DreamFolks DragonPass Card Review (India)

Dragon Pass is one of the largest independent Airport Lounge access program that provides Lounge service for frequent travelers across the globe. Their coverage is as good as Priority Pass and they also provide other airport related services like meet & greet and discounts at airport dining outlets. So, to provide access to lounges in India, they need to tie up with lounge service aggregator and that’s where DreamFolks came into picture.

DreamFolks is by far the only company in India that provides single point access to domestic lounge services. In other words, we are able to access the domestic lounges via mastercard ,visa ,olaetc as they’re linked to dreamfolks lounge directory. Ideally, any bank/card network that needs to provide lounge service for their customers needs to go through Dreamfolks and that’s what Dragon Pass did but with a separate card for India.

This partnership with DragonPass helps DreamFolks enter into B2C segment, which could potentially shake the lounge access scene in India, especially related to Priority Pass (i think so). So this is how Dreamfolks DragonPass Card is born

Lets get into the review now,

DreamFolks DragonPass Privilege Card Review

Just like Priority Pass and Dragon pass, Dreamfolks also started selling the card on their website directly, apart from partnerships with banks (like ICICI). The plans/rates are similar to Priority Pass/DragonPass. As per the changes on ICICIgamestone card on oct 7th, ICICI now replaced their Priority Pass benefit with Dragonpass to their Sapphiro range of cards.

Card Issuance

ICICI Bank

If you sign up for any of ICICI’s new Sapphiro range of cards, you’ll now get the Dragonpass card issued along with it. Though, for existing customers, you need to play some game to get access to it. Inspite of me having ICICI Jet sapphiro card, i was initially denied for issuance of Dragonpass card by my ICICI Wealth Management support supervisor and was said that only “new customers” can get it.

Remember, Only ICICI Jet Sapphiro variant is worth the cost, the plain Sapphiro card is not that useful.

Hopefully, we may get Dragonpass cards with other banks as well in coming years.

Get Directly

You may also get the card directly via Dreamfolks website. However, it makes sense to do this only if you go for the top end plan that costs about Rs.26k that comes with unlimited Spa access. If you’re hitting the airport very often, this is going to be a great deal.

Ideally you should be making 13 trips or visit departure area 26 times a year to make use of this benefit, not that tough for busy consultants. Anyone here planning for this?

ICICI Linked Benefits

Here are the benefits of DreamFolks DragonPass Privilege Card issued by ICICI with Sapphiro range of cards.

Spa: 2 Complimentary sessions (30 mins usually)
Lounge Access: 2 Lounge Access (International only, if issued by bank)
Add On: Meet & Greet, dining, etc.

The limits on Spa/lounge is too low for such a premium card by ICICI. They could consider making it 4+4 atleast to make it more attractive.

Lounge Access Review

As i mentioned earlier, Dragon Pass (DP) lounge network is very good and is in par with Priority Pass (PP) as far as i know. Most of the lounges that accept PP also accepts DP and in addition i’ve noticed some lounges that accepts only DP.

For ex, Dragon Pass allows you to access T/G lounge in Bali, Indonesia Airport while Priority Pass doesn’t. This lounge is usually reserved for business/first class for some airlines, so you get better atmosphere here as the other lounge is usually quite crowded.

Remember, the Bank issued Dreamfolks Dragonpass card can be used only for access to Intl lounges.

Spa Services Review

One of our reader was one of the first few to access the spa benefit in Bangalore Airport and he is quite happy with the experience. I recently visited the O2 Spa at Bangalore airport and availed the spa access. Ideally you get ~30 mins session for each visits left and you can also use both visits the same day.

The service is good and the receptionist is very well aware of this card. They simply take your card number and punch it in their system which shows the available visits. They deduct the count and you’re good to go. You’ll have limited options to choose, for ex: Foot spa (or) Neck/shoulder massage.

Digital Card

You can also access the digital card of the Dreamfolks card through Dragonpass App. You need to use your card number and the password to login. You can get the password by emailing your DF card details to Dreamfolks support.

Bottomline

India’s Credit card industry along with the Aviation sector is booming and Dreamfolks made the entry into B2C segment at right time. The Unique benefits like spa access is a brilliant idea compared to the regular Lounge access benefit. If Priority Pass follows this idea, it would be mind blowing to see how much revenues the Spa outlets would make!

Its good to see a new player in the lounge access segment, after all, it should result in better card offers for consumers like us.