A New Era: Axis Bank Credit Cards adds Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa to Transfer Partner List; Accor Makes a Return. Massive Reshuffle All Around

Axis Bank has been one of the most reliable banks for those who are very interested in hotel transfers to Accor ALL for a long while. Earlier this year, Axis Bank ended the transfer partnership. However, there is a new bunch of updates with an overnight update from Axis Bank

Three partners move to Group A

Axis Bank uses a concept where cheaper partners move to Group B, and more expensive partners move to Group A. The partners that are now under Group A from Group B include

• Air India
• Air France / KLM Flying Blue
• Qantas

This means these partners now have much more restrictive quotas. For Atlas, for instance, the quota is just 30,000 points out per annum.

Axis Bank shakes up transfer partnerships effective September 23, 2026

Axis Bank Credit Card members will wake up on September 23, 2026, to see some of their favourite transfer partners return, and some new partners added. These include:

• Accor ALL
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Cathay Pacific
• Hilton Honors

ITC Hotels has been removed from the list.

Accor ALL became a favourite among many people across India, who started their relationship with Axis Bank during the Axis Bank Magnus Credit Card era, mainly because of the direct currency value assigned to Accor points, which roughly came to INR 2 per point. Axis Bank was one of the largest buyers of ALL points globally, and the conversion was a hit. However, as the INR fell, costs became difficult for Axis Bank to absorb, and volumes were extremely high. Now, it is back.

Now, Accor is back, but the new transfer ratio is 5:2 for Magnus to Burgundy (half the earlier ratio), which basically makes it useless for someone planning to head into Raffles and stay there for a month.

But that is not the only change. A few other partners have also changed their transfer ratios. For instance, with ALL and the newly added Cathay

• For Magnus Burgundy Cardmembers, the conversion has changed from 5 ER: 4 Avios to 5 ER: 2 Avios
• For Reserve and Magnus Cardmembers, the conversion has changed from 5 ER: 2 Avios to 5 ER: 1 Avios
• For Olympus Cardmembers, the conversion has changed from 1 EM: 4 Avios to 1 EM: 2 Avios
• For Atlas, the conversion has changed from 1 EM: 2 Avios to 2 EM: 1 Avios
• For Horizon, the conversion has changed from 1 EM: 2 Avios to 2 EM: 1 Avios

Here is the updated transfer partner list with the ratios

And here is the classification list.

And before you start wondering how they could do this, this isn’t a core product feature, so the card issuer had the right to change it at any time they deemed fit. Which is what they did. The full T&C are enclosed here.

Of course, these changes put some other credit cards in a good book  (to borrow from the current slang). These include HSBC Travel One.

Among Axis Bank’s own products, Atlas and Magnus for Burgundy got hit the hardest. With Atlas, the restricted limit now includes Air India (Group A), which means points movement must be chosen between domestic flights or international flights, with the puny 30,000 limit.  For Magnus for Burgundy cardmembers, you are just entitled to 200,000 transfer points with these partners. Unfortunately, that means it is as good as dead.

Bottomline

The bi-annual changes to the Axis Bank Transfer Partner list have been notified and executed. The first ones came in April 2026. These include removing Accor ALL and Marriott Bonvoy from the list, and reducing conversions for Vietnam Airlines, British Airways, and Finnair. Now, ALL is back, Qatar Airways is back, and we have new partners in Miles & More, Cathay Pacific, and Hilton Honours. Devaluation applies to Air India Maharaja Club, Qantas, and Flying Blue, which have been moved to Group A. And of course, some partners are now at different rates (all the new ones).

What do you make of these latest changes made at Axis Bank Credit Cards?

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