Award flight · one-way
Auckland → Melbourne on points: 10 options across the alliance backbones our cards can reach. Aeroplan books Star partner metal at a fixed 2,637 km distance band, AAdvantage prices the oneworld routing off its region chart, and Flying Blue covers SkyTeam dynamically. The verified charts crown THE PLAY; the dynamic row is shown as an honest estimate.
The play · economy
Which card mints this?
+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →
One of your cards is in those 7 — see it in the funnel →
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,637 km) | 15,000 | — | ₹15,000 | the play |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award | 15,000 | — | ₹15,000 | 1.0× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Qantas via SYD (AKL–SYD–MEL) — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~20,000 est. | — | ₹20,000 | 1.3× |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | Qantas own metal from MEL, distance-band award (2,637 km, single-segment) | 20,700 | — | ₹20,700 | 1.4× |
| Air NZ Airpoints Dollars | Air New Zealand own metal from AKL, region award | ~400 est. | — | ₹20,800 | 1.4× |
The play · business
Which card mints this?
+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →
One of your cards is in those 7 — see it in the funnel →
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,637 km) | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | the play |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | 1.0× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Qantas via SYD (AKL–SYD–MEL) — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~41,500 est. | — | ₹41,500 | 1.4× |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | Qantas own metal from MEL, distance-band award (2,637 km, single-segment) | 43,600 | — | ₹43,600 | 1.5× |
The play · first
Which card mints this?
+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →
One of your cards is in those 7 — see it in the funnel →
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,637 km) | 50,000 | — | ₹50,000 | the play |
All-in ₹ = points × the program's house value (valuation index) + the sourced one-way surcharge; a dash means the carrier doesn't publish it and the ranking counts it ₹0 — the row's note carries the caveat. That surcharge is the airline's own cash charge on an award — YQ, as the notes below call it — and it is not the fuel-surcharge waiver your credit card advertises: that one hands back a hundred rupees or two at a petrol pump, this one runs to tens of thousands and decides whether the award is worth taking at all. “Dynamic” and estimated (~… est.) rows never compete for the play — the crown is always a verified, bookable price. Feed-ins come from the same transfer data as the optimizer, multi-hop chains included.
Chart-priced, not live seats. These prices are read off each programme’s published award chart and valued at our own house ₹/point. 37% of the 39,855 priced options on the board are stated estimates for programmes that publish no chart; they are marked ~ est. and never crowned the play. Nobody here can see whether a seat exists on your date — confirm the space with the programme before you transfer. Points that leave your issuer do not come back.
The cash on top of the miles. Air France-KLM Flying Blue states that a carrier-imposed surcharge is charged on an award. American Airlines AAdvantage and Air NZ Airpoints Dollars make you liable for one if the operating airline levies it, without saying whether it does. Air Canada Aeroplan states it adds none on its own metal. Government taxes and airport charges are payable in every case. Almost no programme publishes the amount, so the desk carries each one’s policy in its own words — on its programme hub — rather than a number nobody published. 1 other programme priced here publishes nothing the desk could read.
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 15,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 37,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 45,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 90,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 30,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Qantas oneworld
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 20,000 economy (AKL–SYD 2,159 km → 15,000 + SYD–MEL 705 km → 5,000 = 20,000 economy). Partner awards pass the operating carrier's surcharges — the published Oman Air datapoints run US$190–390 one-way — and Flying Blue publishes no per-route table, so this row's cash side stays unpublished. Cabin scope: Etihad sells Flying Blue awards in economy and business only — first, including the Apartment, is not bookable with Miles. First IS bookable on a short list of other partners (Oman Air on Muscat–Bangkok alone, China Eastern, Garuda), none of which is a first routing this board prices, so there is no Flying Blue first row here.
Estimate Flying Blue publishes no chart, but prices PARTNER awards PER SEGMENT — One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024 on the Oman Air launch: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway", and the additive structure reproduces all four published connection datapoints inside 5%. This row rides Qantas (a Flying Blue non-alliance partner redemption — Flying Blue runs ONE partner engine over SkyTeam and non-alliance metal alike, which the 13-Jan-2025 repricing proved by moving Etihad and Delta together), so it is banded segment by segment: AKL–SYD 2,159 km → 15,000 + SYD–MEL 705 km → 5,000 = 20,000 economy. Bands anchored on the published Flying Blue partner datapoints (one-way business: Muscat–Dubai 6,100, Abu Dhabi–Kuwait 9,500, Muscat–Bangkok 42,900, Abu Dhabi–Bangkok 45,000, Muscat–Munich 45,800, Abu Dhabi–Johannesburg 48,000, Abu Dhabi–Washington 87,000), with economy at half of business — the one published long-haul economy anchor is Toronto–Abu Dhabi 43,500 against an ~87,000 business segment of the same length. The <=1,200 km rung is the one exception — re-fitted cabin by cabin on its own published quotes on 2026-08-02, hence 5,000 / 11,500 rather than half-and-half. Dates and demand move the real number. BAND CAVEAT: at least one segment here falls in the <=1,200 km band, still the widest residual on the table. It was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published quotes and now reads 5,000 economy / 11,500 business, up from 4,000 / 8,000 — an unfitted rung that ran about 21% and 31% low. The re-fit removes the bias, not the spread: published one-way business quotes inside the band still run 6,100 (Muscat–Dubai) to 19,500 (Toronto–New York), 3.2x apart, and segment length does not explain the gap. Treat the short-hop component as the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 20,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 10,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 20,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Qantas oneworld
Qantas nonstop Auckland→Melbourne on own metal. Classic Rewards are points + taxes, fees and carrier charges. Qantas does not publish a surcharge table, so no numeric value is asserted. Order of magnitude on Qantas-operated international one-ways: roughly A$120-250 in economy and A$350-800 in premium cabins; domestic/trans-Tasman is far lower. Treat as indicative, not sourced. A connecting itinerary adds segments and can cost more.
Feed it: 16,560 HSBC Reward Points (1:1.25 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 10,350 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 20,700 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
Air New Zealand Star Alliance
Air New Zealand own-metal Auckland→Melbourne. Airpoints Dollars cover the FULL ticket price including taxes and surcharges on Air New Zealand-operated flights, so an Airpoints Dollar redemption is effectively a zero-cash booking. The trade-off is the reverse of a mileage chart: you never get outsized value, but you never get gouged either — the redemption is locked at face value. A valid Air New Zealand routing is assumed.
Estimate Dynamic/unpublished-chart program — estimate is the typical one-way economy level Auckland→Melbourne (range 250-680); not a fixed chart price, never THE PLAY.
Feed it: 26,667 HSBC Reward Points (66.67:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 65,000 Amex Membership Rewards (162.5:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 130,000 RBL Reward Points (325:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 75,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 90,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 180,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 60,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Qantas oneworld
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 41,500 business (AKL–SYD 2,159 km → 30,000 + SYD–MEL 705 km → 11,500 = 41,500 business). Partner awards pass the operating carrier's surcharges — the published Oman Air datapoints run US$190–390 one-way — and Flying Blue publishes no per-route table, so this row's cash side stays unpublished. Cabin scope: Etihad sells Flying Blue awards in economy and business only — first, including the Apartment, is not bookable with Miles. First IS bookable on a short list of other partners (Oman Air on Muscat–Bangkok alone, China Eastern, Garuda), none of which is a first routing this board prices, so there is no Flying Blue first row here.
Estimate Flying Blue publishes no chart, but prices PARTNER awards PER SEGMENT — One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024 on the Oman Air launch: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway", and the additive structure reproduces all four published connection datapoints inside 5%. This row rides Qantas (a Flying Blue non-alliance partner redemption — Flying Blue runs ONE partner engine over SkyTeam and non-alliance metal alike, which the 13-Jan-2025 repricing proved by moving Etihad and Delta together), so it is banded segment by segment: AKL–SYD 2,159 km → 30,000 + SYD–MEL 705 km → 11,500 = 41,500 business. Bands anchored on the published Flying Blue partner datapoints (one-way business: Muscat–Dubai 6,100, Abu Dhabi–Kuwait 9,500, Muscat–Bangkok 42,900, Abu Dhabi–Bangkok 45,000, Muscat–Munich 45,800, Abu Dhabi–Johannesburg 48,000, Abu Dhabi–Washington 87,000), with economy at half of business — the one published long-haul economy anchor is Toronto–Abu Dhabi 43,500 against an ~87,000 business segment of the same length. The <=1,200 km rung is the one exception — re-fitted cabin by cabin on its own published quotes on 2026-08-02, hence 5,000 / 11,500 rather than half-and-half. Dates and demand move the real number. BAND CAVEAT: at least one segment here falls in the <=1,200 km band, still the widest residual on the table. It was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published quotes and now reads 5,000 economy / 11,500 business, up from 4,000 / 8,000 — an unfitted rung that ran about 21% and 31% low. The re-fit removes the bias, not the spread: published one-way business quotes inside the band still run 6,100 (Muscat–Dubai) to 19,500 (Toronto–New York), 3.2x apart, and segment length does not explain the gap. Treat the short-hop component as the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 41,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 20,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 41,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Qantas oneworld
Qantas nonstop Auckland→Melbourne on own metal. Classic Rewards are points + taxes, fees and carrier charges. Qantas does not publish a surcharge table, so no numeric value is asserted. Order of magnitude on Qantas-operated international one-ways: roughly A$120-250 in economy and A$350-800 in premium cabins; domestic/trans-Tasman is far lower. Treat as indicative, not sourced. A connecting itinerary adds segments and can cost more.
Feed it: 34,880 HSBC Reward Points (1:1.25 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 21,800 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 43,600 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 25,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 50,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 125,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Flying back? Melbourne to Auckland on points (MEL–AKL). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into Oceania — 147 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.