Award route card · one-way
Qatar owns the Kolkata–Doha nonstop, and its own Avios band is the whole story: 43,000 for a Qsuite up front, 14,500 in economy, no detour, six Indian issuers feeding it. Aeroplan undercuts business at 40,000 — but on Air India narrowbody via Delhi, winning on points and losing on the seat. Maharaja's 12,000 is the economy floor via the same Delhi routing (Delhi is on the way west from Kolkata). The call up front is the nonstop Qsuite.
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 |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline via DEL (Star Alliance) — no AI nonstop from Kolkata | 50,000 | — | ₹40,000 | 1.0× |
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | Qatar Airways nonstop — Qsuite on widebody rotations (oneworld partner award) | 43,000 | — | ₹43,000 | 1.1× |
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 (Star Alliance) — no AI nonstop from Kolkata | 12,000 | — | ₹9,600 | the play |
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | Qatar Airways nonstop (oneworld partner award), distance band | 14,500 | — | ₹14,500 | 1.5× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air India via DEL (Star Alliance partner award) — no fuel surcharge | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | 3.1× |
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–DOH on Air India mainline (~2,399 flown miles), the within-Atlantic 2,001–4,000-mile band prices business at 40,000, surcharge-free — 3,000 under Avios's Qsuite on paper. But it's a narrowbody AI cabin via a Delhi detour, not a nonstop Qsuite; the points win, the seat doesn't. 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)
50,000 points on the April-2026 Gulf tier (up from 31,000), plus a Delhi connection on Air India mainline. That's more points than Avios's 43,000 Qsuite nonstop AND Aeroplan's 40,000 — on this corridor Maharaja is the overpriced routing in every cabin.
Feed it: 50,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 25,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 50,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
CCU–DOH's 2,326 flown miles sit in the 2,001–3,000-mile band: 43,000 Avios one-way for Qatar business on the nonstop, post-15-Dec-2025 chart — a Qsuite when the rotation is an A350/787, a narrowbody flatbed on the A320. The band jump above 2,000 miles is steep, but it's the corridor's only fixed-price flat bed on the direct flight. Budget Qatar's carrier charges; no peak/off-peak on partner awards.
Feed it: 43,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 86,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 43,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Doha sits on the April-2026 chart's flat 12,000-point Middle-East tier, priced by zone not metro — but AI mainline flies no CCU–DOH nonstop, so it's a Delhi backtrack against Qatar's own 5-hour direct. 500 points under Avios and via a detour; 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)
14,500 Avios in the 2,001–3,000-mile band for the Qatar nonstop — a fair economy price a hair over Maharaja's 12,000, without the Delhi detour. Weigh it against this corridor's cash fares before transferring; economy is a close call, the business seat is where the value lives.
Feed it: 14,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 29,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 14,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
30,000 in the 2,001–4,000-mile band for AI economy CCU–DEL–DOH, surcharge-free — twice Avios's 14,500 for a worse routing. Aeroplan is a business instrument on this corridor; the economy cell exists only for balances stranded there.
Feed it: 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 75,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)