[sameer sultan]

Amazing trip report yatrik.

Those are some of the most desirable classes of travel and itinerary's you have covered!!The LAX-AUH-SYD sector is the ultimate leg to travel on the Etihad first class. Your planning was amazing as you got to travel in the Singapore Airlines Suites Class the old and new.

I read a lot of blogs written by American travellers who maximise credit card points to travel in luxury around the world.I use to wonder whether this will be possible with Indian issued credit cards and airline programs, which you have achieved and it is so really nice to read about our desi traveller who maximised the JP miles/credit card points and got to travel in same luxury.

The pictures from Vancouver and Seattle are very nice, these 2 cities are on my wish list. Will mark the places you have visited to my things to do list whenever I get to visit.

Thanks for sharing.

Now that the JP program is no more as they have become Intermiles what is you strategy to maximise credit card points/airline programs for future travel?

[yatrik]

Originally Posted by camaroZL1

YATRIK! you're one lucky man for using the JP miles at the right time. I have about 50k miles which got converted to InterMiles, but have not been able to use them because their availability is not so great.

Well, that's the reason I chose the Sydney routing as I had enough only for that. Getting back to india would require more JP miles which I did not have, and wanted to use them asap before the worst happened.

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

Amazing trip report yatrik.

Those are some of the most desirable classes of travel and itinerary's you have covered!!The LAX-AUH-SYD sector is the ultimate leg to travel on the Etihad first class. Your planning was amazing as you got to travel in the Singapore Airlines Suites Class the old and new.

I read a lot of blogs written by American travellers who maximise credit card points to travel in luxury around the world.I use to wonder whether this will be possible with Indian issued credit cards and airline programs, which you have achieved and it is so really nice to read about our desi traveller who maximised the JP miles/credit card points and got to travel in same luxury.

The pictures from Vancouver and Seattle are very nice, these 2 cities are on my wish list. Will mark the places you have visited to my things to do list whenever I get to visit.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much. Much Appreciated.
I managed to get the only available F award seat on LAX-AUH-SYD for 6 months. It was after getting that, that the whole trip was planned around it.

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

Now that the JP program is no more as they have become Intermiles what is you strategy to maximise credit card points/airline programs for future travel?

Upto now, JP Miles was the most accessible points programme in india, but not as good as others to redeem.

Going forward now, I would concentrate on the 3 following credit card companies - Amex, Citi and HDFC as they're the only ones with good airline transfer partners. HDFC has 4 (practically only 2) - British Airways Avios, Singapore KrisFlyer, the other 2 being Intermiles & Club Vistara.

Citi has 14 partners, and Amex has about 10 partners. So accumulate on these, and when you have the travel, see which is best available and then transfer points to that.

[ron_9191]

This was one trip I could only afford to do on Google Earth. Man this is probably a trip of a lifetime!!

I cannot imagine when I could afford to fly like this in my lifetime. Having to see the Dreamlifter in the flesh is something special too!

[speedguy]

That's one heck of a trip..Just a look at the distance traveled & one would be exhausted. Don't know how you remained sane till the end. On top of this, a very well compiled write up & pics.
Hey, Can I save the Score card pic from SCG? I am a die hard Sachin fan..

[yatrik]

Originally Posted by speedguy

That's one heck of a trip..Just a look at the distance traveled & one would be exhausted. Don't know how you remained sane till the end. On top of this, a very well compiled write up & pics.
Hey, Can I save the Score card pic from SCG? I am a die hard Sachin fan..

Thank you so much.
Yes of course you can. We're in the same boat. I'm a huge Sachin fan too.
Guess who I bumped into a couple of weeks back, again on a flight ! I was so glad I used my voucher to upgrade that day!

[viren83]

Originally Posted by yatrik

Guess who I bumped into a couple of weeks back, again on a flight ! I was so glad I used my voucher to upgrade that day !

If the entire travel wasn't enough, you just made it more envious for us all

Have met many who use miles wisely, but none like you do. Keep sharing your insights on other cards, airlines. Completely glued to this thread.

[deovrat]

That LAX-AUH-SYD redemption in terms of value/mile was ace!

Here's one of mine that I have fond memories of .

[sandeepmohan]

Waaah. This is called Living a Dream.

Tinkerbell was a film I had worked on, way back in 2005- 2006. A significant amount of work was done at Prana Studio, Bombay. I was there only for 4 months. It did not work out well so I moved on.

Thanks for sharing.

[blackwasp]

Thanks for sharing yatrik, this is very inspiring. Though just a recent credit card user, I'm looking forward to amass points and use them for rewards and travel.

I would also like to ask you which frequent flyer program are you on after the demise of Jet privilege?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

I would also like to ask you which frequent flyer program are you on after the demise of Jet privilege?

Jet Privilege was the crown jewel of Jet Airways, which played a part in the airline having any valuation at all (apart from aircrafts and airport slots). JP is now InterMiles and all airmiles are converted to IM miles. It is alive and kicking.

[Kartikaygaur]

Amazing report Yatrik. What surprises me though is the amount of taxes you had to pay. 62 USD for LAX-SYD appears to be a steal. Any special reason behind this or is this how it generally is?

[yatrik]

Originally Posted by Kartikaygaur

Amazing report Yatrik. What surprises me though is the amount of taxes you had to pay. 62 USD for LAX-SYD appears to be a steal. Any special reason behind this or is this how it generally is?

Taxes amount are determined by the origin and destination airports. It is a combination of LAX and SYD which led to such a steal. Generally taxes out of US airports is quite low. But on my previous redemption, EY JFK-BOM, the tax amount was a whopping INR 29k.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Thanks for sharing yatrik, this is very inspiring. Though just a recent credit card user, I'm looking forward to amass points and use them for rewards and travel.

I would also like to ask you which frequent flyer program are you on after the demise of Jet privilege?

No other program is India is as good as JP ever was. While it still lives in the form of InterMiles, but isn't as close to being a good deal. Amongst the other 2, while Air India Flying Returns is very miserly in terms of earning as well as getting status, redemption options on partners are quite good thanks to Star Alliance. Also no fuel surcharge meaning taxes to be paid are fairly low.

On the other hand, Club Vistara is the best alternative to JP for the domestic road warriors as A) it gives status match to all the JP elites B) Achieving and maintaining status is much more practical than on Air India. And for those who travel so frequently, status is quite important, it makes a lot of difference. But it terms of miles redemption, nothing great to write home.

[coolmind]

Originally Posted by yatrik

find the right card for you, every card(premium) has a category for which it gives accelerated points, find the category you have most spends for and get the card which gives you most points for that.

Thanks for the travelogue. I have citi premier miles card (37000+ ponts) & HDFC all miles card(15000+) points. I have also started using those cards for the same motto as your's. Would be helpful if you can guide on how did you accumulate and covert the points.
I also use CRED App and has accumulated 8,00,000+ points on it.

[iamitp]

One of the threads that leaves you longing! I am bumping in seeking your suggestions.

I have long dreamt of flying Business Class. Sadly, my employer wouldn't pay for the seat and I could never muster the resolve on all previous domestic/short international flights.

Now an opportunity presents itself. A 2-week trip to Europe for Christmas 2021. My first visit to the continent.

Here's my conundrum. After Jet Airway's closure, I am unable to find a suitable Airline co-branded credit card to rack up enough miles for getting an upgrade voucher (or an award ticket).

I hardly travel on work and don't have any planned flights this year. My credit card expenses add up to Rs. 1.3 Lakhs/month with about Rs. 60,000 for utilities and the rest on dining, shopping and leisure.

I considered the Axis Bank Vistara cards, which are great for domestic upgrades/awards but not for international routes. I'm avoiding the SBI-Air India cards as Air India would be my last choice of transport.

Other co-branded cards such as Axis Bank Miles & More, Standard Chartered Emirates, ICICI Bank British Airways and travel-focused cards such as the Citibank Premier-miles & Citibank Prestige (which comes with a Rs. 20,000 + tax fee) don't seem to offer a conversion ratio that would get me enough miles for an upgrade voucher with my spending capacity.

Shall be grateful for your valuable suggestions.

[kapi]

Originally Posted by iamitp

Shall be grateful for your valuable suggestions.

Get the HDFC Diners Black or the Infinia. You can easily make a lot of points with these.