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Axis Reserve What's next?

phheeewww

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Hello,

With Axis going down, what are the best cards in the HNI category that one can still hold with the goal in mind to collect maximum points to book air tickets.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.
 
Its not a card which will give you return on spends, It is a card if you want enjoy luxuries.
To start with, all the premium memberships which you get, make any hotel stay more memorable.
The customer service of AMEX is unparalleled. The Platinum CS is better. Their concierge team is very average. Nowhere near the hype.
Mumbai Centurion lounge is class apart. You really feel the difference in food and service. I have not experience Delhi, but I am assuming it will be similar.

Overall, you will not get the points worth 72K but if you a someone who like these small things and are willing to pay for these, this is the card for you.

Another negative is that whenever you take out this card, the people are bit vary of using it as they feel it may cost them extra. I have seem shops where they have in past accepted Amex Gold but when I presented this, they refused saying they don't accept AMEX. Few times people have double checked with me that its India issued card only before swiping.
 
What a load of BS people write. OP specifically has a simple requirement to "collect maximum points to book air tickets".

To that there is only one singular answer. Magnus.

The maths for Magnus for booking airline tickets is this -

If you're at 5:2:
24 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
14 miles per ₹200 thereafter

If you're at 5:4
48 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
28 miles per ₹200 thereafter

No other card comes close to this points reward rate for air tickets. End of discussion.

But before we close this... Amex Platinum is generally garbage... and Emeralde and everybody else doesn't come close to this reward rate. So if people want to recommend things factually - they should really first do the maths.

Again, Axis has devalued all their other cards but really increased the spend value threshold for Magnus. If you spend 4L PM with some part of it on airfares, Magnus is more rewarding that what it was before of course you have to take that dumb Burgundy account as well for that.
 
What a load of BS people write. OP specifically has a simple requirement to "collect maximum points to book air tickets".

To that there is only one singular answer. Magnus.

The maths for Magnus for booking airline tickets is this -

If you're at 5:2:
24 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
14 miles per ₹200 thereafter

If you're at 5:4
48 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
28 miles per ₹200 thereafter

No other card comes close to this points reward rate for air tickets. End of discussion.

But before we close this... Amex Platinum is generally garbage... and Emeralde and everybody else doesn't come close to this reward rate. So if people want to recommend things factually - they should really first do the maths.

Again, Axis has devalued all their other cards but really increased the spend value threshold for Magnus. If you spend 4L PM with some part of it on airfares, Magnus is more rewarding that what it was before of course you have to take that dumb Burgundy account as well for that.

HDFC Infinia gives 5X via Smartbuy upto a maximum spend of Rs. 1,12,500/= per month, so you get 25 points (both equivalent in rupees or miles) per Rs. 150/=. So it is definitely better than 5:2 by Magnus. I am already Magnus + Burgundy since a while, and while they have continued 5:4 FOR NOW, I have no trust that it will be the same 3 to 4 months down the line. Whereas Infinia has stopped their devaluations since a while and look to be sustaining well on their current offerings. It is best to use Infinia for the first Rs. 1,12,500/= and then use Magnus for the rest of the spend.
 
HDFC Infinia gives 5X via Smartbuy upto a maximum spend of Rs. 1,12,500/= per month, so you get 25 points (both equivalent in rupees or miles) per Rs. 150/=. So it is definitely better than 5:2 by Magnus. I am already Magnus + Burgundy since a while, and while they have continued 5:4 FOR NOW, I have no trust that it will be the same 3 to 4 months down the line. Whereas Infinia has stopped their devaluations since a while and look to be sustaining well on their current offerings. It is best to use Infinia for the first Rs. 1,12,500/= and then use Magnus for the rest of the spend.

First, we can't talk about the future we can only talk about the present. Because if we go down that rabbit hole.... "Infinia has stopped their devaluations since a while" is good reason to expect it to happen again soon. Magnus will not devalue again immediately. So Magnus is a safer bet that way.

Also, how do you know this? All cards devalue over time. All. And nobody does it on a monthly basis.
look to be sustaining well on their current offerings
And this too is not based on any real facts...
I have no trust that it will be the same 3 to 4 months down the line.

Secondly, convenience fees... those utterly absurd fees that Yatra etc. charge.... especially the 750 bucks per person per flight for an international ticket... is just highway robbery. Conversely you can argue that Traveledge doesn't always have the lowest ticket prices - but at least I'll get more back if I cancel.

Thirdly, the biggest issue with HDFC - the points don't transfer 1:1 for some key partners - AC, UA, BA. So apart from SQ & TK... I'm severely restrained with Infinia. Axis offers far more flexibility and that's the whole idea. I'm building up points for a flight I'd like to take 2 years - 3 years down. I want my flexibility.

It's Magnus over Infinia any day.

The issue that some people may have is putting down 10L for Burgundy to make most use of Magnus. That is a different problem.
 
First, we can't talk about the future we can only talk about the present. Because if we go down that rabbit hole.... "Infinia has stopped their devaluations since a while" is good reason to expect it to happen again soon. Magnus will not devalue again immediately. So Magnus is a safer bet that way.

Also, how do you know this? All cards devalue over time. All. And nobody does it on a monthly basis.

And this too is not based on any real facts...


Secondly, convenience fees... those utterly absurd fees that Yatra etc. charge.... especially the 750 bucks per person per flight for an international ticket... is just highway robbery. Conversely you can argue that Traveledge doesn't always have the lowest ticket prices - but at least I'll get more back if I cancel.

Thirdly, the biggest issue with HDFC - the points don't transfer 1:1 for some key partners - AC, UA, BA. So apart from SQ & TK... I'm severely restrained with Infinia. Axis offers far more flexibility and that's the whole idea. I'm building up points for a flight I'd like to take 2 years - 3 years down. I want my flexibility.

It's Magnus over Infinia any day.

The issue that some people may have is putting down 10L for Burgundy to make most use of Magnus. That is a different problem.

With Infinia, you can simply use 1 point as 1 rupee for booking flights. Having airline or hotel partners anyway restricts you to those particular partners. Using points simply as rupees is any day better. Anyway, I have suggested the best option of using Infinia first till its limit and then Magnus, so I rest my case.
 
With Infinia, you can simply use 1 point as 1 rupee for booking flights. Having airline or hotel partners anyway restricts you to those particular partners. Using points simply as rupees is any day better. Anyway, I have suggested the best option of using Infinia first till its limit and then Magnus, so I rest my case.
Flight fares are dynamic but miles redemption usually aren't (except few).
 
With Infinia, you can simply use 1 point as 1 rupee for booking flights. Having airline or hotel partners anyway restricts you to those particular partners. Using points simply as rupees is any day better. Anyway, I have suggested the best option of using Infinia first till its limit and then Magnus, so I rest my case.

Again no. Because (again) firstly you have to pay 30% of that ticket cost in cash. Secondly, it's awfully poor value. I mainly redeem in international J & F. My redemption is generally above ₹2/mile going up to ₹6/mile. Even if I did Y redemption - I think I would be able to get much more than ₹1/mile - I certainly get in domestic Y on UK. And even if I wasn't that savvy, I would just toss it into Accor and get ₹1.98/point.

There's a reason miles are treasured. You can get fantastic value from them. It's a waste to encash it for ₹1/point.

Magnus! Magnus! Magus! :D
 
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Flight fares are dynamic but miles redemption usually aren't (except few).

For domestic flights, you will tend to remain stuck with Vistara if you just use miles. For flights to be booked just 7-10 days in advance, miles have always offered me a really bad deal. For international routes, again you're stuck with only the options offered using miles. For example, recently on my travel to Europe, the cheapest as well as one of the fastest flight available to me was Saudia. But this option and many other such options are not partnered for point redemption.

The best part about Infinia is that you get 1 point as 1 rupee if you book via Smartbuy. You also get 1 rupee as 1 airmile / hotel points for a variety of options, including Accor. You can also use 1 point as 1 rupee for non-travel based spends like Tanishq or to buy Apple products.

In fact, you get 10X reward points when booking hotels, which Magnus will never be able to beat.

Some will argue about capping of 15000 accelerated points, but those who keep booking in rotation, they don't have to worry much on capping. For every flight or hotel booking, you use upto 70% points in 1:1, rest of the 30% spend anyway gives you 5X or 10X rewards. These rewards are received within the calendar month and are available for spending again almost immediately.

I use both Infinia and Magnus. In practical circumstances, from 1st September, Magnus can't tie shoelaces of Infinia.
 
What a load of BS people write. OP specifically has a simple requirement to "collect maximum points to book air tickets".

To that there is only one singular answer. Magnus.

The maths for Magnus for booking airline tickets is this -

If you're at 5:2:
24 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
14 miles per ₹200 thereafter

If you're at 5:4
48 miles per ₹200 up to Rs. 2 lacs/m
28 miles per ₹200 thereafter

No other card comes close to this points reward rate for air tickets. End of discussion.

But before we close this... Amex Platinum is generally garbage... and Emeralde and everybody else doesn't come close to this reward rate. So if people want to recommend things factually - they should really first do the maths.

Again, Axis has devalued all their other cards but really increased the spend value threshold for Magnus. If you spend 4L PM with some part of it on airfares, Magnus is more rewarding that what it was before of course you have to take that dumb Burgundy account as well for that.
How did you come up with 24 miles per 200 rupees spend? How did you get calculation so wrong when your opening sentence is "what a load of BS"?

The revised terms show 12 edge rewards per 200 rupees spend up to 1.5 lakh spend. For everybody except burgandy, it will be 5:2 airmiles i.e. 2.4 airmiles per 100 rupees i.e. 4.8 airmiles per 200 rupees til 1.5 lakh spend.

Generally I would like to consider 0.5 rupees value of each airmile so what you get back is 1.2 rupees back on 100 rupees i.e. just 1.2% value back. Whats great about it? Or am I making wrong calculation here?

Edit: Didn't notice it was used for flight booking. So your calculations are right.
 
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