Award flight · one-way
Johannesburg → Nairobi on points: 7 options across the alliance backbones our cards can reach. Aeroplan books Star partner metal at a fixed 2,912 km distance 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,912 km) | 15,000 | — | ₹15,000 | the play |
| Kenya Airways Asante Rewards | Kenya Airways own metal from NBO, region award | ~15,000 est. | — | ₹12,750 | 0.8× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Kenya Airways nonstop — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~15,000 est. | — | ₹15,000 | 1.0× |
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 | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,912 km) | 22,500 | — | ₹22,500 | the play |
| Kenya Airways Asante Rewards | Kenya Airways own metal from NBO, region award | ~30,000 est. | — | ₹25,500 | 1.1× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Kenya Airways nonstop — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~30,000 est. | — | ₹30,000 | 1.3× |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan the play | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (2,912 km) | 40,000 | — | ₹40,000 | the play |
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. 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. 1 other programme priced here publishes nothing the desk could read.
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 15,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 37,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Kenya Airways SkyTeam
Kenya Airways own-metal Johannesburg→Nairobi. Kenya Airways levies meaningful carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets on top of government taxes - budget roughly US$100-300 one-way, with the Europe and New York routes at the painful end. Treat any KQ redemption as a cash-plus-miles ticket, not a free one. A valid Kenya Airways routing is assumed.
Estimate Dynamic/unpublished-chart program — estimate is the typical one-way economy level Johannesburg→Nairobi (range 12,500–20,000); not a fixed chart price, never THE PLAY.
Feed it: 45,000 HSBC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 90,000 HDFC Reward Points (6:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 225,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (15:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Kenya Airways SkyTeam
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 15,000 economy (JNB–NBO 2,912 km → 15,000 = 15,000 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 Kenya Airways (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: JNB–NBO 2,912 km → 15,000 = 15,000 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. CARRIER CAVEAT: the desk's bands are fitted on Gulf-carrier datapoints and Kenya Airways consistently prices ABOVE them in published quotes (roughly +40% to +120%), so read this as a floor rather than a midpoint.
Feed it: 15,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 7,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 15,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 11,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 22,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 56,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Kenya Airways SkyTeam
Kenya Airways own-metal Johannesburg→Nairobi. Kenya Airways levies meaningful carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets on top of government taxes - budget roughly US$100-300 one-way, with the Europe and New York routes at the painful end. Treat any KQ redemption as a cash-plus-miles ticket, not a free one. A valid Kenya Airways routing is assumed.
Estimate Dynamic/unpublished-chart program — estimate is the typical one-way business level Johannesburg→Nairobi (range 25,000–37,500); not a fixed chart price, never THE PLAY.
Feed it: 90,000 HSBC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 180,000 HDFC Reward Points (6:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 450,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (15:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Kenya Airways SkyTeam
Flying Blue has no award chart, but its partner awards are additive per segment, so this routing bands to 30,000 business (JNB–NBO 2,912 km → 30,000 = 30,000 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 Kenya Airways (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: JNB–NBO 2,912 km → 30,000 = 30,000 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. CARRIER CAVEAT: the desk's bands are fitted on Gulf-carrier datapoints and Kenya Airways consistently prices ABOVE them in published quotes (roughly +40% to +120%), so read this as a floor rather than a midpoint.
Feed it: 30,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN. This row is the direct great-circle band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. A valid Star routing (nonstop or via a Star hub within the maximum permitted mileage) is assumed.
Feed it: 20,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 40,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 100,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Flying back? Nairobi to Johannesburg on points (NBO–JNB). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into Africa — 210 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.