r/indianawardtravel

I’m planning on booking an air india reward seat from HYD-JFK for 45,000 maharaja points(which I’m yet to transfer).

The revenue booking for same flight is 80k(50k charge + 30k taxes)

Do i need to pay 30k in taxes even for reward booking as well?

Can anyone help here as I’m unable to go till checkout since i dont have enough points and i dont want to lock them by transferring now and get less value per point incase if i need to pay more taxes.

Looking for dates :
24th october (HYD-JFK)
14th november arrival(JFK-HYD)

Hi, I have 1.7L Edge rewards on my Magnus LTF which I am trying to use somehow for my upcoming Euro trip in Sep. I am travelling DEL-ZURICH (Sep 25) and then PARIS-DEL (Oct 4). I looked up some redemption options and they look pretty bad eg Etihad wants me to pay some ~24K points (18K onward, 5.5 return) + INR ~50K (19K onward, 30K return) taxes while the cash value itself is only 66K. While the reward rate might not be totally abysmal (~16K INR for 24K * 6% = ~4%) the taxes for the return journey are just too high.

I checked Turkish airlines and Flying Blue and the taxes are not very different. Are there any better options? Is is possible to redeem some of these points towards hotels?

Hi Folks,
I want to thank this community for all the help i got here. Wanted to share my process and hurdles I faced.

Everything here is for 2 people.

Finally I was able to find a Award booking for my BOM - Tokyo Return for 1.44L tax.
The cash price of this is over 5.6L INR.

Past two years has been collecting points on wife's Travel Plat and my MRCC. We would have spend maybe 8-9L total in past two years. We stopped using Travel plat this Feb cuz of devaluation and we knew we cannot reach 4L by the end of Feb and we have not reached 4L still on wife's Travel Plat.
Total Points collected: 1.2L on Travel Plat + 1L on MRCC

So the booking/planning journey started late July I wanted to score a business class ticket.
Signed up to almost every other award program and began searching for Award tickets. No luck and everything was requiring lot of miles especially SQ (this our fav airline)

I finally got award travel tool thinking it might help me.

Here are some of the Airlines program i rejected because of exorbitant amount of miles:

1. AA shows low miles but has phantom availability on award travel tool
2. SQ heck loads of miles.
3. Vietnam Air was the same.

Here are the 2 which were doable for me:

1. Cathay (but only 1 way)
2. ANA via Virgin (same one way) *this changed couple of days ago thanks to AMEX.

I called Virgin to check if there is availability for my dates and there was 🎯 (this check i did early Aug) but found that the taxes were high so did not end up booking this. (1.44L)

I checked cash booking on ANA and JAL(as i am in blr) taxes on these were high too.
Cash cost:
1.6L for economy on ANA + domestic flight to Mumbai. With there flying blue sale on.
2.2L for economy on Jal.
1.15L for SQ economy this was our choice/solid backup if not using points. (cheapest)

We really wanted to travel in Business that was the goal (our first time). Paying some extra amount over SQ economy was ok for US. We did not mind layover specially in SQ.

We thought lets do 1 way business and return in SQ.
Last couple of weeks i called virgin over 10times LOL for availability and nothing was available for my dates. I was like "**** should have booked when i had the chance"

As i heard the news yesterday about Amex - Virgin (5:4) i was overjoyed as now I can book return. YEY!! but i knew no availability :(

I did call virgin india 2wice yesterday and was told no availability. Don't want to call Virgin every now and then to ask for availability, its a hassle. I did check same dates on ANA there was award availability but not with Virgin.

I did lot of research again, how can i find these award tickets again and found that if there are award tickets available on UNITED/AIR CANADA there is 90% chance that i will be able to book it via Virgin on call.

I checked Air Canada but did no availability there as well. I was also fed up doing date by date on there website. Switched to award travel tool I filter air canada and checked found multiple dates available suitable for me both onward and return.

But now it was night almost 11.30PM IST (cannot call virgin). Checked online again how to get this done, tried virgin chat feature but failed. I realize why not call UK number.
Did a international calling recharge and called virgin.

I was told they do have the tickets for my dates but they cannot hold it like how you can ask VIrgin India to hold the tickets for couple of hours.

I said OK and disconnected the call and went AMEX website and logged in selected virgin and connected my flying club account, did same same for my wife. Within 1 min we received confirmation that we can transfer the points.

Transferred points over 1.2L+67K MR points approx to virgin (i still have 40k MR on my MRCC) And made the booking 😄

PS - NO AI USED TO WRITE THIS, pardon if there are any typos/mistakes

Let me know if you guys have questions. happy to help.

https://preview.redd.it/zeq7b95x6bkh1.png?width=1074&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5772ee193230e9e792e19e3c03a0a786d3d9f3e

https://preview.redd.it/ks44395x6bkh1.png?width=994&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ef9f8d1fca1feddadb17ba88a75e3bf342cedb3

These are all virgin/SQ economy options. Ended up going with Option 2

I have a name-format issue and wanted to get some advice from other Maharaja Club/Air India members who may have faced something similar.

My name is **MOHD ***** ***** ** on all my Indian government documents and bank/credit card accounts. However, my passport has my full name as **MOHAMMAD ***** ***** **.

I’m planning to book an international reward flight using Maharaja Club points and I'm confused about whether I should change my Maharaja Club account name.

My questions are:

- If my Maharaja Club account says **MOHD ***** ***** **, but my passport and flight ticket say **MOHAMMAD ***** ***** **, can this cause any issue during international check-in, immigration, security verification, or boarding?

- For the actual flight, I obviously plan to book the ticket exactly as my passport: **MOHAMMAD ***** ***** **.

- Should I change my Maharaja Club account to **MOHAMMAD ***** ***** ** before booking the reward flight?

- If I change my Maharaja Club name to match my passport, could there be an issue transferring credit-card reward points when the name on my credit card/bank account is **MOHD ***** ***** **?

I contacted Air India support, but their response only mentioned that miles may not be credited automatically if the booking name differs from the Maharaja Club account name. They didn't really address the international travel/passport verification aspect.

Has anyone here had a similar MOHD vs MOHAMMAD name difference and travelled internationally on Air India? Did you face any issue?

Would really appreciate experiences from people who have actually dealt with this.

Hi All,
First post here, I am planning for my honeymoon travel and I have a budget of around 2 lac, looking for suggestions for 1 week holiday. I also have around 30k atlas miles and 11k hsbc rewards. Could someone please help here.
I have few destinations shortlisted:

1. New Zealand
2. Japan
3. Krabi
4. Maldives
   Also, open to suggestions.

Dates : Early to Mid January

Hi all!

I’ve never made an Award or Points Flight Booking before and would love your step by step guide!

I’m looking to book Bangalore to London one way for me and one way revenue flight for my wife, who will get it reimbursed from her company.

Please advise on best path ahead!

Amex Plat Travel - 132k MR
Axis Atlas - 32k EM
HSBC T1 (new card)

What’s the best play here?

What website do we go to look for award flights?

Best redemption options?

Dates: October 2nd +/- 2 days

Hi everyone,

I have Maharaja Club Points from my Axis Horizon/SBI Vistara setup and I'm trying to figure out the best way to use them.

I'm looking at BLR → SIN on 1 September 2026, Economy.

I found the same Singapore Airlines-operated flight SQ511 in two places:

• Singapore Airlines direct: ₹29,155
• Air India website: AI8279, operated by Singapore Airlines — around ₹65,789

I understand that Maharaja Points can be used for Singapore Airlines partner awards, but I'm confused about the actual booking process.

When I search BLR → SIN using Maharaja Points on Air India's website, I only see Air India-operated options:

• AI2630 + AI2105 — 69,000 points
• AI2854 + AI2105 — 34,000 points
• AI2610 + AI2105 — 69,000 points

I don't see SQ511 in the Maharaja redemption search.

My questions:

1. Can SQ511 BLR–SIN actually be booked using Maharaja Points?
2. If yes, how do I find/book the Singapore Airlines award through Maharaja Club?
3. Is SQ award availability different from what I see on the normal Air India search?
4. Do I need to call Air India customer care for the Singapore Airlines award?
5. Has anyone recently booked a Singapore Airlines flight using Maharaja Points successfully?
6. What would be a reasonable Maharaja Points price for BLR–SIN Economy?
7. If SQ511 costs ₹29,155 cash, would you personally pay cash and earn Maharaja Points or redeem Maharaja Points?
8. Is there any way to use Cash + Points on an SQ-operated flight? Or is that strictly unavailable for partner/codeshare flights?

Singapore Airlines flight SQ511 booked through Air India — shown as Air India codeshare AI8279, ₹65,789

Singapore Airlines SQ511 when booked through Air India — AI codeshare AI8279. Fare breakdown: ₹59,370 base fare + taxes/fees = ₹65,789 total.

Maharaja Club redemption search for BLR → SIN — only Air India-operated flights are shown (34,000 / 69,000 points). The Singapore Airlines-operated SQ511 flight is not available in the points search.

Singapore Airlines SQ511 booked directly with Singapore Airlines — BLR → SIN, 1 September 2026, ₹29,155 total fare.

Singapore Airlines SQ511 booked directly with Singapore Airlines — BLR → SIN, 1 September 2026. Fare breakdown: ₹24,790 base fare + ₹4,365 taxes/fees = ₹29,155 total.

I am planning for trip to New Zealand from India

Would be happy to know tips and booking suggestions.

I have credit card usage of 1-2 lakhs a month

My travel is in april 2027

Edit - these are atlas edge miles.

Hey everyone!

Planing a Spain trip in November.

5/6th November: Delhi to Madrid

23rd November: Barcelona to Delhi

Apart from edge miles, I have 150k and 100k points in two separate Amex accounts and 30k in Marriott additionally. I am planning to apply for the charge card as well but only if I get the MR joining benefits. So let’s exclude that from the calculation for now.

I would be burning the Amex points primarily for hotel booking. Getting 5 days in Barcelona between 180k to 270k for different hotels.

Just sharing this breakup incase I can use the left over MR balance to top up the airline points based on your suggestions.

We are a couple but I am just looking to book 1 economy flight one way, doesn’t matter which way. The other one will be revenue.

The options I was able to find were:

Where I need help:

1. From what I understand, due to the dynamic pricing, the points rate is currently higher than average. Is that right?
2. How do I go about booking “all other partner” flights of aeroplan that have fixed points rate based on distance?
3. Most importantly, is there any other better way to redeem the points?

I am planning to add a 2 night trip to Paris in this itinerary and open to using points for hotels as well if that will give better return on points.

Thanks!!

Hi folks,
I’m planning for a Japan trip next year mostly in the month of Feb 2027 with my wife. Planning for a 15 day trip and flexible with the dates.

I have around 150k amex points and need flight redemption, usually would keep origin as Mumbai. But if other cities provide better points redemption, would give it a try.

Tried the Virgin to ANA route, but the taxes are too high for a round trip (around 1.3 lakhs for 2 passengers).

So if you guys know a better way to use these points, would be great.

Hey guys, planning to book our London → Mumbai flight for October and Air India has just slashed the fare from ~₹75K to ₹45K per person.
I was initially thinking of Virgin Atlantic, but Virgin has been consistently around ₹70–75K for economy. We’re a family of four, so the price difference is pretty significant.
The flight is AI130, departing London at 9 PM and reaching Mumbai in the morning. It’s showing as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Does anyone know if this is the new 787-9 aircraft that Air India has recently put on this route? And would you book AI at ₹45K now, or wait and see if Virgin fares come down?
Would love some advice before I pull the trigger!

Hi All,
First post here, I am planning for my honeymoon travel and I have a budget of around 2 lac, looking for suggestions for 1 week holiday. I also have around 30k atlas miles and 11k hsbc rewards. Could someone please help here.
I have few destinations shortlisted:

1. New Zealand
2. Japan
3. Krabi
4. Maldives
   Also, open to suggestions.

I have around 78k Amex Platinum Travel points and around 20k HDFC Regalia Gold points.

Can someone suggest the best way I can utilise these points for an international trip with my spouse. It will be first international trip so open to any location for now.

Note: Additional budget: Around 1L.

Hi all,

Looking for an optimal way for booking airline tickets from HYD to NYC

I currently have 30k axis edge miles and 55k dcbm smartbuy points.

I’m planning to travel HYD to NYC round trip for 3 weeks either from oct last week to nov second week.

I’m finding best options with air india through maharaja club transfer. 42-45k one way.

Has anyone recently found good redemption option on this route?

Would love to know if there are any other transfer sweet spots or partner options that i’m missing?

Thanks in advance!

I am not lazy but I am uttelry confused. We are 2 adults and 2 kids and would like to atleast do one way on points. Any good recommendations?

The cost of tickets is about INR 5,00,000 on Economy (except 3.2 lakhs on Kuwait) , Premium economy is 7 lakhs (SQ) and business is 11 lakhs atleast.

Manhattan stays are 3.5-4 lakhs Bonvoy points while Long Islans is 2.5 lakhs - so Long Island it is. but that leaves me with only about 1.5 lakh MR pointa for flights.

My points stack are as told :65k Atlas, 350K Amex points, 70K Bonvoy

Marriott / Hilton gold via Amex Platinum

Business class is something I would love with kids but I m realistic

can you please help me?

May 2027 travel. 7-8 days

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I want to do a round trip from Delhi to SFO business class ideally; what's the best way for me to use these points to save most amount of money. Is smart buy the best option or should I look at doing something else to maximize my points?

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Hi folks, need a suggestion for a card where I can get maximum benifits on domestic flights. I will need to travel very frequently hence looking for a new CC to suit my part. I currently own

- HDFC regalia gold

- Axis rewards

Generally on apps I get an offer of 1-1.2k on no cost emi on flights but I want something more if I am booking more than 20 flights in a year.