Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card vs Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card

Earlier, only Standard Chartered Bank used to offer a credit card in partnership with Emirates Airlines. The card was named Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card, which has now been discontinued by the bank as the valued partnership between the card issuer and Emirates Airlines has ended. Now, ICICI Bank has partnered with Emirates Airlines, and three co-branded travel cards namely, Emirates Skywards ICICI Emeralde, Emirates Skywards ICICI Sapphiro, and Emirates Skywards ICICI Rubyx Credit Card, have been launched under the partnership. Out of these three cards, the Emirates ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card can be considered very similar to the Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card. Now, as the SC Emirates World Card has been discontinued, people who are loyal to Emirates Airlines should go with the Emirates Skywards ICICI Sapphiro Card.

Both these cards come with a similar annual fee and very similar features and benefits. Just like the Standard Chartered Emirates Credit Card, the Emirates World Sapphiro Credit Card also offers Skyward Miles on all your spends. Other than this, you get exclusive welcome benefits, travel privileges, milestone benefits, lifestyle privileges, and many more. If you are someone who was planning to get the SC Emirates World Credit Card but couldn’t get it as the card is not being issued anymore, you don’t need to get upset as the ICICI Bank has come with not only one but three co-branded cards in partnership with Emirates.com. In this article, we have compared the Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card with the Emirates ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card on the basis of all their features and benefits to make you understand why it will be a great decision to get the Emirates ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card after the closure of the Emirates co-branded card by the Standard Chartered Bank:

Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card

The Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card, which has been discontinued now, used to charge an annual fee of Rs. 3,000 and welcome its customers with bonus Skyward Miles. Apart from that, customers get exciting travel benefits including complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access, travel insurance covers, discount offers on duty-free shopping, and many more. To understand detailed features and benefits of the SC Emirates World Credit Card, refer to the points given below:

• You get a welcome benefit of 4,000 bonus Skyward Miles on joining the card membership.
• You get 6 Skywards Miles on every spend of Rs. 150 on Emirates Airlines.
• You get 3 Skyward Miles on every spend of Rs. 150 elsewhere.
• The redemption process is easy really easy as the earned Skyward Miles are automatically credited to the Emirates Skyward account of the cardholder.
• You also get 5% cashback of up to Rs. 1,000 on duty-free shopping.
• You get 2 complimentary domestic and international lounge access every month on spending Rs. 10,000 or more in the previous month.
• Apart from this, you get complimentary domestic lounge access at selected Indian airports under the MasterCard Lounge Program.
• You get 1 complimentary golf lesson every month and 4 complimentary golf games every year.
• You get complimentary insurance cover worth Rs. 1 Crore on accidental air death.
• You get insurance covers worth up to USD 6,000 against travel.

Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card

The Emirates Skywards ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card is a newly launched card that comes with an annual fee of Rs. 5,000 and welcomes you with bonus Skywards Miles. With this card, you don’t only get complimentary lounge access as a travel benefit, but a lot of other privileges as well. You also get complimentary movie tickets, a 1% fuel surcharge waiver, exclusive milestone benefits, and many more benefits with this card. Refer to the below-mentioned points to understand all its features and benefits in detail:

• You get 5,000 bonus Skyward Miles as a welcome benefit in the first year and then every year as a renewal benefit.
• You get complimentary Emirates Skywards membership for the first year. The membership gets renewed every year if you achieve the spend milestone of Rs. 5 lakhs in the previous year.
• You can earn up to 2 Skyward Miles on every spend of Rs. 100.
• You can enjoy 2 complimentary domestic lounge access every quarter on spending Rs. 5,000 or more in the previous quarter.
• You get 2 complimentary international lounge access and 2 spa sessions every year.
• Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer on movie ticket bookings through BookMyShow twice every month with the maximum benefit capped at Rs. 500 per ticket.
• Complimentary Dreamfolks membership.
• 1% fuel surcharge waiver on al fuel transactions in India.

Comparison Between Standard Chartered Emirates World & Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Saphhiro Credit Card

Now as we have discussed the features and benefits of both the credit cards separately, it might have become easier for you to understand how the Emirates Skywards ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card can easily replace the SC Emirates World Card. To make it even more clear for you, we have come up with the following comparison table. Go through the information given in the table carefully to understand the difference between the two cards:

	Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card	Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card
Annual Fee	Rs. 3,000	Rs. 5,000
Reward Rate	6 Skyward Miles on every Rs. 150 spent on Emirates Airlines. 3 Skyward Miles on every Rs. 150 spent elsewhere.	2 Skyward Miles on every spend of Rs. 100. 1 Skyward Mile on every Rs. 100 spent on insurance categories.
Welcome/Renewal Benefits	4,000 bonus Skyward Miles	5,000 bonus Skyward Miles. Complimentary Emirates Skywards membership for the first year (renewed every year on spending Rs. 5 lakhs in the previous year.
Additional Benefits	2 complimentary domestic as well as international lounge access every month on spending Rs. 10,000 in the previous month. 1 complimentary golf lesson every month and 4 complimentary rounds of green fees every year.	2 complimentary domestic lounge access every quarter on spending Rs. 5,000 or more in the previous quarter. 2 complimentary international lounge access every year with the Priority Pass. Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer on movie tickets twice a month.

Also Read: Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card vs Axis Bank Atlas Credit Card

Bottom Line

It is true that the discontinuation of the Standard Chartered Emirates World Credit Card was a bit disappointing for the cardholders who are loyal to Emirates Airlines. And if you are one of them, you don’t need to worry anymore as the ICICI bank has partnered with your favorite airlines and launched co-branded credit cards including the Emirates Skywards ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card. However, this card is slightly more expensive than the one offered by the Standard Chartered Bank, but its features and benefits make its annual fee of Rs. 5,000 worth it. The Emirates Sapphiro card offered by the ICICI Bank ‘t doesn’t only provide travel benefits like the complimentary lounge access, but also comes with several other exciting privileges like buy one get one free offer on movies, which is not offered by the Emirates World Card that the SC bank used to offer.

After comparing the two cards on the basis of all their features and benefits, we can easily conclude that for Emirates loyal customers, getting the Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card will never be a wrong decision. However, you should make sure to go through all its features, fees & charges, and eligibility criteria before applying for this card in order to avoid any difficulties in the future. If you still have any doubts regarding any of the two cards mentioned above, make sure to ask us in the comment section below!