Award route card · one-way
The corridor where flying FROM Colombo pays you. UK Air Passenger Duty is charged only on departures from UK airports — £244 a head in a premium cabin from April 2026 — so the ex-CMB one-way carries none of it. BA relaunched London–Colombo in April 2026 and its per-route list prices the business seat at 99,000 Avios off-peak each way; SriLankan's nonstop books off the 4,001–5,500-mile partner band, which likely undercuts that, but the post-Dec-2025 long-haul band values aren't in any source we can cite — so we print BA and flag UL rather than guess. Qsuite via Doha prices per leg (43,000 for CMB–DOH alone) and sums past the nonstop. Air India publishes no Colombo-origin chart.
The play · business
Feed it: 99,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 1,98,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 99,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | British Airways nonstop (relaunched Apr-2026), Club World off-peak | 99,000 | — | ₹99,000 | the play |
| Etihad Guest | Etihad via AUH (one stop) — GuestSeat, calculator-priced | dynamic | — | — | — |
| Emirates Skywards | Emirates via DXB (one stop) — Classic Rewards, calculator-priced | dynamic | — | — | — |
The play · economy
Feed it: 33,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 66,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 33,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | British Airways nonstop (relaunched Apr-2026), off-peak | 33,000 | — | ₹33,000 | 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. “Dynamic” rows never compete for the play. Feed-ins come from the same transfer data as the optimizer, multi-hop chains included.
99,000 off-peak / 110,000 peak one-way on BA's per-route list, and the ex-CMB direction dodges the £244 UK APD entirely (£249.50 is the ex-LHR copay). SriLankan's nonstop books off the 4,001–5,500 partner band and should price under this — we haven't found the post-devaluation band published, so BA is the row we can prove. Qsuite via DOH sums two legs past the nonstop.
Feed it: 99,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 1,98,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 99,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Etihad flies CMB–AUH daily and connects to London, but GuestSeat pricing comes off a calculator, not a chart — the documented India-to-London datapoint ran 100,005 miles plus ~₹44,000 in carrier charges. Expect Colombo to price in that unhappy neighbourhood. Listed so nobody discovers it the expensive way.
Ways in: Axis EDGE Miles 1:2 · HSBC Reward Points 1:1 · SBI Travel Credits 1:1
A calculator price, a May-2026 devaluation (+15% premium cabins), a Dubai connection and Emirates' heavy carrier surcharges — every part of this stacks against the published nonstops. Only for Skywards balances with nowhere else to go.
Ways in: Amex Membership Rewards 2:1 · RBL Reward Points 4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy · Axis EDGE Miles 1:1.25 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy
BA's post-Dec-2025 route list: 33,000 off-peak / 38,500 peak each way, either direction. The £85 copay HfP quotes is the ex-UK figure; ex-CMB the cash side is unpublished but structurally lighter — no UK APD on a Colombo departure.
Feed it: 33,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 66,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 33,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)