How I got 2 Lakhs of flight tickets for almost free.
Turned ~48K points into ₹2L flights 🤯✈️
(India->Bali | Manila->Delhi for 2)
Just pulled off one of my best redemptions so far using Maharaja Club 🔥
👉 Booked:
• Delhi → Bali
• Manila → Delhi
• 2 passengers
• Cost: 12K points + ₹2K taxes per person per sector
💸 Total out-of-pocket: peanuts
💰 Revenue price for all 4 tickets: ~₹2,00,000
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How I got the points 👇
Since Axis Atlas is gone, my GF was offered Axis Horizon
💳 Axis Horizon
• ₹3.5K fee → 5K Edge Miles
💳 HSBC Travel One (both applied in Dec)
• ₹5,900 fee
• ₹5K cashback (effectively paid 900rs for 1st year)
• 3K joining reward points on 1L spends in 3 months
• She spent ₹1L (₹75K hotel bookings)
→ Got ~18K accelerated rewards
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Total points math:
5K (Horizon) + 3K (HSBC base) + 18K (HSBC accelerated)
= ~36K points → transferred 24k to Maharaja Club ✈️
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Why flights over Accor? 🤔
Yes, could’ve stretched to ~₹77K value via Accor, but honestly:
👉 I prefer convinence of direct flight over hotel stays, Phillipines don't have many accor properties.
I do have many Accor points,will transfer it as needed
Accor is gone from Axis.
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Pro tip before booking ⚠️
Check aircraft type!
🛫 ** (ex- Vistara A321neo)**
✔ Seatback screens
✔ Wi-Fi
✔ 29–32 inch legroom
vs typical narrow bodies (like Air India and IndiGo ~28 inch 😬)
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I booked it on the first day of this financial year,I can see at max 7 award seats on many flights that too narrow body.
TL;DR
Turned credit card hacks + smart transfers into ₹2 Lakhs worth flights for almost free.
India travel hacking still has insane value if you play it right 💳✈️