Award route card · one-way
The corridor where the April-2026 generosity ran out. While domestic awards were being slashed up to 64%, Colombo went the other way — 6,000 to 10,000 points, a 67% hike into the new flat South Asia tier. Even hiked, it's the only fixed number on the route: ₹8,000 at house value against one-way cash fares that routinely sit at ₹12–18k, so the Maharaja seat still clears when Value space shows. IndiGo flies it nonstop too, chart-less as ever. SriLankan no longer serves Delhi at all, which quietly kills every oneworld play — no Asia Miles, and Qatar Avios via Doha would mean a 4,000-km backtrack priced as two sectors. One published price, and it wears a crown.
The play · economy
Feed it: 10,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 5,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 10,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 10,000 | — | ₹8,000 | the play |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) | 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 one hike in a chart of cuts: 6,000 → 10,000 in April 2026, aligning Colombo with the flat South Asia tier (Malé and Dhaka match). Still solid — ₹8,000 of points against ₹12–18k cash fares. Business isn't published route-level for the subcontinent; economy is the only honest row. Taxes unpublished; budget Sri Lankan departure levies on the return.
Feed it: 10,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 5,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 10,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo flies Delhi–Colombo nonstop (alongside its Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai services), but BluChip redemptions track the live fare at a dynamic ₹0.40–0.60 per BluChip with no chart, and taxes stay cash-only. Price the ticket first; burn points only to zero out an expiring balance.
Ways in: HSBC Reward Points 1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL) · Axis EDGE Reward Points 5:1 · HDFC Reward Points 3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)