{"id":254358,"date":"2026-04-13T18:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/?p=254358\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T12:35:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:35:29","slug":"air-india-slashes-award-pricing-by-up-to-60-and-you-can-now-book-flights-from-1500-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/air-india-maharaja-club-award-chart-changes-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Air India Slashes Award Pricing by up to 60% \u2014 and You Can Now Book Flights From 1,500 Points"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Air India has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.airindia.com\/in\/en\/maharaja-club\/updates\/maharaja-club-enhancements.html\" rel=\"noopener\">announced several changes to its Maharaja Club loyalty program<\/a>, and lo and behold, it\u2019s mostly good news. Among the updates is a reduction in award costs for flights on Air India, both within India and internationally. Economy and business class awards are seeing the biggest drops, with rates up to 60% lower.<\/p>\n<p>While Air India Maharaja Club isn\u2019t especially popular among U.S. travelers, it\u2019s now a transfer partner of Rove, making it worth a closer look. Overall, this is a great news for anyone considering flying Air India in the near future<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Air_India_Overhauls_Award_Chart\">Air India Overhauls Award Chart<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Among the highlights of the award changes from Air India are the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Award flights for domestic routes will start from 1,500 Maharaja Points, with fares about 25% lower on average and select routes seeing reductions of up to 60%.<\/li>\n<li>Domestic business class redemptions are about 9% lower on average, with select sectors discounted by up to 50%.<\/li>\n<li>Across long-haul regions (U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand), business class now requires 25% to 45% fewer points.<\/li>\n<li>The lowest fare levels for award flights, which were previously available only more than 90 days before departure, are now available up to 30 days before departure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As for pricing, we\u2019re seeing a mix of increases and decreases across the route map, depending on cabin and region. Let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_257848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"749\/499\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-257848 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"Taj Mahal. \" width=\"749\" height=\"499\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taj-mahal-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px\" \/><center><em>Taj Mahal. Credit: Rowan Heuvel\/ Unsplash<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<h3><span id=\"Domestic_India_flights\">Domestic India flights<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Air India has a \u201cValue\u201d and a \u201cPrime\u201d award fare class. Think of Value as saver awards, or the lowest possible pricing. Once those are gone, Prime fares kick in at higher rates. All of the new rates discussed below reflect the minimum, or Value, pricing \u2014 so keep in mind these lowest fares won\u2019t always be available when searching.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking to fly within India, the news is mostly good. Most routes stayed the same or decreased in both economy and business class, while premium economy appears to have increased slightly. Notably, economy flights now start at just 1,500 points.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a sampling of the changes to domestic economy flights:<\/p>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-1239\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-1239 tablepress-responsive\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Route<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Old Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">New Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Percent Change<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Goa (GOX) \u2014 Hyderabad (HYD)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">7,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">2,500<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 Panaji (GOI)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">9,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">5,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bombay (BOM) \u2014 Rajkot (HSR)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">5,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">3,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-40%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 Srinagar (SXR)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">6,500<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">7,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">+8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bombay (BOM) \u2014 Kochi (COK)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">4,500<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">5,500<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">+22%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n<p>Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) to Chennai International Airport (MAA) is supposed to price at that rock-bottom 1,500-point level. However, in our searches, we weren\u2019t able to find availability at that rate.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"International_economy_flights\">International economy flights<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many routes from India to destinations around the world are seeing lower award rates, with regions like Southeast Asia and the Middle East starting at just 12,000 points. Even flights to Mauritius are down 52%, pricing into that same 12,000-point band. Likewise, flights to the U.S. now start at 40,000 points, among the lowest rates we\u2019ve seen for travel between the U.S. and India.<\/p>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-1241\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-1241 tablepress-responsive\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Route<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Old Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">New Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Percent Change<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bombay (BOM) \u2014 Mauritius (MRU)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">25,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">12,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-52%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 San Francisco (SFO)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">77,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">40,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-48%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Kochi (COK) \u2014 Dubai (DXB)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">21,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">12,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-43%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 Kuala Lumpur (KUL)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">18,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">12,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-33%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bombay (BOM) \u2014 Bangkok (BKK)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">16,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">12,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Hyderabad (HYD) \u2014 Riyadh (RUH)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">21,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">21,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n<h3><span id=\"International_business_flights\">International business flights<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>These changes are a bit of a mixed bag, with some clear wins. Some India to Europe routes have dropped in price, while others have increased. Meanwhile, business class flights to North America are about 25% cheaper, now starting at 130,000 points. That said, business class awards to parts of Asia and Australia \u2014 among other regions \u2014 have gone up.<\/p>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-1242\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-1242 tablepress-responsive\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Route<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Old Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">New Award Cost<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Percent Change<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 New York (JFK)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">180,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">130,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-28%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Ahmedabad (AMD) \u2014 London (LGW)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">130,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">100,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 Toronto (YYZ)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">165,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">130,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">-21%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delhi (DEL) \u2014 Melbourne (MEL)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">125,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">130,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">+5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Chennai (MAA) \u2014 Singapore (SIN)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">42,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">50,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">+19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Abu Dhabi (AUH) \u2014 Bombay (BOM)<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">31,000<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">50,000<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">+61%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_181428\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"750\/423\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-181428 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Air-India-business-class-1024x577.png\" alt=\"Air India business class.\" width=\"750\" height=\"423\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Air-India-business-class-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Air-India-business-class-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Air-India-business-class-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Air-India-business-class.png 1142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><center><em>Air India business class. Screenshot of Air India<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<h2><span id=\"Earning_Air_India_Maharaja_Club_Points\">Earning Air India Maharaja Club Points<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for an easy way to earn Air India Maharaja Club points, you might be disappointed to hear that Air India doesn\u2019t have many transfer partners. That said, it does have one that\u2019s widely accessible: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/travel\/rove-miles\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Rove<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With Rove, you can transfer Rove Miles to Air India at a 1:1 ratio, starting at 2,000 miles. And Rove Miles are fairly easy to earn if you book travel through the program or shop online.<\/p>\n<div class=\"transfer-times\"><div class=\"tt-row\"><div class=\"tt-head tt-from\">From<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-to\">To<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-ratio\">Transfer Ratio<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-mintransfer\">Min.Transfer<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-avg\">Average Time<\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-row\"><div class=\"tt-body tt-from\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><div>Rove<\/div><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-to\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><div>Air India (Maharaja Club)<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-ratio\">100:100<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-mintransfer\">2,000<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-avg\"><div class=\"tt-avg-unknown\">Unknown<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Beyond this, you can credit Star Alliance flights to Air India, but this is likely a slower way to accrue points than earning Rove Miles and transferring them to Maharaja Club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"custom-blue\"><em>Not a Rove member yet? <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/blog\/link\/Rove\" rel=\"noopener nofollow sponsored\">Sign up for free and earn bonus miles<\/a> when you sign up through AwardWallet's link!<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Some of these award reductions are eye-popping. The big winners here are domestic India flights, international flights to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and flights to the United States. Air India Maharaja Club is becoming a program worth paying attention to. It already is a great option for booking <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/air-india-united-sweet-spot\/\" rel=\"noopener\">short-haul United flights from just 3,500 points<\/a>. And now, no matter where in the world you\u2019re flying from, getting to India using Air India points is an excellent option.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ftoc\"><div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_light_blue no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Page Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#Air_India_Overhauls_Award_Chart\">Air India Overhauls Award Chart<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#Domestic_India_flights\">Domestic India flights<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#International_economy_flights\">International economy flights<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#International_business_flights\">International business flights<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#Earning_Air_India_Maharaja_Club_Points\">Earning Air India Maharaja Club Points<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Air India has slashed its award rates when flying its own planes. Domestic flights start at 1,500 points while flights to the U.S. Have dropped about 25%. Check out all the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":258162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12069],"tags":[12737,12629],"coauthors":[36490],"class_list":["post-254358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-air-india-flying-returns","tag-using-points"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254358"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258173,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254358\/revisions\/258173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254358"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=254358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}