HDFC Infinia & DCB devaluation - airline/hotel partners transfer ratio reduced

[hritiksakshi]

HDFC Bank has indirectly devalued their Infinia and DCB credit cards by reducing the conversion ratio from 1:1 to 2:1 for some partners, namely - Accor, Lifemiles, and Turkish. This change will take effect from 15th January 2024.

Therefore, the last date for a 1:1 transfer to the aforementioned partners is 14th January.

 

[LordPSN]

My RM has already confirmed the devaluation..

Some folks on twitter are constantly in breaking news mode.

Just the eagerness to get noticed by hyping stuff, without verification, like they know insider stuff.

The verification is a 'specious' huddle on space.

I always take it with a 'pinch' of salt.

farzi flunenza of cc n shor macha dia tha

So farji to nahi hai.. .they have said that the email will send around December 31 January 1st to give 15 days to customers to take appropriate actions for their points.

 

[Deleted member 9785]

Some folks on twitter are constantly in breaking news mode.

Just the eagerness to get noticed by hyping stuff, without verification, like they know insider stuff.

The verification is a 'specious' huddle on space.

I always take it with a 'pinch' of salt.

DUKAAN chalani hai

 

[Harry1]

My RM has already confirmed the devaluation..



So farji to nahi hai.. .they have said that the email will send around December 31 January 1st to give 15 days to customers to take appropriate actions for their points.

RMs know lesser than even first level customer care 😅. I have seen some people's RM sharing cardinsider article to their customers instead of official hdfc documents. So, they also get info from these tweets only.

 

[bigbrain]

I had previously read negative reviews of turkish airlines and hence did not bother. Now with this devaluation, I wanted to do a quick research to know if Turkish airlines was any good and how much they charge for award flights to Europe.
I searched many dates and many locations including to Turkey. All dates were showing no flights available. Not sure if that is the case or if I am doing anyting wrong.

 

[Harry1]

That devaluation line is back again on this page.

https://offers.reward360.in/infinia/miles_transfer/partners

Will try getting my billing date change, as I will spend a lot in next month and need to transfer to Accor😅.

 

[Deleted member 9785]

That devaluation line is back again on this page.

https://offers.reward360.in/infinia/miles_transfer/partners

Will try getting my billing date change, as I will spend a lot in next month and need to transfer to Accor😅.

slowly but surely from 2024 the good old days of free hotel and flight bookings coming to an end or being heavily reduced. Will people still continue travelling by spending from own pocket due to the travel addiction, time will tell

 

[puneri.jaws]

Nothing beats magnus burgundy.

4.8% airmiles vs 3.33/1.66% on normal non utility mcc spends.

For revenue flight, u get ith voucher option with 3.84% reward rate (more with 10% bonus). And no 70% limit here.

Govt spends is excluded for both. Rent is better for magnus burgundy with 4.8% airmiles and 1% charges compared to hdfc at nil rewards/fees.

Travel edge is 24% without convinience fee vs Smartbuy 16.5% with convinience fee. People keep saying prices are inflated. But they compare prices after discount or Skyscanner prices. For me, it always matches with cleartrip price without any discount.

Grab deals 5x/10x is better than Smartbuy 5x/10x, as base points is more and more merchants.

Among vouchers, Amazon/Flipkart vouchers are lesser in Axis vs Smartbuy (only Infinia). But other vouchers with 3x is almost same and with 5x, Axis is better.

Then comes other unique benefits like priority pass guest access (child can't get add on card), BMS BOGO, Eazydiner (Dineout is there for hdfc, but nowhere close to 40-50% discount from Axis).

And the ultimate stroke is for people spending 1.5L+ getting straight away 3x points😃.

Agree with you. Burgundy Magnus looks a lot better now.

 

[HimachaliJeeper404]

I still see good value in transferring miles to Kris flyer (SG airlines) & United Mileage Plus.
Life miles were good for Europe travel but with United also that is possible.
United also proves to be good if redeeming a flight for US/Canada sectors also sometimes peak prices of AirIndia domestic as well (if you are lucky).
For SEA & Australia, Kirsflyer gives good redemption options. Also the service/ aircraft being better placed than most other airlines.
Life miles use to run some very good promotions too like 230%---150% aditional miles if planning to buy and redeem miles, so don't think much of a concern with these getting devalued.
Accor, I agree takes the most of the hit.

 

[mojo_jojo123]

is this confirmed news ?

 

[_ayush]

is this confirmed news ?

Yes the points are getting devalued

 

[anirban.choudhury]

I still see good value in transferring miles to Kris flyer (SG airlines) & United Mileage Plus.
Life miles were good for Europe travel but with United also that is possible.
United also proves to be good if redeeming a flight for US/Canada sectors also sometimes peak prices of AirIndia domestic as well (if you are lucky).
For SEA & Australia, Kirsflyer gives good redemption options. Also the service/ aircraft being better placed than most other airlines.
Life miles use to run some very good promotions too like 230%---150% aditional miles if planning to buy and redeem miles, so don't think much of a concern with these getting devalued.
Accor, I agree takes the most of the hit.

United is already at 1:0.5 ratio.
Only meaningful transfer that would remain is Kris and Vistara at 1:1.
Accor would be badly missed , it's sheer value.
Lifemiles though they run offers to buy at around 1 rs most of the time ,so it wouldn't be a concern but hdfc was the only transfer partner to Lifemiles as of now so they could have kept it at 1:1. Lifemiles is a wonderfull FFP though , you get a steal in comparison to United or Kris.

Kris is a good FFP but miles requirement is too high , it only makes sense to go with their promo fare.

Turkish again would be badly missed as it's a wonderfull FFP giving out 19k saver awards to Europe which is kind of its USP.

 

[Deleted member 9785]

United is already at 1:0.5 ratio.
Only meaningful transfer that would remain is Kris and Vistara at 1:1.
Accor would be badly missed , it's sheer value.
Lifemiles though they run offers to buy at around 1 rs most of the time ,so it wouldn't be a concern but hdfc was the only transfer partner to Lifemiles as of now so they could have kept it at 1:1. Lifemiles is a wonderfull FFP though , you get a steal in comparison to United or Kris.

Kris is a good FFP but miles requirement is too high , it only makes sense to go with their promo fare.

Turkish again would be badly missed as it's a wonderfull FFP giving out 19k saver awards to Europe which is kind of its USP.

Yes, vistara left with hassle free option

 

[SM24]

United is already at 1:0.5 ratio.
Only meaningful transfer that would remain is Kris and Vistara at 1:1.
Accor would be badly missed , it's sheer value.
Lifemiles though they run offers to buy at around 1 rs most of the time ,so it wouldn't be a concern but hdfc was the only transfer partner to Lifemiles as of now so they could have kept it at 1:1. Lifemiles is a wonderfull FFP though , you get a steal in comparison to United or Kris.

Kris is a good FFP but miles requirement is too high , it only makes sense to go with their promo fare.

Turkish again would be badly missed as it's a wonderfull FFP giving out 19k saver awards to Europe which is kind of its USP.

When booking connecting itineraries saver fare almost always beats promo fare.

Except for the first time when folks may just go to Singapore, where promo beats saver.
All other times saver comes out ahead because it uses telescopic rates.

 

[HimachaliJeeper404]

United is already at 1:0.5 ratio.
Only meaningful transfer that would remain is Kris and Vistara at 1:1.
Accor would be badly missed , it's sheer value.
Lifemiles though they run offers to buy at around 1 rs most of the time ,so it wouldn't be a concern but hdfc was the only transfer partner to Lifemiles as of now so they could have kept it at 1:1. Lifemiles is a wonderfull FFP though , you get a steal in comparison to United or Kris.

Kris is a good FFP but miles requirement is too high , it only makes sense to go with their promo fare.

Turkish again would be badly missed as it's a wonderfull FFP giving out 19k saver awards to Europe which is kind of its USP.

@anirban.choudhury - btw how can we transfer HDFC points to Lifemiles ? I see only Krisflyer and Vistara as 2 options. Can't even see Accor too there in the list.
Am I missing something ? I am currently using DCB, so not sure if the exclusions are because of card type only ?

 

[anirban.choudhury]

@anirban.choudhury - btw how can we transfer HDFC points to Lifemiles ? I see only Krisflyer and Vistara as 2 options. Can't even see Accor too there in the list.
Am I missing something ? I am currently using DCB, so not sure if the exclusions are because of card type only ?

Login to smartbuy portal
There you would find option to transfer to other FFP

 

[bewwyy]

is the devaluation confirmed? no mail and can’t see anything on site yet

 

[Deleted member 9785]

why people changing billing date

 

[manamkiran]

Yes the devaluation is confirmed. I see the same in miles transfer page

https://offers.reward360.in/diners/miles_transfer/partners

 

[mojo_jojo123]

Yes the devaluation is confirmed. I see the same in miles transfer page

https://offers.reward360.in/diners/miles_transfer/partners

from 15th jan

 

[HimachaliJeeper404]

Now is the right time to transfer your existing miles in these 3 programs (considering you see some future plans for redemption on these partners ).
Out of all these Accor seems most viable option.
People with good point balance should look for Lifemiles also as HDFC is the only transfer partner in India.