All this is okay. But why would you spend 7.5L or even 3L on Atlas for non flight / hotel spends for 4% CV (worth 3.2% in Rs), if you can get 3.33% (worth 3.33%) return on Infinia / DCB Smartbuy points?
Any deals where direct hotels / flight spends is better then 16.5% / 33.33% returns on Smartbuy? Only scenerio that I can think of is that you are making a large purchase and exceeding the smartbuy caps.
Please show me a use case for Atlas card for better returns then DCB. First year 10k CV point deal for 5900 joining fee is good and I like the rare guest lounge access feature when travelling with friends (recently my friends card was not accepted at Mumbai airport t2, so I used Lounge QR code on Atlas).
I would like to keep the card but cannot see a good use case for spends.
I guess I was not clear in my previous post. I meant that if you are going to only redeem via Club Vistara then go for Vistara cards.
I used my Atlas points on Accor (Fairmont, USA) where 1 point is roughly equivalent to Rs1.8 and transferred some points to Mariott (via ITC) which gave me a 2:3 points ratio. I wanted to use it for British Airways as well but didn't have enough points at that time. For 9k points, it was giving me a Rs14k worth of American Airlines (USA domestic) flight ticket.
Hence, I said Atlas gives more flexibility on redemptions if you can utilize it.
I also have DCB LTF but never used it on Smartbuy for hotels or flight bookings. The reasons are:
1. 2.5k daily limit - it gets exhausted too soon in most of the cases.
2. Price difference on flight booking as most of the time they are on the higher side and card offers don't work.
I have observed most of the time prices are cheapest on the direct website for flight and hotel bookings.
Infinia has better Smartbuy limits but is still not sufficient for international travel and some 5-star hotels in India as well. Also, it is hard to get.
Here are some use cases that Atlas solves for me but DCB can't and even Infinia can't in some cases.
1. I do international travels where DCB/Infinia limits get exhausted too soon.
2. My son is 3 years old and Guest access on Atlas is a boon for me.
3. My spending on Atlas has exceeded 7.5 lakhs so it has given me:
a. 2 Meet and greet services which I already used on my last trip to the USA.
b. 7.5k additional atlas miles which can translate to 15k points to transfer partners. This is an additional 2% over 4% regular points.
Few limitations where DCB LTF comes to the rescue for me:
1. Smartbuy Gyftr vouchers
2. Unlimited lounge access national and international for me and add-ons.
3. 2% (3.5% for Atlas) foreign markup charges and 1% additional cashback on international transactions after activating Global Value Program.
I am not saying Atlas is a perfect credit card. But all it depends on the use cases of individuals. For example, I can even pay 15k for Magnus for its Meet and greet and guest lounge access if my Atlas limits are exhausted. But for you, they may be useless.
