How I earned 32% return on my recent domestic flight!!

Isn’t it one of the best feelings when you get a return on expenses you will incur? Recently I took a round-trip Vistara flight from Bangalore to Ahmedabad and earned some great returns.

Why not use points?
Well, I could have booked the tickets by using my Vistara CV points but I chose not to as I needed to complete a certain number of flights to maintain my Gold status. Unfortunately, award bookings don’t count against the threshold. However, the round trip would have cost me around 10,000 CV points and IR 2,664 in taxes. The cash booking price for the same tickets on Visatara’s website was around INR 13,500. Thereby giving me a redemption value of IR 1.08 per point ((13,500-2,664)/10,000).

How did I book the flight?
I used HDFC’s smartbuy portal for the bookings. Normally my credit card has a reward rate of 3.33%, however, if I book tickets via the smartbuy portal I end up earning a reward rate of 16.65% (5x).

What’s the value of the reward rate/points?
The redemption rate is 1 point = INR 1 when redeemed via the HDFC portal and it’s applicable for flight bookings, hotel bookings, apple products, and Tanishq Vouchers. Plus you can transfer points to 17 partners (which I did for Accor and ended up getting a free stay, will discuss that in another blog).

Calculation of reward % (for math geeks)
My tickets costed me INR 10,460
Normal Reward point @3.33% = 345
Bonus Reward point @4x = 1,380
Total Reward points = 1,725
Vistara CV points (@425/ flight) = 850
Free seat selection (INR 500/flight) =1,000
I got the free seat selection as I am a gold member. I also got free access to the airport lounge, an additional 5kg of checked-in luggage, and an additional 3 kg of hand baggage along with priority boarding and luggage collection.

So my reward in INR terms
a. 1,725 points that can be redeemed at INR 1/point = INR 1,725
b. 850 CV points which can be redeemed for INR 0.80 to INR 1 per point = INR 680
c. Seat selection fees which otherwise i had to shell out = INR 1,000

A total reward of INR 2,405 (excluding seat selection) which gives a reward rate of 23.00% (2,405/10,460)
A total reward of INR 3,405 (excluding seat selection) which gives a reward rate of 32.55% (3,405/10,460).

PS I have not attributed any amount towards the free lounge access I got with the above bookings