10 Best Credit Cards for International Airport Lounge Access
Planning your next international vacation across the world? How about having a Quiet, comfortable space to relax with Wifi, Complimentary drinks & refreshments before your Flight take off ? Welcome to Lounge Class. Airport Lounges are one of the favorite part of my travel as they give unique experience at airports while saving some money on other side.
If you’re an Indian resident, there are two major ways to access the international airport lounges at free of cost by using the credit card perks. The international lounges can be accessed through two main programme:
- Priority Pass
- Diner Club Lounge Programme
Priority Pass is currently the world’s No.1 independent lounge programme that gives access to 1000+ lounges worldwide which means, you can virtually access any lounge with its membership. All you need to access the lounge is a Priority pass card which is given for free as a credit card benefit on some of the premium cards that i’ve listed below.
If you’re new to Priority Pass, check out my Ultimate Guide to priority pass Airport Lounge access.
Priority Pass Card looks like this (issued on HDFC Regalia)
Diners Club Lounge access is next best to Priority Pass and they do have quite good number of lounges in their network. Almost all lounges i’ve been to accept both Diners & Priority pass except rare case where Diners is not accepted. For access via Diners Club all you need is the Diners Club credit card itself which will get you the lounge access directly.
Diners Club Black Credit Card Looks like this (issued by HDFC)
Lets see some of the best credit cards in India which can give you complimentary international lounge access through above two programmes.
Best Credit Cards in India with International Lounge Access Benefit:
1. HDFC Infinia
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: Unlimited (Primary & 3 Add-on cards)
- Read Full Review: HDFC Infinnia Credit Card
2. HDFC Diners Black
- Access Via: Diners Club
- Free Limits: Unlimited (Primary Only)
- Read Full Review: HDFC Infinnia credit card
This stands almost in par with Infinia except that the lounge access is given by Diners Club itself. I’ve recently accessed international lounges in Malaysia & Bali with my dinners black credit card and add-on card and it works perfectly fine (no more). The visits are not even recorded in the credit card statement.
3. YesBank’s Yes First Exclusive Credit Card
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: Unlimited (both for Primary & Add-on cards)
New entrant in credit card segment but this should work perfectly well as like any other. Its currently being issued lifetime free and its the right time to grab one.
4. Citi Bank Prestige
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: Unlimited (both for Primary & 4 Add-on cards)
If you’re happy to pay this card’s annual fee, around Rs.20,000 per annum, know what, you can get upto 4 add-on cards apart from primary card and all has unlimited lounge access benefit through priority pass.
5. HDFC Regalia
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: 6 (shared between Primary & Add-on cards)
This is one of the most famous credit card in India with which Priority pass card are issued with decent complimentary visits. Recently they allowed sharing the visits with Add-on Card holders as well.
6. HDFC Regalia First
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: 4 (shared between Primary & Add-on cards)
A recently introduced variant placed a bit lower than actual Regalia version, comes with 4 complimentary visits, still holds good for one time foreign travelers.
7. HDFC Allmiles
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits:
4 (shared between Primary & Add-on cards)Discontinued
While most of them struggling to get Priority Pass card on Allmiles Card, HDFC is still issuing it with 4 complimentary visits.
8. YesBank’s Yes First Preferred Credit Card
- Access Via: Priority Pass
- Free Limits: 4 (Primary only)
Again a new entrant in credit card industry, though its worth it as you can get this card for lifetime free as a temporary promo offer.
9. HDFC Diners Premium
- Access Via: Diners Club
- Free Limits: 6 (Primary only)
Apart from International lounge access, it gives unlimited Domestic lounge access which is a good mix for anyone to choose.
10. HDFC Bank JetPrivilege Diners Club Card
- Access Via: Diners Club
- Free Limits: Unlimited (Primary & 3 Add-on cards)
A less known card for many, runs on Diners club platform and good for Jet Airways frequent flyers.
While you have a lot of choices, the best way to pick one is based on the annual fee. If you’re able to get any of the above cards with no annual fee, its a go to card. I prefer to have a mix of one Priority pass card and one Diners Club card so you have a backup in-case the other doesn’t work for some reason or other.
