Axis Atlas has been my go-to card for more than a year now. It is one of the best cards from Axis Bank for day-to-day and travel-related spending. Even though it was devalued in April 2024, it still offers excellent value. I still rank it as one of the best Travel cards in India.
Axis Atlas Credit Card Overview
Here is a complete overview of the Axis Atlas Credit Card:
| Type | Travel Credit Card (Tier Based) |
| Joining Fees/Annual Fees | INR 5000 Plus Taxes |
| Welcome Benefits | 2500 Edge Miles |
| Renewal Fees | INR 5000 Plus Taxes |
| Reversal of Annual Fees | Not Applicable |
| Renewal Benefits | Tier Based: Silver: Nil Gold: 2500 Edge Miles Platinum: 5000 Edge Miles |
| Forex Markup Charges | 3.5% Plus Taxes |
| Default Reward Rate | Airlines, Hotel & Travel Edge Sends: 5% Other Spends: 2% |
| Maximize Reward Earn By | Spending on Travelling |
| Redemption Maximization | Transfer Points to Partners |
| Stand Out Feature | 2x Miles Conversion |
Tier System of Axis Atlas Credit Card
Before you go into further details, you must know about the Tier System of Atlas Credit card. Presently, there are three Tiers of Axis Atlas Credit Card. Based on the spending milestones, you are upgraded, downgraded or updated for the tier. Since there are tiers, you will most likely make the most of this card when you reach the highest tier.
Three Tier of Axis Atlas Credit Card is:
- Silver Tier
- Gold Tier
- Platinum Tier
Silver Tier will be mapped to your account whenever you apply for this credit card. To reach the Gold Tier, you must spend INR 7.5 Lac in the card anniversary year. To upgrade to the Platinum Tier, you must spend INR 15 Lac cumulatively on the card anniversary year.
How Does Tier Change Work?
Axis Atlas’s lowest tier is the silver tier, which remains so unless you spend INR 7.5 Lac in the card anniversary year. You enter the Platinum Tier after spending INR 15 Lac in the card anniversary year. These tiers are valid for two years unless you reach a higher tier. For Example, if you took the card in September 2024 and reached the platinum tier in October 2024, you will remain in the Platinum Tier till September 2026.
Multiple benefits used to exist as we moved to higher tiers. However, these were devalued in April 2024.
Axis Atlas Credit Card Eligibility
- Age between 18 and 70 Years
- Salaried Income: INR 12 Lakhs
- Self-Employed Income: INR 15 Lakhs
Fees and Welcome/Renewal Benefits
The Axis Atlas Credit Card has Annual Fees of INR 5000+ taxes. This fee is not waived and will be charged every year. However, you will receive 2500 Edge miles as a welcome benefit on the first spending transaction if the transaction is made within 30 days of card set-up.
From 2nd year Onward, you will receive renewal benefits based on the tier you achieve.
Here are the Tier wise Renewal/Annual Benefits:
- Silver Tier: Nil
- Gold Tier: 2500 Miles.
- Platinum Tier: 5000 Miles.
Silver Tier now doesn’t offer any renewal benefit, and you would make something out of this card if you reach Gold Tier.
Welcome benefits are credited within 60 days from the date of card set-up and after completion of three transactions.
Earning on Axis Atlas Credit Card
Earning Edge miles on an Axis Atlas Credit Card is simple. If you like booking directly with hotels & airlines or using Travel Edge, you will earn 5 Edge miles for every INR 100, and other spending earn 2 Edge miles for every INR 100.
The following transactions don’t earn any edge miles and are also excluded from Tier Benefits Calculation:
- Jewellery Purchases, Including Gold
- Rent
- Insurance
- Government Spends
- Utilities
- Fuel
- Wallet
- EMI Transactions
Edge Miles on Travel Spends
You will earn 5 Edge miles on direct spending at Airlines, Hotels or Travel Edge. Spend anything on third-party websites like MakeMyTrip, and you will receive the usual 2 Edge miles per INR 100 spent since spends are captured based on merchant code, and MakeMyTrip merchant code isn’t eligible.
Below Merchant codes are eligible for earning five edges miles:
- Airlines MCC: 3000- 3350 and 4511 (Airlines)
- Hotels MCC: 3501-3838 and 7011 (Hotels)
- Axis Bank TRAVEL EDGE Portal MID: VERNMAKRUPCYB21
The earning of edge miles on Travel spends is limited to INR 2 Lakhs monthly. After that, you earn the usual two edge miles per INR 100.
Milestone Benefits on Axis Atlas Credit Card
Axis Bank knows that milestone benefits can induce cardholders to spend more, so it has introduced Milestone Benefits on the Axis Atlas Credit Card.
| Milestone (INR) | Benefit (Edge Miles) |
| 3,00,000 | 2,500 |
| 7,50,000 | 2,500 |
| 15,00,000 | 5,000 |
These milestones match the tier requirements for Gold and Platinum. This works as a notification that you have achieved a tier.
How much Edge Miles can you earn in a year?
If you are Platinum, you can earn at least 45000 Edge miles even if you don’t spend anything on travel. Even 22,500 Edge miles on Spending of 7,50,000 is decent.
| Tier | Spending (INR) | Annual Benefit (Edge Miles) | Milestone Benefit (Edge Miles) | Base Edge Miles | Total Edge Miles Earned |
| Silver | 3,00,000 | Nil | 2500 | 6000 | 8500 |
| Gold | 7,50,000 | 2500 | 5000 | 15000 | 22500 |
| Platinum | 15,00,000 | 5000 | 10000 | 30000 | 45000 |
These miles will be doubled when transferred to airlines or hotels, except for Marriott, which offers a good 6% reward.
Base Reward Rate
As 1 Edge mile is equal to INR 1, the reward rate will be great. Here is how much reward rate you get based on 1 INR value:
| Tier | Spending (INR) | Total Edge Miles Earned | Reward Rate % | Reward Rate (on Transfer) |
| Silver | 3,00,000 | 8500 | 2.83% | 5.67% |
| Gold | 7,50,000 | 22500 | 3.00% | 6% |
| Platinum | 15,00,000 | 45000 | 3.00% | 6% |
But I’m more interested in transferring Edge miles to Transfer Partners.
Transferring EDGE Miles
The incredible thing about Axis Edge miles is that 1 Edge mile will be converted into 2 Points or Miles of transfer partner, except for Marriott. A conversion ratio of 1 Marriott Bonvoy Points for 2 Edge miles applies for Marriott. If you can earn a value of INR 1 from transferred miles, the reward rate will double.
| Partner | Program Name | Conversion Ratio | Credited In (Days) |
| Air Canada | Aeroplan | 1:2 | 1 |
| Air Asia | AirAsia rewards | 1:2 | 10 |
| Air India | Flying Returns | 1:2 | 5 |
| Accor | ALL | 1:2 | 5 |
| Air France-KLM | Flying Blue | 1:2 | 1 |
| Air Vistara | Club Vistara | 1:2 | 10 |
| Etihad Airways | Etihad Guest | 1:2 | 1 |
| Ethiopian Airlines | ShebaMiles | 1:2 | 10 |
| Japan Airlines | JAL | 1:2 | 14 |
| IHG Resorts and Hotels | IHG One Rewards | 1:2 | 1 |
| ITC | Club ITC | 1:2 | 10 |
| Marriott International | Marriott Bonvoy | 2:1 | 10 |
| Qantas | Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:2 | 1 |
| Qatar Airways | Privilege Club | 1:2 | 1 |
| Singapore Airlines | KrisFlyer | 1:2 | 10 |
| Spicejet | Spiceclub | 1:2 | 10 |
| Thai Airways | Royal Orchid Plus | 1:2 | 1 |
| Turkish Airlines | Miles & Smiles | 1:2 | 10 |
| United Airlines | United Mileage Plus | 1:2 | 1 |
| Wyndham Hotels & Resorts | Wyndham Rewards | 1:2 | 1 |
Pro Tip: Use Club ITC for Transferring to Marriott
Transfer your Edge miles to Club ITC and then to your Marriott Bonvoy account to get a 1:3 conversion ratio instead of direct transfer with a conversion ratio of 2:1. That means you can get 90000 Marriott Bonvoy Points for your 30000 Edge miles instead of 15000 Marriott Bonvoy on direct transfer. However, ITC has put a quarterly cap of 15K Green Points conversion to Marriott.
Grouping & Limit on Edge Miles Transfers
Axis Introduced a unique grouping of Transfer Partners. All transfer partners are divided into two categories, with separate calendar-year transfer limits for each category. In a calendar year, you can transfer 30K Edge Miles to Group A partners and 1.2 lakhs to Group B Partners.
| Group A | Group B |
| Accor Live Limitless | Air France-KLM |
| Aeroplan | Air India |
| Etihad Guest | Air Asia |
| Japan Airlines [JAL Mileage Bank] | ITC |
| Marriott Bonvoy | IHG Hotels & Resorts |
| Qatar Airways | Qantas Airways |
| Singapore Krisflyer | SpiceJet |
| Ethiopian Sheba Miles | Vistara |
| Turkish Airlines | |
| Thai Airways | |
| United Airlines | |
| Wyndham Hotels |
Even though some great partners have been kept in Group A, Group B also has great partners specifically for Domestic Travel, Sky Team, and OneWorld flights.
Domestic & International Lounge Access
No Travel credit card is complete without decent lounge access. Axis Atlas is excellent for lounge access. You can generate a QR code from the Axis Bank App, and guests can also use it. So you don’t have to carry your card every time for lounge access.
Atlas also offers many free visits, and there is no quarterly limit. It doesn’t end there. As your tier is upgraded, you get more lounge access. I have not seen even one single card which gives this benefit.
| Tier | Domestic | International |
| Silver | 8 | 4 |
| Gold | 12 | 6 |
| Platinum | 18 | 12 |
Axis Atlas Credit Card vs Axis Magnus Credit Card
It was worthwhile to compare Axis Magnus with Axis Atlas. Now, Axis Atlas stands tall and front in the line after Magnus Changes. While getting into Axis Atlas’s credit card details, I found it better at a few places than the Axis Magnus Credit Card. So, I decided to add a brief comparison between the two, but it will purely be based on points and their conversion. However, Magnus with Burgundy works well if you spend INR 2 Lakhs every month, and it also has some additional benefits, but that comes with annual fees of INR 30K.
Meanwhile, the Axis Atlas has milestone benefits, and Axis Magnus has milestone spending-related accelerated benefits. The Axis Atlas Milestone benefit is small, but it makes a big difference due to their conversion of points.
Comparison
For Example, if you spend INR 7.5 Lac in a year and not more than INR 1.5 Lac in any month or on travel, you will earn 45000 converted miles on Axis Atlas against 36000 converted points on Axis Magnus. If you spend INR 15 Lac in a year with one month exceeding INR 2 Lac, you get 115000 Converted miles vs 38300 converted points. Even a Burgundy Account holder with Axis Magnus will get 76600 converted points.
Below are Table Summaries of converted miles and points:
| Spending (In INR) | Converted Axis Atlas Edge Miles | Axis Magnus Points [Converted] | Axis Magnus With Burgandy [Converted] |
| 7,50,000 | 45,000 | 18,000 | 36,000 |
| 15,00,000 | 90,000 | 36,000 | 72,000 |
| 20,00,000 | 1,10,000 | 85,200 | 1,70,400 |
| 7,50,000 (All Travel Spend) | 90,000 | 90,000 [Travel Edge Based] | 1,80,000 [Travel Edge Based] |
| 15,00,00 (All Travel Spend) | 1,80,000 | 1,80,000 [Travel Edge Based] | 3,60,000 [Travel Edge Based] |
Axis Atlas is a clear winner. It will be challenging to beat the Axis Atlas Credit card until you can get Magnus with Burgandy and some accelerated earnings. Also, 5 Edge miles on direct travel spent with Airlines or Hotels is an excellent benefit that elite travel holders will love.
Apply For Axis Atlas Credit Card
Bottomline
Axis Atlas Credit Card is undeniably a great card, even in 2024. It has an excellent conversion on the transfer of miles, and the miles earned on direct travel spends are perfect. It can work well on a standalone basis if spending doesn’t exceed INR 1 Lac in any month. After changes of Axis Magnus, it does hold an edge over other cards. Even the Lounge Visit benefit is excellent. This card is an underdog that will rise and shine until Axis Axe it.
