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Award flight · one-way

Mumbai to Chennai on points

7,500 pts cheapest economy · Air Canada Aeroplan BOM → MAA great-circle 1,033 km · 642 mi — short-haul domestic trunk, ~2 hours 3 programs priced as of

Mumbai → Chennai on points: 6 options, and the house chart just took the board back. The metal question always settled cleanly — Chennai lists Mumbai under AIR INDIA MAINLINE, and Air India Express, whose Chennai flying is domestic-only, does not serve the pair at all — but the price question needed the complete April-2026 pull, which the partial tables the trade press reprinted had been hiding. It prices both cabins: 4,500 in economy (the desk had estimated 5,000, half a thousand too pessimistic) and 19,000 up front. Both are verified now, and both win in rupees — ₹3,600 against Aeroplan's ₹7,500 in the back, ₹15,200 against ₹12,500 up front is the one place Toronto still holds. AAdvantage's three region-chart rows came off on 2026-08-08 — no oneworld carrier operates a domestic Indian sector — and no SkyTeam carrier can build Chennai at all, so neither Flying Blue nor Delta SkyMiles gets a row. 5 of the 3 rows are first-hand chart reads.

read the full take fold the take back up

Economy

The play · economy

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

7,500 pts
surcharge not published
₹7,500 all-in at house ₹

Which card mints this?

+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →

Program Metal / routing Points Surcharge All-in ₹ vs play
Air Canada Aeroplan the play Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km) 7,500 — ₹7,500 the play
Air India Maharaja Points Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — Air India Express does not fly Mumbai–Chennai ~4,500 est. — ₹3,600 0.5×
IndiGo BluChip IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) ~8,500 est. — ₹4,250 0.6×

Business

The play · business

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

12,500 pts
surcharge not published
₹12,500 all-in at house ₹

Which card mints this?

+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →

Program Metal / routing Points Surcharge All-in ₹ vs play
Air Canada Aeroplan the play Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km) 12,500 — ₹12,500 the play
Air India Maharaja Points Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — mainline only, Air India Express does not fly the pair and sells no business cabin ~19,000 est. — ₹15,200 1.2×

First

The play · first

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

25,000 pts
surcharge not published
₹25,000 all-in at house ₹

Which card mints this?

+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →

Program Metal / routing Points Surcharge All-in ₹ vs play
Air Canada Aeroplan the play Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km) 25,000 — ₹25,000 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 India Maharaja Points makes 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.

Row by row

6 options · 4 sourced charts
Economy

Air Canada Aeroplan

the play 7,500 pts

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

Air India Star Alliance

The metal is settled on both airport tables: Air India flies Mumbai–Chennai on MAINLINE metal, the only Star Alliance operator on the pair, so this band reads the direct great circle and assumes no via-hub detour. Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN — only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. A connecting routing that flies farther lands in the next band up.

Feed it: 3,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 7,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 18,750 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)

as of aircanada.com
Economy

Air India Maharaja Points

~4,500 pts est.

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — Air India Express does not fly Mumbai–Chennai

Air India Star Alliance

CORRECTED 2026-08-08 from an estimated 5,000. The full April-2026 domestic economy table does print this pair — "BOM,MAA, old 4,500, new 4,500–12,000" — held flat through the overhaul at a Value cell of 4,500. The estimate had reasoned from the metro-trunk cluster and landed 500 points high; the complete pull settles it, and the row can now take the crown. Chennai's own airport table lists Air India mainline to Delhi and Mumbai only, and files Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati, Pune and Port Blair under Air India Express instead — so this is mainline metal. ₹3,600 at the ₹0.80 house value against Aeroplan's 7,500 points at ₹7,500 for the identical seat.

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: 4,500 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 2,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 4,500 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)

as of datawrapper.dwcdn.net
Economy

IndiGo BluChip

~8,500 pts est.

IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced)

IndiGo

IndiGo owns the frequency on Mumbai–Chennai, but BluChip has no award chart — redemptions track the live fare at a dynamic ₹0.40–0.60 per BluChip, minimum 500, taxes and convenience fees cash-only. Nothing to plan around; useful only to bleed an expiring balance onto a fare you'd have paid anyway.

Estimate IndiGo BluChip is revenue-linked ~Rs0.50/pt; ~= typical one-way IndiGo economy fare / Rs0.50 for ~642 mi - a rupee offset that moves 1:1 with the live fare. Own-metal only, no partners.

Feed it: 12,750 HSBC Reward Points (1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 42,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:1) · 25,500 HDFC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))

as of cardinsider.com
Business

Air Canada Aeroplan

the play 12,500 pts

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

Air India Star Alliance

The metal is settled on both airport tables: Air India flies Mumbai–Chennai on MAINLINE metal, the only Star Alliance operator on the pair, so this band reads the direct great circle and assumes no via-hub detour. Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN — only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. A connecting routing that flies farther lands in the next band up.

Feed it: 6,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 31,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)

as of aircanada.com
Business

Air India Maharaja Points

~19,000 pts est.

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — mainline only, Air India Express does not fly the pair and sells no business cabin

Air India Star Alliance

New row, 2026-08-08. Business was left honestly blank here for months because no table the desk could reach printed a J cell; the complete April-2026 pull does — "BOM,MAA, old 22,000, new 19,000–22,000", a 13.6% cut. 19,000 is the Value cell that ships, 22,000 the band ceiling. The cabin is real, unlike the Bengaluru pairs on this chart: Air India flies Mumbai–Chennai on its own mainline narrowbodies, which carry a proper recliner. It is still the row to skip — ₹15,200 at the ₹0.80 house value where Aeroplan bands the same seat at 12,500 points for ₹12,500. Taxes are cash on top.

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: 19,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 9,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 19,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)

as of datawrapper.dwcdn.net
First

Air Canada Aeroplan

the play 25,000 pts

Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Aeroplan distance-band award (1,033 km)

Air India Star Alliance

Chart completeness, not a booking: Air India runs Mumbai–Chennai on narrowbody metal, so the front cabin is a business recliner and no first cabin flies the pair at all. The cell is real — Aeroplan's Within-Atlantic 0–1,000-mile band prints a First column — but there is nothing on the aircraft to redeem into.

Feed it: 12,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 25,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 62,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)

as of aircanada.com

More corridors

81 from BOM · 40 to MAA

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Flying back? Chennai to Mumbai on points (MAA–BOM). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into South Asia — 380 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.