Award route card · one-way
Delhi's Hong Kong story, told from Mumbai with one costly twist. Cathay stopped publishing charts but the reconstructed May-2026 tables still price its own metal best — 33,000 Asia Miles in business Standard, even with India's "type 2" surcharge band. Maharaja's East Asia economy holds at a flat 30,000 (business still isn't route-published). The twist is Aeroplan: at 2,655 great-circle miles, BOM–HKG tips just past the 2,500-mile boundary that Delhi clears, so the partner award costs 75,000 in business here — 27,500 more than ex-Delhi. Cathay crowns both cabins.
The play · business
Feed it: 66,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 33,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,58,400 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathay Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific nonstop (oneworld), Standard award | 33,000 | — | ₹33,000 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India metal (Star Alliance partner award) | 75,000 | — | ₹75,000 | 2.3× |
The play · economy
Feed it: 26,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 13,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 62,401 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathay Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific nonstop (oneworld), Standard award | 13,000 | — | ₹13,000 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 30,000 | — | ₹24,000 | 1.8× |
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, multi-hop chains included.
33,000 Standard one-way to CX's own hub (type-2 band; type 1 pays 27,000) — the best rate on this corridor after the 1-May-2026 devaluation and the India premium. SBI's 1:1 makes it a ₹33,000-equivalent flat bed; HDFC and Amex haircut to 2:1. Book the moment Standard space opens.
Feed it: 66,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 33,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,58,400 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
BOM–HKG's 2,655 great-circle miles land in the 2,501–5,000-mile Atlantic–Pacific band — 75,000 post-June-2026, no surcharges, on Air India metal (Cathay isn't Star). The same seat from Delhi books at 47,500 because 2,328 miles stays under the 2,500 line: the band cliff, ex-Mumbai. Asia Miles wins; this is the Aeroplan-balance fallback.
Feed it: 37,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 75,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,87,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
13,000 Standard in the 751–2,750-mile "type 2" band — Cathay's India surcharge (type 1 pays 9,000). BOM–HKG's ~2,655 miles stay inside the band, so Mumbai prices like Delhi. Charts unpublished since May 2026; Standard space is capped, and dynamic "Choice" pricing takes over once it's gone.
Feed it: 26,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 13,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 62,401 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Hong Kong sits on the April-2026 chart's flat 30,000-point East Asia economy tier — 2.3× Cathay's Standard rate for the same nonstop. The East Asia business tier still isn't published route-level; we list what we can verify.
Feed it: 30,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)