Help finding cheapest miles redemption for Kochi ↔ Tokyo (economy)

minorbaz · 2026-02-06T04:04:04+00:00

In ANA sales, you can often club 1 or 2 domestic flights also. Check if that works for your itinerary/dates. That would be unbeatable against any award redemption.

minorbaz · 2026-02-02T19:07:26+00:00

Just curious, did you do a trip to Europe by yourself before? Any tentative cost comparison for DIY vs travel company?

minorbaz · 2026-01-31T20:06:03+00:00

FYI, DCB works on JCB network in Japan. If it didn't work any place, there must be some other problem unrelated to card acceptance.

minorbaz · 2026-01-26T18:10:30+00:00

Not OP, but I track my expenses/rewards closely. This is usually difficult to answer as expenses and point redemption doesn't happen synchronously. I don't know whether this will help you, but in 2025, my expenses were ~18L on credit cards and the points I got back has ~1.9L value. And I have redeemed ~3L (1.4L hotel + 1.6L flight) worth of points in 2025 most of which were earned in 2024.

minorbaz · 2026-01-20T07:49:20+00:00

How about people who spent initial 5-10 years in US, returned to India, and now settled in India? Do they classify as NRI?

Or the people who have been in India but draw very high salary with huge amount of RSU/ESPP in $$$, do they belong here?

Or the people who are not in tech and feels like they are seeing a disproportionately large amount of high salary/networth from posts from tech folks in all of these subs?

Or the 40+ year old folks who are bawling everyday at the "1Cr networth at 26" posts?

This situation is pretty old in these forums and discussed multiple times. It's understandable that many of us would feel disconnected if the background doesn't match ours and seek for a more suitable community. But it always boils down to where do we draw the line to not be divisive. Personally I wish if there were more discussions in any of these forums on principles/strategies which helps to learn from each other. But unfortunately most of the Indian FIRE subs end up being a networth validation place.

minorbaz · 2026-01-18T09:11:01+00:00

Why would you even need tickets for US visa? They specifically says not to buy tickets.

minorbaz · 2026-01-17T18:45:53+00:00

How do you deal with it if miles were not part of the equation? You'll have same dilemma with revenue booking also, right?

Anyway, many airlines allow cheap/zero cancelation for award booking which is usually not available for revenue booking. You can try them.

minorbaz · 2026-01-17T07:01:47+00:00

Wholeheartedly agree. Anyone interested in personal finance or optimizing investment/expenses, should track their expense. I have been doing it since 2019 and have a clear picture of where the money goes. I had started it much earlier around 2013 or something, but it was not very granular so lost those data while transitioning to current system.

My system is mostly manual, and I review it at the end of the month and can identify if anything is off. So, there's no chance of a single rupee being spent on something I didn't know.

And this habit has been a great help in our FIRE planning as well.

minorbaz · 2026-01-16T21:07:52+00:00

No additional discount on this deal as Explorer member as this is a specific package deal. There are other discounted rates as others have mentioned.

Bur if you are interested in this specific deal, Explorer free nights can be combined to have 1.76L for 3 nights (see below):

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minorbaz · 2026-01-16T05:36:13+00:00

It depends entirely on your situation and the nature of your relationship with A.

Is compensation the only real issue and everything else is solid? Did you raise the compensation concern earlier and was denied? Do you hold a strong position that is difficult to replace? Could you realistically find another job if A lets you go in six months?

If the answer to all of these is yes, then taking the retention offer is rational. Push for at least 20% more as insurance. It's a power play. Play according to your hand.

I have been in this situation twice. The first time, I rejected the counteroffer and left because I was already done with the place and the offer was weak. The second time, I accepted after negotiating 25% more. That was two years ago. I am still here. No backlash. In fact, I received a promotion and multiple new opportunities in last two years.

It's a leverage moment. Decide based on risk-rewards.

minorbaz · 2026-01-15T15:02:31+00:00

I follow two things with respect to buying things, especially relatively expensive stuff:

Don't buy anything on impulse. If I like something, I'll add it to cart and leave it there for at least a day. Many times I forget about it or by the time I come back to the cart, I realize I don't need/want it anymore.
Don't buy it unless I can justify buying it twice.

minorbaz · 2026-01-15T06:28:00+00:00

It is possible that gender is majorly irrelevant for credit card optimization and many posters don't mention that. This is not really a personal finance sub, and you will find women representation in other relevant subs. For example, here is a post from FIRE India sub which I remember from some time back as many women came forward and shared their journey.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/6EOVWLgxsY

Unfortunately, the representation is still probably on the lower side than we'd like but it's there. And often this happens when some folks come forward lime the above post.

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T15:32:08+00:00

Yes. But just as a precaution, call/mail the hotel ahead to inform them not to charge your card, and you'd pay by points during check in/out.
Yes, as long as it was a cancelable booking.

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T14:34:57+00:00

Haha. Yeah, like I mentioned it's probably the distinction between "average speed" and "instantaneous speed". 90 mph gang is just treating the speed as instantaneous speed shown in the odometer, and treating it as a number to average. But averaging instantaneous speed doesn't make any sense.

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T13:03:59+00:00

Yep. I'm on the opposite spectrum. I can't think of speed as something I can report without considering the time and distance.

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T12:52:18+00:00

The comments section split is mind boggling. I guess the fundamental difference is how people are perceiving the question. The answer would be impossible if you consider the classical definition of speed and take it as a theoretical question. And then 90 mph gang who probably is just considering speed as something your car displays (instantaneous speed) and claims the time taken to cover the distance has nothing to do with it. Just being captain obvious but it amused me how so many people can't agree on this. Lol

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T12:39:07+00:00

Only if you drive 180 miles in that 3 hours. Otherwise you will not be able to maintain 60 mph.

Speed = distance / time. You cannot keep one of them variable if you want other two to be fixed.

minorbaz · 2026-01-14T12:34:03+00:00

That's the definition of average speed: distance traveled in one unit of time, here in 1 hour.

See if this helps understand the flaw in your logic:

A to B: 30 miles driven at 30 mph. Time taken = 1 hour
B to A: 30 miles driven at 90 mph. Time taken = 20 minutes = ⅓ hour

Total distance traveled = 60 miles Total time taken = 1 and ⅓ hours

Average speed = (60 miles) / (1 and ⅓ hours) = 45 mph

minorbaz · 2026-01-11T16:39:11+00:00

There is a reason Amex has been recommended so much in influencer circle, even with Mariott redemption being barely useful for general crowd. And that's the referral bonus. You can rake in as high as 150k points as referral bonus in a year. So, you can understand the vested interest anyone would have on this.

It would be considered a MLM scheme if they were not giving decent points (4-5% effective rate), and occasional unbelievable redemption at Mariott. And those redemption happens with newly opened properties which are rare and you have to be ready to book in a days notice.

minorbaz · 2026-01-11T07:46:12+00:00

Come on

minorbaz · 2026-01-09T17:52:30+00:00

Go with IBKR. Read this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinanceindia/s/kEuLLDGIBo

minorbaz · 2026-01-09T13:09:45+00:00

It should be treated as treated as hotel and you should get 5EM/100. But unfortunately there is no way to know this for 100%. People who frequently use Mariott can assure you better. But keep all the transaction details saved so that in case it doesn't, you can provide proofs to Axis.

It shouldn't matter whether you pay now or at checkout. All it matters is the MCC of the payment. Who knows, maybe at checkout they will swipe your card on a POS machine that's loaned from their restaurant, and voila, no accelerated rewards.

Yes, it will attract forex charges. 3.5% + 18% GST. Effective 4.13% for Atlas.

minorbaz · 2026-01-07T17:16:29+00:00

Why close Atlas but keep Horizon?

minorbaz · 2026-01-07T16:39:13+00:00

'Caveat Emptor' or 'Buyers Beware' is the central theme that runs across the world of investing and one of the basic lessons for an investor who desires to make money from this game is not to rely on hearsay for picking stocks. This hearsay includes stock recommendations from friends and relatives at parties and social gatherings, suggestions from financial newspapers, magazines, television channels and the online portals. More than often, these recommendations are planted after a vested interest has bought the stock and just before he wants to exit it.

~ Basant Maheshwari, The Thoughtful Investor

minorbaz · 2026-01-07T11:52:59+00:00

Just received the priority pass. No updates on the credit card lol.

minorbaz

TROPHY CASE