Award route card · one-way
Nobody flies Mumbai–Tokyo nonstop, so the corridor reshuffles Delhi's maths across a one-stop. Asia Miles owns economy: BOM–HKG–NRT sums to ~4,488 miles for a flat 20,000 Standard, SBI-fed 1:1 and well under Maharaja's 30,000 via Delhi. In business, AAdvantage's region chart ignores distance entirely — 40,000 on the same Cathay metal, the cheapest flat bed here, 20,000 under Asia Miles and JMB at 60,000. When the corridor stretches, the region chart beats every tape measure.
The play · business
Feed it: 1,20,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 2,40,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 40,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Cathay Pacific business via HKG (oneworld partner award) | 40,000 | — | ₹40,000 | the play |
| Cathay Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific business via HKG (oneworld), Standard award — cumulative-distance pricing | 60,000 | — | ₹60,000 | 1.5× |
| Japan Airlines Mileage Bank | Cathay Pacific business via HKG (oneworld) via JAL partner chart | 60,000 | — | ₹66,000 | 1.6× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India via Delhi (Star Alliance partner award) | 75,000 | — | ₹75,000 | 1.9× |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines via SIN (one stop), Saver | 88,000 | — | ₹96,800 | 2.4× |
The play · economy
Feed it: 40,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 20,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 96,001 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 via HKG (oneworld), Standard award — cumulative-distance pricing | 20,000 | — | ₹20,000 | the play |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Cathay Pacific via HKG (oneworld partner award) | 22,500 | — | ₹22,500 | 1.1× |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India via Delhi (Star Alliance), Value tier — one award, BOM-DEL-HND | 30,000 | — | ₹24,000 | 1.2× |
| Japan Airlines Mileage Bank | Cathay Pacific via HKG (oneworld) via JAL partner chart | 37,000 | — | ₹40,700 | 2.0× |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Singapore Airlines via SIN (one stop), Saver | 42,000 | — | ₹46,200 | 2.3× |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | Malaysia Airlines via KUL (one stop) — revenue-based Enrich pricing | 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, multi-hop chains included.
The corridor's cheapest published flat bed: 40,000 AA miles for two Cathay business sectors, because AA prices Indian Subcontinent → Asia Region 1 flat while every distance chart climbs a band ex-BOM. 120,000 Bonvoy at 3:1 — chain-funded only, but 20,000 under Asia Miles and JMB on identical metal.
Feed it: 1,20,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 2,40,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 40,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
60,000 Standard for two Cathay business legs — level with KrisFlyer's Changi detour and JMB's partner band, 20,000 over AA's region price for the same seats. SBI 1:1 makes it the best bank-fed route to a flat bed here; HDFC and Amex haircut to 2:1.
Feed it: 1,20,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 60,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 2,88,000 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
60,000 one-way business in the 4,001–6,000 partner band — level with Asia Miles, direct-fed at HSBC 1:1, one-ways allowed. JAL's own 40,000 Delhi rate doesn't exist here: JL flies no Mumbai, and its own-metal chart prices Japan departures only. AA's 40,000 is the number to beat; this is the bank-fed runner-up.
Feed it: 30,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 60,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 1,50,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
BOM–DEL–HND flies ~4,350 miles — inside the June-2026 chart's 2,501–5,000 Atlantic–Pacific band at 75,000 business, no surcharges, Air India metal end to end. Nearly double AA's 40,000 on Cathay; exists because Aeroplan takes SBI at 1:1 and Atlas at 1:2 without a hotel hop. A fallback, not a plan.
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)
Zone 6→7 Saver, same as ex-Delhi: 88,000 miles for SQ business both legs through Changi — the longest but best-reviewed way to a flat bed on this corridor, and the easiest to fund from Indian cards. AA's 40,000 on Cathay is cheaper if Bonvoy is your feeder. Corrected 2026-07-22 to the official SQ 1-Nov-2025 chart (Zone 6→7). Every award routes via SIN (no India–Japan/Korea nonstop), which backtracks and may recalculate higher — this is the published reference fare and a floor.
Feed it: 88,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 44,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 1,76,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1)
BOM–HKG–NRT totals ~4,488 flown miles — the 2,751–5,000 Standard band at 20,000, with no India type-2 premium above 2,750 miles. The cheapest published economy on the corridor, SBI-fed 1:1; Standard space is capped and dynamic "Choice" pricing takes over when it's gone.
Feed it: 40,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 20,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 96,001 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Japan is AA's Asia Region 1 — 22,500 from the Indian Subcontinent on Cathay via Hong Kong, region-priced so the 4,488 flown miles cost nothing extra. 67,500 Bonvoy at 3:1 (see /transfers/to/american-aadvantage). Undercuts Maharaja's 30,000 if your points start in Bonvoy; Maharaja wins from a bank feed.
Feed it: 67,500 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 1,35,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 22,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
The April-2026 chart prices India→East Asia at a flat 30,000 in economy — zone-based, so a BOM–DEL–HND connection on a single Air India award books at the same rate as Delhi's nonstop. Value-tier space needed on both legs; taxes unpublished. The East Asia business tier still isn't published route-level.
Feed it: 30,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
Ex-Mumbai the Cathay routing crosses 4,000 flown miles, so JMB's partner chart jumps a band: 37,000 one-way economy versus Delhi's 23,000-band pricing to Hong Kong. 17,000 over Asia Miles for the same seats — ex-BOM, JMB loses its usual consolation-prize status in economy.
Feed it: 18,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 37,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 92,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Mumbai shares Zone 6 with Delhi, Tokyo sits in Zone 7 — so the through-award prices exactly like DEL: 42,000 Saver for two SQ economy legs via Changi. 15,000 over Asia Miles' Hong Kong routing; the draw is the four Indian issuers that mint KrisFlyer without hotel gymnastics. Corrected 2026-07-22 to the official SQ 1-Nov-2025 chart (Zone 6→7). Every award routes via SIN (no India–Japan/Korea nonstop), which backtracks and may recalculate higher — this is the published reference fare and a floor.
Feed it: 42,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 21,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 84,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1)
MH flies BOM–KUL and KUL–NRT on its own metal — a long southern dog-leg — and Enrich prices awards off the cash fare, ~0.8–1.2¢ a point, no chart. No Indian bank feeds Enrich (IHG 5:1, Hilton 25:3 only). Printed for completeness on an all-1-stop corridor.
Ways in: Amex Membership Rewards 9.26:1 via Hilton Honors · Axis EDGE Reward Points 12.5:1 via IHG One Rewards · HDFC Reward Points 5:1 via IHG One Rewards