Are you a frequent flyer? Here's how to pick the best credit card

This question has been asked often, and it seems everyone wants the best credit cards with the most amount of privileges without paying a single penny for it.

So, here are the few things to look out for when you are out and about looking for the credit card that fits your travel aspirations.

Many banks tie up with a certain airline to give you miles only on that airline’s loyalty programme. Vistara has a tie-up with Axis Bank and Air India has a tie-up with SBI Card for their co-branded card. If you think one airline can deliver everything you need, you could choose these cards.

Usually, you get perks on the airline itself if you take these co-brand cards, such as extra baggage allowance and so on. But if you don’t think you want to go through the confusion of understanding an airline’s loyalty programme, many card issuers have recently started to offer a fix value of their points which you can redeem for air travel or hotels. HDFC Bank offers, for instance, up to ₹ 1 per point value on their cards, Yes Bank does ₹ 0.25 and so on. Some high-end credit cards will offer you points which can be used for a cash value as well as transferred to multiple loyalty programmes, so look out if you want that feature. American Express, Citibank and HDFC Bank only have this feature. Everyone else usually will just show you a tie-up with one loyalty programme.

Many credit cards now share lounge access as a feature, but don’t just assume you are never paying for lounge access ever again with them. Most cards have a limit on the number of free visits they give per quarter, so always check for those and also check if the card you are signing up for has a lounge available in the city where you stay. The higher end cards usually offer an unlimited lounge access at 1,000-1,200 lounges globally, so if you are a road warrior these are the cards you should go for. For occasional travellers, they can do with limited lounge access.

Another very important question. Somehow, the concept of paying for services in India has been diluted, with banks having giving away low-end credit cards without any features or privileges for free to most customers. But a reasonable credit card pays you back for the fee in terms of points or free flights and so on.

These are the three key lookouts when you are looking for a credit card which will be able to give you returns to finance your future travels.