Originally Posted by
sea_to_sky
The problem with Air India is the present quality of flights and the exorbitant fares charged for it. For example, one-way DEL-YVR Y fare is usually about 2L + rupees, whereas, I can find a decent Cathay/ANA + United J fare for about 1.4L rupees ...
OW Y fare at equivalent to USD 2,400?!! That sounds very very steep. Full fare economy, I imagine.
I do a lot NYC-INDIA trips and manage to find Business fares in the region of ~3,000 USD RT. They all earn me miles, even though they are discount fares. At some point, I decided to earn miles in several mileage programs and have status with a few of them (AA, AS, VS) albeit at the lowest level. Since I am mostly buying or redeeming FF points for J/F, status doesn't matter to me as much, although the mileage earning bonuses definitely help.
I chose my FF programs based on where I can earn the most miles and which programs allow me to redeem at the best levels. For example, from NYC, AA has some great redemption values to India, UA not as much. Neither does AS now, unfortunately, since JAL devalued their redemption values.