Do Maharaja Club Points Expire? Yes, But Here's How to Keep Them Alive

Air India markets Maharaja Club points as "evergreen." That sounds great on paper. In practice? Your points will expire if you're not careful.

Here's everything you need to know about keeping your hard-earned points alive.

The Actual Expiry Rule

Maharaja Club points expire after 24 months of account inactivity.

Not 24 months from when you earned them. 24 months from your last qualifying activity.

This is a crucial distinction. If you took a flight in January 2024, your entire balance (whether it's 5,000 points or 500,000) stays valid until January 2026. Take another qualifying flight anytime before then, and the clock resets for another 24 months.

What Counts as "Activity"?

Here's where most people get tripped up.

Only earning activity extends your points:

• Revenue flights on Air India
• Flights on Star Alliance partners where you credited miles to Maharaja Club

What doesn't count:

• Redeeming points for award flights
• Using points for upgrades
• Any other redemption activity

This is important. If you've been sitting on a points balance and finally redeem it for a business class flight to London, that redemption doesn't reset your expiry clock. You'd still need earning activity to keep remaining points alive.

Check Your Expiry Date

Log into your Maharaja Club account and look at the Account Summary section. Your expiry date is displayed there.

Set a calendar reminder for 22 months after your last earning activity. That gives you a 2-month buffer to take action before points vanish.

How to Keep Points Alive

The simplest approach: take at least one revenue Air India flight every 24 months.

Even a short domestic hop counts. A Delhi-Jaipur or Mumbai-Goa flight for a few thousand rupees can extend millions of points by another two years. The math is obvious.

If you're not planning any Air India flights, consider flying a Star Alliance partner and crediting those miles to Maharaja Club.

If Your Points Already Expired

All is not lost. Maharaja Club offers point revival, but it comes with costs and conditions.

Revival rate: ₹0.60 per point

Conditions:

• Must request within 12 months of expiry
• Revived points are valid for only 1 year (not the usual 24 months)

Let's do the math. Reviving 100,000 points costs ₹60,000. At that price, you'd often be better off just buying a revenue ticket and starting fresh, unless you have a massive balance where revival makes sense despite the cost.

The bottom line: don't let it get to revival. Prevention is far cheaper than cure.

Bottomline

Maharaja Club points aren't truly evergreen. They need attention every 24 months.

But 24 months is generous compared to many programs. Flying Blue, for instance, has the same 24-month rule. Some programs are stricter.. Some programs are stricter.

The key is knowing the rule exists and planning for it. A few minutes of attention every couple of years keeps your points safe.

Don't let hard-earned miles vanish because of a technicality.

And if you want to earn more Maharaja Club points without flying, check out every credit card that transfers to Air India.