Award flight · one-way
Sydney → Toronto on points: 10 options across the alliance backbones our cards can reach. Aeroplan's fixed band only applies to partners outside its dynamic Select column, so the Aeroplan row here is Air China via PEK, or Air India via DEL, banded on the 12,132 miles that routing actually flies, 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 — Cathay Pacific via HKG, or British Airways via LHR | 40,000 | — | ₹40,000 | the play |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | SkyTeam metal, Flying Blue (dynamic) — via LAX, or Korean Air via ICN, or China Eastern via PVG | ~45,000 est. | — | ₹45,000 | 1.1× |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | American Airlines via DFW beyond Qantas' trans-Pacific metal (SYD–DFW–YYZ), Qantas Classic Flight Reward table — Zone 10 on 9,778 one-way miles | 63,500 | — | ₹63,500 | 1.6× |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air China via PEK, or Air India via DEL — the fixed "All other partners" Aeroplan cell, 12,132 mi flown, or Air Canada nonstop, or United Airlines via SFO | 70,000 | — | ₹70,000 | 1.8× |
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 — Cathay Pacific via HKG, or British Airways via LHR | 80,000 | — | ₹80,000 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air China via PEK, or Air India via DEL — the fixed "All other partners" Aeroplan cell, 12,132 mi flown, or Air Canada nonstop, or United Airlines via SFO | 115,000 | — | ₹1,15,000 | 1.4× |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | SkyTeam metal, Flying Blue (dynamic) — via LAX, or Korean Air via ICN, or China Eastern via PVG | ~120,000 est. | — | ₹1,20,000 | 1.5× |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | American Airlines via DFW beyond Qantas' trans-Pacific metal (SYD–DFW–YYZ), Qantas Classic Flight Reward table — Zone 10 on 9,778 one-way miles | 166,300 | — | ₹1,66,300 | 2.1× |
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 — Cathay Pacific via HKG, or British Airways via LHR | 110,000 | — | ₹1,10,000 | the play |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Air China via PEK, or Air India via DEL — the fixed "All other partners" Aeroplan cell, 12,132 mi flown, or Air Canada nonstop, or United Airlines via SFO | 150,000 | — | ₹1,50,000 | 1.4× |
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 makes 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. 1 other programme priced here publishes nothing the desk could read.
Cathay PacificBritish Airways oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
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)
Korean AirChina Eastern SkyTeam
Flying Blue prices dynamically — no fixed chart. Air France/KLM pass carrier (YQ) surcharges on own metal — typically €90–110 economy / €200–300 business one-way long-haul; intra-region SkyTeam ~€15–40. Typical one-way economy runs 35k–65k; award space and travel date drive the real number.
Estimate Dynamic program — estimate is the typical one-way level for this region-pair (range 35k–65k); not a fixed chart price, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Feed it: 45,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 22,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 45,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
QantasAmerican Airlines oneworld
Qantas dropped Toronto years ago, so this is not the Qantas nonstop the row used to claim. American Airlines is on the QANTAS Classic Flight Reward table — qantas.com lists it verbatim: 'For Classic Flight Rewards with Qantas, Jetstar, Fiji Airways and American Airlines' — so a Qantas long-haul plus an American connection stays on the Qantas table, not the dearer partner one. Summed great-circle sectors: SYD–DFW 8,580 mi + DFW–YYZ 1,198 mi = 9,778 mi, Zone 10 (9,601–15,000 mi). Price unchanged — what was wrong was the claim of a Qantas nonstop. Points exclude taxes, fees and carrier charges; Qantas publishes no surcharge table, so no numeric value is asserted — budget A$150-300 economy, A$400-900 business, indicative not sourced.
Feed it: 50,800 HSBC Reward Points (1:1.25 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 31,750 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 63,500 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
Air ChinaAir IndiaAir CanadaUnited Airlines Star Alliance
Re-metalled 2026-08-01. The old row named Air Canada while asserting a fixed chart cell, and Air Canada sits in the DYNAMIC column, so that cell never applied to its metal. Aeroplan's chart prints two rows per band: a dynamic "Starting at" floor for "Air Canada and/or Select Partners" (United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin and PAL), and one fixed number for "All other partners". Air Canada does fly Toronto–Sydney via Vancouver, but its own metal is the dynamic column — the fixed cell never applied. The shortest all-fixed-partner itinerary is Air China via Beijing at 12,132 miles; Air India via Delhi flies 13,717 and reads the same band. Priced on the 11,001+-mile North America–Pacific band at the flown distance this routing actually covers, 12,132 mi. That is a band move and we are saying so plainly: economy 65,000 to 70,000, business 102,500 to 115,000, First 140,000 to 150,000. The Air Canada option the old row leaned on is still bookable, but it prices off the dynamic column's "Starting at" floor for the 7,501–11,000-mile band (50,000 economy / 85,000 business / 130,000 First) — a floor that climbs with demand, never a number we can promise.
Feed it: 35,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 70,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 175,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Cathay PacificBritish Airways oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 240,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 480,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 160,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air ChinaAir IndiaAir CanadaUnited Airlines Star Alliance
Re-metalled 2026-08-01. The old row named Air Canada while asserting a fixed chart cell, and Air Canada sits in the DYNAMIC column, so that cell never applied to its metal. Aeroplan's chart prints two rows per band: a dynamic "Starting at" floor for "Air Canada and/or Select Partners" (United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin and PAL), and one fixed number for "All other partners". Air Canada does fly Toronto–Sydney via Vancouver, but its own metal is the dynamic column — the fixed cell never applied. The shortest all-fixed-partner itinerary is Air China via Beijing at 12,132 miles; Air India via Delhi flies 13,717 and reads the same band. Priced on the 11,001+-mile North America–Pacific band at the flown distance this routing actually covers, 12,132 mi. That is a band move and we are saying so plainly: economy 65,000 to 70,000, business 102,500 to 115,000, First 140,000 to 150,000. The Air Canada option the old row leaned on is still bookable, but it prices off the dynamic column's "Starting at" floor for the 7,501–11,000-mile band (50,000 economy / 85,000 business / 130,000 First) — a floor that climbs with demand, never a number we can promise.
Feed it: 57,500 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 115,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 287,500 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Korean AirChina Eastern SkyTeam
Flying Blue prices dynamically — no fixed chart. Air France/KLM pass carrier (YQ) surcharges on own metal — typically €90–110 economy / €200–300 business one-way long-haul; intra-region SkyTeam ~€15–40. Typical one-way business runs 90k–160k; award space and travel date drive the real number.
Estimate Dynamic program — estimate is the typical one-way level for this region-pair (range 90k–160k); not a fixed chart price, and never crowned THE PLAY.
Feed it: 120,000 HDFC Reward Points (1:1) · 60,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 120,000 HSBC Reward Points (1:1)
QantasAmerican Airlines oneworld
Qantas dropped Toronto years ago, so this is not the Qantas nonstop the row used to claim. American Airlines is on the QANTAS Classic Flight Reward table — qantas.com lists it verbatim: 'For Classic Flight Rewards with Qantas, Jetstar, Fiji Airways and American Airlines' — so a Qantas long-haul plus an American connection stays on the Qantas table, not the dearer partner one. Summed great-circle sectors: SYD–DFW 8,580 mi + DFW–YYZ 1,198 mi = 9,778 mi, Zone 10 (9,601–15,000 mi). Price unchanged — what was wrong was the claim of a Qantas nonstop. Points exclude taxes, fees and carrier charges; Qantas publishes no surcharge table, so no numeric value is asserted — budget A$150-300 economy, A$400-900 business, indicative not sourced.
Feed it: 133,040 HSBC Reward Points (1:1.25 via Accor Live Limitless (ALL)) · 83,150 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 166,300 SBI Travel Credits (1:1)
Cathay PacificBritish Airways oneworld
AAdvantage prices partner awards on a fixed region-to-region chart. A valid oneworld routing is assumed.
Feed it: 330,000 Amex Membership Rewards (3:1 via Marriott Bonvoy) · 660,000 RBL Reward Points (6:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy) · 220,000 RBL Reward Points (Nova/Lumière) (2:1 via Club ITC → Marriott Bonvoy)
Air ChinaAir IndiaAir CanadaUnited Airlines Star Alliance
Re-metalled 2026-08-01. The old row named Air Canada while asserting a fixed chart cell, and Air Canada sits in the DYNAMIC column, so that cell never applied to its metal. Aeroplan's chart prints two rows per band: a dynamic "Starting at" floor for "Air Canada and/or Select Partners" (United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin and PAL), and one fixed number for "All other partners". Air Canada does fly Toronto–Sydney via Vancouver, but its own metal is the dynamic column — the fixed cell never applied. The shortest all-fixed-partner itinerary is Air China via Beijing at 12,132 miles; Air India via Delhi flies 13,717 and reads the same band. Priced on the 11,001+-mile North America–Pacific band at the flown distance this routing actually covers, 12,132 mi. That is a band move and we are saying so plainly: economy 65,000 to 70,000, business 102,500 to 115,000, First 140,000 to 150,000. The Air Canada option the old row leaned on is still bookable, but it prices off the dynamic column's "Starting at" floor for the 7,501–11,000-mile band (50,000 economy / 85,000 business / 130,000 First) — a floor that climbs with demand, never a number we can promise. Air China files First on some 777-300ER Beijing rotations and Air India on none of this pairing, so read the First cell as aircraft-dependent.
Feed it: 75,000 Axis EDGE Miles (1:2) · 150,000 SBI Travel Credits (1:1) · 375,000 Axis EDGE Reward Points (5:2)
Flying back? Toronto to Sydney on points (YYZ–SYD). Or take the whole region: every corridor we price into North America — 510 of them. Or pick any two hubs — 2,450 corridors priced.