Award flight · one-way
Chennai → Doha on points: 29 options, the board now symmetric with Doha → Chennai. Award charts price the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so every program that prices the reverse heading is mirrored here — a mirror still flagged as an estimate never takes the crown. The cheapest verified business seat on the board is 30,000 via Aegean Miles+Bonus, and economy starts at 14,500. 15 rows are first-hand chart reads.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) the play | Qatar Airways nonstop (oneworld) — Avios partner chart, single segment Zone 4 | 14,500 | — | ₹14,500 | the play |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India via BOM (MAA–BOM–DOH, AI mainline) — Maharaja Middle East tier | ~12,000 est. | — | ₹9,600 | 0.7× |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo nonstop — BluChip, dynamic (revenue-priced) | ~20,000 est. | — | ₹10,000 | 0.7× |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Avianca LifeMiles | ~15,000 est. | — | ₹15,000 | 1.0× |
| United MileagePlus | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — United MileagePlus | ~17,500 est. | — | ₹17,500 | 1.2× |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award — or SriLankan Airlines via CMB, or Oman Air via MCT | 17,500 | — | ₹17,500 | 1.2× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Etihad via AUH (MAA–AUH–DOH), or Oman Air via MCT — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~20,000 est. | — | ₹20,000 | 1.4× |
| Aegean Miles+Bonus | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Aegean Miles+Bonus | 20,000 | — | ₹20,000 | 1.4× |
| Copa Airlines ConnectMiles | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Copa ConnectMiles (fixed region chart) | 20,000 | — | ₹20,000 | 1.4× |
| Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards | Qatar Airways nonstop MAA-DOH (oneworld partner award), India→the Gulf — Alaska Atmos | 25,000 | — | ₹25,000 | 1.7× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (3,286 km) — or Air India via DEL | ~30,000 est. | — | ₹30,000 | 2.1× |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — TAP Miles&Go | 60,000 | — | ₹48,000 | 3.3× |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Star Alliance metal (Air India — EVA itself serves no Indian city; the award rides partner metal), India→the Gulf — EVA Infinity MileageLands | 51,000 | — | ₹51,000 | 3.5× |
| Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | Etihad own metal (MAA–AUH–DOH) — Vietnam Lotusmiles partner award | ~60,000 est. | — | ₹60,000 | 4.1× |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegean Miles+Bonus the play | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Aegean Miles+Bonus | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | the play |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Avianca LifeMiles | ~25,000 est. | — | ₹25,000 | 0.8× |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | oneworld partner metal, AAdvantage region award — or SriLankan Airlines via CMB, or Oman Air via MCT | 30,000 | — | ₹30,000 | 1.0× |
| United MileagePlus | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — United MileagePlus | ~32,500 est. | — | ₹32,500 | 1.1× |
| Copa Airlines ConnectMiles | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — Copa ConnectMiles (fixed region chart) | 35,000 | — | ₹35,000 | 1.2× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (3,286 km) — or Air India via DEL | ~40,000 est. | — | ₹40,000 | 1.3× |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Air India via BOM (MAA–BOM–DOH, AI mainline) — Maharaja Middle East tier | ~50,000 est. | — | ₹40,000 | 1.3× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Etihad via AUH (MAA–AUH–DOH), or Oman Air via MCT — Flying Blue partner award (dynamic) | ~41,500 est. | — | ₹41,500 | 1.4× |
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | Qatar Airways Qsuite nonstop (oneworld) — Avios partner chart, single segment Zone 4 | 43,000 | — | ₹43,000 | 1.4× |
| Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards | Qatar Airways nonstop MAA-DOH (oneworld partner award), India→the Gulf — Alaska Atmos | 50,000 | — | ₹50,000 | 1.7× |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | Star Alliance partner metal, India→the Gulf — TAP Miles&Go | 80,000 | — | ₹64,000 | 2.1× |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Star Alliance metal (Air India — EVA itself serves no Indian city; the award rides partner metal), India→the Gulf — EVA Infinity MileageLands | 67,000 | — | ₹67,000 | 2.2× |
| Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | Etihad own metal (MAA–AUH–DOH) — Vietnam Lotusmiles partner award | ~120,000 est. | — | ₹1,20,000 | 4.0× |
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 — or SriLankan Airlines via CMB, or Oman Air via MCT | 40,000 | — | ₹40,000 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance partner metal, Aeroplan distance-band award (3,286 km) — or Air India via DEL | ~75,000 est. | — | ₹75,000 | 1.9× |
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.
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. Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) and Air France-KLM Flying Blue state that a carrier-imposed surcharge is charged on an award. Air India Maharaja Points, United MileagePlus, American Airlines AAdvantage, Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards and Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles 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. 6 other programmes priced here publish nothing the desk could read.
Open this corridor in British Airways’ Flight Finder → It fills in your search — MAA to DOH on 29/12/2026, which you change there. It does not show award space, and no link on this page can. It is the only carrier handoff the desk ships: Qatar returns CASH fares under award-looking parameters, Aeroplan discards them behind a login, KrisFlyer’s search has no URL to link to, and the Flying Blue template in circulation has never been verified.
Qatar Airways oneworld
MAA-DOH is 2,042 mi — 42 miles past the 2,000-mile line, so the single Qatar segment prices in Zone 4 at 14,500 Avios, not Delhi's Zone-3 12,500. The band cliff is the honest Chennai number; still a fair economy rate on Qatar's own nonstop.
Feed it: 14,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 29,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 14,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Air India Star Alliance
Air India mainline flies both MAA–BOM and BOM–DOH, so the routing is one all-mainline Maharaja award at the flat 12,000 Middle East economy tier (Mumbai is on the way — no backtrack). Undercuts Qatar's Zone-4 14,500 Avios nonstop on points; the Qsuite seat keeps it honest.
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: 12,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 6,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 12,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo
IndiGo flies MAA-DOH nonstop, priced off the live fare (~₹0.40-0.80 per BluChip, min 500 chips, own metal only). No chart, no sweet spot — a fare discount on the corridor's cheap end, not an award.
Estimate IndiGo BluChip is revenue-linked ~Rs0.50/pt; ~= typical one-way IndiGo economy fare / Rs0.50 for ~2,042 mi - a rupee offset that moves 1:1 with the live fare. Own-metal only, no partners.
Feed it: 30,000 HSBC Reward Points (1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 100,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:1) · 60,000 HDFC Reward Points (3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL))
Star Alliance
LifeMiles prices Star partner metal off an unpublished grid; India→Europe business ~63k is the headline sweet spot (beats Aeroplan). Business is the value cabin here; economy is mediocre. The chart is semi-fixed/unpublished, so some bands are estimates.
Estimate LifeMiles publishes no award chart — Avianca withdrew its public zone table in 2023 and prices Star partner awards off an unpublished internal grid. This level is extrapolated from that historical zone pricing plus dated community booking reports, not a verified chart price.
Feed it: 45,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 90,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 30,000 HDFC Reward Points (2:1)
Star Alliance
United went fully dynamic in 2020 (no fixed chart), so ~17,500 is a typical Saver partner level to the Gulf. But Aeroplan often prices the same Star seat lower, so compare before burning United miles.
Estimate United MileagePlus Saver partner level, India→the Gulf on Star Alliance metal; United went fully dynamic in 2020, so this is a typical Saver that moves with availability and cabin scarcity.
Feed it: 8,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 43,750 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2) · 52,500 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy)
SriLankan AirlinesOman Air oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. First is the chart’s top cabin for this region pair, so the cell is easier to read than to book wherever no oneworld carrier flies a first cabin on the sector. That region-to-region cell is the PAIR, not the direction: every Indian-Subcontinent cell reads identically from either origin chart, so this heading has one published number.
Feed it: 52,500 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 105,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 35,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Etihad AirwaysOman Air
Flying Blue prices dynamically — no fixed chart — and bills partner awards PER SEGMENT, so a connection is a sum. Air France/KLM pass carrier (YQ) surcharges on own metal, and only economy and business are bookable on partners. Mirrored from doh-maa: the chart cell is the same in either direction, so 20,000 is the doh-maa number read back the other way — an estimate until this direction is re-read, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Estimate Reverse of doh-maa — Air France-KLM Flying Blue prices the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so this mirrors the doh-maa economy cell one-for-one; the desk has not separately re-read the chart for this direction. Flying Blue is dynamic and prices partner awards PER SEGMENT (One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway"). No SkyTeam carrier serves Chennai at all, so this row rides Etihad — a Flying Blue redemption partner since 27-Nov-2023 — via AUH: 2,966 km + 321 km banded to 15,000 + 5,000 = 20,000 economy. Bands anchored on published Flying Blue partner datapoints (business one-way: 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); economy is half of business, the one published economy anchor. Dates and demand move the real number. The <=1,200 km rung of those bands was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published in-band 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, so the short-hop component is the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 20,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 10,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 20,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Star Alliance
Aegean Miles+Bonus prices Star partner metal off one region chart published as ROUND TRIPS — its own rule is that a one-way costs exactly half, and the halved figure is what we show. India sits in the "Near East & Central Asia" zone: the Far East is a flat 30k/45k one-way (Tokyo costs the same as Bangkok), Europe 35k/55k, North America 50k/75k. No Indian card feeds it — Marriott Bonvoy 3:1 is the only road in, and awards only display once you hold the full balance.
Feed it: 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 120,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 40,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
Copa ConnectMiles prices Star partner metal off its FIXED region chart (India sits in Copa’s "Central Asia" zone). Standout value — India→Europe 45k business, India→Sub-Saharan Africa 17.5k economy on Ethiopian (Cairo is a dearer 20k Middle East cell) — but NO Indian card feeds ConnectMiles (buy-miles or a US co-brand only), so treat it as a reference benchmark, not a wallet-reachable route.
Feed it: 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 120,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 40,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Qatar AirwaysOman AirSriLankan Airlines oneworld
Qatar Airways flies MAA-DOH nonstop, ~2,042 miles, and Alaska Atmos bands partner awards by distance flown — the Asia-Pacific chart's 1,501-3,000 mi band: 25,000 economy / 50,000 business one-way, plus the $20 partner booking fee per person each way (up from $12.50 on 1-Jul-2026). One-way.
Feed it: 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.4:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 120,000 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 40,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air India Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN — only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. First is the published top cabin for this band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. Mirrored from doh-maa: the chart cell is the same in either direction, so 30,000 is the doh-maa number read back the other way — an estimate until this direction is re-read, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Estimate Reverse of doh-maa — Air Canada Aeroplan prices the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so this mirrors the doh-maa economy cell one-for-one; the desk has not separately re-read the chart for this direction.
Feed it: 15,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 30,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 75,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Star Alliance
The 4 May 2026 chart pulled the Gulf out of TAP's "Asia" zone and gave it a Middle East band of its own: India→Middle East went 40k/60k → 60k/80k one-way, +50% in economy and +33% in business on a short hop. Intra-Asia is now 50k/70k, so Bangkok and Singapore price below Dubai. Heavy fuel surcharges on Lufthansa-group and TAP metal; Turkish, EgyptAir and Ethiopian routings dodge most of the YQ.
Feed it: 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.5:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 300,000 RBL Reward Points (5:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 100,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.67:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air India Star Alliance
EVA Infinity MileageLands prices Star metal off its zone chart (India = "Central/South Asia" zone; one-way = half round-trip). EVA own metal via Taipei covers Japan/N-Asia/SE-Asia/US/Europe; Gulf/Africa/Oceania are partner-metal only. India→US business ~97.5k (possibly ~55-60k on a fully-EVA routing).
Feed it: 51,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 340,000 Amex Membership Rewards (6.67:1 via Hilton Honors) · 1,275,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (25:1 via Hilton Honors)
Etihad Airways
Chennai has no SkyTeam service at all — its own airport table lists British Airways, Cathay, Ethiopian, Lufthansa, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, Thai, SriLankan, Oman Air, Etihad, Emirates, Air India and the Indian low-costs, and not one SkyTeam member — so the AF/KLM/Korean/Saudia metal this row used to claim could never lift you out of MAA. Re-metalled onto Etihad 2026-08-01 after the SkyTeam phantom test that purged Air Europa SUMA from the same corridors. Lotusmiles partner awards are not bookable online — Vietnam Airlines takes them through its contact centre — so treat availability as the binding constraint, not the price. Vietnam Airlines' own metal never comes near either end: VN reaches DEL/BOM from Saigon and BLR/HYD from Hanoi, and no Gulf point at all. One-way.
Estimate Etihad is a named Lotusmiles redemption partner (award booking classes I business / N economy on Vietnam Airlines' own partner table) and flies MAA–AUH–DOH end to end on its own metal. Lotusmiles deducts miles PER FLIGHT SEGMENT, so this sums the published Southwest Asia x Middle East cell (35,000 economy / 70,000 business) and the Middle East x Middle East cell (25,000 / 50,000) = 60,000 economy one-way. Estimated on two counts: Lotusmiles publishes its 11-zone table for SkyTeam metal plus China Southern and ANA only, sending non-SkyTeam partners to a separate 10-zone "Award Zone Definition on Other Airlines" whose mileage table it never publishes; and it does not state whether the per-segment rule survives onto that grid. Both zone definitions put India in South West Asia and the Gulf in Middle East, so only the grid, not the cell, is in question.
Feed it: 60,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 60,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 60,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
Star Alliance
Aegean Miles+Bonus prices Star partner metal off one region chart published as ROUND TRIPS — its own rule is that a one-way costs exactly half, and the halved figure is what we show. India sits in the "Near East & Central Asia" zone: the Far East is a flat 30k/45k one-way (Tokyo costs the same as Bangkok), Europe 35k/55k, North America 50k/75k. No Indian card feeds it — Marriott Bonvoy 3:1 is the only road in, and awards only display once you hold the full balance.
Feed it: 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.5:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 150,000 RBL Reward Points (5:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 50,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.67:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
LifeMiles prices Star partner metal off an unpublished grid; India→Europe business ~63k is the headline sweet spot (beats Aeroplan). Business is the value cabin here; economy is mediocre. The chart is semi-fixed/unpublished, so some bands are estimates.
Estimate LifeMiles publishes no award chart — Avianca withdrew its public zone table in 2023 and prices Star partner awards off an unpublished internal grid. This level is extrapolated from that historical zone pricing plus dated community booking reports, not a verified chart price.
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 HDFC Reward Points (2:1)
SriLankan AirlinesOman Air oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. First is the chart’s top cabin for this region pair, so the cell is easier to read than to book wherever no oneworld carrier flies a first cabin on the sector. That region-to-region cell is the PAIR, not the direction: every Indian-Subcontinent cell reads identically from either origin chart, so this heading has one published number.
Feed it: 90,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 180,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 60,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
United went fully dynamic in 2020 (no fixed chart), so ~32,500 is a typical Saver partner level to the Gulf. But Aeroplan often prices the same Star seat lower, so compare before burning United miles.
Estimate United MileagePlus Saver partner level, India→the Gulf on Star Alliance metal; United went fully dynamic in 2020, so this is a typical Saver that moves with availability and cabin scarcity.
Feed it: 16,250 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 81,250 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2) · 67,500 Amex Membership Rewards (2.08:1 via Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
Copa ConnectMiles prices Star partner metal off its FIXED region chart (India sits in Copa’s "Central Asia" zone). Standout value — India→Europe 45k business, India→Sub-Saharan Africa 17.5k economy on Ethiopian (Cairo is a dearer 20k Middle East cell) — but NO Indian card feeds ConnectMiles (buy-miles or a US co-brand only), so treat it as a reference benchmark, not a wallet-reachable route.
Feed it: 90,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.57:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 180,000 RBL Reward Points (5.14:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 60,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.71:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air India Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN — only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. First is the published top cabin for this band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. Mirrored from doh-maa: the chart cell is the same in either direction, so 40,000 is the doh-maa number read back the other way — an estimate until this direction is re-read, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Estimate Reverse of doh-maa — Air Canada Aeroplan prices the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so this mirrors the doh-maa business cell one-for-one; the desk has not separately re-read the chart for this direction.
Feed it: 20,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 40,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 100,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Air India Star Alliance
MAA–BOM–DOH is all Air India mainline, so business books at the flat 50,000 Middle East tier (up 9–61% in Apr-2026, route-dependent) — Mumbai on the way, no backtrack. Qatar's Zone-4 Qsuite runs 43,000 Avios on the nonstop, cheaper and a better seat, so Maharaja is the completeness flat-bed here.
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: 50,000 IndusInd Reward Points (1:1) · 25,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 50,000 ICICI Reward Points (1:1)
Etihad AirwaysOman Air
Flying Blue prices dynamically — no fixed chart — and bills partner awards PER SEGMENT, so a connection is a sum. Air France/KLM pass carrier (YQ) surcharges on own metal, and only economy and business are bookable on partners. Mirrored from doh-maa: the chart cell is the same in either direction, so 41,500 is the doh-maa number read back the other way — an estimate until this direction is re-read, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Estimate Reverse of doh-maa — Air France-KLM Flying Blue prices the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so this mirrors the doh-maa business cell one-for-one; the desk has not separately re-read the chart for this direction. Flying Blue is dynamic and prices partner awards PER SEGMENT (One Mile at a Time, 6-Jun-2024: "you're paying the per segment pricing anyway"). No SkyTeam carrier serves Chennai at all, so this row rides Etihad — a Flying Blue redemption partner since 27-Nov-2023 — via AUH: 2,966 km + 321 km banded to 30,000 + 11,500 = 41,500 business. Bands anchored on published Flying Blue partner datapoints (business one-way: 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); economy is half of business, the one published economy anchor. Dates and demand move the real number. The <=1,200 km rung of those bands was re-fitted on 2026-08-02 as the geometric mean of its own published in-band 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, so the short-hop component is the coarsest number on this row.
Feed it: 41,500 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 20,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 41,500 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Qatar Airways oneworld
The 42-mile band cliff bites hard up front: Zone 4 Qsuite is 43,000 Avios one-way, versus Delhi's 24,500 in Zone 3 for the same seat. Qatar's densest Indian schedule feeds it, but the distance quietly nearly doubles the price. Verify the aircraft carries real Qsuite before booking.
Feed it: 43,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 86,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 43,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
Qatar AirwaysOman AirSriLankan Airlines oneworld
Qatar Airways flies MAA-DOH nonstop, ~2,042 miles, and Alaska Atmos bands partner awards by distance flown — the Asia-Pacific chart's 1,501-3,000 mi band: 25,000 economy / 50,000 business one-way, plus the $20 partner booking fee per person each way (up from $12.50 on 1-Jul-2026). One-way.
Feed it: 120,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.4:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 240,000 RBL Reward Points (4.8:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 80,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Star Alliance
The 4 May 2026 chart pulled the Gulf out of TAP's "Asia" zone and gave it a Middle East band of its own: India→Middle East went 40k/60k → 60k/80k one-way, +50% in economy and +33% in business on a short hop. Intra-Asia is now 50k/70k, so Bangkok and Singapore price below Dubai. Heavy fuel surcharges on Lufthansa-group and TAP metal; Turkish, EgyptAir and Ethiopian routings dodge most of the YQ.
Feed it: 195,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2.44:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 390,000 RBL Reward Points (4.88:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 130,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (1.63:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air India Star Alliance
EVA Infinity MileageLands prices Star metal off its zone chart (India = "Central/South Asia" zone; one-way = half round-trip). EVA own metal via Taipei covers Japan/N-Asia/SE-Asia/US/Europe; Gulf/Africa/Oceania are partner-metal only. India→US business ~97.5k (possibly ~55-60k on a fully-EVA routing).
Feed it: 67,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 446,667 Amex Membership Rewards (6.67:1 via Hilton Honors) · 1,675,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (25:1 via Hilton Honors)
Etihad Airways
Chennai has no SkyTeam service at all — its own airport table lists British Airways, Cathay, Ethiopian, Lufthansa, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, Thai, SriLankan, Oman Air, Etihad, Emirates, Air India and the Indian low-costs, and not one SkyTeam member — so the AF/KLM/Korean/Saudia metal this row used to claim could never lift you out of MAA. Re-metalled onto Etihad 2026-08-01 after the SkyTeam phantom test that purged Air Europa SUMA from the same corridors. Lotusmiles partner awards are not bookable online — Vietnam Airlines takes them through its contact centre — so treat availability as the binding constraint, not the price. Vietnam Airlines' own metal never comes near either end: VN reaches DEL/BOM from Saigon and BLR/HYD from Hanoi, and no Gulf point at all. One-way.
Estimate Etihad is a named Lotusmiles redemption partner (award booking classes I business / N economy on Vietnam Airlines' own partner table) and flies MAA–AUH–DOH end to end on its own metal. Lotusmiles deducts miles PER FLIGHT SEGMENT, so this sums the published Southwest Asia x Middle East cell (35,000 economy / 70,000 business) and the Middle East x Middle East cell (25,000 / 50,000) = 120,000 business one-way. Estimated on two counts: Lotusmiles publishes its 11-zone table for SkyTeam metal plus China Southern and ANA only, sending non-SkyTeam partners to a separate 10-zone "Award Zone Definition on Other Airlines" whose mileage table it never publishes; and it does not state whether the per-segment rule survives onto that grid. Both zone definitions put India in South West Asia and the Gulf in Middle East, so only the grid, not the cell, is in question.
Feed it: 120,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 120,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1) · 120,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
SriLankan AirlinesOman Air oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. First is the chart’s top cabin for this region pair, so the cell is easier to read than to book wherever no oneworld carrier flies a first cabin on the sector. That region-to-region cell is the PAIR, not the direction: every Indian-Subcontinent cell reads identically from either origin chart, so this heading has one published number.
Feed it: 120,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 240,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 80,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air India Star Alliance
Aeroplan prices Star partner awards by total distance FLOWN — only a CA$39 partner booking fee plus taxes. First is the published top cabin for this band; a connecting routing that flies farther can land in the next band up. Mirrored from doh-maa: the chart cell is the same in either direction, so 75,000 is the doh-maa number read back the other way — an estimate until this direction is re-read, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Estimate Reverse of doh-maa — Air Canada Aeroplan prices the zone pair or the distance band, not the direction, so this mirrors the doh-maa first cell one-for-one; the desk has not separately re-read the chart for this direction.
Feed it: 37,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 75,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 187,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Flying back? Doha to Chennai on points (DOH–MAA). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into Middle East — 207 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.