EMI on International Flight Bookings 2026: Emirates Fly Now Pay Later & Bank-by-Bank Guide

What is EMI on flight bookings and how does it work in India?

EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) on flight bookings lets you pay for an airfare in fixed monthly payments instead of a single upfront charge, using your credit card — or eligible debit cards — as the funding instrument. The total ticket price, including airline taxes and fuel surcharge, is divided over your chosen tenure, typically 3, 6, 9, or 12 months, and the monthly instalment is debited from your card on the same date each billing cycle.

There are two mechanisms in India. Card EMI is where your issuing bank converts an eligible card transaction into an instalment plan. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is where a third-party lender settles the fare and collects instalments from you separately. For international flight bookings, card EMI from major banks (HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI, Kotak) is the dominant and more widely trusted option, supported directly on airline websites and OTAs.

When you select EMI at checkout on an OTA or airline website, your card is blocked for the full ticket amount immediately. The bank then converts this charge to an instalment plan within 4–7 working days, credited back to your available limit in parts each month as you repay. If you prefer to convert after purchase, the same 4–7 working day processing window applies — but only on transactions that have already settled (not pending charges).

One important limitation: not every credit card or transaction qualifies. Your card must be on the participating issuer’s list for that specific offer, and the transaction amount must meet the minimum threshold (see Section 6). Some premium cards — such as HDFC Infinia — may offer EMI on request even for transactions below standard minimums, but this requires a call to the bank rather than self-service in the app.

Emirates Fly Now Pay Later 2026: Plans, Banks and Rates

Emirates launched its Fly Now Pay Later instalment scheme for Indian customers in July 2026, offering tenures from 3 to 36 months across 12 participating banks — the widest tenure range of any airline-direct EMI programme in India as of August 2026. Bookings are made directly on emirates.com and cover nearly 140 destinations on the Emirates network, including Dubai, London Heathrow, New York JFK, Sydney, and all major European hubs.

The 12 participating banks are: Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank, Standard Chartered, State Bank of India, and YES Bank.

The Emirates scheme is a standard EMI (not no-cost), meaning you pay the full interest. However, for fare-heavy journeys — an ₹80,000 Business Class ticket Delhi to Dubai, for instance — spreading cost over 18 months at 12% APR may be more practical than a personal loan, which typically carries 14–18% APR, especially for travellers without a sufficiently high credit limit to absorb the full fare upfront.

Compared to other major airlines, Emirates is the first international carrier to offer tenures up to 36 months in India. Air India’s bank-linked EMI is limited to 24 months on select cards; most OTA card-EMI options cap at 12 months for standard no-cost plans.

No-Cost EMI vs Standard EMI: The Real Cost

No-cost EMI means you repay the exact ticket price in equal monthly instalments — the bank absorbs the interest, which it recoups by withholding the merchant discount (the instant cashback or coupon you would otherwise receive at checkout). On a ₹25,000 international booking — a typical amount in the ₹20,000–₹30,000 economy-class range for India-Europe routes — a 6-month no-cost EMI results in monthly payments of ₹4,167.

However, calling it “free” is misleading. Here is what you actually pay with no-cost EMI:

• Processing fee: Typically ₹99 to ₹199 plus 18% GST per conversion. HDFC Bank charges a flat ₹299 for EaseMyTrip EMI conversions. The illustrative midpoint processing fee used in the calculator below is ₹149.
• Foregone reward points: Most card EMI transactions are excluded from standard reward-point accrual. If your card earns 2 reward points per ₹150 and a point is worth ₹0.25, a ₹25,000 booking generates roughly 333 points worth ₹83. You lose this entirely on EMI.
• GST on waived interest (some issuers): Certain banks apply 18% GST to the interest component they absorb. On a ₹25,000 booking at 14% APR for 6 months, the bank absorbs approximately ₹1,000 in interest; 18% GST on that is ₹180, which may appear as a line item in your EMI conversion summary.
• Lost upfront card discount: Many OTAs offer an instant 10–12% cashback when you pay in full with an eligible card. Switching to EMI typically voids this discount, and you cannot use both simultaneously.

Typical interest rates for standard EMI range from 12% to 16% APR, depending on the bank and tenure chosen. An illustrative midpoint of 14% APR is used throughout this guide. For a ₹25,000 fare on 6-month standard EMI at 14% APR, the total interest paid is approximately ₹963, making the gross repayment ₹25,963 — plus the processing fee with 18% GST added on top.

On-the-Ground Insight: “I booked a ₹42,000 Emirates ticket Delhi to Dublin using HDFC no-cost EMI for 6 months. The EMI was clean — ₹7,000 a month. But I only realised after booking that I’d lost the 5X reward points I would have earned on my Diners Club Black. That works out to roughly ₹2,100 in points gone. Next time I’ll pay in full with the HDFC Infinia cashback offer instead.” — Priya M., TU Dublin, September 2025 Intake

How to Convert a Flight Booking to EMI After Purchase

All major Indian banks allow you to convert a settled credit card transaction — including a flight booking — into an EMI plan through your bank’s mobile app or customer care, typically within 30 days of the statement date. The bank takes 4–7 working days to process the conversion, after which the full transaction is replaced by monthly instalments on your card.

HDFC Bank: Converting a Flight Booking to EMI

Log into HDFC NetBanking or the HDFC Bank Mobile Banking app, navigate to Cards → Credit Card Offers → Flexipay or SmartEMI, and select the eligible settled transaction. Choose your tenure (3, 6, 9, 12, 18, or 24 months), review the interest rate and the processing fee displayed, and confirm. The processing fee for HDFC post-purchase EMI conversion is ₹199 plus 18% GST.

ICICI Bank: Converting a Flight Booking to EMI

Open the iMobile Pay app and navigate to Cards → Credit Card → Convert to EMI, then select your settled flight transaction from the list. Alternatively, call ICICI customer care at 1800 1080 (toll-free, 24/7). Available tenures: 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 months. ICICI charges ₹199 plus 18% GST as a one-time processing fee per conversion.

Axis Bank: Converting a Flight Booking to EMI

Use the Axis Mobile app under Credit Card → Transactions → Convert to EMI, or access Internet Banking under My Account → EMI Facility to select the eligible transaction. Axis Bank’s standard processing fee is ₹99 plus 18% GST (Magnus and Privilege cardholders may receive a waiver — check your card offer page on the Axis website).

SBI Card: Converting a Flight Booking to EMI

Log in to the SBI Card app or sbicard.com, navigate to Balance → Flexipay, and select your eligible transaction from the list shown. SBI Card requires a minimum transaction of ₹2,500 for domestic and ₹5,000 for international bookings to qualify for EMI conversion. Tenures available: 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months.

Bank-by-Bank EMI Offers on Air India and OTAs (August 2026)

Air India and major OTAs run time-bound EMI discount campaigns with specific partner banks — typically a 10–12% instant discount in addition to the EMI facility, valid only on credit card EMI transactions during the promotional window. Two significant offers are active as of August 2026: from HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank in direct partnership with Air India.

A critical detail: the HDFC and ICICI Air India discounts (12% instant discount up to ₹10,000) apply only when you select EMI at checkout on the Air India website or app — not via post-purchase conversion through your bank app. If you pay in full and then request EMI conversion, you get the instalment structure but lose the 12% instant discount entirely.

OTA Platforms and Minimum Transaction Thresholds for EMI

The three major OTAs — MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip and Cleartrip — all support no-cost EMI on flight bookings, but minimum transaction amounts and eligible banks differ significantly between platforms. EaseMyTrip has the most clearly published policy: a minimum of ₹6,000 for domestic flights. The general market minimum across all OTAs is ₹3,000 for domestic and ₹10,000 for international bookings.

Booking directly on the airline website avoids OTA convenience fees (₹150–₹500 per booking on MakeMyTrip) and grants access to airline-exclusive EMI offers. However, OTAs sometimes stack their own no-cost EMI cashback on top of a lower base fare. Always compare the final amount — OTA fare minus no-cost EMI savings versus airline-direct fare with standard EMI — before committing to either channel.

The DCC Trap: Why Paying in INR on Foreign Airline Sites Costs More

When booking on a foreign airline’s website such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, or British Airways, you will often see a prompt asking whether to pay in INR or the airline’s local currency — always choose the local currency (AED, QAR, GBP) and never choose INR. Selecting INR triggers Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), where the airline applies its own exchange rate — typically 4–8% above the mid-market rate — before your card is even charged.

Here is a concrete example: suppose an Emirates fare from Delhi to London costs AED 2,200. At a mid-market rate of ₹22.50 per AED, the true rupee cost is ₹49,500. If you select INR at checkout, Emirates may show ₹52,200 — a ₹2,700 DCC markup of 5.5%. Your bank then adds its own forex markup of 1.5–3.5% on top of the inflated INR amount. The combined cost can reach 7–11% above mid-market rate.

If you must use EMI on a foreign airline site, follow this sequence: (1) decline DCC and pay in the airline’s local currency; (2) let the transaction settle on your card at the bank’s inter-bank rate; (3) then request EMI conversion through your bank app within 30 days. This ensures EMI is applied to the market-rate INR amount, not the DCC-inflated figure.

Is TCS charged on flight bookings made via EMI?

No. Tax Collected at Source (TCS) does not apply to standalone international flight ticket purchases — whether paid in full, via EMI, or through BNPL — under any tenure. Budget 2026 (Finance Act 2026, effective 1 April 2026) introduced a flat 2% TCS on overseas tour packages, but the Income Tax Act explicitly excludes standalone airline tickets from this definition.

The legal boundary under Income Tax Act Section 206C(1G) is between an “overseas tour programme package” — a pre-bundled itinerary arranged by a tour operator, including hotel, sightseeing, and transfers — and a standalone transport booking. A single air ticket, even an international one for ₹1,50,000, is classified as transport and carries zero TCS regardless of the payment method or tenure chosen.

The ₹10 lakh LRS threshold (raised from ₹7 lakh by the Finance Act 2025, effective April 2025) also does not trigger TCS on flight ticket purchases — because TCS on standalone tickets was never levied at any amount. If you book a tour package from a travel agent that bundles flights + hotel + transfers, the 2% TCS applies to the package total — but that is a package-classification issue, entirely unrelated to whether you pay in EMI or full.

EMI Cost Estimator for International Flight Bookings

Use the calculator below to compare standard EMI cost versus no-cost EMI for any fare amount and tenure. The default inputs use a ₹25,000 illustrative booking (midpoint of the typical ₹20,000–₹30,000 economy-class range for India–Europe routes), a 14% APR (illustrative midpoint of the 12%–16% range quoted by most Indian banks for standard EMI), and a ₹149 processing fee (midpoint of the ₹99–₹199 range most banks charge). 18% GST is levied on the processing fee, as required by Indian tax rules.

Frequently Asked Questions