Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Last Updated 8th May 2024.
SBI Air India Platinum is the lower-end variant of the SBI Air India Signature card and can help you earn Air India Flying Returns reward points directly. SBI Card and Air India have trimmed down all the features on this card including the joining fees. Let’s check out which of the two cards makes more sense for you!
Contents
Charges and Welcome Benefits
| Joining Fees | ₹1499 + GST |
| Welcome Benefits | 5,000 Flying Returns Points |
| Renewal Fees | ₹1499 + GST |
| Renewal Benefits | 2,000 Flying Returns Points |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | NA |
The joining fees and the renewal fees in this card are well compensated by FR points and hence both the cobranded cards have low maintenance costs attached to them.
Reward Accrual
| Spends Area | Reward Rate |
| Air India Flight Bookings Via (Air India Website and App) | 15 FR Points/₹100 (Self) 5 FR Points/₹100 (Others) |
| All Retail Spends* | 2 FR Points/₹100 |
- *Excluding spending on Digital Wallet loads and Rental Payments.
Milestone Benefits
| Annual Spends | Bonus Reward Points | Cumulative Reward Points |
| ₹2L | 5,000 FR Points | 5,000 FR Points |
| ₹3L | 10,000 FR Points | 15,000 FR Points |
All retail spending is counted for considering milestone achievements.
TechnoFino Maximum
On spending ₹2L in a year you will get 9,000 FR points and on spending ₹3L you will get 21,000 reward points on the retail spends which is huge and a significant jump in the reward rate. If you travel Air India frequently then by booking by booking your and your family member’s revenue tickets this reward rate can further be bumped dramatically.
Just like the SBI Air India Signature card getting accelerated bonus points is a big pain and I hope that the new Air India will resolve this soon.
Reward Redemption
Since the value of miles is highly dependent on many factors such as route, availability, revenue cost, time of travel and how many days you book in advance so stating a fixed value wouldn’t be justified here.
Just for an idea I would like to mention some sweet spots here and compare their revenue fares. Booking business or premium economy for domestic routes won’t make much sense since the mileage requirement is very high. For the domestic economy also the value is not that great!
The value is great for some destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam etc. For instance, DEL-HKG requires 16000 FR points for economy lite fare and revenue tickets are mostly north of ₹20,000 if you plan to fly Cathay Pacific or Vistara. Hence to derive a good value you will have to find some sweet spots by comparing them to other FFPs like Aeroplan and KrisFlyer. For such selected routes and classes this card would easily yield a reward rate close to 5-7%.
Other Benefits
Lounge Access
A frequent flyer program cobranded credit card without complimentary lounge access even for domestic airport lounges is quite surprising. SBI Cards should consider providing the same at least twice in six months to make this card a bit lucrative for frequent Air India travellers.
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
- Get a 1% fuel surcharge waiver maximum of up to ₹250 per statement with your Air India SBI Platinum Card, across all petrol pumps on the purchase of fuel worth ₹500 to ₹4,000 to avail of this benefit.
Forex Markup Charges
- Forex Markup charges are standard 3.50% + GST
Forex markup charges are on the much higher side for a travel credit card and hence not recommended to be used overseas.
TechnoFino Recommends
This card lacks the ethos of a travel credit card since at this fee point not providing complimentary domestic lounge access is certainly not justified. Also, forex markup is standard and very high. But if you can manage this with other cards and opt for it just for the Air India Flying Returns reward points then it is certainly a very rewarding card. It can easily yield a minimum reward rate of 5-7% if you are flexible and can travel to certain sectors where the Air India Flying Returns can provide you the sweet spots.
If you can spend anything above ₹5L on this card then I would strongly suggest you go for the SBI Air India Signature credit card which will give you the best bang for your buck.
What are your thoughts about the SBI Air India Platinum credit card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Chief Editor, TechnoFino.
Personal finance nerd! Physics enthusiast and trainer. When not into Physics, he is minting points and hunting for the next best credit card for himself.
I’m using this card from past 5 to 6 years.
But I hvnt got any FR benefits till date .