Flying to India with Points in Economy {Guide}

 

With points and miles, far-reaching destinations like India can become much more accessible. If India is on your list, this post is for you! I’ll show you all the best ways to get to India using points in economy, plus show you some strategies to earn points to pay for your trip.

If you’re new to booking flights with points, be sure to check out this overview for important background information. You can also sign up for our free course. You’ll want to be sure you understand how to find the best routes, price compare with Google Flights, how to search for available flights, and how to leverage transfer partners and airline alliances.

Earn More Points

Each airline option I list in this article has more than one credit card that can earn you a welcome bonus and the points you need to fly to India. This article is already long enough without listing out every single card you could get for each of these programs to earn points.

So how can you figure out how to earn the right points? First step: get my free airline transfer partner guide — inside I have a chart that shows which kinds of points transfer to which airlines.

Then work backwards!

Let’s say you figure out that you want to fly on Singapore Airlines. You can look at the chart in my guide and see that American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One miles, and Citi ThankYou® Points all transfer 1:1 to Singapore KrisFlyer. Then you could browse my Best Offers page, where I list all my favorite current offers–to see which cards currently have good bonuses and earn those kinds of points.

Pro Tip: Transfer Bonuses

Most points transfer 1:1 when you transfer from a program like Chase Ultimate Rewards® to an airline or hotel. But! Banks run promos throughout the year and certain transfers may offer a bonus. Sign up here to be alerted to new transfer bonuses.

 

 

Top Four Options: American Airlines, United, Singapore KrisFlyer, and Virgin Atlantic

These first three programs (American, United, and Singapore) offer a balance of good pricing and lower taxes and fees. Virgin Atlantic has higher taxes and fees, but incredibly low points pricing.

What makes the most sense for you may depend on your home airport, preferred routings, and what points you have. You can also read about all the different options in each of the major airline alliances below.

Keep in mind that you can book with one airline one direction and a different one on the return. This can open up a lot more options and it usually doesn’t cost any more points to book a trip this way.

And don’t forget that booking via a travel portal is still a strong option. It’s not uncommon for flights to India to be in the $700-$1300 range. You could use points in your bank’s travel portal to book a $700 flight for 70,000 points (or even less if you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card that gives a bonus when booking in the travel portal) and that includes all taxes and fees.

Best: Using American Airlines miles to book onto American

American Airlines offers low pricing in both points and taxes and fees. Prices starts at 70,000 miles with taxes and fees around $50 for a roundtrip.

Another nice thing about American is you can often add a connection from your home airport for the same price. You don’t need to make your way to a larger airport to get the best deal, which saves a lot of time and money.

American Airlines offers non-stop flights between JFK and Delhi.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

American Airlines miles are relatively easy to earn via credit card bonuses because both Citi and Barclay issue them. You’d need 280,000 AA miles for 4 people to fly round trip from the US to India. How can you get that? Earn the following sign up bonuses (these were current as of September 2024).

• AAdvantage^® Aviator^® Mastercard 70,000 miles- Each parent can get 1 of these. That’s already 140,000 miles. {see this offer on my Best Offers page, it’s only available via personal referral}
• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® – 65,000 miles – Each parent can get one of these. That’s another 130,000 miles! Alternatively you could get the personal version of this card.
• With both parents getting one personal and one business card, you would have a total of 270,000 miles from the welcome offers, plus at least 8,000 more miles from meeting the minimum spends. The extra 2,000 miles needed could be earned by putting additional spend on the cards or utilizing the AAdvantage shopping portal.

Using United miles to book onto United

Round trip pricing is 90,000 miles for a Saver Award, but you can sometimes find flights for even less. Taxes and fees are around $40. For a family of four, you’ll need about 360,000 miles to fly roundtrip to India. United offers something called the Excursionist Perk where you can essentially add a stopover for free.

The mileage price on United is a bit higher than American, but United miles are also easier to earn because you can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards® to United. Remember to always search and find availability before transferring any points!

Like American, you can also add a connection from your home airport for little to no cost, making this a very convenient option for families.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile flexible points that transfer to United. Consider opening a United Airlines co-branded card like the United℠ Explorer Card. Not only is it a good way to earn more United miles, but cardholders have access to more Saver level awards than non-card holders.

• Open cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® A great option are the Chase Ink family of cards.
• Open a United credit card like the United℠ Explorer Card

Using Singapore KrisFlyer to book onto Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines is well known for it’s high quality flight experience. They have comfortable cabins, good food, and excellent service. You can also add a stopover in Singapore for free, which can be a fun way to break up your journey and get more value out of the trip without spending more.

Flights to India on Singapore Airlines start at 102,000 miles with taxes and fees around $40-$50 roundtrip. You’ll need quite a lot of points for a family of four, but the good news is all the major banks transfer to Singapore KrisFlyer so it’s easy to earn a lot of points.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile flexible points that transfer to Singapore KrisFlyer.

• Open cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®. A great option are the Chase Ink family of cards
• Open cards that earn Capital One miles. One of my favorites for perks is the Capital One Venture X (earn 75,000 miles) but you can also earn 75,000 miles with a $95 fee Capital One Venture card.
• You could also open cards with American Express or Citi to earn even more points.

Using Virgin miles to book onto Virgin Atlantic

Virgin uses dynamic pricing so the amount of points needed varies. Flights to India start at 29,500 points roundtrip, which is incredible. This can be a great option for those who are newer to earning points or who don’t have a lot of points saved up. Taxes and fees are higher (around $388), but the low point price can make it worth it, especially if you can utilize a transfer bonus. 

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile flexible points that transfer to Virgin

• Open cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®. A great option are the Chase Ink family of cards
• Open cards that earn Capital One miles (these transfer to Virgin Red and can then be moved to Virgin Atlantic). One of my favorites for perks is the Capital One Venture X (earn 75,000 miles) but you can also earn 75,000 miles with a $95 fee Capital One Venture card.
• You could also open cards with American Express or Citi to earn even more points.

 

Sweet Spots By U.S. Departure City

You can get to India from the US flying either East or West. This is good news because wherever you are in the country, you can find a decent route. There are very few non-stops from North America to India so you’ll most likely need at least one connection to get there.

If you live near an airport that has a non-stop flight to India, start with that. (Did you look it up on Flightconnections.com?) Then find which alliance that airline is in and jump down the page to the strategies for that alliance.

Here are a few examples:

From New York – Non-stop to Delhi on United and American

From Chicago – Non-stop to Delhi on United (This is a seasonal route offered between March and August)

From Montreal – Air Canada offers a non-stop to Delhi

From Toronto – Air Canada offers a non-stop to Mumbai

Pro Tip: Add a Stopover

Since you’ll most likely need a connection to get to India anyway, why not add a stopover on the way?

Stopovers are a great way to break up a long journey and get more value out of your trip. Several airlines offer free or cheap stopovers including Air Canada Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and United.

 

Star Alliance Sweet Spots

The best way to book on a Star Alliance carrier can vary depending on who is offering a transfer bonus when you’re ready to book. Avianca LifeMiles has good value (if you balance cost in miles and factor in fees) but sometimes it is easier to get Air Canada Aeroplan miles, especially if you can utilize a transfer bonus.

Oftentimes, you can get more value by using one airline program’s miles to book onto a partner airline, but this isn’t always the case for flights to India. Airlines like United and Singapore offer excellent value booking onto their own flights to India so keep that in mind.

How to search for Star Alliance award availability:

For United flights, you’ll want to search on United.com to see 30 day availability. Look for United awards marked “Saver” — these are the ones that will be released to alliance partners. At this time, those are usually 45,000 miles each way. If you have a certain non-stop route you are searching, you can also find the cheapest date in a 365 day range by using SeatSpy.

Note: Currently, United availability isn’t showing up on SeatSpy, but you can still see other Star Alliance carriers.

If you are booking onto ANA flights, you can search United.com for awards that will be released to Star Alliance partners.

If you want to fly on ANA and plan to book directly with ANA – search directly on ANA for these — you may find increased availability over what partners show.

Note on Air India

Air India is a Star Alliance partner and seems like a logical choice for getting to India. They do offer several non-stop flights from the US to India and tend to have decent pricing.

The only problem is they typically only release one award seat at a time. This can work out well for solo travelers, but it isn’t practical for those who need multiple tickets.

ANA Mileage Club: From 60,000 miles + $632

Best for: Round trip (or open jaw) flights on ANA or United if you don’t mind higher out of pocket costs in exchange for using fewer points.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®. Transfers are not instant. They typically take between 2-4 business days to show up in your account.

Cost to book: ANA Mileage Club currently charges 60,000 miles (round trip) in economy from the US to India + significant taxes and fees. Fuel surcharges change regularly and can move up and down – tired somewhat to oil pricing.

Flights on their Star Alliance partner United are priced higher in points but have lower taxes and fees.

This is an option for booking on United or ANA flights but you will pay high taxes and fees. United flights will only be available to book with ANA miles if they are “Saver” awards. You can search directly on United.com and use the 30 day calendar to find flights.

Notes: ANA Mileage club only allows round trip awards — though you can also book an open jaw. That means you could fly into Delhi and then out of Mumbai, for instance.

You can only book tickets with your ANA miles for people “within two degrees” of family relationship.

ANA Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on ANA) 60,000 miles + $632

 

ANA Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on United and ANA) 80,000 miles + $375

If any of your flight segments are on a Star Alliance partner airline, you’ll pay Star Alliance pricing which is more miles but fewer taxes and fees.

 

Air Canada Aeroplan: From 110,000 miles + CA $157

Best for: Star Alliance flights, especially if you can utilize a transfer bonus or you want to add a stopover.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital One Miles

Cost: Aeroplan uses a distance based chart so the price varies depending on how far you’re going. Aeroplan does not pass along fuel surcharges which gives it an advantage if you want to book a Star Alliance airline like ANA which does usually levy large fuel surcharges on award bookings. Aeroplan adds a $39 partner booking fee to any award flight booked with a partner and other fees for some routes.

Notes: Aeroplan allows you to add stopovers for just 5,000 miles more which can be helpful if you want to visit multiple destinations on your trip.

Air Canada has a nice feature where you can choose how many points you use and it will change the dollar amount. You can even use points to cover the taxes and fees this way.

Aeroplan Booking Example: EWR to DEL (on United and Air Canada) 110,000 miles + CA $157

Note: You can also fly this route on Air India (booked through Aeroplan). They offer non-stop service both directions and it’s the same price as flying United or Air Canada. The only downside is they only release one award seat per flight at a time, so it’s not a practical option for families.

Aeroplan Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on Air Canada) 110,000 miles + CA $157

 

Avianca LifeMiles: From 94,000 miles + $115

Best for: Star Alliance flights when you know you won’t cancel. Avianca does charge high cancellation fees so you don’t want to book this if you might cancel.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Citi ThankYou® Points, Capital One Miles (Sometimes with a 30% transfer bonus)

Cost: Flights to India start at 47,000 miles each way. Avianca LifeMiles will not pass on fuel surcharges which makes it a great way to pay lower taxes and fees. It costs $25 per person to issue an award ticket.

Notes: Avianca is not known for having great customer service, so take that into consideration. Also note that the cancellation and change fees are high: if you need to cancel an award – changes cost $150 per person and cancellations are usually $200.

Booking Tips: You will need to create a LifeMiles account and login to be able to search. Under “view additional airlines” make sure “Star Alliance” is selected to see available Star Alliance flights.

While there is decent availability with LifeMiles for flights to India it’s very hard to find availability on the return flight. You may want to consider booking your return flight with a different program.

LifeMiles Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on United and Lufthansa) 94,000 miles + $115

Note: It’s very hard to find availability on the return flight for this route. I couldn’t find a single date with more than one seat available.

Like with Air Canada, you can also book this route as a non-stop flying on Air India, but they only release one award seat per flight at a time.

LifeMiles Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on Swiss Airlines and ANA) 94,000 miles + $112

Singapore Airlines: From 102,000 miles + $54

Best for: Booking a free stopover in Singapore.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou® points

Cost: Singapore has different award charts for their own and partner flights. On Singapore airlines you’ll pay 51,000 miles each way. For partner airlines, the cost is 60,500 miles each way. Taxes and fees are low.

Booking Tips: Singapore’s website will default to searching their own flights, make sure to toggle “Star Alliance” if you want to see partner flights.

Singapore Booking Example: SFO to DEL (On Singapore) 102,000 points + $54

Singapore Booking Example: EWR to DEL (on United) 121,000 points + $40

 

United: From 87,500 miles + $40

Best for: Star Alliance flights and booking multi-leg itineraries with the Excursionist Perk

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Cost: The standard pricing for a “Saver Award” from the US to India is 45,000 miles each way. United uses dynamic pricing though, so rates can vary.

Notes: United miles do have some perks to booking with them. First – the United website is very user friendly with easy ways to search and sort awards. United doesn’t pass along fuel surcharges or tack on extra fees. In addition – United has a nice perk called the Excursionist Perk which can be valuable if you’re hopping cities! Essentially, you can add a leg for free. So you could fly New York to Delhi, Delhi to Mumbai, and Mumbai back to New York for the same price as a round trip. You could even add another country instead of visiting multiple cities in India.

United Booking Example: EWR to DEL (on United) 87,500 miles + $40

With dynamic pricing, rates can be higher, but they can also be lower than the standard saver rate. These flights to and from Delhi from New York are both under 45k miles, which is great!

United Booking Example: MCI to DEL (on United) 90,000 points + $46

Another nice thing about United is that you can often add a connection from your home airport for little to no additional cost. In this example, you can see the standard saver rate at 45,000 miles to and from Kansas City with a connection in Newark.

 

 

 

Oneworld Sweet Spots

Booking via American Airlines is the best option for oneworld flights. It has low prices and low fees for both American Airlines and partner flights.

How to Search for oneworld availability

It’s easy to search on AA.com to see 30 day availability. If you have a certain route you are searching, you can also find the cheapest date in a 365 day range at SeatSpy.

American Airlines: From 70,000 miles + $54

Best for: Paying Low prices in both miles and fees.

Transfer points from: No transfer partners except Bilt which is hard to earn points with – but since both Citi and Barclay issue AA cards, it is fairly easy to rack up points with credit card bonuses.

Cost: American Airlines uses dynamic pricing so prices can vary. Standard pricing to India starts at 35,000 miles each way.

AA Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on American and Etihad) 70,000 miles + $54

 

British Airways: From 120,000 miles + $500

Best for: As a general rule, I don’t recommend booking a oneworld flight with British Airways because the taxes and fees are so high.

Transfer Points From: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital one Miles. Or transfer from Citi ThankYou® Points to another Avios partner and from there to use on British Airways.

Cost: Flights start at 60,000 miles each way. British Airways uses a distance based chart so price will vary based on your route. They usually add on large fuel surcharges.

British Airways Booking Example: EWR to DEL (on British Airways) 120,000 miles + $500

British Airways Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on American Airlines and British Airways) 131,500 miles + $673

 

Alaska Airlines: From 85,000 miles + $116

Best for: Booking free stopovers, even on a one way flight

Transferring Points From: Alaska Mileage Plan only has one transfer partner: BILT Rewards. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. You can also earn miles through their co-branded credit cards and their shopping portal (MileagePlus Shopping).

With the Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines merger, it’s now possible to transfer Hawaiian Airlines miles to Alaska Airlines. American Express Membership Rewards® points transfer to Hawaiian at a 1:1 ratio. That means you can transfer from American Express to Hawaiian Airlines, and then take those points and transfer them to Alaska Airlines. There is a small excise fee to transfer points from American Express to Hawaiian Airlines.

There is a lot of speculation on whether or not American Express will remove Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner or whether or not Alaska will devalue a lot of their awards as a result of the merger. We don’t know what this might look like in the future, but for now it does make earning Alaska Airlines points easier than it used to be.

Cost: Award ticket costs for Alaska partner flights are determined by distance. Most flights start at 42,500 miles each way.

Booking Tips: Try to avoid flights booked onto British Airways. Those will have significantly higher taxes and fees.

Alaska Airlines Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on Qatar and Finnair) 85,000 miles + $116

Alaska Airlines Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on Cathay Pacific) 85,000 miles + $120

 

Cathay Pacific from 76,000 miles + $420

Best for: If you have a lot of transferrable points and don’t mind higher taxes and fees. 

Transferring Points From: Points from American Express, Capital One, Citi, and BILT can all be transferred to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio.

Cost: Cathay Pacific uses a distance based chart. The longest distance caps out at 38,000 Asia Miles each way for Cathay flights which means all economy round trips cost a max of 76,000 miles plus taxes. Partner awards have slightly higher pricing. Cathay Pacific passes on large fuel surcharges on award tickets, especially for their own flights. Some partner awards have lower taxes and fees.

Notes: Most of the flights to India available to book through Cathay are flying on Cathay with a stop a Hong Kong. Partner award flights for this route are harder to find, but there are some options. For example you can fly on British Airways with a stop in London, but taxes and fees for that route are high. 

Booking Tips: Go to Cathaypacific.com and under flights choose “Redeem flights”. You’ll need to sign in to search. Input your departure and arrival cities along with your preferred dates.

Cathay Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on Cathay Pacific) 76,000 miles + $420

Qatar Airways: From 80,000 points  + $360

Best for: When Avios partners have a transfer bonus

Transferring Points: Citi Thank You® points and American Express Membership Rewards both transfer directly to Qatar Avios. Chase, Capital One, and Bilt points can all be transferred to other Avios partners (like British Airways) and transferred from there to Qatar. Transfer bonuses are frequent, which can make the actual number of points needed even less.

Cost: 40,000 Avios each way for off-peak dates. Taxes and fees can vary but are usually in the $300-$400 range.

Booking Tips: Flights marked “Flexi” will take twice as many miles so avoid those.

Qatar Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on Qatar) 80,000 points + $390

 

Qatar Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on Qatar) 80,000 points + $360

 

Sky Team Sweet Spots

It typically takes fewer points to book a flight to India with a Sky Team partner, but the taxes and fees will be higher. Virgin offers the lowest points pricing of any airline.

Note on Delta

Delta doesn’t currently offer any flights to India on their own aircraft.

You can book a cash fare through Delta to fly on a Sky Team partner like Virgin Atlantic, Air France, or KLM. I couldn’t find any of these flights available to book with points.

If you’re interested in flying on one of those flights, scroll down to Virgin Atlantic and Flying Blue (the loyalty program of Air France and KLM.)

Flying Blue: From 83,500 miles + $373

Best for: If you have a lot of transferrable points and can utilize a transfer bonus. Or you want to book a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam.

Transfer points from: It’s easy to earn a lot of Flying Blue points since all major banks transfer to them. Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards®, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou® Points all transfer to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio. Transfer bonuses are frequent which can make for an even better deal.

Cost: Flying Blue uses dynamic pricing so prices can fluctuate a lot. Flights to India start at 35,000 miles each way but are hard to find at that price point. If you’re flexible with dates, it’s common to find flights for 38,500-45,000 points each way. Taxes and fees are typically around $150-$200 each way.

Booking Tips: Follow the tips in this article to learn more tricks to finding these awards.

Note: Sometimes if you start your search with Virgin, it can show “phantom availability” meaning flights appear to have availability but not actually be able to book. You’ll need to run the same search on FlyingBlue’s website to make sure you can find the same flight available there too.

Flying Blue Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on Air France and KLM) 83,500 miles + $373

Flying Blue Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on KLM and Air France) 85,500 miles + $397

Virgin Atlantic: From 29,500 miles +$388

Best for: Paying the fewest amount of points possible. 

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards®, and Citi ThankYou® Points. Capital One miles can transfer to Virgin Red which can then be moved to Virgin Atlantic.

Cost: Virgin has moved to dynamic pricing so the cost varies widely. If you’re flexible on dates, its possible to find some great deals. Saver rates to India start at 29,500 miles for a round trip. This is the lowest pricing in miles of all the airline programs. Taxes and fees are somewhat high, so keep that in mind.

Booking Tips: Follow the tips outlined here to learn more tricks to finding these awards.

Note: Sometimes Virgin shows “phantom availability” for partner flights meaning you will appear to have availability but not actually be able to book. It is best to run the same search on Flying Blue’s website to make sure you can find the same flight available there, too.

 

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: JFK to DEL (on Virgin Atlantic) 29,500 miles + $388

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: SFO to DEL (on Virgin Atlantic) 35,500 miles + $401

 

 

 

Table Comparing Price by Airlines (Points + Taxes/Fees)

As you can see, each airline varies on the miles required for a round trip ticket a well as taxes and fees!

Time to Book an Economy Flight to India with Points and Miles

Thanks to points and miles, you can take your whole family to India without breaking the bank. With so many options for flights, there’s sure to be one that works for your family.