Award route card · one-way
Mumbai's charts, plus one extra player: Virgin's nonstop, dynamic since October 2024. The published board is unchanged — 62,500 Avios buys BA Club World off-peak (mind the YQ), Aeroplan's June-2026 hike dragged the surcharge-free Air India route from 60,000 to 70,000, and Maharaja holds at an even 100,000. Delhi is also where Aeroplan's band arithmetic gets interesting: London sits at 4,183 miles, just inside the expensive 4,001–6,000 band — see the Paris and Frankfurt cards for how much that boundary is worth.
The play · business
Feed it: 62,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 1,25,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 62,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | British Airways nonstop (oneworld), Club World off-peak | 62,500 | — | ₹62,500 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance partner award (Air India nonstop bookable) | 70,000 | — | ₹70,000 | 1.1× |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 1,00,000 | — | ₹80,000 | 1.3× |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Virgin Atlantic nonstop — dynamic Saver pricing since Oct 2024 | dynamic | — | — | — |
The play · economy
Feed it: 16,250 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 32,500 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 16,250 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | British Airways nonstop (oneworld), off-peak | 16,250 | — | ₹16,250 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India nonstop (Star Alliance), Value tier | 35,000 | — | ₹28,000 | 1.7× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance partner award (Air India nonstop bookable) | 42,500 | — | ₹42,500 | 2.6× |
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, 2-hop chains included.
62,500 Avios off-peak (75,000 peak) — the cheapest published business chart to London, before BA loads its heavy YQ on top. Six Indian issuers feed Avios; nothing else on this corridor is as easy to mint.
Feed it: 62,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 1,25,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 62,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
CardExpert prices Delhi–London explicitly: 60,000 → 70,000 in June 2026 (+17%). Still the honest all-in comparison to Avios — fixed partner pricing, no fuel surcharges, taxes in the low thousands on Air India's nonstop.
Feed it: 35,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 70,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,75,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Europe business settled at 100,000 after the April-2026 cut (was 130,000) — the new A350 up front and six issuers feeding the program. More points than Avios, but no BA-sized surcharge behind it.
Feed it: 1,00,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 50,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 1,00,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
No chart since October 2024 — points track the cash fare. India– London Upper Class starts around 75,000 points on quiet dates and multiplies on peak ones, plus hefty UK and carrier charges. Amex MR at 2:1 is the only Indian feed; a sub-80k Saver is a find, not a plan.
Ways in: Amex Membership Rewards 2:1 · HSBC Reward Points 2.4:1 via Marriott Bonvoy · HDFC Reward Points 4.8:1 via Marriott Bonvoy
Same 4,001–5,500-mile band as Mumbai: 16,250 Avios off-peak (25,000 peak). BA's carrier surcharge ex-India regularly exceeds a sale economy fare — economy Avios on BA metal is almost never the buy. Price the cash ticket first.
Feed it: 16,250 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 32,500 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 16,250 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
The flat 35,000-point Europe economy tier — London named explicitly on the April-2026 chart. At ₹0.80 a point that's ₹28,000 of value for a seat that often sells for less. Burn only what's already stranded in Maharaja.
Feed it: 35,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 17,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 35,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
The within-Atlantic 4,001–6,000-mile band went 35,500 → 42,500 in June 2026. At ₹1/point that's a ₹42,500 economy seat — cash usually wins. Aeroplan earns its keep one cabin up.
Feed it: 21,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 42,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 1,06,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)