Award flight · one-way
Mumbai–Kochi got 22% dearer in economy and 10% dearer in business while the rest of the domestic chart was being slashed — 4,500 to 5,500 and 21,000 to 23,000 — putting it in the minority of April-2026 routes that lost. Air India mainline flies it nonstop; Air India Express, which serves Kochi from eleven other cities, does not. At 661 great-circle miles the pair sits in Aeroplan's cheapest Within-Atlantic band, and that is where the house chart gets embarrassed. The cheapest verified business seat on the board is 12,500 via Air Canada Aeroplan, and economy starts at 7,500. Air Canada sells Air India's own domestic recliner for barely half what Air India charges; Maharaja keeps the back of the plane at ₹4,400 against ₹4–6k cash. Split the ticket by cabin and take both.
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 | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 7,500 | — | ₹7,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — Air India Express does not serve this pair | ~5,500 est. | — | ₹4,400 | 0.6× |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo nonstop (Chhatrapati Shivaji + Navi Mumbai) — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) | ~10,400 est. | — | ₹5,200 | 0.7× |
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 | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 12,500 | — | ₹12,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | ~23,000 est. | — | ₹18,400 | 1.5× |
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.
Air India Star Alliance
Mumbai–Kochi's 661 miles sit in the 0–1,000-mile Within-Atlantic band — 7,500 points, surcharge-free bar the CA$39 partner booking fee. Maharaja does it for 5,500; this row is chart completeness, not a serious burn.
Feed it: 3,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 7,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 18,750 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Up 22% in April 2026 (4,500 → 5,500), one of the 15 domestic economy routes that went the wrong way. Still the best number on this corridor: ₹4,400 at house value against ₹4–6k cash, and six issuers feed Maharaja at 1:1 or better. The published range runs to 15,000 at the top tier — 5,500 is the Value cell. Taxes are cash on top, unpublished as a figure.
Estimate Air India publishes no award chart. Its own Points Calculator states that “Fares indicated above are dependent on the time of booking and seat availability”, and Maharaja Club prices every award either as a Value fare (the discounted rate for booking well in advance) or as a higher Prime fare closer to departure. This number is the Value-fare floor as sampled after the April-2026 repricing — not a published chart cell: Value space is not always available on a given flight, and the same seat prices higher once it is gone. Pricing model re-verified against Air India’s Maharaja Club T&C and Points Calculator on 2026-08-09.
Feed it: 5,500 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 2,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 5,500 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo
IndiGo flies Kochi from both Mumbai fields, but BluChip has no award chart — redemptions track the live fare at ₹0.40–0.60 per BluChip, minimum 500, taxes and convenience fees cash-only. Against a fixed 5,500-point Maharaja cell there is no argument to make.
Estimate IndiGo BluChip is revenue-linked ~Rs0.50/pt; ~= typical one-way IndiGo economy fare / Rs0.50 for ~661 mi - a rupee offset that moves 1:1 with the live fare. Own-metal only, no partners.
Feed it: 15,600 HSBC Reward Points (1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 52,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:1) · 31,200 HDFC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Air India Star Alliance
12,500 in the 0–1,000-mile band against Maharaja's own 23,000 for the identical Air India business seat — a 46% discount routed through Toronto, fixed and surcharge-free. Chain-funded HDFC 2:1 / Bonvoy 3:1. The cheapest published way to the front of a Mumbai–Kochi narrowbody.
Feed it: 6,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 31,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Up 10% in April 2026 (21,000 → 23,000) — and Aeroplan prices the same seat at 12,500. ₹18,400 of points for two hours up front, on a chart that just raised the price. Read the Aeroplan row instead.
Estimate Air India publishes no award chart. Its own Points Calculator states that “Fares indicated above are dependent on the time of booking and seat availability”, and Maharaja Club prices every award either as a Value fare (the discounted rate for booking well in advance) or as a higher Prime fare closer to departure. This number is the Value-fare floor as sampled after the April-2026 repricing — not a published chart cell: Value space is not always available on a given flight, and the same seat prices higher once it is gone. Pricing model re-verified against Air India’s Maharaja Club T&C and Points Calculator on 2026-08-09.
Feed it: 23,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 11,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 23,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into South Asia — 360 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,430 corridors priced.