What's Coming to Air India Maharaja Club in 2026

Air India sent out a year-end email to all Maharaja Club members today. Between the thank yous and the fleet updates, there are some real loyalty program announcements worth paying attention to.

Air India Express Redemptions Are Coming

This is the big one.

The email says they will "enable redemption and later accrual on flights operated by Air India Express."

Redemption comes first, earning comes later. That's a smart order of operations.

Here's why this matters. Air India's mainline network is still limited compared to what it used to be. Many Indian cities only have Air India Express flights, not Air India proper. If you're sitting on Maharaja Club points, you've had limited domestic options.

With Air India Express opening up, you suddenly have access to a much larger network covering Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, tourist routes, and Gulf connections.

We actually saw signs of this coming. A while back, we posted about some routes on our WhatsApp community where members can get more value with their points. One of those routes turned out to be Air India Express, not Air India mainline. At the time it seemed odd, but now it makes sense.

That said, Air India Express also has a tight integration with Neu Coins. Whether they keep both programs running or eventually merge everything into Maharaja Club, we'll have to wait and see.

The fact that redemption comes before earning is also good news because it means you can start using your points sooner, even if earning on Express flights takes a few more months to roll out.

A Co-Branded Credit Card is Coming

The email confirms: "We will also introduce the Air India Maharaja Club co-branded credit card to create more everyday earning opportunities."

This brings back memories.

Remember the Vistara credit cards? Axis Bank had three variants. The entry card gave economy class complimentary ticket vouchers, the mid-tier gave premium economy vouchers, and the top one, the Vistara Infinite, gave business class ticket vouchers. These were actual complimentary tickets, not upgrades. Separate upgrade vouchers also existed.

But the real value was the status. The premium economy card came with Vistara Silver, and the Infinite card came with Vistara Gold.

Here's what that meant in practice. If you held the Infinite card, you had Gold status. Even if you booked an economy ticket on Air India, you could walk into the lounge. You got priority check-in, extra baggage, and all the other Gold perks, just because of a credit card.

IDFC also had a Vistara card with similar perks.

Now Air India is hinting at bringing something similar back. If the new co-branded card comes with Maharaja Club status tiers, we could see lounge access return as a credit card benefit. Not because the card gives you lounge access directly, but because the status does.

If they do it right, this could be one of the best credit card launches in India next year.

"Best-Priced Award Flights" - What Does That Mean?

Here's an interesting line from the email: "unlocking higher value for Maharaja Points through more frequent access to best-priced Award Flights."

Let's decode this.

Right now, Air India has two award fare types. Value fares have limited seats but require fewer points, while Prime fares have more availability but cost more points. The issue is that Value seats are hard to find on popular routes, and Prime fares feel expensive.

And here's the bigger problem. Maharaja Club redemptions are not competitively priced compared to other Star Alliance programs.

Mumbai to New York in business class costs 195,000 points through Maharaja Club. With United MileagePlus, a Star Alliance partner, you can fly the same route for 88,000 miles.

Same story for Europe. Business class to Europe costs 90,000 points through Maharaja Club. But with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, you can book the same Air India flight for just 62,000 miles. Same seat, same plane, same Air India metal. Just a different loyalty program.

That's an insane difference for using your own airline's program.

If you want to compare points required across different frequent flyer programs for any route, the Magnify app has an award calculator that does exactly this.

"Best-priced Award Flights" could signal that Air India knows this is a problem. They might be working on releasing more Value inventory, recalibrating the award chart, or offering better rates on partner redemptions.

We don't know the specifics yet, but the language suggests they're aware that redemption value needs work.

The Non-Loyalty Stuff (Quick Hits)

The email also covered operational updates. These aren't loyalty-specific, but they affect your flying experience.

On the fleet side, the 787s are getting new interiors starting February 2026, with two planes per month after that. The 777s will follow, and by the end of 2026, about 65% of the widebody fleet will have modern cabins. If you're curious about what business class looks like on each aircraft type, we wrote a detailed guide on Air India's business class cabins.

For lounges, there's a new flagship lounge coming to Delhi for international flights, plus one at San Francisco. JFK is getting upgraded, and a new domestic lounge at Delhi is also in the works.

The new food and beverage menus that started in Delhi will roll out network-wide by March 2026.

All of this matters for status members. Better lounges and better onboard product make your status more valuable.

The Bottom Line

Air India is investing in Maharaja Club. Air India Express redemptions open up the network significantly, a co-branded credit card could bring back the status perks that made the Vistara cards so popular, and hints about better award pricing suggest they're listening to feedback.

2026 is shaping up to be a big year for the program.

In the meantime, if you want to top up your Maharaja Club balance, here's every credit card that transfers to Air India.