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Travelers have no shortage of ways to book United Airlines award flights through airline partners. But one of the most overlooked programs just might be Air India's Maharaja Club. Domestic United flights are a rarely discussed sweet spot in Air India’s program. The shortest United flights start at just 3,500 points each way in economy, or 7,000 in first class.
Although Air India doesn't partner with major transferable credit card points programs, you can now earn Maharaja Club points to book these redemptions thanks to a new mileage program.
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Air India Maharaja Club Award Chart
Air India does not offer a traditional award chart on their website. However, they do offer a points calculator that provides the economy and first class price of a ticket, given your routing.
Using the points calculator, we've determined Air India Maharaja points pricing for United domestic nonstop flights to be the following:
| Distance | Economy | First Class |
|---|---|---|
| Under 600 miles | 3,500 | 7,000 |
| 600-1,000 miles | 5,500 | 11,000 |
| 1,000-1,500 miles | 7,500 | 15,000 |
| 1,500-4,000 miles (including West Coast/Denver to Hawaii) | 13,500 | 27,000 |
| 4,000+ miles (including Chicago/East Coast to Hawaii) | 30,000 | 60,000 |
Although Air India doesn't display the total cost of a routing with fees until you have the corresponding points in your account, they don't add any additional partner surcharges to their redemptions. Expect to pay around $18 USD in fees for your domestic award redemption.
Connecting flights
Keep in mind that Air India Maharaja Club seems to be hit or miss for United Airlines itineraries with connections. If you put a connecting itinerary in the points calculator, you won't get any results.
However, I was able to find some connecting itineraries on their website. If you're flying from an airport that is part of a metropolitan area where United has a hub (DCA instead of IAD or LGA instead of EWR), Air India doesn't charge an extra connecting flight fee. For example, Washington, D.C.-Reagan (DCA) to Dallas (DFW) for 7,500 points. That's what Air India charges for a nonstop flight from IAD-DFW.
However, if you find a connecting United flight with Air India Maharaja Club points and you are flying out of a metropolitan area where United doesn't have a hub, expect to pay more than the award chart lists above. Take this Milwaukee (MKE) to Dallas flight as an example.
Air India Maharaja Club Sweet Spots
Air India's distance-based pricing means that its redemptions can be an incredible value for shorter domestic United flights.
Short domestic United nonstop flights for 3.5K points in economy, 7K in first class
Flights under 600 miles come in at just 3,500 Maharaja points each way in economy, which makes it arguably the cheapest way to fly domestic with points and miles in the United States. Whether you're flying Newark to Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. to Chicago, you'll pay this price.
First class redemptions are just 7,000 points each way.
Nonstop United flights under 1,000 miles for 5.5K points in economy, 11K in first class
If your flight is a little longer but still under 1,000 miles, you'll only pay 5,500 Maharaja points in economy.
This flight will cost 11,000 Maharaja points in first class, according to Air India's points calculator.
Domestic United nonstop flights (1,000-1,500 miles) for 7.5K points in economy and 15K in first
Even medium-length nonstop domestic flights (those between 1,000 and 1,500 miles) on United are still a great price, starting at just 7,500 points in economy.
Like the other sweet spots above, Air India charges twice the economy redemption price for first class.
When to use another mileage program instead of Maharaja Club
Once we get to flights over 1,500 miles in distance, Air India Maharaja Club redemptions are no longer the cheapest option.
For instance, you can use Turkish Airlines miles to book any domestic United Airlines flight — including flights to/from Hawaii — for just 10,000 miles. As long as Turkish's website has the availability (you may have to call in if you see the availability on Air India's or Air Canada's site but not on Turkish's site), they will be cheaper than using Air India Maharaja Club points. Additionally, Turkish has several credit card transfer partners, making it easier to get the miles you need for an award booking.
When it comes to long-haul international United flights, there are better options through other Star Alliance partners than Air India Maharaja Club. For example, this flight from Chicago to Frankfurt (FRA) in Polaris business class will set you back 100,000 points.
You can always use the points calculator to determine if Air India will come out ahead on long-haul international flights. But in most cases, it won't.
How to Earn Air India Maharaja Club Points
Unfortunately, Air India does not have any traditional credit card transfer partners. But flyers have two ways to obtain Air India Maharaja points.
Transfer from Rove Miles
Although there is no credit card program currently linked to the Air India Maharaja Club for cardholders in the U.S. and EU, a new program is available that allows transfers to the Air India Maharaja Club, regardless of the credit card used.
Rove Miles is a platform that lets you earn miles for flight purchases, hotel bookings, and other shopping purchases that you make via their website or shopping portal. Think of it like a cashback shopping portal similar to Rakuten, except you earn miles that you can directly transfer to airline partners or redeem directly for hotels.
Not a Rove Miles member yet? Sign up through AwardWallet's referral link to earn bonus miles when you enroll.
Rove Miles has 12 transfer partners. The list includes several that are not currently partners of any of the major transferable points programs, like Air India Maharaja Club and Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles. Rove Miles transfer to all its airline partners at a 1:1 ratio.
Tips for getting Air India Maharaja points quickly
Like Rakuten, Rove will credit miles for shopping purchases 45-60 days after purchase. Additionally, Rove will give miles for flights and refundable hotel bookings after corresponding travel activity.
However, if you book a nonrefundable hotel booking, you will get your miles immediately after purchase. They can also be transferred to airline and hotel partners immediately.
If you want Air India points quickly and are willing to book a nonrefundable hotel for an upcoming trip, this is the quickest way to get points if you cannot buy them directly.
You can even sort potential hotels by number of miles earned so you can maximize how many Rove miles you get for your purchase. Here's an example search for an overnight stay in New York City in December.
After I bought a nonrefundable hotel stay and immediately got my points, I was able to transfer the points to Air India, even though my accounts for both Air India and Rove were created on the same day as my transfer.
Although transfers are typically instantaneous, it took 24 hours for my points to hit my Air India account. I presume future transfer times will be quicker since this was my first transfer to Air India.
However, considering that I could not buy Air India points without an older account and Air India travel, I was pretty happy to see the points in my account with relative ease and timeliness.
Buy Air India points
If you have a Maharaja Club account, you can buy Air India points.
While buying points is not always a great value, Air India only charges 1.50 Indian Rupees per point with a minimum 100-point purchase. At the time of writing, this is equivalent to 1.7 cents USD per point, which is a solid value.
However, if you press the “Buy Now” button, don't be surprised if nothing happens and you cannot actually buy points. In fact, it took me chatting with Air India's AI agent to determine why I could not buy points. This disclaimer is not found on the buy points page.
Not only must your account be older than fifteen days, but you must also have earned points on two separate Air India bookings. If you have a new account and do not have any Air India travel on the horizon, you cannot buy points.
Final Thoughts
Air India Maharaja Club has some incredible redemption options for short-haul domestic United flights starting at just 3,500 points in economy and 7,000 points in first. They're a great value for getting you halfway across the United States, but we recommend looking at other mileage programs if you want to travel across the country, to Hawaii, or internationally. While you cannot transfer points from a credit card program, there are a few ways to get Air India points, including a new option to transfer miles from Rove Miles directly to your Air India Maharaja Club account.
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