Award route card · one-way
Etihad and Air Arabia own the nonstop, and neither prints a plannable number. Every fixed price routes through Delhi on Air India, which is on the way west from Kolkata: Maharaja's flat 12,000 economy, and Aeroplan's surcharge-free 40,000 in business booking Etihad's own metal. Maharaja business is honest absence — AI mainline terminated Abu Dhabi and Express flies economy-only. No Avios here; Etihad isn't in oneworld.
The play · business
Feed it: 20,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 40,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,00,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India via DEL (Star Alliance partner award) — no fuel surcharge | 40,000 | — | ₹40,000 | the play |
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 via DEL or BOM (Star Alliance) — no AI nonstop from Kolkata | 12,000 | — | ₹9,600 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India via DEL (Star Alliance partner award) — no fuel surcharge | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | 3.1× |
| Etihad Guest | Etihad nonstop to Abu Dhabi — GuestSeat, calculator-priced | dynamic | — | — | — |
| Air Arabia AirRewards | Air Arabia Abu Dhabi nonstop — AirRewards, fixed fare offset | 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.
Routed CCU–DEL–AUH on Air India mainline (~2,230 flown miles), the within-Atlantic 2,001–4,000-mile band prices business at 40,000, surcharge-free — the only fixed flat bed on a corridor where the two nonstop carriers both price dynamically. A Delhi detour on AI metal; chain-funded HDFC 2:1 / Bonvoy 3:1.
Feed it: 20,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 40,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,00,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Abu Dhabi sits on the flat 12,000-point Middle-East tier, priced by zone not metro — but AI flies no CCU–AUH nonstop, so it's a Delhi or Mumbai connection. The cheapest published economy on the corridor; verify the connecting itinerary prices at the flat zone rate before transferring.
Feed it: 12,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 6,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
30,000 in the 2,001–4,000-mile band for AI economy via Delhi, surcharge-free — but ₹30,000 of points for a 5-hour Gulf hop is dear when cash fares stay cheap. Maharaja's flat 12,000 is the economy floor; Aeroplan here is for the business cabin.
Feed it: 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 75,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Etihad flies CCU–AUH nonstop, but Guest prices GuestSeats dynamically off demand — no published Kolkata datapoint, and real prices run well past the theoretical distance chart. A convenient nonstop for anyone sitting on Guest miles, never a planned redemption.
Ways in: Axis EDGE Miles 1:2 · HSBC Reward Points 1:1 · SBI Travel Credits 1:1
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flies the nonstop, and AirRewards is a fixed fare offset, not a chart: 100 points = US$1 against any seat, no blackouts, Cash+Points allowed (min 3,000 points). Points needed = the day's fare — honest, fully flexible, never a sweet spot. Mind the 24-month expiry.
Ways in: SBI Travel Credits 2:1