Award flight · one-way
The best domestic economy buy nobody talks about. Ahmedabad was in the tier-2 cluster the April-2026 overhaul cut hardest, and Delhi–Ahmedabad came out at 3,500 points in economy (from 4,000) and 17,000 up front (from 22,000, a 23% cut). At ₹0.80 a point that economy seat is ₹2,800 against cash that runs ₹4–7k on a 90-minute Air India mainline nonstop — a genuine, repeatable win, and the whole reason to hold Maharaja Points for domestic flying. The cheapest verified business seat on the board is 12,500 via Air Canada Aeroplan, and economy starts at 7,500. The split is the story: Air Canada undercuts Maharaja's own front cabin by 4,500 points while charging more than double for the seat behind it. Maharaja in the back, Aeroplan up front, and Air India Express — which flies Ahmedabad to Bengaluru and Mumbai — never comes into it.
The play · economy
Which card mints this?
+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →
One of your cards is in those 7 — see it in the funnel →
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 7,500 | — | ₹7,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — Air India Express does not serve Delhi–Ahmedabad | ~3,500 est. | — | ₹2,800 | 0.4× |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) | ~8,400 est. | — | ₹4,200 | 0.6× |
The play · business
Which card mints this?
+7 more ways in — the full funnel, ratios and ₹/mile side by side →
One of your cards is in those 7 — see it in the funnel →
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance partner award) | 12,500 | — | ₹12,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | ~17,000 est. | — | ₹13,600 | 1.1× |
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. 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.
Air India Star Alliance
469 great-circle miles sit comfortably inside the 0–1,000-mile Within-Atlantic band — 7,500 points, surcharge-free bar the CA$39 partner booking fee. More than double Maharaja's 3,500 for the identical seat: the one domestic cabin where the house chart wins outright.
Feed it: 3,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 7,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 18,750 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Cut 13% in April 2026 (4,000 → 3,500) as part of the 30–40% haircut across the tier-2 origins (AMD, ATQ, BDQ, BHJ, BHO). ₹2,800 at house value against ₹4–7k cash is one of the cleanest domestic wins on the board, and the Value cell is now bookable inside 30 days instead of 90+. The published range tops out at 9,000. Statutory taxes and airport fees are cash on top; Air India levies no carrier fuel surcharge on its own metal.
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: 3,500 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 1,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 3,500 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo
IndiGo runs the frequency on Delhi–Ahmedabad, but BluChip has no award chart — redemptions track the live fare at ₹0.40–0.60 per BluChip, minimum 500, taxes cash-only. Against a fixed 3,500-point Maharaja seat this is roughly 2.4× the price for the same 90 minutes.
Estimate IndiGo BluChip is revenue-linked ~Rs0.50/pt; ~= typical one-way IndiGo economy fare / Rs0.50 for ~469 mi - a rupee offset that moves 1:1 with the live fare. Own-metal only, no partners.
Feed it: 12,600 HSBC Reward Points (1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 42,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:1) · 25,200 HDFC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Air India Star Alliance
12,500 in the 0–1,000-mile band, fixed and surcharge-free, against Maharaja's 17,000 for the same Air India business seat — a 26% discount via Toronto. Chain-funded HDFC 2:1 / Bonvoy 3:1, which matters because no Indian card transfers to Aeroplan directly.
Feed it: 6,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 31,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Cut 23% in April 2026 (22,000 → 17,000) — the deepest domestic business cut in this batch, and still 4,500 points dearer than Aeroplan for the same Air India recliner. ₹13,600 of points for 90 minutes up front; take the row below, or take the 3,500-point seat behind it.
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: 17,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 8,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 17,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into South Asia — 360 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,430 corridors priced.