Best Credit Card for Frequent Travel with Family? Need Advice!

[Momo_Scooby]

Hello everyone,


I recently upgraded my DCB LTF to Infinia, and I truly appreciate all the insights this community has shared. It has been a great help!


I have been using the Amex trifecta for myself and Amex Travel & Gold for my wife, but I am realizing that managing the renewal fees and optimizing spending for points on these cards might not be something I can keep up with consistently.


I would love to get a great credit card for my wife that offers excellent lounge access when we travel. If the rewards system is a little easier to manage than Amex, that would be a big plus! I’m comfortable with something like SmartBuy, and any suggestions that make rewards redemption more seamless would be greatly appreciated.


Our goal is to travel the world frequently with our newborn, so any recommendations that align with this would mean a lot. Also, if you have any suggestions for adding some good cards to my portfolio, I’d be more than happy to hear them.


I truly appreciate the time and expertise of this amazing community. Thank you in advance for your help!


FYI, after closing all 5 Amex cards, I have the following cards
HDFC Infinia Paid (credit limit 9 lakhs)
IndusInd Legend - LTF (credit limit 5 lakhs)
Axis Flipkart - LTF (credit limit 8.5 lakhs)
One Card Metal - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
Axis Neo - LTF (credit limit 8.5 lakhs)
Axis My Zone - LTF (credit limit 5 lakhs)
ICICI MMT Signature - One-Time Fee (credit limit 10 lakhs)
ICICI Amazon Pay - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
ICICI Platinum - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
Kotak White - LTF (credit limit 10.5 lakhs)

 

[jk51]

Hello everyone,


I recently upgraded my DCB LTF to Infinia, and I truly appreciate all the insights this community has shared. It has been a great help!


I have been using the Amex trifecta for myself and Amex Travel & Gold for my wife, but I am realizing that managing the renewal fees and optimizing spending for points on these cards might not be something I can keep up with consistently.


I would love to get a great credit card for my wife that offers excellent lounge access when we travel. If the rewards system is a little easier to manage than Amex, that would be a big plus! I’m comfortable with something like SmartBuy, and any suggestions that make rewards redemption more seamless would be greatly appreciated.


Our goal is to travel the world frequently with our newborn, so any recommendations that align with this would mean a lot. Also, if you have any suggestions for adding some good cards to my portfolio, I’d be more than happy to hear them.


I truly appreciate the time and expertise of this amazing community. Thank you in advance for your help!


FYI, after closing all 5 Amex cards, I have the following cards
HDFC Infinia Paid (credit limit 9 lakhs)
IndusInd Legend - LTF (credit limit 5 lakhs)
Axis Flipkart - LTF (credit limit 8.5 lakhs)
One Card Metal - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
Axis Neo - LTF (credit limit 8.5 lakhs)
Axis My Zone - LTF (credit limit 5 lakhs)
ICICI MMT Signature - One-Time Fee (credit limit 10 lakhs)
ICICI Amazon Pay - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
ICICI Platinum - LTF (credit limit 10 lakhs)
Kotak White - LTF (credit limit 10.5 lakhs)

Should have Atlas if travelling is one your primary goals through cards.

 

[sourpai]

Except Infinia, most of other cards you have are little useless, may be with exception of Amazon Pay and FK Axis (both of which can be replaced by SBI Cashback)

Axis Atlas is definitely one card that will fit your goals, along with it Amex Plat Travel is good (not the trifecta... I personally don't prefer doing x4 or x6 transactions per month... it is a pain for too little gain)

Between Infinia + Atlas + Amex Plat Travel you can cover 10L+7.5L+4L = ~22L worth of annual spends with good rewards including some exclusion categories such as Insurance + Fuel + Jewellery + Tax etc.

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Should have Atlas if travelling is one your primary goals through cards.

Thanks a lot 👍

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Except Infinia, most of other cards you have are little useless, may be with exception of Amazon Pay and FK Axis (both of which can be replaced by SBI Cashback)

Axis Atlas is definitely one card that will fit your goals, along with it Amex Plat Travel is good (not the trifecta... I personally don't prefer doing x4 or x6 transactions per month... it is a pain for too little gain)

Between Infinia + Atlas + Amex Plat Travel you can cover 10L+7.5L+4L = ~22L worth of annual spends with good rewards including some exclusion categories such as Insurance + Fuel + Jewellery + Tax etc.

Yes, other than infinia everything is kind of useless, amazon I use for save and subscribe items for my monthly subscription on products on Amazon.

I do feel like the infinia + atlas + Amex travel will be a good option.

I have not explored atlas much, will do that thanks 🙏

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Should have Atlas if travelling is one your primary goals through cards.

By any chance, would you happen to know of any links or resources that have a detailed and updated review or usage guide for the Axis Atlas card? If you could share them, I’d really appreciate it!

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Except Infinia, most of other cards you have are little useless, may be with exception of Amazon Pay and FK Axis (both of which can be replaced by SBI Cashback)

Axis Atlas is definitely one card that will fit your goals, along with it Amex Plat Travel is good (not the trifecta... I personally don't prefer doing x4 or x6 transactions per month... it is a pain for too little gain)

Between Infinia + Atlas + Amex Plat Travel you can cover 10L+7.5L+4L = ~22L worth of annual spends with good rewards including some exclusion categories such as Insurance + Fuel + Jewellery + Tax etc.

By any chance, would you happen to know of any links or resources that have a detailed and updated review or usage guide for the Axis Atlas card? If you could share them, I’d really appreciate it!

 

[sourpai]

By any chance, would you happen to know of any links or resources that have a detailed and updated review or usage guide for the Axis Atlas card? If you could share them, I’d really appreciate it!

Don't depend on any guides... pls do your research by searching Axis Axis Atlas on this forum and visiting the threads. Also you can refer to some latest youtube videos from channels such as spendwisely, cardacademy etc.

In general, use card everywhere to get 4% mile returns ... use on direct airline hotel websites to get 10% mile return.... exclusion category includes Insurance, Utilities, Govt, Jewellery, Tax. Best use case for edge miles is to transfer to Accor hotels

3L milestone gives 3000 extra miles and 7.5L milestone gives another 3000 extra miles. 1 Edge mile = 2 hotel / airline points

 

[makman]

Apart from the obvious choice of Atlas, I will also recommend adding one more card which has more guest lounge visits like Marquee, Magnus, Olympus etc where guest visits on priority pass is available. This is aiming at your kid having lounge access. Not a problem when your kid is very small but will eventually become a problem over age of 5. Atlas has limited guest visits which may run out if you travel more than that. Plus that card should also help you with a positive reward rate on forex transactions after deducting markup (which Atlas or Infinia is not very good at)

 

[sourpai]

Apart from the obvious choice of Atlas, I will also recommend adding one more card which has more guest lounge visits like Marquee, Magnus, Olympus etc where guest visits on priority pass is available. This is aiming at your kid having lounge access. Not a problem when your kid is very small but will eventually become a problem over age of 5. Atlas has limited guest visits which may run out if you travel more than that. Plus that card should also help you with a positive reward rate on forex transactions after deducting markup (which Atlas or Infinia is not very good at)

Atlas has guest access... It is actually better card for guest access.. In the initial years, Atlas offers 8 international lounge accesses, which effectively makes 4 guest access if you travel 4 times, or even 7 guess access if you travel once. Magnus also has only 4 guest accesses

Infinia is good for forex transactions, with GVP enabled, forex charges are only 1.36% including GST

Yes Marquee is not a great choice now since points devaluation and limitations on redemptions. Plain Magnus is also not great, unless it is Magnus Burgundy

 

[Indrajeet100]

Atlas is obvious choice as it ticks all the things you want but I find it bit of hassle with too many exclusions. ICICI EPM if you can get it is great as good as Infinia. Some low hanging choices are IDFC Wealth Credit LTF gives lounge access with guest for monthly spend of 20k, you can just keep and if exhaust all other just make spend a month before. Some Debit cards also fit requirement. IDFC Wealth Debit Card if you keep 10lacs balance in saving is good for lounge with guest.

 

[makman]

Atlas has guest access... It is actually better card for guest access.. In the initial years, Atlas offers 8 international lounge accesses, which effectively makes 4 guest access if you travel 4 times, or even 7 guess access if you travel once. Magnus also has only 4 guest accesses

Infinia is good for forex transactions, with GVP enabled, forex charges are only 1.36% including GST

Yes Marquee is not a great choice now since points devaluation and limitations on redemptions. Plain Magnus is also not great, unless it is Magnus Burgundy

Atlas only offers 4 intl lounges till 7.5 lakh annual spends (not 8 as that is domestic). i e only 2 guest access for 2 lounge visits. Plain Magnus is not great. Only Magnus Burgundy (or Olympus if OP manages to get that somehow). my suggestion if OP travels beyond Atlas limits

 

[sourpai]

Atlas only offers 4 intl lounges till 7.5 lakh annual spends (not 8 as that is domestic). i e only 2 guest access for 2 lounge visits. Plain Magnus is not great. Only Magnus Burgundy (or Olympus if OP manages to get that somehow). my suggestion if OP travels beyond Atlas limits

First year on Atlas is 8 international lounge visits irrespective of spends.... second year onwards it is 8 if spends cross 7.5. Below 7.5 it is 4 visits

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Why not infinia add-on for your wife?

 

[sourpai]

Atlas is obvious choice as it ticks all the things you want but I find it bit of hassle with too many exclusions. ICICI EPM if you can get it is great as good as Infinia. Some low hanging choices are IDFC Wealth Credit LTF gives lounge access with guest for monthly spend of 20k, you can just keep and if exhaust all other just make spend a month before. Some Debit cards also fit requirement. IDFC Wealth Debit Card if you keep 10lacs balance in saving is good for lounge with guest.

Atlas has 2 extra exclusions ... Insurance and Jewellery... Rest all exclusions are same.

IDFC DC is good suggestion, especially wealth DC... however IDFC CCs are only noise, not much use

 

[makman]

Atlas is obvious choice as it ticks all the things you want but I find it bit of hassle with too many exclusions. ICICI EPM if you can get it is great as good as Infinia. Some low hanging choices are IDFC Wealth Credit LTF gives lounge access with guest for monthly spend of 20k, you can just keep and if exhaust all other just make spend a month before. Some Debit cards also fit requirement. IDFC Wealth Debit Card if you keep 10lacs balance in saving is good for lounge with guest.

IDFC DC is good for domestic lounge guest access. Not available for guest access in intl lounges

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Don't depend on any guides... pls do your research by searching Axis Axis Atlas on this forum and visiting the threads. Also you can refer to some latest youtube videos from channels such as spendwisely, cardacademy etc.

In general, use card everywhere to get 4% mile returns ... use on direct airline hotel websites to get 10% mile return.... exclusion category includes Insurance, Utilities, Govt, Jewellery, Tax. Best use case for edge miles is to transfer to Accor hotels

3L milestone gives 3000 extra miles and 7.5L milestone gives another 3000 extra miles. 1 Edge mile = 2 hotel / airline points

Will do some research, as and when time permits, with 3 months old baby, rarely able to find much time 🙂
Thanks for all the info and suggestions

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Atlas has guest access... It is actually better card for guest access.. In the initial years, Atlas offers 8 international lounge accesses, which effectively makes 4 guest access if you travel 4 times, or even 7 guess access if you travel once. Magnus also has only 4 guest accesses

Infinia is good for forex transactions, with GVP enabled, forex charges are only 1.36% including GST

Yes Marquee is not a great choice now since points devaluation and limitations on redemptions. Plain Magnus is also not great, unless it is Magnus Burgundy

I didn't know about the GVP thing, so sorry for being naive about it.
Thanks I will look into enabling it as well.

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Atlas is obvious choice as it ticks all the things you want but I find it bit of hassle with too many exclusions. ICICI EPM if you can get it is great as good as Infinia. Some low hanging choices are IDFC Wealth Credit LTF gives lounge access with guest for monthly spend of 20k, you can just keep and if exhaust all other just make spend a month before. Some Debit cards also fit requirement. IDFC Wealth Debit Card if you keep 10lacs balance in saving is good for lounge with guest.

I don't really know the exact eligibility for EPM, and I'm sorry that I didn't spend much time on the forum to figure it out on my own. Like I said, with a three-month-old baby, I rarely get much chance for it. Thanks for your valuable suggestions. I will try to read about it as much as possible with the time I get.

I do have IDFC Wealth Credit LTF but don't know if spending 20k a month is worth it on this card, hence I was thinking of closing it.

I don't put a large amount in a savings account, I usually invest what all left, and will use CC for something emergency, and then can get LAMF in one working day for anything required urgently, so this will not be feasible for me, but really thankful for the suggestions and options.

 

[Momo_Scooby]

Atlas only offers 4 intl lounges till 7.5 lakh annual spends (not 8 as that is domestic). i e only 2 guest access for 2 lounge visits. Plain Magnus is not great. Only Magnus Burgundy (or Olympus if OP manages to get that somehow). my suggestion if OP travels beyond Atlas limits

I don't have Burgundy for Magnus, it won't make sense for me. Regarding Olympus, I don't know anything about this card, will try to read about it as and when I can. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.