Hi All,
Wanted to share my experience here for the benefit of others going through this article.
I had a Regalia card with > INR 9 lakh credit limit to begin with. The lounge access on the Regalia card was restricted to 12 domestic per year, which was less for me, considering I travel a lot, and wanted a card which had unlimited lounge access. To my pleasant surprise, when I checked on my netbanking portal, it showed an upgrade to DCB card (annual and renewal charges of INR 10,000 + GST). Without a second thought, I upgraded it and received the card within 3 days. I got to know from my relationship manager that it was a FYF card. I asked her if she can make it a LTF one, to which she said it’s impossible from her end.
Then I was casually browsing online for benefits of the DCB card, when I came across this article, and I followed everything step by step, sent them the email stating my MBA degree from IIM and Graduation from BITS Pilani, and within 5 days, my card was upgraded to LTF variant (Thank you Card Maven !! 🙂 ). To confirm whether it was actually made LTF, I asked for my Card’s status to my relationship manager, and she confirmed that it has been changed from FYF to LTF.
Now, some facts I got to know about this card from online sources and my relationship manager !!
1. We can have 2 free Add-on cards for family members, who can then enjoy unlimited lounge access.
2. Even though the Card is mentioned as “Diners Club Black DOM”, which I thought was a Domestic only card giving access to domestic lounges only, coupled with the fact that the Travel Diners App showed only Domestic Lounges in the list: I checked the status with my relationship manager, and she said that it is an international card with international lounge access (as mentioned on HDFC card benefits page as well).
3. The golf access booking should be made in advance (3-5 days for domestic and 15 days for international) through the 24×7 concierge service only.
4. It’s better to add your international travel plans on the card section of your netbanking portal for seamless support and troubleshooting in case you faced any challenges abroad.
5. There were some reports of low acceptance of the Diner’s card in India and abroad. Well, as per my experience, I have faced no challenges so far!! you may check for acceptance map online here ->
– https://www.dinersclub.com/cardmembers/global-card-acceptance/
– https://www.dinersclub.com/content/diners-club/en/home/cardmembers/global-card-acceptance/_jcr_content/root/container/container_800617504/image_1704387828_cop.coreimg.png/1665171161829/acceptance-map-legend.png
6. If you really want to enjoy the benefits of this card, try going to Smartbuy portal for buying anything (Flipkart, gift vouchers, flight bookings, train and bus bookings, etc). Also, instead of buying stuff from Amazon and flipkart directly, plan your purchase in advance, and buy gift vouchers from Smartbuy in advance, and then keep applying them on your Amazon and Flipkart purchases, for maximum benefits.
Again, I would like to thank Card Maven for having written this article for folks like us, to gain a valuable card, free of cost, for lifetime 🙂
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