for 2,3 and 4. go to flyingreturns.co.in log on to your account. on the left panel after logging in there is an option. book a flight: pay with miles. click on it, choose your flights, you will get availability, thereafter choose a flight that you want and click next. when you get to the next page you will get the tax breakup. however, to get to this page you need sufficient miles for that redemption

And that's where i am stumped.. I do not want to transfer the miles, without knowing how much tax is to be paid.. parking miles in AI is a bad idea..

So the full award booking can be done online? I thought one had to go to an AI office to do this.

Assuming that AI charges YQ, wouldn't it be better to use it for something else?

The Amex India account MR are not exactly the pot of points that would give better value anywhere else.. depending on the amount of YQ they charge, this might be a good deal..

Problem is that there is a good deal of information about AI that I DON'T HAVE.. how much YQ they charge, what is there redemption chart for SQ and how much YQ they charge there.. and so on..

Use ITA to get a breakdown of YQ and other taxes for your route(s).

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

not anymore....

call ai....they will tell you exactly how much they will charge on each route....

The entire process can be completed online. In fact if you go to the ticketing. Office you don't even need to go to reservation, then flying returnes then back to reservation to complete this. Reservations can do it all by themselves.
As for charges, if you are flying domestic, it depends on what airport you are flying out of. 223 rupees is the absolute minimum that you can get a redemption for. If the airport charges udf, adf then that also needs to be added. Air india does not charge YQ for redemption. If you are flying international then charges increase to a rough estimate of around 7k-10k per ticket all inclusive. As far as I know these charges are same for Y and J.

Thanks Speedfreak.. that's some cool information..

Good to know. When did this change happen?

its been this way for a number of years now....they stopped it in between for a few months a couple of years ago but since then there has been no need to go to the city office for a redemption booking....

Guys, need a quick award search help and queries..Medical situation..

1) if I transfer miles from PM to AI flying return, how many days will it take ? Can you transfer to your spouses' account, instead of my own Flying return account.

2) I am able to check for the following awards, but unable to book it, as i don't have the miles yet.. HYD-CCU (Apr 27th) and CCU-BLR (6th Apr). Need to know the exact tax amount that AI will charge..

3) Does the AI redemption function work reliably, or do I need to visit their office to get this done..

Thanks in advance..

they say it can take upto 6 weeks but i've transferred a bunch of times & its never taken more than 3-4 days....you can only transfer to your account....but you can link your spouses ai account with yours & pool the miles....

ccu-blr on 6th april - 11k miles + inr 624....

hyd-ccu on 27th april - 9.5k miles + inr 147....

its reliable enough....no need to visit the office....

You are a life saver.. thanks again..