The trip planner
Where are you flying?
Pick both ends — get the play: every corridor we can honestly price, the winning program per cabin at real award-chart levels, and the cheapest cards that mint those points. Where a program prices dynamically we say so instead of guessing — this desk doesn't do vibes.
Want the deep dive on a specific route? Every corridor links to its full board.
Bangkok
Delhi (DEL) → Bangkok (BKK)
The cheapest business-class corridor in this set. Thai's zone chart still sells Royal Silk to its own hub for 27,500 miles one-way — less than some programs want for economy — while Air India's 12,000-point economy tier undercuts everyone on the cheap end. Aeroplan hiked the route 19% in June 2026 and still can't compete. Two honest plays, one corridor.
Mumbai (BOM) → Bangkok (BKK)
Delhi's cheapest-business-corridor story, retold from Mumbai — because Thai's chart is zone-based, not distance-based, and all of India is Zone 3. Royal Silk to TG's own hub still costs 27,500 miles one-way, Maharaja's flat 12,000-point economy tier still undercuts everything, and Aeroplan still can't compete at 47,500. Same two honest plays, 700 kilometres further west.
Dubai
Delhi (DEL) → Dubai (DXB)
The Gulf corridor is where Skywards should shine and doesn't: Emirates prices DEL–DXB off a calculator, not a chart, and the May-2026 devaluation lifted every premium cabin 15%. Meanwhile Air India's April-2026 overhaul cut economy to a flat 12,000 points — the cheapest published way across — even as it quietly hiked Gulf business 61%. Short flight, cheap cash fares: burn small here, save the big balances for long-haul.
Mumbai (BOM) → Dubai (DXB)
India's busiest international corridor, and the quietest bargain of Aeroplan's June-2026 revision: the within-Atlantic short bands were CUT, so BOM–DXB business fell to 22,500 points — ₹22,500 of value against Maharaja's ₹40,000 for the same three hours. Emirates still prices its nonstops off a calculator, and Air India's 12,000-point economy tier still owns the cheap end. On the corridor everyone flies, the best premium seat is the one nobody's program markets.
Frankfurt
Delhi (DEL) → Frankfurt (FRA)
The band coup. Frankfurt sits at 3,804 great-circle miles — under the 4,000-mile line — so Aeroplan's June-2026 revision didn't hike this corridor, it CUT it: business fell 45,000 → 40,000, the cheapest fixed-price business seat between India and Europe, surcharge-free, on Air India's nonstop. That's 30,000 points less than Paris or London for the same cabin and continent. Lufthansa's Miles & More is omitted — no Indian card feeds it. If your Europe trip can start in Frankfurt, this is the way in.
Hong Kong
Delhi (DEL) → Hong Kong (HKG)
Cathay stopped publishing award charts, but the reconstructed May-2026 tables still price its own metal best: 33,000 Asia Miles in business Standard — even with India sitting in the "type 2" band Cathay reserves for its longest-feeling short-hauls. SBI feeds Asia Miles at 1:1, HDFC and Amex at 2:1. Maharaja's East Asia business tier is still unpublished route-level, so its 30,000-point economy is the only Air India row we'll print. Aeroplan squeaks under its 2,500-mile boundary here — 47,500 in business — but Cathay's own chart wins both cabins.
Mumbai (BOM) → Hong Kong (HKG)
Delhi's Hong Kong story, told from Mumbai with one costly twist. Cathay stopped publishing charts but the reconstructed May-2026 tables still price its own metal best — 33,000 Asia Miles in business Standard, even with India's "type 2" surcharge band. Maharaja's East Asia economy holds at a flat 30,000 (business still isn't route-published). The twist is Aeroplan: at 2,655 great-circle miles, BOM–HKG tips just past the 2,500-mile boundary that Delhi clears, so the partner award costs 75,000 in business here — 27,500 more than ex-Delhi. Cathay crowns both cabins.
Istanbul
Delhi (DEL) → Istanbul (IST)
The Star Alliance oddity where the airline that flies the route is the wrong way to book it. Turkish operates the DEL–IST nonstop but prices its own metal at 50,000 miles standard in business — while Aeroplan books the identical seat for 40,000, fixed and surcharge-free. Turkish's own awards carry the program's legendary booking pain and a fuel component ex-India; Aeroplan carries neither. Chase Turkish's 35,000-mile promo award if you can stomach the website; otherwise let Aeroplan do the work.
London
Mumbai (BOM) → London (LHR)
The marquee long-haul, and the corridor where charts diverge hardest: 62,500 Avios buys BA business off-peak while Etihad wants 100,005 miles PLUS ₹44,000 for the same city pair — a 2.3× spread for one flat bed. Aeroplan's June-2026 hike dented the surcharge-free route (60k → 70k), Air India cut business 23% to an even 100,000, and Virgin went fully dynamic. Mind the YQ: on this corridor the surcharge is half the story.
Delhi (DEL) → London (LHR)
Mumbai's charts, plus one extra player: Virgin's nonstop, dynamic since October 2024. The published board is unchanged — 62,500 Avios buys BA Club World off-peak (mind the YQ), Aeroplan's June-2026 hike dragged the surcharge-free Air India route from 60,000 to 70,000, and Maharaja holds at an even 100,000. Delhi is also where Aeroplan's band arithmetic gets interesting: London sits at 4,183 miles, just inside the expensive 4,001–6,000 band — see the Paris and Frankfurt cards for how much that boundary is worth.
Malé
Mumbai (BOM) → Malé (MLE)
The honeymoon corridor, and a lesson in honest absence. Everyone flies Mumbai–Malé; almost nobody should do it on points. Air India's April-2026 chart prices BOM–MLE at 10,000 points in economy — the lone fixed number in the water — while IndiGo BluChip revenue-prices the same 2¾-hour hop with no chart at all. At ₹0.80 a point, 10,000 points is ₹8,000 against cash fares that dip to ₹8–15k, so even the fixed award barely clears. KrisFlyer and Avios can't reach Malé nonstop from India; there is no premium-cabin story here. Price the ticket first; burn points only to zero out a balance.
Melbourne
Delhi (DEL) → Melbourne (MEL)
The rare ultra-long-haul where the nonstop and the bargain are almost the same flight. Air India's April-2026 overhaul set Delhi–Melbourne business at 130,000 points on its own A350 nonstop and grouped Australia with US/Canada at a flat 40,000 in economy. KrisFlyer undercuts it on miles — 72,000 Saver in business — but only via Singapore, trading a Changi detour for SQ product on both legs. No oneworld carrier flies India–Australia nonstop, so Qantas and Avios balloon through a hub; ignore them. Two clean plays: nonstop convenience (Maharaja) or miles-efficiency (KrisFlyer).
Mumbai
Delhi (DEL) → Mumbai (BOM)
The corridor that exposes what "domestic points" actually mean in India: mostly nothing you can plan. IndiGo BluChip and SpiceJet SpiceClub price redemptions dynamically off the cash fare — no chart, roughly ₹0.40–0.80 a point — so the "award" is just the ticket you'd have bought. Air India Maharaja is the lone fixed chart: 5,000 points DEL–BOM in economy (unchanged in April 2026), 20,000 in business (cut 13%). At ₹0.80 a point that's ₹4,000 for the economy seat against ₹4–7k cash — a real floor, when Value space shows. Business for a 2-hour hop is a points-dump; economy is the only honest buy.
New York
Delhi (DEL) → New York (JFK)
The ultra-long-haul, where most programs simply have nothing published: Turkish and LifeMiles print no India–US datapoint, United went dynamic years ago, so the board is a two-program duel. Air India's April-2026 overhaul cut business 28% to 130,000 and floors economy at 40,000 for the Newark nonstop; Aeroplan's 90,000 business was the ONE band the June-2026 revision left untouched — the last fixed 90k business seat between India and America, surcharge-free. Fifteen hours is where flat beds stop being vanity; spend here, not on the Gulf hops.
Paris
Delhi (DEL) → Paris (CDG)
The corridor where 80 miles costs 30,000 points. Paris sits at 4,080 great-circle miles — just past the 4,000-mile line that Aeroplan's chart draws through Europe — so the surcharge-free Air India award prices at 70,000 in business, not Frankfurt's 40,000. Air France's own nonstop is dynamic-priced with no floor worth printing, though the recurring India Promo Rewards cut business to 63,750 miles through 2026. Fly the points to Frankfurt and take a train, or hold your nose and pay the band.
Singapore
Bengaluru (BLR) → Singapore (SIN)
India's favourite transfer target versus the merger dividend. KrisFlyer's post-Nov-2025 chart still sells SQ business at 45,000 miles Saver — the redemption four Indian issuers exist to feed — but Air India's flat 12,000-point economy tier is the quiet steal, and at house values its 50,000-point business seat costs less ₹ to mint than the SQ one. Chart says KrisFlyer; arithmetic says Maharaja.
Mumbai (BOM) → Singapore (SIN)
Same duel as Bengaluru, longer flight, identical charts: KrisFlyer's Zone-6 pricing doesn't care which Indian metro you leave from, and Air India's flat SE-Asia tiers don't either. Mumbai's one wrinkle is Aeroplan — at 2,428 great-circle miles this corridor squeaks under the 2,500-mile band boundary that Bengaluru clears with room, so the 47,500 partner award holds here too. Arithmetic still crowns Maharaja.
Delhi (DEL) → Singapore (SIN)
The Singapore duel, Delhi edition — same KrisFlyer Zone 6 chart, same flat Maharaja tiers, one costly difference: at 2,583 great-circle miles this corridor tips 83 miles past Aeroplan's 2,500-mile band boundary, so the partner award that costs 47,500 from Mumbai or Bengaluru costs 75,000 from Delhi. The band trap in its purest form. Arithmetic still crowns Maharaja in both cabins; Aeroplan devotees should fly from Mumbai.
Tokyo
Delhi (DEL) → Tokyo (NRT)
The corridor that vindicates the Marriott hop. ANA's zone chart sells Japan–India business at 30,000 miles one-way in regular season — half of what KrisFlyer wants via Singapore — and since 2025 you can finally book it one-way. No Indian card reaches ANA directly; Bonvoy at 3:1 (2.4:1 in 60k blocks) is the toll road, and it's still the best maths to Tokyo. JAL's 40,000 via HSBC/Axis is the no-hop consolation.
Points levels are one-way at published/typical chart levels, sourced and dated on each corridor's board. "Mint via" = the cheapest active transfer routes into the winning program at house values — ratios and times on the transfer desk. Award space is never guaranteed; the chart price is the honest ceiling of what it should cost.