Award route card · one-way
India's busiest international corridor, and the quietest bargain of Aeroplan's June-2026 revision: the within-Atlantic short bands were CUT, so BOM–DXB business fell to 22,500 points — ₹22,500 of value against Maharaja's ₹40,000 for the same three hours. Emirates still prices its nonstops off a calculator, and Air India's 12,000-point economy tier still owns the cheap end. On the corridor everyone flies, the best premium seat is the one nobody's program markets.
The play · business
Feed it: 11,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 22,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 56,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 22,500 | — | ₹22,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 50,000 | — | ₹40,000 | 1.8× |
| Emirates Skywards | Emirates nonstop — Classic Rewards, calculator-priced | dynamic | — | — | — |
The play · economy
Feed it: 12,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 6,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 12,000 | — | ₹9,600 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 15,000 | — | ₹15,000 | 1.6× |
| Emirates Skywards | Emirates nonstop — Classic Rewards, calculator-priced | dynamic | — | — | — |
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. “Dynamic” rows never compete for the play. Feed-ins come from the same transfer data as the optimizer, 2-hop chains included.
The June-2026 revision CUT short-band business 25,000 → 22,500 — the cheapest fixed-price premium seat to the Gulf from India, no fuel surcharges, bookable on Air India's nonstops. Verify the 1,001–2,000-mile band at booking; a connection tips it higher.
Feed it: 11,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 22,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 56,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
The Gulf business tier that jumped 61% in April 2026 (31,000 → 50,000, priced off the AUH–BOM example). Three hours in a narrowbody J seat for ₹40,000 of points — Aeroplan two rows down books the same cabin for nearly half.
Feed it: 50,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 25,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 50,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
Calculator-only pricing, lifted ~15% for premium cabins in the 20-May-2026 devaluation, plus Emirates' heavy carrier surcharges. The A380 up front is the draw; the arithmetic almost never is — check the calculator against Aeroplan's 22,500 before you commit.
Ways in: Amex Membership Rewards 2:1 · SBI Travel Credits 2:1 · HSBC Reward Points 2:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)
Dubai is named on the April-2026 chart's flat 12,000-point tier — ₹9,600 at house value on a route where cash fares dip to ₹12k. Cheap, but check the fare before burning.
Feed it: 12,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 6,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
The within-Atlantic 1,001–2,000-mile band (both India and the Gulf sit in Aeroplan's Atlantic zone): 12,500 → 15,000 in June 2026. Loses to Maharaja's 12,000 in economy; this program's case lives one row down.
Feed it: 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 15,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 37,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
No award chart — the Miles Calculator prices BOM–DXB per date. Economy Savers survived the May-2026 devaluation unchanged, but with cash fares from ₹12k on India's most-served corridor, run the numbers before transferring anything.
Ways in: Amex Membership Rewards 2:1 · SBI Travel Credits 2:1 · HSBC Reward Points 2:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)