Long post, but tl;dr; first:

Thanks to the r/creditcardsIndia community for the motivation and advice! I redeemed two years' worth of Amex Platinum travel credit card Taj vouchers (₹20k total) plus Tata Neu points to enjoy a heavily discounted one-night stay at Taj Mahal Tower, Mumbai, including a sea-view room and birthday perks. Sharing my strategy and experience for anyone looking to maximize credit card rewards for luxury stays.

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First, a big thank you to this community for all the insights and motivation you’ve given me on my credit card journey. Your advice inspired me to explore and optimize my rewards better.

I recently redeemed a heavily discounted one-night stay at the iconic Taj Mahal Tower, Mumbai, and wanted to share my experience and how I achieved it.

How I did it:

• Mainly through the Amex Platinum travel credit card. Over two years, I accumulated Taj vouchers worth ₹20,000 (₹10k each year), which are awarded after spending ₹4L within the membership year.
• I also used two Tata Neu cards (Tata Neu Plus from HDFC and Tata Neu Infinity from SBI). These helped me accumulate about 4500 Neu points, which I redeemed during the stay.

My strategy:

• I spent the ₹4L slowly in year 1 and quickly in year 2, thanks to insurance payments and travel bookings early in the second year. This gave me two overlapping Taj vouchers (one expiring Aug 2025, the other May 2026), which I combined for the stay.
• I maximized daily shopping within the Tata ecosystem using Tata Neu cards, especially on Big Basket, which was my biggest source of Neu coins. The Tata Neu Infinity card gave me 7% cashback.

The stay:

• It was near my birthday, and Taj made it special with a beautiful bouquet lasting over a week and Forest Essentials gift boxes worth ₹4k. Always use occasions like birthdays or anniversaries to get extra perks.
• I booked the Taj Mahal Tower sea-view room (standard rates only, as Amex vouchers can’t be used on member rates even if you have Taj Epicure membership). Calling the reservation team to confirm voucher redemption is a must.
• The sea-view room was worth the extra cost — stunning views of the Arabian Sea, Gateway of India, and Taj Mahal Palace domes from a lovely balcony on a higher floor.

Cost comparison for weekend stay (including breakfast & taxes):

Instead of a Saturday check in & Sunday check out, we chose Sunday check-in and Monday check-out, which was about ₹2,000 cheaper.

Additional experiences:

• Since the Taj Mahal Palace stay was too expensive, we enjoyed High Tea at the Sea Lounge restaurant there for about ₹3,200+tax per person. It included a buffet but no alcohol. I redeemed 4500 Tata Neu points and paid the rest with Tata Neu Infinity card, earning 5% points back.
• A highlight was the free Taj Heritage tour, led by a staff member with 40+ years of service. It’s highly recommended and must be booked through the hotel staff as it fills up quickly.

Overall, this stay was a memorable experience combining smart credit card usage, loyalty points, and special occasion perks. I hope this helps others looking to maximize their credit card rewards for luxury stays!

Happy to answer any questions.

Turned ~48K points into ₹2L flights 🤯✈️

(India->Bali | Manila->Delhi for 2)

Just pulled off one of my best redemptions so far using Maharaja Club 🔥

👉 Booked:

• Delhi → Bali

• Manila → Delhi

• 2 passengers

• Cost: 12K points + ₹2K taxes per person per sector

💸 Total out-of-pocket: peanuts

💰 Revenue price for all 4 tickets: ~₹2,00,000

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How I got the points 👇

Since Axis Atlas is gone, my GF was offered Axis Horizon

💳 Axis Horizon

• ₹3.5K fee → 5K Edge Miles

💳 HSBC Travel One (both applied in Dec)

• ₹5,900 fee

• ₹5K cashback (effectively paid 900rs for 1st year)

• 3K joining reward points on 1L spends in 3 months

• She spent ₹1L (₹75K hotel bookings)

→ Got ~18K accelerated rewards

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Total points math:

5K (Horizon) + 3K (HSBC base) + 18K (HSBC accelerated)

= ~36K points → transferred 24k to Maharaja Club ✈️

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Why flights over Accor? 🤔

Yes, could’ve stretched to ~₹77K value via Accor, but honestly:

👉 I prefer convinence of direct flight over hotel stays, Phillipines don't have many accor properties.

I do have many Accor points,will transfer it as needed

Accor is gone from Axis.

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Pro tip before booking ⚠️

Check aircraft type!

🛫 ** (ex- Vistara A321neo)**

✔ Seatback screens

✔ Wi-Fi

✔ 29–32 inch legroom

vs typical narrow bodies (like Air India and IndiGo ~28 inch 😬)

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I booked it on the first day of this financial year,I can see at max 7 award seats on many flights that too narrow body.

TL;DR

Turned credit card hacks + smart transfers into ₹2 Lakhs worth flights for almost free.

India travel hacking still has insane value if you play it right 💳✈️

So as you all read, I unlocked jet setter bonus and redeemed 20k worth of pay balance after my recent trip to Vietnam.

Here are my some points on this, most of which will be specific to Vietnam only.

- Have a Samsung mobile phone with NFC for payments via Samsung pay/wallet as Google pay don’t allow to do tap and pay via there app. IOS won’t work at all. Samsung mobile is compulsory.

- Scapia doesn’t allow to have tap and pay with mobile wallet apps, so have another minimal forex card with you. I used HDFC regalia gold for this.

- Transactions will start reflecting in Visa Power portal after 12th or 13th day, so don’t panic at all. My trip was 15th day long and we were just hitting blindly tap and pay everywhere and the first transaction reflected in the portal on last second day of the trip, that’s when we got relief that it’s working.

- Under Vietnam in visa power website, it doesn’t shows grab for eligible transactions. But in our case grab transactions were also captured in visa power.

Vietnam is not a card friendly country at all. If some merchant is taking card payment, expect him to take 3 to 5 percent extra. Try to do shopping and purchases in supermarkets where they don’t charge extra.
We also took cash against card multiple times. Most of the places people won’t agree at all. But if you can convince you can find people giving you cash against card payment. Since it’s cash friendly country, carry cash all the time.

Yeah, comment if any query. Sab mil k vasool karo is scheme ko ✊

I Stayed in a ₹1.2L Luxury Suite in Udaipur for ₹18K (Plus a Fairmont Night for ₹5.9K)

I was in Udaipur for a friend’s wedding and decided to extend the trip by a couple of nights. While browsing hotels, I came across a newly opened luxury property — Wyndham Grand Udaipur – Fateh Sagar Lake, which started operations in November 2025. It’s a large, palace-style resort overlooking Fateh Sagar Lake, very much in line with Udaipur’s royal vibe.

For my February 2026 dates, the pricing was steep. The base category rooms were starting at around ₹38,500 per night, which already felt expensive. What really stood out, though, was the top category room — the Grand Panoramic Suite, which was priced at ₹1,15,000.00 for a single night. As tempting as it looked, paying that much in cash didn’t feel logical, so I decided to explore reward options.

This is where Wyndham Rewards genuinely surprised me. Wyndham follows a very simple award chart with just three redemption levels:

• 7,500 points
• 15,000 points
• 30,000 points

Each hotel falls into one of these buckets depending on the brand and demand. For this property, the cost was 30,000 points per night. The most interesting part is that Wyndham does not price different room categories differently on points. In simple terms, the same 30,000 points could be used for either the base room or the highest category suite. If suite availability exists, you can book it outright.

At this stage, I had two realistic ways of getting those points. The first option was transferring HDFC Infinia reward points to Wyndham at a 1:1 ratio. While straightforward, this would have cost me 30,000 Infinia points, which I personally value at roughly ₹1.2 per point (or more when transferred to airline partners like Avios or Flying Blue). That felt like suboptimal value.

The second option came to mind when I remembered a promo email about a 100% bonus on buying Wyndham Rewards points. I went ahead with that.

• I purchased 16,000 Wyndham points
• Received another 16,000 points as a bonus
• Total points received: 32,000
• Total cost: $208 (≈ ₹18,350)

Using 30,000 points, I booked the Grand Panoramic Suite for one night. To put this in perspective, I paid ₹18,350 for a room that was selling for ₹1,15,000.82, which means I paid roughly 20% of the regular cash price. That’s a saving of over ₹95,000 for a single night, easily one of my best hotel redemptions in India so far.

I got to travel in business class for first time in my life! That too, for just INR 1k.

Here's how:

I had paid for vistara prime card renewal fees and I had one ticket available. I used it in another flight, but the flight changed so they booked economy for me, and reinstated the premium economy voucher. Technically, a free flight.

So i used this voucher again to travel from bangalore to Delhi, paid ~1k in taxes. When I reached airport, I asked them if cabin upgrade is available. He said yes. I used my cabin upgrade voucher from vistara card to upgrade the cabin. Honestly, I thought it won't be possible as in vistara you can't upgrade an award flight, but with Air India, it was accepted.

Experience was really amazing. Business class lounge, priority entry to securtiy and to flight and spacious seats, electric reclining seat, foot support, good leg room and HOT food, welcome drinks, and priority baggage collection.

Combined all these things, Experience was amazing. If it had not been with award flights, I'd not have been able to book business class.🥹

Also, all those "elite" people who cry about overcrowding of lounges because of access via credit cards, should book business class. The lounge was empty and they pretty much gave VIP treatment. If you're elite and rich, for fucks sake go and book business class ticket. There's no overcrowding problem there. Leave us middle class people in the normal lounges and don't cry about we having accesses to what only you had. Either we are doing better and are having access to what you had faster, or you're too slow in upgrading yourself to become true "elite" and are just jealous.

(Btw, I took a metro and a sharing auto to reach home, because my sorry ass found rapido expensive 🤣🤣, such an irony after travelling in business class😂).

I travelled on 12/06. Didn't share this that day....for obvious reasons. I got to hear that story just after landing. Someone's best Experience and Someone's worst, all in the single day and same flight provider.

Tldr; travelled in business class for first time, that too for free!

Most people value Accor like this:

2,000 points = €40 ≈ ₹4,000

→ 1 point = ₹2

So the conclusion is:

“Accor = fixed value = great deal”

That’s only true if you would have paid Accor’s full price in cash.

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Core question:

What would you have done if you didn’t have points?

Because that’s your real benchmark.

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My actual experience (recent trip):

I did a 15-night Europe trip (~2 weeks ago) + Mauritius(Jan'26).

Used a mix of Accor redemptions + cash bookings.

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Barcelona:

Booked (cash): Allegro

~₹55k for 3 nights

Private pool + balcony

Comparable Accor:

₹1.2L+ for similar features

→ ~₹18k/night vs ~₹40k/night

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Paris:

Booked (Accor): Novotel Suites

~₹1.2L for 6 nights

Comparable alternatives:

~₹80-90k max (equivalent to 60k due to hdfc infinia)

→ ~2x gap

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Mauritius:(Just to show chosen revenue alternative)

Airbnb (4 nights): ~₹45k

Sofitel (Accor, 4 nights): ~₹1.1L

Both had:

Private pool

Outdoor shower

Jacuzzi

→ ~2–2.5x difference

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Are these comparable?

Yes, broadly:

- Same 3–4 star category

- Similar Google ratings (mid 4s)

- Similar features / experience

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What this means:

If Accor hotel = ₹10k

My real alternative = ₹4.5k

I’m not saving ₹10k

I’m saving ₹4.5k

→ Real value = ₹0.9 per point

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Another Observation:

Points from joining bonus(eg: Horizon before 1st April’26)

Example:

₹3,500 fee → 5,000 points

Face value:

₹10k → ₹0.7/point

But same hotel via Infinia SmartBuy:

~20% effective discount (adjusted for pricing inflation)

→ ₹10k becomes ~₹8k real

So:

₹3,500 / ₹8,000 ≈ ₹0.88 per point

Note: the above ratios of fees vs joining bonus points is the same for HSBC Premier

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Card comparison (Accor lens):

Axis Atlas:

~9% return for domestic

~5-9% return for international

HSBC Premier:

Flights ~16%, Hotels ~32%

But Hopper pricing often inflated (especially domestic)

→ Real returns lower

HDFC Infinia:

Flights ~9–10% real

Hotels ~20% real

→ Works like a discount engine(points are sellable to brokers at 0.9rupee per point)

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Segment-wise reality:

Domestic flights: all ~9–10%

International flights: HSBC higher, Atlas lower (forex)

Domestic hotels: HSBC inflated, Infinia strong

International hotels: HSBC strongest

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Pushback I got:

“Accor is fixed value”

→ Only if you’d pay full price

“Examples are subjective”

→ But across multiple locations, I consistently saw ~2x gaps

“Accor gives certainty”

→ True, but certainty ≠ high value

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Final take:

Accor is a low-risk, low-upside currency

For me:

~₹0.9 value

~₹0.9 cost

---

Closing thought:

Axis removing Accor (April 2026) feels like a blessing in disguise

Accor capped upside

Now opens door to better redemptions

Also:

for international airbnb bookings(sometimes domestic too), atlas is the only card which offers accelerated rewards.

Atlas not being issued anymore → worth holding

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One-line takeaway:

Points are not worth what programs say

They’re worth what they replace

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(Used ChatGPT to structure this, but numbers are from personal usage)

So I kept hearing the same two warnings before this trip. One, Japan flights will destroy your wallet. Two, you'll be sleeping in a room the size of a cupboard. Neither turned out to be true for me and I want to break down how, because honestly the numbers still feel a bit unreal.

12 days, Kyoto then Kawaguchiko then Tokyo. Flew Japan Airlines. Rooms were all around 350 sq ft. Actual cash I spent on flights and hotels combined was tiny.

Flights first. I'd been eyeing the IndusInd Avios card for a while and finally bit. The whole milestone game I played entirely through my rent and tax payments, stuff I'm paying no matter what, just routed through the card instead of my account. That got me 36k Avios in milestone bonuses alone. And because all of that was running through the card anyway, the normal earn on roughly 18 lakh of spend stacked on top. Nothing manufactured, nothing I bought just to chase points. End result, that one card alone got me to about 45k Avios, which lands straight in Qatar Privilege Club automatically. Didn't need to transfer points in from anywhere else.

Delhi to Haneda return is about 44-45k Avios. I booked around 3 months out, actually flew on JAL, but redeemed through Qatar. So about 45k Avios plus 5k in taxes. My real cash spend on international return flights was basically 5k rupees. Still can't quite believe it.

Hotels were the part I'm weirdly proud of. Stayed at Royal Park Hotel Iconic in Kyoto, Karasuma Oike, Kukuna Hotel in Kawaguchiko, and Villa Fontaine Grand Tokyo-Shiodome in Tokyo. All around 350 sq ft, all genuinely nice.

Booked everything on Infinia SmartBuy for the 10X points, which is around 30% value back, but there's a monthly cap on the accelerated points. So instead of booking all three at once and wasting most of that, I timed them around my statement. One hotel the day before my cycle closed, the next one a day later in the new cycle, and the third in the cycle after. Each stayed under the cap and the points I earned off one booking pretty much funded the next. Paid roughly half of each with points I already had and the rest on the card. All in, maybe 25-30k across all three hotels.

Oh, and the whole "you'll walk 20,000 steps a day in Japan" thing. Only if you insist on doing metro to metro for everything. I planned routes sensibly and just took a cab when it made sense, and I never felt wrecked at the end of a day.

Anyway that's the gist. Ask me anything, the card setup, the Avios maths, the statement timing, or the actual itinerary. Happy to get into it.

This is abhishek and after having done multiple avios redemptions across airlines using Avios, I invite folks who are looking to understand the Avios world better, please post your questions and I will answer those.

Few fantastic redemptions are 1) intra australia - on qantas using Avios 2) intra US - American Airlines using Avios

Even economy routes offer almost 1 re per mile or more value. Feel free to ask your questions and I will try my best to answer.

ama #avios #indusindavios

What do you think guys, the best card for the Air travel (miles or RP).

In the video, they're talking about the,

Magnus Burgundy CC

SBI Air India CC

ICICI Emirates (I'm not sure about this card or they are talking about Emerald Private Metal ICICI)

Basically, Anupam just declare that guy the clear winner (more knowledge about the cards) and Aman Gupta also tried his best to win the battle.

What do you think, these are the only best available CC for the Air travel or there could be any other also?

Please share your insights...

Delhi to Helsinki is just 20k avios plus 2k in taxes, so if you get Indusind Qatar Avios CC at 11.8k joining fees, you get 40k avios and one way economy class on finnair is 20k avios plus 2k taxes. You can get a round trip at 40k avois + 4k tax.

If you are married then both of you get this card and enjoy the benefits, in addition to that, you can avail meet and greet, international lounge access and many other benefits.

2x avios on international spends

I managed to secure two business class flights with Qatar Airways , including the lounge access at the Hamad International Airport.

SEA -> DOH -> DEL

This was a QSuite experience for a 14 hr long-haul flight on a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

I turned my credit card points into avios.

The value for one avio spent became Rs.6.2 after subtracting the taxes and fees , worth Rs.17k for a flight that would have otherwise costed 5.2 Lakh Rupees if paid cash.

The experience was absoluely worth it , for the redemption. A long haul flight on the lie flast QSuite seat felt amazing. You should try to use your points for a direct redemption that helps in getting a good return for the points.

If you have high points balance and struck with the redemption aspects , happy to help privately.

You can also earn points for AIX flights now.

Planning a 2-week trip to Switzerland in mid-March 2027 with my family — 2 adults + 2 sons (5 years and 1 year old).

I’ve accumulated the following points across my cards:

• Axis Magnus for Burgundy: 5.57 lakh EDGE Rewards
• Amex Platinum: 2.89 lakh Membership Rewards
• HDFC Infinia Metal: 2.41 lakh points
• HDFC BizBlack: 1.16 lakh points

Total: ~12.03 lakh points

My primary objective is to maximize the value of these points while keeping the actual cash outflow as low as possible.

Ideally, I would like to:

• Do at least one-way Business Class for all 4 of us, if the numbers make sense
• Use points for the other direction as efficiently as possible, even if that means Economy/Premium Economy
• Potentially use points for hotels/stays in Switzerland if that gives better value than using them for flights
• I’m flexible with airlines and routing and can potentially position to another Indian airport if that significantly improves award availability/value
• The trip will be around 2 weeks, with Switzerland being the main destination

I’m reasonably familiar with the basics of transferring points, but I’m struggling to figure out the optimal overall strategy across Axis + Amex + HDFC, rather than simply transferring everything to one airline.

A few things I’d particularly appreciate help with:

1. Which airline/loyalty programs should I target for Business Class Europe/Switzerland?
2. How would you split the redemption between Axis, Amex and HDFC?
3. Is it better to book one-way Business + one-way Economy, or is there a smarter combination?
4. Should I reserve some points for Marriott/other hotel redemptions in Switzerland?
5. What would be a realistic points + taxes/cash requirement for 4 people?
6. Any specific sweet spots, transfer bonuses or award availability strategies I should look out for between now and March 2027?

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have actually redeemed Indian credit-card points for Europe/Switzerland, especially for a family of four.

Goal: extract maximum value from these points and keep the real-money outflow to a minimum.

Thanks in advance! 🙏

I just got off HSBC Premier customer care to confirm that only settled transactions are considered for the 1L eligibility criteria. So if you are doing unnecessary spends to meet the criteria in last few hours, don't do it. If you make a transaction now its highly unlikely that it will be settled before 12 am.

Been there a few days ago, following the renovation work. There are 2 Encalm Lounges.

One on the 1st floor which serves lunch and buffet food, and one on the ground floor that serves only snacks.

The ground floor one is mostly empty because the receptionist there always redirect people to the 1st floor lounge stating there's no food and only 'seating provisions here' which is somewhat true, but she never mentions about the good selection of snacks there.

Also, SBI wealth Rupay select card works well in encalm lounge T1, so if anyone wants to use rupay select to access it, can do so easily!

Poor quality pictures because we just got here on a red-eye SQ flight (HDFC BizBlack RP > Krisflyer Miles Redemption), and didn't get to do an early check in into our hotel (ibis, Axis Atlas > Accor redemption).

We were running on little sleep and lots of coffee. Btw, any suggestions for what to drink, eat or see in SG?

Coming to the point, if any of you are visiting Singapore, and have a MasterCard World or World Elite, CC or DC, make use of the following promotion.

It gives some 6 complementary visits to the observation deck and few other such things. Saved some ₹4K (redeemed deck tickets for 2 pax). May redeem it once more.

https://www.marinabaysands.com/sands-lifestyle/sands-alliance-partners/mastercard.html

Sharing an end-to-end redemption since people keep asking if Plat Travel still makes sense post-devaluation.

Short answer: my exact stack no longer exists, but the math is worth bragging about. And yes platinum travels ROI has dropped down to 5% or even less now

TLDR: I ate my share of benefits, if i am gonna repeat it’s gonna give me points once in two years instead of one for a good economy round trip somewhere.

**The earn:**

Plat Travel :

Base on ₹7L spend @ 1/₹50: 14,000
Welcome bonus: 10,000
₹1.9L milestone (pre-deval chart): 15,000
₹4L milestone (pre-deval chart): 25,000 + ₹10k Taj voucher
₹7L milestone (post-deval chart): 22,500

Caught the transition mid-year, so all three milestones landed in the same card year — the old ₹1.9L/₹4L pair AND the new ₹7L tranche. This is the part that can’t be replicated anymore.

MRCC :

Welcome bonus + base earn + partial monthly milestones (didn’t optimize the ₹20k/month bonus every month, still added up)

**The transfer:**

99,000 MR → Marriott Bonvoy 1:1 → ANA Mileage Club in two blocks: 60k Bonvoy @ 3:1 + 5k bonus = 25,000 miles, then 39k @ 3:1 = 13,000 miles. **Exactly 38,000 ANA miles, zero orphaned points.**

**The burn:**

38,000 ANA miles + ₹9,775 taxes = round-trip India–Japan on a Star Alliance partner, peak season, 30kg baggage, open jaw. Same-cabin cash fare for my dates: \~₹97,000 (checked on the airline’s own site).

Not all airlines offer low tax after mile redemption, that’s also one major point.

**The ROI:**

Cash out: ₹17.4k total (both card fees + award taxes)

Value in: \~₹1.09L (₹87k of fare covered + ₹10k Taj voucher + \~₹11k residual points)

** \~10% net rewards rate on ₹9.5L routed spend. ₹2.29 per airline mile — in economy.**

Cash out: ₹17.4k total (both card fees + award taxes)
against a fixed award chart: cash fares inflated, the chart didn’t.

Edit: only works through Singapore airlines any other airlines will cost 40-50k more

Hi All,

I'd like to share my experience of using credit card points and cash to fund my domestic family trip (3 pax - Myself, Spouse and an Infant).

This post might be helpful for folks who have recently started using Credit card and are looking for avenues to redeem points or for those who don't generally use credit cards!

Will keep it short and crisp.

Cities we covered - Delhi (start) - Bangalore - Mysuru - Wayanad - Bangalore - Delhi (end)

• Round trip flights (Delhi-Bangalore) -- Cost: INR 30k --- Paid by points (all 30k, inclusive of taxes) on Tat Neu portal ---- 30k points accumulated by shopping on Tanishq offline store for INR 6L ----- Card used: LTF Tata Neu Infinity card

• JP Fortune Hotel by ITC, Mysuru for 3 nights -- Cost: INR 20K --- Paid by Cash on Ishop portal ---- Expected return 36% points = ~7k points ----- Card used: ICICI Emeralde Private Metal

• Taj Wayanad Resorts & Spa for 2 nights -- Cost: INR 15k + taxes per night (Total ~INR 35k) --- Used 1 night free as joining benefit of EPM + Tata Neu Infinity for the other night ---- Expected return 5% points on the second nights ~1k points ----- Card used: ICICI EPM + Tata Neu Infinity

• Welcomhotel by ITC, Bangalore for 2 nights -- Cost: INR ~18k in total --- Paid via ITC Ishop voucher ---- Expected return 18% ~3k points ----- Card used: ICICI EPM

• Revv Self-Drive car for 7 days -- Paid ~20k (excluding fuel) --- Return : INR 1k ---- Card used: SBI Cashback

• Other EPM perks - Private seating and 2 cocktail vouchers per person in 080 Lounge at T2 Bangalore Airport. (Pics attached)

Total cost excluding flights: Hotels (20,000 + 35,000 + 18,000) + Self-drive car (20,000) = 93,000/-

Return* (considering both points and cash as points = Re. 1 for all cards) = Hotels (7,000 + 1,000 + 3,000) + Self-drive car (1,000) = 12,000 *Return does not include cost of free night at Taj.

This comes down to ~13% return. Along with free night benefit at Taj + Private dining with cocktails at the 080 lounge.

Booked 2 return tickets from Mumbai to Bangalore using Air India points.

The math:

8,000 Atlas Miles → 16,000 Air India points
Taxes: ₹4,000
Same Air India flights: ₹37,108
Net value: ₹33,108
Value per Atlas Mile: ₹4.14

Atlas gives 2 miles per ₹100 spent.
So ₹100 spend → 2 miles → ₹8.28 travel value

That’s an 8.28% effective return.

There was another carrier with similar timings for ₹26,330, so using that as the conservative benchmark:

₹26,330 − ₹4,000 = ₹22,330
₹22,330 ÷ 8,000 = ₹2.79/mile

That still gives 5.58% return.

So depending on how you value the redemption, I’m getting 5.6–8.3% back on regular Atlas spending.

Is this a good Atlas redemption, or am I valuing the points incorrectly?

So my axis atlas is up for renewal in November, so i was calculating the returns on this card. This year I have spent nearly 7.5L on the card and made a 12% return on my spends.

2.5L on travel and 5L on other spends. Which earned me a total of 27500 points.

With removal of accor, i wanted to close the card but kept anyways as i had already paid the fees for the year. Used air india as the key partner. Here are the details for my redemptions

(Ticket count x route - points + taxes - cash value on same route)

2 x DELHI - MUMBAI - 10000 Points + 1800 taxes - 18000/-

1 x MUMBAI - DELHI - 5000 Points + 790 taxes - 8000/-

3 x DELHI - BANGLORE - 21000 Points + 2700 taxes - 36000/-

1 x LADAKH - DELHI - 7500 Points + 1700 taxes - 13250/-

1 x DELHI - COIMBATORE - 7500 Points + 950 taxes - 14000/-

I redeemed lounge access 4 times on these trips. I still have 720 air india points and 2650 miles. 2500 miles more will be credited for gold status so at least 1-2 more tickets.

I had Gold status courtesy of Axis Vistara card which helped me get the both of delhi-mumbai tickets upgraded to business class. And the ladakh delhi ticket was also auto-upgraded to premium economy. Also, on all flights i got 25kg baggage allowance instead of standard 15kg.

Alas, my gold status is gone now. Waiting for an air india co-branded card now.

​

Wanted to share this because I think the redemption value was pretty damn good, especially for a family of 4 including an infant.

Delhi → Auckland

For the outbound journey, I used 441,000 KrisFlyer miles to book 3 Business Class seats:

Delhi → Singapore → Auckland

So basically 2 adults + 1 child +1 infant in Business Class all the way to New Zealand.

For the infant, I didn't have to redeem another full award seat. I just paid approximately ₹15,000 in taxes/fees to add the infant.

Melbourne → Delhi (direct)

For the return, I again used KrisFlyer miles, taking advantage of their Star Alliance award availability.

I booked:

1 × Air India Business Class: 121,000 KrisFlyer miles + ~₹2,000 taxes

Infant: Added to the same Business Class booking for around ₹10,000

2 × Economy Class: 51,000 KrisFlyer miles each + ~₹2000 taxes each

So the return was:

1 Business + 2 Economy + 1 infant

using KrisFlyer miles.

All the KrisFlyer miles were transferred from my HDFC BizBlack points.

This is probably the part I found most interesting — using BizBlack → KrisFlyer gave me the flexibility to book both Singapore Airlines on the outbound and Air India/Star Alliance on the return.

Business class return in March is approx 4.7 lac per person

Made a guide after seeing too many people get burned booking Air India business class without checking the aircraft.

The good stuff:

- A350-900 - Private suites with doors, best they have

- 777-200LR (ex-Delta) - Also private suites, flying DEL-JFK/EWR/SFO

- 787-9 (ex-Vistara) - Proper lie-flat, no suite but still good

- A321neo - Lie-flat on short international routes

What to avoid:

- 777-300ER - Old 2-3-2 recliners from 2007. Same miles, completely different experience.

How to check before booking:

1. Google Flights shows aircraft type

2. ExpertFlyer for equipment changes

3. Check seat map - 1-2-1 = good, 2-3-2 = old recliner

   777-300ER flies BOM-LHR, DEL-LHR, BOM-SFO and a few others. Just check before you book.

   Also, Air India is adding new A350-1000s and 787-9s soon, so this should improve.

So, I recently discovered that if you’re using your Taj Voucher to book a stay (more than 1 night) the rate for the rooms that you get are - “Non-member” rates plus you do not get the Membership Points under Taj/Tata Neu. Sucks right! So, what I did was split my booking of 3 nights into 2 separate bookings -

1 Night for using the Taj Voucher at Normal Rates (generally higher than the member rates) so I had to pay around hardly 1k extra as the room rate was 11k/night & 2 Nights with the Membership Rate plus Which Gave me the membership points

Also, if uou already didn’t know this, you are not bound to use the Taj Voucher for a minimum no. of days as in , even if you book a room for 1 night you can still use the voucher. Specifying because I thought that there’ll be some t&cs but as it turns out, there are none, which is great!

Also, if you feel like selling your Taj Voucher to anyone, they don’t ask for the name on the voucher at all, all they are concerned with is the voucher no. & code. So go ahead & buy/sell its going to be all okay!

I have 80k points on HDFC regalia Gold and there are 2 things coming up, what should be my strat for best deals

1. I have to book an international trip

2. I am approaching the bank to upgrade to DCBM

Options and suggestions needed -

1. Should i go for the upgrade and let points auto convert to DCBM

2. Transfer my regalia points to a partner - airlines / hotels etc

Just came across a major devaluation in reverse! Air India has reduced points required across ~90% of routes.

Key highlights:

• Economy class: \~30% fewer points on average

• Applies to \~80% domestic & \~75% international

• Goa → Hyderabad dropped from 7000 to 2500

• Business class:

• \~15% reduction (domestic)

• \~25% reduction (international)

👉 Overall: Most routes now offer significantly better redemption value.