Air India Maharaja Club Devaluation History
Flying Returns becomes Maharaja Club
Air India retired its long-running Flying Returns program and launched Maharaja Club in 2024 as part of its post-privatization overhaul and Vistara merger. The rebrand promised faster earning, quicker upgrades, and easier elite status, and on the earning side it delivered improvements. But the headline question for award travelers is always what redemptions cost, and the 2026 chart update answered it unevenly.
The mixed 2026 chart
Air India marketed the 2026 chart as a revaluation offering better value, and for economy it largely was: economy award prices fell about 30 percent on most domestic and international routes, with domestic awards starting from just 1,500 points and Europe from 35,000. Business was cut on many routes too. But premium economy quietly rose about 35 percent across 99 routes, and first class got more expensive on most routes, by roughly 48 percent on average. The cheaper cabins improved while the premium cabins were devalued. See earn and burn.
What it means
Maharaja Club is now a more useful program for economy and many business redemptions, and a worse one for premium economy and first. As a relatively new transferable and Rove partner with improving award space, it is worth watching, but read the current chart for your specific cabin and route rather than trusting the better-value marketing. See the devaluation overview.
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
Find this useful? Add Cardocrat as a preferred source on Google to see more of our honest, independent card analysis in Search.
