ICICI Bank and Emirates have launched new Emirates co-branded credit cards in India. This follows the closure of the Standard Chartered Emirates credit cards sometime back. Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank credit cards have been launched in the Gemstone range. We have three variants – Emeralde, Sapphiro, and Rubyx. These cards will offer the ability to earn Emirates Skywards miles on spends and use them for travel. Here is everything we know about these cards:
Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card
- Joining/Annual Fee: Rs 10000 plus taxes
- Welcome and Renewal Benefit: 10000 Skywards Miles
- Rewards: 2.5 Skywards Miles/Rs 100
- Rewards on Insurance and Utility: 1 Skyward Mile/Rs 100
- No rewards on fuel
- Complimentary Emirates Skywards Silver Tier Membership
- Upgrade to Emirates Skywards Gold Tier membership on Rs 15 Lakhs spend in a year. Rs 50000 of this should be on Emirates.
The Emirates Skywards Gold Tier upgrade is possible only after spending a whopping Rs 15 Lakhs in a year. This will be difficult to achieve especially if you have other credit cards.
Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card
- Joining/Annual Fee: Rs 5000 plus taxes
- Welcome and Renewal Benefit: 5000 Skywards Miles
- Rewards: 2 Skywards Miles/Rs 100
- Rewards on Insurance and Utility: 1 Skyward Miles/Rs 100
- No rewards on fuel
- Complimentary Emirates Skywards Silver Tier Membership for the first year
- Tier will be based on spends from the second year onwards
Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card
- Joining/Annual Fee: Rs 1000 plus taxes
- Rewards: 1.5 Skywards Miles/Rs 100
- Rewards on Insurance and Utility: 1 Skyward Miles/Rs 100
- No rewards on fuel
- Emirates Skywards Blue Tier Membership
Complimentary Airport Lounge and Spa Access
The lounge and spa access for the Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank cards is through Dreamfolks Pass. The lounge and spa access benefits are the same as the normal Gemstone cards.
- Emeralde Variant: Unlimited domestic and international airport lounge and spa access
- Sapphiro Variant: Two visits/quarter to domestic and international airport lounges and two spa visits/quarter
- Rubyx Variant: One domestic lounge access per quarter
The BookMyShow offer for the normal Gemstone cards are also available for these cards.
My View
ICICI Bank credit cards are generally not that rewarding. So, it was surprising to see Emirates tie-up with ICICI Bank for new co-branded cards. Coming to the rewards, I am surprised to see there are no accelerated rewards for Emirates spends. The outgoing SC Emirates World card had a 2X benefit for Emirates spends. This feature could have been continued on the Sapphiro and Emeralde variants.
The Skywards Miles earn rate is low on all three card variants. Plus, bigger spends like insurance and utility get only 1 Skywards Miles for every Rs 100. This is too low. There are no milestone rewards as well on any of the cards.
Overall, I do not find the cards to be exciting. We have much better travel cards for now.
Know more about the Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Cards by visiting the official Emirates link.
Featured image from Emirates Press Release
