Award flight · one-way
Washington → Chicago on points: 9 options across the alliance backbones our cards can reach. Aeroplan's only Star metal here is United, a named Select Partner it prices DYNAMICALLY, so that row carries the chart's published "Starting at" floor rather than a fixed band, AAdvantage prices the oneworld routing off its region chart, and Flying Blue covers SkyTeam dynamically. The verified charts crown THE PLAY; the dynamic row is shown as an honest estimate.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines AAdvantage the play | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award | 12,500 | — | ₹12,500 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | United nonstop — an Aeroplan SELECT PARTNER, priced dynamically off a "Starting at" floor — or Air Canada via YYZ | ~10,000 est. | — | ₹10,000 | 0.8× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Delta Air Lines via JFK (IAD–JFK–ORD) — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~10,000 est. | — | ₹10,000 | 0.8× |
| United MileagePlus | United Airlines own metal from IAD, dynamic award | ~15,000 est. | — | ₹15,000 | 1.2× |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines AAdvantage the play | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award | 25,000 | — | ₹25,000 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | United nonstop — an Aeroplan SELECT PARTNER, priced dynamically off a "Starting at" floor — or Air Canada via YYZ | ~20,000 est. | — | ₹20,000 | 0.8× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Delta Air Lines via JFK (IAD–JFK–ORD) — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~23,000 est. | — | ₹23,000 | 0.9× |
The play · first
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines AAdvantage the play | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award | 50,000 | — | ₹50,000 | the play |
| United MileagePlus | United Airlines own metal from IAD, dynamic award | ~32,000 est. | — | ₹32,000 | 0.6× |
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. 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.
Chart-priced, not live seats. These prices are read off each programme’s published award chart and valued at our own house ₹/point. 37% of the 39,855 priced options on the board are stated estimates for programmes that publish no chart; they are marked ~ est. and never crowned the play. Nobody here can see whether a seat exists on your date — confirm the space with the programme before you transfer. Points that leave your issuer do not come back.
The cash on top of the miles. Air France-KLM Flying Blue states that a carrier-imposed surcharge is charged on an award. American Airlines AAdvantage and United MileagePlus make you liable for one if the operating airline levies it, without saying whether it does. Air Canada Aeroplan states it adds none on its own metal. Government taxes and airport charges are payable in every case. Almost no programme publishes the amount, so the desk carries each one’s policy in its own words — on its programme hub — rather than a number nobody published.
oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 37,500 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 75,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 25,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
United AirlinesAir Canada Star Alliance
Converted to an estimate 2026-08-01: the row asserted Aeroplan's fixed "All other partners" cell on metal that column explicitly excludes. Star Alliance has no fixed-price carrier on US domestic metal at all — United and Air Canada are the only Star operators on this pair, and both sit in the dynamic column. There is no fixed-partner routing to re-metal to, so the row carries the published Select floor as an estimate. The Select floor happens to equal the fixed cell in this band, so the number on the board does not move — what changes is the promise behind it. It is a floor now, and it renders as an estimate, which means it can never be crowned THE PLAY. Aeroplan's durable edge on this pair is the fee sheet — not a guaranteed number.
Estimate United Airlines is one of Aeroplan's named SELECT PARTNERS ("Select Partners include United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin Airlines and Provincial Airlines Ltd (PAL)"), and the Flight Reward Chart prices that column DYNAMICALLY. The 501–1,500-mile Within-North-America band this routing reads prints "Starting at 10,000 pts" economy and "Starting at 20,000 pts" business for Air Canada and/or Select Partners — against a flat 10,000 / 20,000 for "All other partners", a cell that does NOT apply to United or Air Canada metal. We carry the published Select floor, not the fixed cell; live quotes sit at or above it and climb in high-demand periods. Star Alliance has no fixed-price carrier on US domestic metal at all — United and Air Canada are the only Star operators on this pair, and both sit in the dynamic column. There is no fixed-partner routing to re-metal to, so the row carries the published Select floor as an estimate.
Feed it: 5,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 10,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 25,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Delta Air Lines SkyTeam
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 10,000 economy (IAD–JFK 366 km → 5,000 + JFK–ORD 1,188 km → 5,000 = 10,000 economy). Partner awards pass the operating carrier's surcharges — the published Oman Air datapoints run US$190–390 one-way — and Flying Blue publishes no per-route table, so this row's cash side stays unpublished. Cabin scope: Etihad sells Flying Blue awards in economy and business only — first, including the Apartment, is not bookable with Miles. First IS bookable on a short list of other partners (Oman Air on Muscat–Bangkok alone, China Eastern, Garuda), none of which is a first routing this board prices, so there is no Flying Blue first row here.
Estimate Flying Blue publishes no chart, but prices PARTNER awards PER SEGMENT — One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024 on the Oman Air launch: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway", and the additive structure reproduces all four published connection datapoints inside 5%. This row rides Delta Air Lines (a Flying Blue SkyTeam and non-alliance partner redemption — Flying Blue runs ONE partner engine over SkyTeam and non-alliance metal alike, which the 13-Jan-2025 repricing proved by moving Etihad and Delta together), so it is banded segment by segment: IAD–JFK 366 km → 5,000 + JFK–ORD 1,188 km → 5,000 = 10,000 economy. Bands anchored on the published Flying Blue partner datapoints (one-way business: Muscat–Dubai 6,100, Abu Dhabi–Kuwait 9,500, Muscat–Bangkok 42,900, Abu Dhabi–Bangkok 45,000, Muscat–Munich 45,800, Abu Dhabi–Johannesburg 48,000, Abu Dhabi–Washington 87,000), with economy at half of business — the one published long-haul economy anchor is Toronto–Abu Dhabi 43,500 against an ~87,000 business segment of the same length. The <=1,200 km rung is the one exception — re-fitted cabin by cabin on its own published quotes on 2026-08-02, hence 5,000 / 11,500 rather than half-and-half. Dates and demand move the real number. BAND CAVEAT: at least one segment here falls in the <=1,200 km band, still the widest residual on the table. It was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published quotes and now reads 5,000 economy / 11,500 business, up from 4,000 / 8,000 — an unfitted rung that ran about 21% and 31% low. The re-fit removes the bias, not the spread: published one-way business quotes inside the band still run 6,100 (Muscat–Dubai) to 19,500 (Toronto–New York), 3.2x apart, and segment length does not explain the gap. Treat the short-hop component as the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 10,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 5,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 10,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
United Airlines Star Alliance
United Airlines own-metal Washington→Chicago. United MileagePlus is fully dynamic — no award chart. Levels below are the typical one-way per person; ranges are the honest low/high seen across dates and demand. A valid United Airlines routing is assumed.
Estimate Dynamic/unpublished-chart program — estimate is the typical one-way economy level Washington→Chicago (range 8k–30k); not a fixed chart price, never THE PLAY.
Feed it: 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 37,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2) · 45,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy)
oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 150,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 50,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
United AirlinesAir Canada Star Alliance
Converted to an estimate 2026-08-01: the row asserted Aeroplan's fixed "All other partners" cell on metal that column explicitly excludes. Star Alliance has no fixed-price carrier on US domestic metal at all — United and Air Canada are the only Star operators on this pair, and both sit in the dynamic column. There is no fixed-partner routing to re-metal to, so the row carries the published Select floor as an estimate. The Select floor happens to equal the fixed cell in this band, so the number on the board does not move — what changes is the promise behind it. It is a floor now, and it renders as an estimate, which means it can never be crowned THE PLAY. Aeroplan's durable edge on this pair is the fee sheet — not a guaranteed number.
Estimate United Airlines is one of Aeroplan's named SELECT PARTNERS ("Select Partners include United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin Airlines and Provincial Airlines Ltd (PAL)"), and the Flight Reward Chart prices that column DYNAMICALLY. The 501–1,500-mile Within-North-America band this routing reads prints "Starting at 10,000 pts" economy and "Starting at 20,000 pts" business for Air Canada and/or Select Partners — against a flat 10,000 / 20,000 for "All other partners", a cell that does NOT apply to United or Air Canada metal. We carry the published Select floor, not the fixed cell; live quotes sit at or above it and climb in high-demand periods. Star Alliance has no fixed-price carrier on US domestic metal at all — United and Air Canada are the only Star operators on this pair, and both sit in the dynamic column. There is no fixed-partner routing to re-metal to, so the row carries the published Select floor as an estimate.
Feed it: 10,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 20,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 50,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Delta Air Lines SkyTeam
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 23,000 business (IAD–JFK 366 km → 11,500 + JFK–ORD 1,188 km → 11,500 = 23,000 business). Partner awards pass the operating carrier's surcharges — the published Oman Air datapoints run US$190–390 one-way — and Flying Blue publishes no per-route table, so this row's cash side stays unpublished. Cabin scope: Etihad sells Flying Blue awards in economy and business only — first, including the Apartment, is not bookable with Miles. First IS bookable on a short list of other partners (Oman Air on Muscat–Bangkok alone, China Eastern, Garuda), none of which is a first routing this board prices, so there is no Flying Blue first row here.
Estimate Flying Blue publishes no chart, but prices PARTNER awards PER SEGMENT — One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024 on the Oman Air launch: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway", and the additive structure reproduces all four published connection datapoints inside 5%. This row rides Delta Air Lines (a Flying Blue SkyTeam and non-alliance partner redemption — Flying Blue runs ONE partner engine over SkyTeam and non-alliance metal alike, which the 13-Jan-2025 repricing proved by moving Etihad and Delta together), so it is banded segment by segment: IAD–JFK 366 km → 11,500 + JFK–ORD 1,188 km → 11,500 = 23,000 business. Bands anchored on the published Flying Blue partner datapoints (one-way business: Muscat–Dubai 6,100, Abu Dhabi–Kuwait 9,500, Muscat–Bangkok 42,900, Abu Dhabi–Bangkok 45,000, Muscat–Munich 45,800, Abu Dhabi–Johannesburg 48,000, Abu Dhabi–Washington 87,000), with economy at half of business — the one published long-haul economy anchor is Toronto–Abu Dhabi 43,500 against an ~87,000 business segment of the same length. The <=1,200 km rung is the one exception — re-fitted cabin by cabin on its own published quotes on 2026-08-02, hence 5,000 / 11,500 rather than half-and-half. Dates and demand move the real number. BAND CAVEAT: at least one segment here falls in the <=1,200 km band, still the widest residual on the table. It was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published quotes and now reads 5,000 economy / 11,500 business, up from 4,000 / 8,000 — an unfitted rung that ran about 21% and 31% low. The re-fit removes the bias, not the spread: published one-way business quotes inside the band still run 6,100 (Muscat–Dubai) to 19,500 (Toronto–New York), 3.2x apart, and segment length does not explain the gap. Treat the short-hop component as the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 23,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 11,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 23,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 300,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 100,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
United Airlines Star Alliance
United Airlines own-metal Washington→Chicago. United MileagePlus is fully dynamic — no award chart. Levels below are the typical one-way per person; ranges are the honest low/high seen across dates and demand. A valid United Airlines routing is assumed.
Estimate Dynamic/unpublished-chart program — estimate is the typical one-way first level Washington→Chicago (range 20k–55k); not a fixed chart price, never THE PLAY.
Feed it: 16,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 80,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2) · 66,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.06:1 via Marriott Bonvoy)
Flying back? Chicago to Washington on points (ORD–IAD). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into North America — 510 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.