Air India Frequent Flyer Program

(updated: 28-02-2018)

‘Flying Returns’ is the Frequent Flyer Program of Air India. It is also the first Frequent Flyer Program of India. There are base miles which are calculated depending upon the route of travel and is directly related to the miles flown. Thereafter, depending on the booking class, there is specific percentage which accrues as mileage.

You can earn the FR points and redeem these on Air India flights and on its Star Alliance member airlines.

Eligibility Criteria

Any person above 2 years of age can enrol as AI Flying Returns member. 

How to Enrol in Flying Returns?

This can be done online on Flying Returns website www.flyingreturns.co.in. 

Membership Structure

Earning Flying Returns Points

How to calculate the base FR points?

Air India provides listing of base points for Flying Returns program. These rates are calculated on the basis of cabin class of travel, booking RBDs of revenue tickets and route of travel. Routes of Air India flights are divided into 10 Zones.

Following is the Accural structure of the Flying Returns points effective from 05th November 2017:

Redemption of Flying Returns Points

Redemption of these Flying Returns can be done as Flight Awards or Upgrades Awards, on Air India and its network of Star Alliance member airlines. 

Redemption for awards on Air India can be done in three ways:

• the booking offices of the carrier-  this can be used for Flight Awards and Upgrade Awards on Air India and for Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa Airlines Award flights. Flight awards have to be booked in O fare choice in First Class, I fare choice in Business Class and X fare choice in Economy class. 
• through its contact centre in india- by calling the toll free number 1800 180 1407 in India, 1800 223 7776 in USA, 1800 6256424 in Canada and 800 635 0041 in UK. It shall be noted that only domestic bookings are ticketed through contact centre. International flights bookings can be done using this method but the passenger will have to visit the booking office to get the tickets after verification of the documents. For payment, only Master and Visa credit cards are used at the contact centre.
• by using www.flyingreturns.com- to be used for Flight Awards of Air India for both domestic and international flights. Master and Visa cards along with netbanking from select banks can be used for making the payment for tickets. 

Redemption on Air India flights

a) Award Flights: You are bound to using specific booking classes for different cabin classes for Awards Tickets. These are O, I and X for First, Executive/Business and Economy Class of Air India flights. The FR points which are redeemed are- 2.5 and 2 times of Economy FR points for First and Business Class respectively. 

b) Upgrade Awards: There is also a provision of upgrading the Awards tickets. For economy to business upgrade and for Business to First class upgrade, you need 75% of normal and business class redemption miles respectively. There are also eligible classes for upgrade in economy (Y, B, M, H, Q, K and V)and executive (C and D) class of travel. Air India also provides the facility of upgrade of class of travel up to 2 hours before the scheduled departure of flight only on domestic flights of Air India. In this case, the miles required are 50% of normal and business class redemption miles for upgrade to business and First class respectively.

Upgrade award is not permitted on flights of Air India Express and code-share flights that are marketed by Air India.

Case of voulntary cancellation of the upgrade award flight- There is a provision to deduct 20% of FR points if cancellation happens more than 72 hours before scheduled departure of flight and the balance are added back to  the account. However, if cancellation of the upgraded flight happens less than 72 hours before scheduled departure of flight, then it will be trated as No Show and no FR points are credited to the account. 

 Redemption on Star Alliance Partner Flights

Redemption of Award flights on Star Alliance partners of Air India are based on route of travel. This can be known from the calculator of FR points given on flyingreturns program website. 

Similarly, there is an Upgrades Award chart of Air India which mentions how many Flying Returns points are required for cabin class upgrade on Air India. Codeshare flights are not eligible for upgrades award. Similarly, these are valid only for the following booking classes:

• Economy to Business- Y,B
• Business to First- C,D

Upgrade must be requested before 24 hours from scheduled departure time of the flight.

Following is the segment list of AI Star Alliance member partners with their eligible booking classes for upgrades.

Purchase and Transfer of FR Points

FR Points can be bought at rate of Rs. 1.25 per FR point (India) or USD 0.025 for other countries. You can also add FR points from the account of your spouse.