Turn Left: A Magnify Podcast

Aryan Shah booked a round-the-world business class trip for his honeymoon using ANA Mileage Club points. The catch? He did it one day before the program shut down forever.His route: Delhi to Frankfurt on Lufthansa A380, Zurich to Miami on Swiss, San Francisco to Melbourne on United, Melbourne to Singapore on Singapore Airlines, and Singapore to Ahmedabad on Singapore Airlines A380. Five segments, four in business class, 37 days across Europe, the US, and Australia.Total cost: 145,000 ANA miles and $690 in taxes per person. Cash value of those flights: around $15,000 per person.In this episode, Aryan walks through the whole thing. How he accumulated close to a million points through US business credit cards (Amex, Chase, Capital One). Why ANA's round-the-world award was the best deal in the points world. How he searched for availability on United's website, then spent two hours on a call with an ANA agent piecing together city pairs one by one. What happens when your Lufthansa flight gets delayed and you miss your connection in Frankfurt. Why flexibility is everything when booking RTW. And his time in Australia, 19 days across Melbourne, Tasmania, and Esperance, where he found some of the best blue water he's ever seen.The ANA round-the-world program closed in June 2025. It was the last mileage-based RTW award left — Qantas and Asia Miles had already killed theirs. At 145,000 miles for business class around the world, nothing else came close. This episode is a record of what that looked like for someone who actually did it.🔗 LinksAryan & Sanya's page - https://www.instagram.com/sanyaa_aryan?igsh=NmpvejQyNXJmdHJv&utm_source=qrMagnify App - https://magnify.club/appJoin our WhatsApp Community - https://chat.whatsapp.com/C5EXjvHWewlFcGgulW8prY?mode=gi_t📱 Follow usInstagram: @ClubMagnifyTwitter: @MagnifyClub

Kalpit works in United Airlines' finance team in Delhi and flies business class to Europe for ₹10,000. In this episode, he walks us through how airline employee standby travel actually works: the booking process, priority lists, cabin upgrades, Star Alliance partner access (including Air India domestics for ₹2,000), and the stress of not knowing if you'll board until one hour before departure. He shares real stories: getting bumped from business while his sister-in-law waved from her flatbed seat, spending an entire day at Delhi airport trying to get to Goa, and his go-to guaranteed route (Delhi-Munich on the A380, Wednesday 1:50am). Plus: how his cousin flew Vancouver to San Francisco to Tokyo for under $60, why he transfers all his points to hotels instead of airlines, and what Polaris business class is really like.

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 seasonAnd yes — he took his mom.We break down:Exactly how many points he usedAccor Platinum strategy in JapanLounge access hacksHow to handle flight disruptions in JapanWhy location > luxury sometimesThe reality of long-stay redemptionsThe Magnus-era stash strategyIf 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.comDownload Magnify: magnify.club/app?p=udaan-ep1