In this episode of Turn Left by Magnify, Pranav sits down with Arvind — CA, fund manager, algorithmic trader and hardcore points optimizer.

Arvind just returned from an insane trip:
• 40 nights in Japan
• 38 nights booked on points
• Fairmont Tokyo
• Swissôtel Osaka
• Banyan Tree Kyoto
• Ski plans in Hokkaido
• Autumn + Christmas season

And yes — he took his mom.

We break down:

• Exactly how many points he used
• Accor Platinum strategy in Japan
• Lounge access hacks
• How to handle flight disruptions in Japan
• Why location > luxury sometimes
• The reality of long-stay redemptions
• The Magnus-era stash strategy

If you love points, luxury stays, and optimizing travel — this one’s for you.

Divyam Rastogi - IIT Delhi, Wharton, Bain, and now Chief of Staff at Google, is also a miles millionaire. In late 2024, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced a wild promotion: fly 15 out of 17 SkyTeam airlines before December 31st, and they'd give you 1 million EuroBonus points. Only 900 people in the world completed it. Divyam did it in a record 9 days.

In this episode, Divyam walks us through his entire route - from Vancouver to Seoul and back - how he planned it on Google Flights and Google Sheets, the flight he missed in Paris, running through Jakarta airport, getting questioned by Chinese immigration for entering and exiting the country twice in 24 hours, and why he thinks his 1 million SAS miles could be worth $20,000 if they convert to Flying Blue.

Ishan spent over a year building Magnify with me, but he'd never actually booked an award flight himself. No business class experience, no miles redemption, nothing. This episode is the story of his first time doing both.

And honestly, that's what makes this interesting. We talk about everything that goes into booking an award flight when you've never done it before. Which credit card to get, how to actually accumulate enough points, where to search for available seats, how transfers work (and why HDFC has two completely different systems for this), what to do when the online booking fails, and whether calling the airline is as scary as it sounds.

Then we get into the actual flight. Berlin to Delhi on Vistara's 787-9 Dreamliner. Lie-flat seat, proper meals on real plates, pajamas, lounges, the whole experience through the eyes of someone doing it for the first time.

The flight would've cost over €3,000 in cash. He paid 61,500 KrisFlyer miles and 168 euros in taxes.

If you're sitting on credit card points and have no idea where to start, this one's for you.

What we cover:

- Getting the right credit card (HDFC Infinia as an NRI)

- Accumulating points over a year of spending

- Finding award availability on seats.aero

- The confusing HDFC transfer situation (SmartBuy vs Net Banking)

- Booking over the phone with Singapore Airlines

- The actual business class experience on Vistara 787-9

- Frankfurt lounges vs Indian airport lounges

- Was it worth the effort?

Links:

- seats.aero - Award flight search

- sunflight.org - Check which side gets sun

- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: singaporeair.com

Download Magnify: magnify.club/app?p=udaan-ep1