides you with 1 domestic lounge visit per quarter and 4 international lounge visits every quarter. An exclusive benefit that this card provides is that it does not charge any fee on your international transactions and hence allows you to save amazingly on your international trips.

Visit here the review of Club Vistara IndusInd Bank Explorer Credit Card

Bottom Line

Travelling is fun and exciting but can be horrifying sometimes when you realize what it would cost you for a vacation. Hence, this is the situation where travel credit cards come in need and can prove to be very beneficial. These cards let you earn reward points on your day-to-day transactions through your credit card and the rewards points hence earned can be used for making your travel bookings. We may also get a few of our flight tickets and hotel bookings for free if you take care of the points mentioned above carefully. Additionally, we have also discussed the travel cards that can actually benefit you if you spend using those cards wisely.