Award route card · one-way
No Chennai–Malé nonstop, so SriLankan connects over Colombo — and both legs are Zone-1 hops, so Avios sums to just 13,000 one-way (28,000 in business), a Maldives run for less Avios than a single Zone-3 segment costs. IndiGo backtracks over an Indian hub on dynamic BluChip. The tidy Colombo routing is the plan; no Air India metal touches it.
The play · business
Feed it: 28,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 56,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 28,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | SriLankan business via CMB (oneworld) — Avios partner chart, two Zone-1 segments | 28,000 | — | ₹28,000 | the play |
The play · economy
Feed it: 13,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 26,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 13,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
| Program | Metal / routing | Points | Surcharge | All-in ₹ | vs play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avios (BA / Qatar / Finnair) | SriLankan via CMB (oneworld) — Avios partner chart, two Zone-1 segments | 13,000 | — | ₹13,000 | the play |
| IndiGo BluChip | IndiGo via an Indian hub (BLR/COK) — BluChip, dynamic | dynamic | — | — | — |
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, multi-hop chains included.
MAA-CMB (Z1, 14,000 J) + CMB-MLE (Z1, 14,000 J) = 28,000 Avios in SriLankan business via Colombo. Two short widebody hops up front for the Maldives; the Colombo layover is the price of the routing.
Feed it: 28,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 56,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 28,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
No MAA-MLE nonstop; SriLankan connects over Colombo, and both legs are Zone-1 hops — MAA-CMB (402 mi, 6,500) + CMB-MLE (484 mi, 6,500) = 13,000 Avios. A one-stop to the Maldives for less Avios than a single Zone-3 segment costs.
Feed it: 13,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 26,000 Amex Membership Rewards (2:1) · 13,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
IndiGo serves Malé, but not from Chennai — a BluChip itinerary backtracks over Bengaluru or Kochi on 6E metal, fare-linked at ~₹0.40-0.80 per point. SriLankan's tidy Colombo routing beats it; this is a balance-dump row.
Ways in: HSBC Reward Points 1.5:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL) · Axis EDGE Reward Points 5:1 · HDFC Reward Points 3:1 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)