Award flight · one-way
The domestic cell that went UP. While Air India was cutting economy on 110 routes in April 2026, Delhi–Kochi moved the other way — 7,500 to 8,500, a 13% increase on the longest domestic sector it sells — and then moved the other way again up front, 31,000 down to 26,000. Both are mainline nonstops; Cochin's operator table lists Air India to Delhi and Mumbai and nothing else, and Air India Express, which serves Kochi from eleven other cities, sits this one out entirely. That mainline metal is exactly why Toronto reaches this corridor at all: 1,272 great-circle miles land in Aeroplan's 1,001–2,000-mile Within-Atlantic band, surcharge-free. The cheapest verified business seat on the board is 22,500 via Air Canada Aeroplan, and economy starts at 15,000 — but count the rupees before you book it. Aeroplan points cost ₹1.00 against ₹0.80 for Air India Maharaja Points, so 22,500 Aeroplan is ₹22,500 where Maharaja's 26,000 is ₹20,800: the fewer-points seat is the dearer one, the only domestic corridor here where that flips. Burn the house chart in both cabins and save Aeroplan for a band it actually wins.
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) | 15,000 | — | ₹15,000 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier — Air India Express does not serve this pair | ~8,500 est. | — | ₹6,800 | 0.5× |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) | ~14,000 est. | — | ₹7,000 | 0.5× |
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) | 22,500 | — | ₹22,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India mainline nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | ~26,000 est. | — | ₹20,800 | 0.9× |
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
Delhi–Kochi's 1,272 miles sit in the 1,001–2,000-mile Within-Atlantic band — 15,000 points, no fuel or carrier surcharge, only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. Maharaja does the same seat for 8,500, so this row is completeness, not a buy.
Feed it: 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 15,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 37,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Up 13% in April 2026 (7,500 → 8,500) — one of only 15 domestic economy routes that got dearer while the average fell 28%. ₹6,800 at house value against ₹6–9k cash on a three-hour sector: still the better side of the trade in the back. The published range runs to 14,500 on the top tier; 8,500 is the Value cell, now bookable inside 30 days rather than 90+. Taxes and passenger service fees are cash on top and unpublished.
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: 8,500 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 4,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 8,500 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo
IndiGo flies Delhi–Kochi nonstop and runs more of it than Air India, but BluChip has no award chart — redemptions track the live fare at ₹0.40–0.60 per BluChip, minimum 500, taxes cash-only. On the longest domestic sector here that is a lot of points for a ticket you could have bought.
Estimate IndiGo BluChip is revenue-linked ~Rs0.50/pt; ~= typical one-way IndiGo economy fare / Rs0.50 for ~1272 mi - a rupee offset that moves 1:1 with the live fare. Own-metal only, no partners.
Feed it: 21,000 HSBC Reward Points (1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 70,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:1) · 42,000 HDFC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Air India Star Alliance
22,500 in the 1,001–2,000-mile band for the identical Air India business seat, fixed and surcharge-free — 3,500 points cheaper than Maharaja's 26,000 and, at ₹1.00 a point against ₹0.80, ₹1,700 dearer. The one domestic corridor here where the partner chart's lower number is the worse deal. Chain-funded HDFC 2:1 / Bonvoy 3:1. Watch the band: a connection through Mumbai flies 1,368 miles and stays inside it, but only just.
Feed it: 11,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 22,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 56,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
Cut 16% in April 2026 (31,000 → 26,000), and the rare domestic business cell the house chart actually wins: Aeroplan quotes 3,500 fewer points for the identical Air India seat, but its points cost ₹1.00 to Maharaja's ₹0.80, so ₹20,800 here beats ₹22,500 there. That is still a lot of rupees for three hours in a narrowbody recliner — the 8,500-point economy cell is the corridor's real buy.
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: 26,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 13,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 26,000 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.