Air India halves Star Alliance value — 81% increase
Air India Flying Returns devalued its Star Alliance award chart, increasing miles required for USA-India and Europe-India one-way awards by 81% and nearly tripling, respectively. This change makes it less desirable to accumulate Air India Flying Returns miles, with cardholders facing significant increases in miles required for popular routes.
Air India Flying Returns dropped a devaluation bomb on its Star Alliance award chart. The USA-India one-way award jumped from 55,000 miles to 100,000 miles, an increase of 81%. The Europe-India one-way award nearly tripled from 32,500 miles to 90,000 miles. The South America-India one-way award doubled to 110,000 miles. Fuel surcharges were dropped, but this change did not benefit Star Alliance flyers out of India. The new 6-zone, distance-tiered award chart replaced the old 11-zone chart, making redemption math more complicated. The devaluation affected economy awards, with significant increases in miles required for popular routes. Our take: 55,000 to 100,000 miles for a one-way to the USA, and 32,500 to 90,000 to Europe — that is not a repricing, it is a chart rebuilt to strand the balances people had already earned. Dropping fuel surcharges buys back nothing when the mile count nearly tripled. Book whatever award you can still see on the new 6-zone chart and stop earning into it.