Air India announces Star Alliance earnings and awards charts, and more
Today, Air India formally joined Star Alliance as a full member, after years of uncertainty and near misses, and also some last minute suspense.
What this means is that it opens up a lot of Indian destinations for Star Alliance fliers globally, and also enables travellers from India to get to over 1300 international destinations. It is also of keen interest to those that are looking to earn and burn miles, and Air India has announced precisely that, today, and that's what this post is all about.
I like that you can earn up to 300% of base miles for first class travel, and up to 200% for business class. However, some of the economy class travels aren't going to be all that productive from a mileage-earning point of view on AI Flying Returns.
A quick note for those looking to earn miles on other Star Alliance members' programs for flights on AI:
Full reciprocity used to be the norm, but no longer. By reciprocity, I mean that if AI will give you 100% of the base miles for flights on "X" airline, then you'd also be able to earn 100% of base miles for travel in a corresponding class on AI metal, in Airline X's program. Sadly, that isn't the case any longer. For instance, flying AI business class will yield 125% on ANA Mileage Club all of the time, but flying business class on ANA will give you between 70% and 150% of base miles (depending on booking class) on AI. This could therefore be a disincentive to post your miles accrued to AI Flying Returns, depending on booking and travel class. I'll explain this in detail in a subsequent post.
Business class redemptions require 2x of the miles required for an Economy award, and First class (where available) requires 2.5x of the miles needed for an Economy award ticket. Note, that these are the miles required for AI Flying Returns members, for redemption on Star Alliance carriers (including, possibly, AI itself).
For segments that AI flies its own aircraft, the miles needed for award tickets is lower compared to the requirement in the Star Alliance mileage chart. That's because the awards on Star Alliance are based on continental groups, and AI own redemptions are based on cities that it flies to (meaning that connections will be calculated separately for miles required). So it is important to apply this knowledge in the right way, so that you are not out of the money as far as miles are concerned. Let me explain:
The difference in miles required is to support a destination other than one where AI flies to, within that continent. The bucketing of mileage requirements by continent is for convenience, but can have its own unwanted consequences (which of course benefits us mileage addicts!). For instance, the miles required for an award ticket from India to North America, Central America and South America are all the same! As is the requirement between North Africa and Central/South Africa. Essentially means, that you can fly from Mumbai to Cairo (2700 miles distance) for the same number of miles as Delhi to Mauritius (4900+ miles distance)!
AI miles redemptions on Star Alliance permit one stopover or one open jaw per itinerary. You can check the miles required for AI metal redemptions here, and Star Alliance awards using AI miles, here. At this point, the redemption link does not show availability on Star Alliance member airlines.
A word about surcharges/taxes - Air India levies fuel surcharges, fees and taxes for redemption on AI flights, so there is no reason to expect them to do it differently when redeeming awards on Star Alliance carriers.
You can also use AI miles to upgrade yourself from Economy to Business class, or Business to First class (one class only permitted), on a revenue ticket. Only select fare classes are entitled to get upgraded using miles. You can find the upgrade awards chart for AI, here.
Also, a word of advice - it is highly likely that AI staff and ticketing offices / call-centres aren't fully aware (if at all) about the Star Alliance mileage earnings and awards, so I'd be very cagey for the next few months, if I had to play around with the program. Expect inefficiencies in this process. Also expect delays in posting miles on AI flights to other Star Alliance members' programs, and vice versa. That said, I'll be quite happy to be proven wrong on this one.
What this means is that it opens up a lot of Indian destinations for Star Alliance fliers globally, and also enables travellers from India to get to over 1300 international destinations. It is also of keen interest to those that are looking to earn and burn miles, and Air India has announced precisely that, today, and that's what this post is all about.
Earning AI miles
Earning miles on AI's Flying Returns program will be at set percentages, depending on the operating carrier. AI has published an earnings chart that you can access here, but for quick reference, I've summarised the information in the image below. Note, that where there's a range mentioned, it will depend on the class of booking - you can get that information on AI's published chart (linked above).I like that you can earn up to 300% of base miles for first class travel, and up to 200% for business class. However, some of the economy class travels aren't going to be all that productive from a mileage-earning point of view on AI Flying Returns.
A quick note for those looking to earn miles on other Star Alliance members' programs for flights on AI:
Full reciprocity used to be the norm, but no longer. By reciprocity, I mean that if AI will give you 100% of the base miles for flights on "X" airline, then you'd also be able to earn 100% of base miles for travel in a corresponding class on AI metal, in Airline X's program. Sadly, that isn't the case any longer. For instance, flying AI business class will yield 125% on ANA Mileage Club all of the time, but flying business class on ANA will give you between 70% and 150% of base miles (depending on booking class) on AI. This could therefore be a disincentive to post your miles accrued to AI Flying Returns, depending on booking and travel class. I'll explain this in detail in a subsequent post.
Awards and awards chart
As with earnings, AI has also released its award chart. Here's the snapshot (you can click the image below to go to AI's page).Business class redemptions require 2x of the miles required for an Economy award, and First class (where available) requires 2.5x of the miles needed for an Economy award ticket. Note, that these are the miles required for AI Flying Returns members, for redemption on Star Alliance carriers (including, possibly, AI itself).
For segments that AI flies its own aircraft, the miles needed for award tickets is lower compared to the requirement in the Star Alliance mileage chart. That's because the awards on Star Alliance are based on continental groups, and AI own redemptions are based on cities that it flies to (meaning that connections will be calculated separately for miles required). So it is important to apply this knowledge in the right way, so that you are not out of the money as far as miles are concerned. Let me explain:
- BOM-JFK requires 90k miles for a return Economy ticket on AI metal, compared to 110k miles on Star Alliance redemptions. So if you can put up with AI, you could save 20k miles on this route on an economy award ticket.
- However, BOM-MXP (Milan) will require 69k miles for a return economy ticket on AI metal (routed as BOM-DEL-MXP return), but only 65k miles on Star Alliance. So you may want to book this on Star Alliance instead of AI.
- On AI metal, DEL-MEL requires 70k miles for a return Economy award, and BOM-MEL (via DEL) will require 89k miles (70k + 19k for the BOM-DEL segments). However, as a Star Alliance award, both will price out at 85k miles. You can stretch this further if you added a New Zealand destination, which still costs the same 85k miles as a Star Alliance award.
The difference in miles required is to support a destination other than one where AI flies to, within that continent. The bucketing of mileage requirements by continent is for convenience, but can have its own unwanted consequences (which of course benefits us mileage addicts!). For instance, the miles required for an award ticket from India to North America, Central America and South America are all the same! As is the requirement between North Africa and Central/South Africa. Essentially means, that you can fly from Mumbai to Cairo (2700 miles distance) for the same number of miles as Delhi to Mauritius (4900+ miles distance)!
AI miles redemptions on Star Alliance permit one stopover or one open jaw per itinerary. You can check the miles required for AI metal redemptions here, and Star Alliance awards using AI miles, here. At this point, the redemption link does not show availability on Star Alliance member airlines.
A word about surcharges/taxes - Air India levies fuel surcharges, fees and taxes for redemption on AI flights, so there is no reason to expect them to do it differently when redeeming awards on Star Alliance carriers.
Upgrade awards
Conclusion
It is early days yet, but the biggest positives of AI joining Star Alliance are the (hopefully) seamless travel particularly when stopovers are involved, and that it opens up a far greater number of destinations for travellers and mileage redemptions, particularly for AI members who were so far restricted to using AI, SQ or LH (AI's partner airlines). However, I do find some of the mileage earnings on AI, particularly in economy, quite pathetic and bordering on the ridiculous, but it is what it is.Also, a word of advice - it is highly likely that AI staff and ticketing offices / call-centres aren't fully aware (if at all) about the Star Alliance mileage earnings and awards, so I'd be very cagey for the next few months, if I had to play around with the program. Expect inefficiencies in this process. Also expect delays in posting miles on AI flights to other Star Alliance members' programs, and vice versa. That said, I'll be quite happy to be proven wrong on this one.
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