My brother currently lives in Adelaide, and I was recently checking flight options for his return to Delhi and then going back to Adelaide. His travel date was fixed for 15th October 2026, which made this a very practical example of why credit card points, airline miles and award availability can completely change your booking decision.

The cheapest flight is not always the best flight. And the best redemption is not always the one you expected first.

The First Option: Singapore Airlines

Until now, my brother has mostly preferred flying Singapore Airlines on this route. Naturally, that was the first program I checked.

Singapore Airlines is usually one of the cleaner options for India to Australia redemptions, especially when Saver award seats are available. For Delhi to Adelaide, Singapore Airlines was showing flights via Singapore.

On paper, this was a very strong routing. The travel time was short, the airline was preferred, and a Saver seat at around 42,000 KrisFlyer miles plus roughly ₹5,000 to ₹6,000 in taxes would have been a great redemption.

But the issue was availability. The Saver option was waitlisted, while the confirmed award space was under Advantage pricing at 84,500 KrisFlyer miles. For an economy class ticket, that is a very heavy mileage requirement.

So I checked another route.

The Qatar Airways Option

For the same fixed return date, Qatar Airways had award availability from Delhi to Doha to Adelaide. The first leg was QR4781, operated by IndiGo from Delhi to Doha. The second leg was QR914, operated by Qatar Airways from Doha to Adelaide.

These Avios were already sitting in my Qatar Airways Privilege Club account, so there was no need to move anything from British Airways Executive Club.

At first glance, the taxes on Qatar look higher compared to Singapore Airlines. But award bookings should never be judged only by taxes. The real comparison has to include the miles required, the cash component, the revenue fare, the travel time, and whether confirmed award space is actually available on the date you need.

That is where the Qatar option started making sense.

The Cash Fare Comparison

When I checked the same Delhi to Adelaide route on MakeMyTrip, the cheapest revenue fare available was around ₹66,902, and that was on Singapore Airlines. The Qatar Airways revenue fare for the same route was around ₹1,32,401.

I would not compare the Avios redemption only against the ₹1.32 lakh Qatar cash fare, because that can make the value look artificially inflated. Even when compared against the cheapest available cash fare of around ₹66,900, the redemption still made practical sense.

By using 40,000 Avios, the out-of-pocket cash expense came down to around ₹19,000. That means a meaningful part of the fare was covered by points, while the actual cash expense stayed much lower than booking a revenue ticket.

The Points Calculation

Here is the conservative way to look at the redemption, using the cheapest practical cash fare as the comparison point.

To calculate the value per Avios, we compare the cash fare avoided against the points used.

Value covered by points = Cheapest cash fare - Award taxes

₹66,902 - ₹19,000 = ₹47,902

Then:

Value per Avios = ₹47,902 / 40,000 Avios

That gives a value of around:

₹1.20 per Avios

This is a healthy value for an economy redemption, especially because the award option also reduced the travel time meaningfully.

If You Compare Against Qatar’s Cash Fare

If someone compared the redemption against the Qatar Airways revenue fare of ₹1,32,401, the value per Avios would look much higher.

Here is that calculation.

In this case, the redemption appears to deliver around ₹2.84 per Avios.

But I prefer using the cheapest practical cash fare for a more conservative and honest calculation. The Qatar fare is useful as context, because it shows what the same airline was charging in cash, but the real decision for most travellers is usually: “Should I pay the cheapest reasonable cash fare or use points?”

That is why I would treat ₹1.20 per Avios as the cleaner valuation for this example, with the Qatar comparison showing the upside.

The Time Advantage

There was another important factor: travel time.

The Singapore Airlines cash option on MakeMyTrip was around 27 hours 20 minutes, while the Qatar Airways award routing was around 18 hours 55 minutes. So this redemption was not just about saving money. It also saved around 8 hours of travel time, which matters a lot on long-haul economy travel.

A cheaper flight with a very long layover may look good on paper, but when someone is actually travelling from India to Australia, time and comfort become part of the value calculation.

Why Qatar Avios Helped Here

This is where Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios became useful. Because the Avios were already available in my Qatar Airways account, I could directly check and consider the Qatar redemption without depending on a separate transfer from British Airways.

That flexibility matters.

Sometimes Singapore Airlines will have Saver availability and that will be the best route. Sometimes it will not. Sometimes Qatar Airways through Avios may solve the problem better. Sometimes Air India, Flying Blue, JAL, Etihad, transfers or another program may become the smarter option for different flights.

The best redemption is not always the one you had in mind first. The best redemption is the one that works for your date, your route, your points balance and your cash comfort.

IndusInd Bank Avios Visa Infinite Credit Card

Thanks to this card, I managed to collect around 42,000 Avios.

Around 20,000 Avios as welcome benefit and another 20,000 Avios through bonus offer in January. Let me quickly explain why this card is interesting for travellers.

You earn:

6X Avios/₹200 at preferred destinations via POS
5X Avios/₹200 on Qatar Airways and British Airways websites
3X Avios/₹200 on online spends at preferred destinations
1X Avios/₹200 on utilities, insurance and government spends

The highlight for me is simple: this card even rewards categories that most banks either exclude or heavily devalue, like utilities, insurance and government services.

Yes, the earn rate is lower on these categories, but if you have high spends here and can combine them with milestone benefits, this card becomes quite interesting.

You also get complimentary domestic and international lounge access, Priority Pass membership with 2 international lounge visits per quarter, and 2 airport meet and greet services every year.

The meet and greet benefit includes dedicated airport assistance, baggage support, security and immigration guidance, plus porter service for up to 3 bags.

For Qatar Airways Privilege Club users, the card gives a 10% discount on Qatar Airways flights departing from India when booked via the Qatar Airways website or app using code IDSCB23.

Milestone benefits make the card stronger:
Spend ₹8 lakh in a year and get 18,000 bonus Avios.
Spend another ₹8 lakh and get 18,000 more bonus Avios.

That means up to 36,000 bonus Avios in a year through milestones.
Overall, this is not a basic rewards card.

This is a travel-first card for people who want Avios, airport comfort, airline benefits and meaningful milestone rewards, especially if they can route high spends smartly.

₹10,000 + GST as joining fee and get 20,000 miles as a welcome benefit. Super solid for 1st year.

You can apply via Book1A and get our Runway Membership plan once card is activated.

The Real Lesson

This Delhi to Adelaide example shows why you cannot depend on only one airline program.

Singapore Airlines looked like the natural choice, but Saver was not confirmed. Advantage pricing at 84,500 KrisFlyer miles was too expensive for economy. Qatar Airways had higher taxes, but it required fewer miles, reduced the cash burden compared to revenue fares and also saved travel time.

That is proper redemption planning.

Not blindly chasing the lowest tax. Not blindly chasing the lowest mileage. Not comparing only against the most expensive cash fare. The smart way is to compare all practical options and then decide.

Why Book 1A Exists

This is exactly why we are building Book 1A.

Book 1A helps you manage your reward points, airline miles, hotel points and transfer options in one dashboard. Instead of checking old screenshots, bank apps, loyalty accounts and random notes, you can store your balances and understand where your points can actually be used.

With the Book 1A dashboard, you can check transfer routes, etc

The idea is simple: before you burn your points, you should know all possible routes.

Need Help Planning Your Own Redemption?

Most people have credit cards, reward points, vouchers, miles, hotel memberships and offers scattered across different apps, emails, screenshots and memory. The problem is not just earning points. The real problem is knowing what you own, where it can be used, when it expires, and how to extract the best value from it.

That is where Book1A starts.

Our free Onboarding plan gives you access to your own Book1A dashboard, where you can track your cards, points, miles, vouchers, expiry dates, transfer routes, hotel deals, Store1A offers and important rewards updates in one place. It is built for anyone who wants their points life to finally feel organised.

But if you want to go beyond tracking and actually build a strategy, Book1A also offers personalised credit card consultancy.

Because your points were never meant to sit idle. They were meant to take you somewhere.

We help you build a personalised roadmap for your cards, spends, points, miles and travel goals. From choosing the right card for the right expense to optimising reward points, milestone benefits, transfer partners, hotel stays and flight redemptions, we create a clear strategy around your lifestyle.

This is for people who want to enjoy the real power of credit card rewards without spending hours doing maths, comparing permutations, checking caps, reading fine print and second-guessing every redemption.

You focus on better vacations, better hotels, better flights and better savings.

We focus on the strategy.

A free dashboard to bring everything in one place.

A paid consultancy layer when you want a complete credit card and rewards roadmap.

And a smarter way to make your points work harder for you.

Final Takeaway

For my brother’s fixed Delhi to Adelaide, Singapore Airlines was the obvious first choice. But the Saver seat was not available.

The confirmed KrisFlyer option required 84,500 miles, which was not attractive for economy. Qatar Airways Privilege Club required around 40,000 Avios + ₹19,000 taxes, while also cutting the travel time compared to the cheapest cash option.

Using the conservative comparison against the cheapest cash fare, this redemption delivered around ₹1.20 per Avios in value. If compared against Qatar’s own cash fare, it could look closer to ₹2.84 per Avios, but the conservative number is the cleaner way to judge the decision.

That is where points showed their real value.

Points are not valuable just because they sit in your account. Points become valuable when you know where to use them, when to transfer them and when to avoid a bad redemption.