CA. Miles and points on credit cards. 30+ countries and counting. Redeemed millions of miles and points for flights and hotel stays ✈️
Bengaluru & Delhi
Joined September 2021
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I swiped ~₹11.5L on my credit card to buy a Škoda Kylaq. The reward points turned into ₹3L+ in hotel stays, a return of nearly 30% on a routine spend.
🚗 Car: Škoda Kylaq, about ₹11.5L
💳 Card: Magnus Burgundy
🏨 Reward Points: ~2L edge points converted to 1.6L ALL Accor at then conversion ratio of 5:4 (about ₹3.4L)
Last year, around the festive season, we bought our first car. As a cc geek, I was more excited about the reward points than the car itself 😂
Here's what I did.
First, I timed the purchase in an AEP month to get maximum value. Then actual purchase below:
A. MDR negotiation
The dealer wanted 2%, to cover MDR charges, to take a card. I negotiated it down to 1.25%, about ₹14k.
B. Paying the card bill
1️⃣ From savings
No loan and no extra interest. Only cost is the ₹14k fee.
Net benefit: about ₹3.25L in travel value.
Trade-off: ₹11.5L of savings gone in one go.
2️⃣ With a personal loan instead of a car loan (my pick)
A car loan pays the dealer directly, so a card swipe isn't possible. A personal loan gives you cash, and cash can be used to pay card bill.
Net swipe cost:
MDR fee: ~₹14k
Interest earned on the loan money (~40 days till the card bill was due): ~₹7k
Net cost: ~₹7k
The personal loan was about 10%, against 8% for a car loan.
Net benefit after the extra interest:
1 year: ~₹3.2L (extra interest ~₹13k)
3 years: ~₹2.9L (extra interest ~₹39k)
5 years: ~₹2.7L (extra interest ~₹67k)
Either way, the car cost the same, and the card paid for my stays in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Japan, Hong Kong and Laos in 2026 ✈️
C. Things to consider
- Be extra careful with the MCC. Do a small dummy swipe first and call your card issuer to confirm which MCC the dealer's terminal is coded under before you put the full amount through.
- Accelerated points run only up to your credit limit + ₹1.5L in a month, so check your limit first.
- Axis has since cut Burgundy to Accor from 5:4 to 5:2, so the hotel return on the same swipe today is half. Savvy redemption experts can still get similar value by moving the points to airline miles and booking premium-cabin award tickets.
- The maths changes with other cards, but with the right earn rate and transfer partner it can still work in your favour.
That was one big swipe. For everything else, from rent to vouchers to flights, here's the full stack and what each card does 👇
xitter.cf/NotesEnRoute/status/21…
💳 My Credit Card Stack (and use case)
🔥 CORE CARDS
1️⃣ Axis Magnus Burgundy (LTF)
↳ Big-ticket spends
2️⃣ ICICI Emeralde Private Metal (Paid)
↳ Vouchers, and stand-in Air India co-brand card
3️⃣ HSBC Premier (Free) ⏳ in progress
↳ Everyday spends & Flights and hotels via Hopper
🗄️ DRAWER CARDS
4️⃣ HDFC Diners Club Black (Paid)
5️⃣ Amex Platinum Travel (Paid)
↳ Little real use, kept just to stay in the ecosystem
👋 ON THE WAY OUT
6️⃣ HDFC Marriott Bonvoy (Paid)
↳ Closing it once the promo points land.
Fewer cards, better cards. Build your stack around how you actually spend.
💳 My Credit Card Stack (and use case)
🔥 CORE CARDS
1️⃣ Axis Magnus Burgundy (LTF)
↳ Big-ticket spends
2️⃣ ICICI Emeralde Private Metal (Paid)
↳ Vouchers, and stand-in Air India co-brand card
3️⃣ HSBC Premier (Free) ⏳ in progress
↳ Everyday spends & Flights and hotels via Hopper
🗄️ DRAWER CARDS
4️⃣ HDFC Diners Club Black (Paid)
5️⃣ Amex Platinum Travel (Paid)
↳ Little real use, kept just to stay in the ecosystem
👋 ON THE WAY OUT
6️⃣ HDFC Marriott Bonvoy (Paid)
↳ Closing it once the promo points land.
Fewer cards, better cards. Build your stack around how you actually spend.
Follow-up on my Europe-in-December plan.
Pricing a business class award, Bangalore → Rome:
✈️ Air India miles: 125,000
✈️ Same flight via KrisFlyer: 68,000 (≈45% fewer miles)
Almost crazy that with miles, a business class ticket to Europe costs just ₹2,900 in taxes and fees.
Hello, planning a solo Europe trip for 2-3 weeks this December 👋 ❄️
Shortlist so far:
🇮🇹 Italy
🇷🇴 Romania
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
🇵🇱 Poland
Any other suggestions for places that work well for solo travel? Hidden gems, Christmas markets etc, all welcome 🙏
Already done most of Western & Central Europe, So looking for something new!
One wrong 4-digit code just cost me free flights worth ₹15,000+. ✈️
I bought a MacBook at Imagine Nexus, Koramangala, in my AEP month on the Axis Magnus Burgundy. I’m always careful with MCC on big purchases, but this time I got lazy. It’s an electronics retailer, what could go wrong?
The transaction came through as telecom/utilities. I tried everything to get it fixed. Even Axis couldn’t help. Zero reward points. 😫
Lesson: Always test the MCC even at a “safe” merchant.
Hello, I’ve been trying to book an Air India award flight using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, but I’m unable to.
I’ve checked Maharaja Club and seats are available on Air India, but they don’t show up on KrisFlyer. Any suggestions on how to get this fixed?
Some of India's most "Indian" foods are actually immigrants. ✈️🥔
🥔 Potato: Andes, South America
🍅 Tomato: South America
🌶️ Chilli: Central and South America
🌽 Corn: Mexico
🥜 Peanut: South America
🍍 Pineapple: South America
🌰 Cashew: Brazil
🍈 Papaya: Tropical Americas
🍐 Guava: Tropical America
🟤 Chikoo: Mexico and Central America
🍏 Custard apple: Tropical Americas
🫘 Rajma: Central and South America
🥦 Cauliflower: Mediterranean region
🥬 Cabbage: Europe and the Mediterranean
🍒 Litchi: Southern China
☕ Coffee: Ethiopia
🍵 Tea: China and other parts of Asia, with tea also native to northeast India
Many of these American crops reached India through Portuguese trade networks after the 1500s, as part of the Columbian Exchange.
Others arrived or spread through different routes and at different times.
The British later helped expand commercial tea plantations and popularised several European vegetables. 🚢
Your rajma chawal and masala chai have more complicated travel histories than most of us. 😂
Hello, planning a solo Europe trip for 2-3 weeks this December 👋 ❄️
Shortlist so far:
🇮🇹 Italy
🇷🇴 Romania
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
🇵🇱 Poland
Any other suggestions for places that work well for solo travel? Hidden gems, Christmas markets etc, all welcome 🙏
Already done most of Western & Central Europe, So looking for something new!
Krisflyer Spontaneous escape for November is now live.
30% off Saver award rates to selected destinations across the Singapore Airlines network.
15% off Economy Saver award tickets on selected Scoot flights. @SingaporeAir
Sourav retweeted
💳 How to get your FIRST credit card with no CIBIL score or credit history?
💼 If you're salaried:
Start with the bank where your salary gets credited. Your chances of getting an unsecured credit card are generally better since the bank can see your regular income.
The limit may be low, but that's a good start!
🏢 If you're self-employed:
Getting an unsecured card without credit history can be tricky. An FD-backed secured credit card is a good starting point to build your credit history.
📖 My first credit card story:
I started working at Patni Computers in 2010/11, and the company opened a Citibank salary account for us.
After 3–4 months of salary credits, I applied for a Citibank credit card, and it got approved!
I don't even remember the limit now. 😄
Back then, I had absolutely no clue about CIBIL scores, credit history or how approvals worked. Just applied to try my luck, and it worked!
💬 Your turn!
Which was your first credit card? How did you get it, and do you still hold it?
There are just too many tempting offers in the market, forcing me to break my 4-card rule repeatedly... 🤦♂️💸
Itching to get the Axis SpiceJet Black Voyage card... ✈️🤫 #Soon
HDFC Marriott Bonvoy offer was too good to resist.
So I broke my own rule: Never hold more than 4 cards. 😅
Applied for 5 cards across the family.
₹18,000 in fees → 2,40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points🤞
And the craziest part?
All 5 got approved instantly. 🤯 Thanks @ccg33k
An airline's loyalty programme can be worth more than the airline's entire stock-market value. 🤯
Look at the numbers:
✈️ American Airlines: $8.45B market cap
🎯 AAdvantage: $26.7B estimated value
✈️ United Airlines: $34.6B market cap
🎯 MileagePlus: $25.3B estimated value
✈️ Delta Air Lines: $53.77B market cap
🎯 SkyMiles: $31.7B estimated value
These aren't separately listed businesses, and the loyalty figures are model-based estimates. But they reveal just how valuable the loyalty business can be.
Sometimes, the real business is hiding in the frequent-flyer programme. 👀
The family behind your free airport lounge coffee also has a business distributing Marlboro cigarettes. 🤯☕🚬
32% of Encalm is owned by BBM Travel Retail, part of the Bommidala Group from Guntur — a family business with roots in tobacco dating back to 1920.
They're also involved in distributing Philip Morris products, including Marlboro, to duty-free shops across the Indian subcontinent.
Another 51% of Encalm belongs to a subsidiary of Dubai-based Gateway Fund.
So you walk past the duty-free cigarettes, swipe your card for lounge access…
…and discover that the businesses behind both are connected through the same family. 👀
The kind of hate @elonmusk is getting on his own platform is mind-boggling.
Indians be like “ghar mein ghus ke maarenge.”😂
The ridiculous arguments by Ambani’s army of Internet shills make no sense
On the one hand, they say Starlink couldn’t possibly compete with the amazing low prices offered by Ambani’s de facto monopoly in India and then, in the same breath, they essentially claim that Starlink would be too strong of a competitor! This is absurd hypocrisy and hyperbole.
The reality is that competition would greatly benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices, as it always does. Ambani’s profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business. And, obviously, if Starlink is too expensive in India, no one will buy it, so SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable.
