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I want to collect miles for my Japan trip. What card should I move on to?

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K

kaykayporty

TF Select
I have the following cards:

1. Amex Platinum Travel (5 months old) - 1.5L away from 4L spends. ACTIVE.
2. Amex MRCC (10 months old) - Doing both milestones every month. ACTIVE.
3. HDFC Regalia (24 months) - Dormant.
4. Amazon Pay ICICI (1 year) - Only for Amazon. ACTIVE.

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I've collected 53000 points (combined) on my Amex account. I'll meet the second milestone for sure. I use Amex Gyftr.

I've got 2400 points on my Regalia (used and spent on SmartBuy over the last 2 years)

Ideally, I'd like to earn points instead of cashback that I get from my Amazon Pay card.

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Travel Plan
I want to travel to Japan either in November 2025 or March 2026. For 12 days.

Credit Cards
I'm only getting upgraded to Regalia Gold FYF. If this is worthwhile, I'll reach out to them in March for a possible DCB upgrade or a LTF Regalia Gold.

How should I go about earning more points for my trip?

Hotels/Flights
Ideally, Accor hotels would be cheaper but if I stick with Amex, I could pick up a cheaper Marriot hotel there. I don't think flights would be a good redemption for this trip.

Marriot isn't letting me check prices with points (I'm guessing I have to transfer points for this to work). Is there anywhere I could get this data so I can plan better?

---

My expenses are day to day only. I only travel when I take a vacation. I maximize Gyftr every month on MRCC and on Plat Travel also.

I'd like to not have Atlas because Axis is too shifty.
 
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Gold charge card gives you 5x rewards from Amex gyftr. And it gives points for fuel and utilities.
 
Last edited:
kaykayporty said:
I have the following cards:

1. Amex Platinum Travel (5 months old) - 1.5L away from 4L spends. ACTIVE.
2. Amex MRCC (10 months old) - Doing both milestones every month. ACTIVE.
3. HDFC Regalia (24 months) - Dormant.
4. Amazon Pay ICICI (1 year) - Only for Amazon. ACTIVE.

---

I've collected 53000 points (combined) on my Amex account. I'll meet the second milestone for sure. I use Amex Gyftr.

I've got 2400 points on my Regalia (used and spent on SmartBuy over the last 2 years)

Ideally, I'd like to earn points instead of cashback that I get from my Amazon Pay card.

---

Travel Plan
I want to travel to Japan either in November 2025 or March 2026. For 12 days.

Credit Cards
I'm only getting upgraded to Regalia Gold FYF. If this is worthwhile, I'll reach out to them in March for a possible DCB upgrade or a LTF Regalia Gold.

How should I go about earning more points for my trip?

Hotels/Flights
Ideally, Accor hotels would be cheaper but if I stick with Amex, I could pick up a cheaper Marriot hotel there. I don't think flights would be a good redemption for this trip.

Marriot isn't letting me check prices with points (I'm guessing I have to transfer points for this to work). Is there anywhere I could get this data so I can plan better?

---

My expenses are day to day only. I only travel when I take a vacation. I maximize Gyftr every month on MRCC and on Plat Travel also.

I'd like to not have Atlas because Axis is too shifty.
Click to expand...
You can apply for mrcc to for additional MR points 1500×4 for 1k Mr and 20k for additional 1k Mr. This is calender month. Evry month if you spend also points given for wallet loads to. You can use referral and apply.
 
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Try for SBI Air India Signature provided you already have an Air India account where you have already made 5+ air India trips
 
Cathay Pacific is the cheapest redemption option for amex points conversion, if you are looking for flights. Round trip for 2 pax in economy is about 80,000 miles i.e 1,60,000 MR points, plus about 40,000Rs as taxes. Marriott has hotels in Japan, but I am not sure if you'll be able to extract the maximum value for the points, as most of them are valued at less than 0.5Rs, and the ones that are available are the premium properties.
Your fees will be waived on Regalia Gold on spends above 4 Lakh rs. So try if you can complete it, with majority of your purchases using smartbuy. Then you can convert those points to accor for your stay. You can also consider purchasing the Accor plus membership, with which you can get access to red hot deals. I have seen some Ibis hotels in Japan under these deals.
One more suggestion that you can consider if you are open to spending a bit is to get the plat charge card now. Right now you can get upto 140000 MR points on getting the charge card. You can use the points for flight/hotel redemptions, and also get the premier benefits like accor plus, marriott gold elite status, and many more features.
I purchased my plat charge in a similar offer last year, and have parked my points for my upcoming Japan trip next September. Please DM me in case you need any more details or clarifications.
 
ALOAK said:
You can apply for mrcc to for additional MR points 1500×4 for 1k Mr and 20k for additional 1k Mr. This is calender month. Evry month if you spend also points given for wallet loads to. You can use referral and apply.
Click to expand...
I already do that as mentioned. MRCC isn't the limitation here.
 
I'm not sure I can justify the renewal fees. Already got the platinum travel.

Another AMEX card would help me earn, yes. But I'm not sure I can use it day to day.
 
sachbs said:
Cathay Pacific is the cheapest redemption option for amex points conversion, if you are looking for flights. Round trip for 2 pax in economy is about 80,000 miles i.e 1,60,000 MR points, plus about 40,000Rs as taxes. Marriott has hotels in Japan, but I am not sure if you'll be able to extract the maximum value for the points, as most of them are valued at less than 0.5Rs, and the ones that are available are the premium properties.
Your fees will be waived on Regalia Gold on spends above 4 Lakh rs. So try if you can complete it, with majority of your purchases using smartbuy. Then you can convert those points to accor for your stay. You can also consider purchasing the Accor plus membership, with which you can get access to red hot deals. I have seen some Ibis hotels in Japan under these deals.
One more suggestion that you can consider if you are open to spending a bit is to get the plat charge card now. Right now you can get upto 140000 MR points on getting the charge card. You can use the points for flight/hotel redemptions, and also get the premier benefits like accor plus, marriott gold elite status, and many more features.
I purchased my plat charge in a similar offer last year, and have parked my points for my upcoming Japan trip next September. Please DM me in case you need any more details or clarifications.
Click to expand...
Regalia Gold seems like the most manageable option for me right now. Although, I'll wait to finish my expenses on Platinum Travel first and apply in March (chances of conversion to LTF RG or paid DCB) are much higher.

Although, I'd like to hold onto a visa/mastercard for offline acceptance.

If only Axis wasn't such a absolute problematic issuer, I would've taken the Atlas in a heartbeat.

Or would you recommend the Atlas anyway? I don't travel unless it's for vacation so the accelerated points won't be value for me?

Or would you suggest -

Use amex for everyday / big expenses.

Use atlas and use it for travel bookings and offline expenses.

Keep Regalia because why not it's LTF.

---

Context: Yearly expenses 10L on CC.
 
Last edited:
sachbs said:
Cathay Pacific is the cheapest redemption option for amex points conversion, if you are looking for flights. Round trip for 2 pax in economy is about 80,000 miles i.e 1,60,000 MR points, plus about 40,000Rs as taxes. Marriott has hotels in Japan, but I am not sure if you'll be able to extract the maximum value for the points, as most of them are valued at less than 0.5Rs, and the ones that are available are the premium properties.
Your fees will be waived on Regalia Gold on spends above 4 Lakh rs. So try if you can complete it, with majority of your purchases using smartbuy. Then you can convert those points to accor for your stay. You can also consider purchasing the Accor plus membership, with which you can get access to red hot deals. I have seen some Ibis hotels in Japan under these deals.
One more suggestion that you can consider if you are open to spending a bit is to get the plat charge card now. Right now you can get upto 140000 MR points on getting the charge card. You can use the points for flight/hotel redemptions, and also get the premier benefits like accor plus, marriott gold elite status, and many more features.
I purchased my plat charge in a similar offer last year, and have parked my points for my upcoming Japan trip next September. Please DM me in case you need any more details or clarifications.
Click to expand...
Do people even redeem it for flights? Is it even worth it?

How are you checking points value of less than 0.5 for amex for marriot? Do you have a tool or an example of how you're doing it manually?

I'd love to learn!
 
From what I can see is that this trip isn't the best with AMEX - whether it's for flights or hotels. Specially not with the amount of points or the fact that Marriot hotels are premium in Japan.

If anything, I should travel somewhere else where I can use Amex on a cheaper marriot hotel.
 
Should I surrender one of AMEXs?

Post that, I can exclusively use one AMEX and Atlas?

In this scenario, would it be beneficial to surrender MRCC or Plat Travel?
 
kaykayporty said:
Regalia Gold seems like the most manageable option for me right now. Although, I'll wait to finish my expenses on Platinum Travel first and apply in March (chances of conversion to LTF RG or paid DCB) are much higher.

Although, I'd like to hold onto a visa/mastercard for offline acceptance.

If only Axis wasn't such a absolute problematic issuer, I would've taken the Atlas in a heartbeat.

Or would you recommend the Atlas anyway? I don't travel unless it's for vacation so the accelerated points won't be value for me?

Or would you suggest -

Use amex for everyday / big expenses.

Use atlas and use it for travel bookings and offline expenses.

Keep Regalia because why not it's LTF.

---

Context: Yearly expenses 10L on CC.
Click to expand...
Atlas card would still make sense for you if you can spend about 5 Lakhs out of which at least 1 lakh would be for travel. In that case, for 5900 rs, you'll be able to earn in the following way-
Normal spends: 4 Lakhs - 8000 points
Travel spends: 1 Lakhs - 5000 points
Joining + 3 Lakh Milestone - 5000 + 2500 - 7500 points
You can earn about 20000 points, which can equate to 40000 accor points worth about 75k.
I use the Axis atlas primarily. And try to cover spends as I mentioned above. If you can reach the 7.5 Lakh threshhold, even better.
I have paired my atlas with Amex Plat travel, MRCC, and Tata Neu Infinity.
There is this fear of eventual devaluation for the card, but I think I can still milk it out for a couple of years.
 
kaykayporty said:
Do people even redeem it for flights? Is it even worth it?
Click to expand...
Depends on how much you value your points worth. I have valued them at approx 1rs per point for conversion on Cathay Pacific. Although the cheapest round flights from India to Japan for 2 pax can be bought for about 70-80k, those are LCCs like airaisa or vietjet. Proper airlines like Singapore airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines would be costing above 1 Lakh rs anyways.
Most importantly, its about using it for your convenience. I feel that there is no point in holding your points hoping for a super redemption in future. You will always find another better redemption deal somewhere in the future. What matters is whether we can use it to our benefit at the present.
 
kaykayporty said:
How are you checking points value of less than 0.5 for amex for marriot? Do you have a tool or an example of how you're doing it manually?

I'd love to learn!
Click to expand...
I try using the marriott app. Maybe you need to transfer some points to marriott. Try transferring about 500 to 1000 points, then you will be able to view the points for redemption option.
Calculating the value is a manual task. I look at the points, and the revenue rate of the room at the property. And then calculate the value of the points.

1733400494191.webp

I stayed in this property in Bangalore on 30th October for 1 night, and paid 24000 points + 1500 rs. The cost of the room was about 34k including taxes.

1733400767826.webp

There are some properties even in India where you can extract more than 1rs per point from Marriott. You just need to plan where you want to go, and look for hotels and deals in that place.
 
kaykayporty said:
From what I can see is that this trip isn't the best with AMEX - whether it's for flights or hotels. Specially not with the amount of points or the fact that Marriot hotels are premium in Japan.

If anything, I should travel somewhere else where I can use Amex on a cheaper marriot hotel.
Click to expand...
See if you can get some deals at some place in Japan. There are a few properties that still give value at 0.75-0.8 rs like Fairfield by Marriott Osaka, and more than 1rs per point, like St. Regis, W, and Ritz Carlton Osaka. There is still a long time for your visit, maybe you can still figure out a plan.
Or if you can, you should try and revolve your travel around stays. First look for a good hotel at a decent redemption, and then plan your travel accordingly. Last year, I stayed for 2 nights in Sheraton Kosgoda, Sri Lanka on 2nd and 3rd Jan. I got the room at 25000 points per night, where the actual value for those days was about 750$ per night. So it was a steal. And I planned my travel accordingly.
 
kaykayporty said:
Should I surrender one of AMEXs?

Post that, I can exclusively use one AMEX and Atlas?

In this scenario, would it be beneficial to surrender MRCC or Plat Travel?
Click to expand...
Try and break your spends in all the three cards and see if you can still meet the spend goals for each card. I also spend close to 10-11 Lakhs per year, and I am able to manage with all these 3 cards. I spend only 6k on MRCC though, can't meet the 20k spends.
 
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