Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
April 30, 2024 11 min read
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Air India is refreshing its identity. It has placed a massive aircraft order, rolled out new crew uniforms, adopted a new aircraft livery and begun installing refreshed seats.
Alongside a new website, the airline has also revamped its Air India Flying Returns loyalty program. Here's what you need to know about the updated Air India Flying Returns program.
Air India Flying Returns is the loyalty program for Air India. You can earn and redeem reward points within the Flying Returns program and earn tier points toward elite status.
Air India is a Star Alliance airline, so you may be interested in its loyalty program even if you don't frequently visit India or fly on Air India.
Within the Air India Flying Returns program, there are two types of points: reward points and tier points. You can redeem reward points for award flights and upgrades, while tier points are what you need to earn Flying Returns elite status.
Reward points expire 24 months after you earn them, but you can extend the expiration date of all your reward points each time you fly on a paid flight operated by Air India.
You can earn reward and tier points on Air India flights. You'll earn reward points as follows on Air India flights:
Plus, you'll earn 2 bonus reward points per 100 Indian rupees when you book using the Air India website or mobile app. You also earn 6 tier points per 100 Indian rupees spent on Air India flights regardless of your Flying Returns elite status tier.
You can earn reward and tier points when you fly in eligible fare classes on Star Alliance airline partners. You'll earn reward points based on your flight distance and fare class, as shown on the partner airlines page. You'll also earn 1 tier point per 2 reward points when flying on Star Alliance partner airlines.
You can also earn reward points (but not tier points) with select partners. Here's a quick overview:
Unfortunately, most of these other ways to earn reward points won't help travelers who don't spend extensive time in India. Some are inaccessible if you aren't eligible for credit cards issued by Indian banks.
The Air India Flying Returns program has four tiers, including an entry-level Red tier with no requirements. To reach the other tiers, you must meet specific requirements for tier points or flights with Air India and its Star Alliance partner airlines over the last 365 days.
Once you meet the requirements for a new elite status tier, you'll enjoy its benefits for one year. After that point, you'll be downgraded based on your activity within the last 365 days.
Qualification requirements for each Flying Returns elite status tier are as follows:
The primary benefit of Flying Returns Red status is the ability to earn and redeem points. Here's a look at the primary benefits you can expect at each Flying Returns elite status tier above what you'd get at the previous tier:
If you don't frequently fly on Air India, the primary benefit of status will be the Star Alliance status you can get. However, you must reach Gold for Star Alliance Gold status before seeing any significant benefits.
You can redeem Flying Returns points for Air India flights, Star Alliance partner flights and upgrades on Air India flights.
You can redeem points for flights or upgrades on flights Air India operates. I haven't found an award chart for flights or upgrades, but you can check the rates for specific routes using the Flying Returns points calculator.
Here's the award flight and upgrade rates I found using the calculator for a few one-way routes (the calculator wouldn't give me the award cost for premium economy or business awards on these routes):
Air India claimed all Star Alliance partners would be bookable online when the revamped program launched in early April. However, the Air India website still notes that you can only book award flights operated by United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Austrian Airlines online. You must call to book award flights operated by other Star Alliance airlines.
You can only book one-segment awards on Star Alliance airlines, and there's no published award chart for Star Alliance partners. Instead, Flying Returns members are instructed to enter their flight details into the points calculator to see award rates. However, each Star Alliance partner route I entered into the calculator gave me a "No routes found" error.
Undeterred, I headed to the award booking tool and found I could book an economy award flight from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) on at least one date for 5,500 points. I don't have 5,500 points in my account, so the website wouldn't let me see the taxes and fees on this award.
I also found a date on which I could book an economy award flight from EWR to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) for 7,500 points.
You can also redeem Flying Returns points for upgrades on Star Alliance flights. However, with the points calculator not working for Star Alliance partner routes and without a potential flight to update, I couldn't see the upgrade rates.
Out of the cards available to U.S. residents, you'll want to use some of our best cards for airfare when booking Air India flights. My favorite is the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, which offers 3 points per dollar spent on purchases in select categories, including travel (on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases each account anniversary year), trip delay protection and delayed baggage protection.
If you aren't eligible for a business credit card, here are some of the best personal cards and what they earn on flights:
These cards are great regardless of whether you're booking a paid flight or an award flight. Remember that it may be worth using a card with a lower earning rate if it offers better travel insurance benefits, especially in cases when you're only paying the taxes and fees for an award flight.
Air India didn't have the best reputation historically, as covered by TPG contributors in past stories about a honeymoon disaster and a horrendous transatlantic flight. Thankfully, it seems the airline and its loyalty program are improving, even though its points calculator and award search aren't as functional as I'd like.
Air India says it may add transfer partners and credit cards for U.S. residents in the future. But until then, there's little reason for most travelers based in the U.S. to utilize Air India Flying Returns.
Featured image by AIR INDIAEditorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
