One of the key asks of Air India and Air India Express passengers for a long time has been to include Air India Express in the programme, a move that has been in the works since early 2025. The request was made because Air India has transitioned a large part of its domestic network to Air India Express. In May 2026, the project went live.
Earn Maharaja Club points for flying Air India Express
Every eligible Air India Express passenger is now eligible to be enrolled in the Maharaja Club programme. You can earn Maharaja Points on eligible base fares, excluding Fuel Surcharge (YQ) and other applicable charges. Eligible flights will also help you earn Tier Points towards your Maharaja Club tier progression. You also earn an additional 2 Maharaja Points for every INR 100 spent when you book directly through the official Air India/Air India Express website or app.
Here are the points and Tier points you can earn.
How does it work?
I heard it was a cumbersome process, so I decided to give it a try the next time I was flying somewhere with Air India Express service. Last week, I found out I had to be in Varanasi this week. While there are enough Air India services between Delhi and Varanasi, I chose the late-evening Air India Express service to fly into Varanasi and booked my tickets by burning some Scapia Coins.
The ticket I received was worth INR 10,038 for two passengers, so INR 5019 per head. This was a travel agent booking because that is how Scapia books them. After we booked the tickets, I went into Manage My Booking.
Since the ticket was booked via an OTA, the NeuPass number was not automatically added.
In the Manage My Booking section, I had the option to either enter my Maharaja Club Number or stick with NeuPass to earn coins. Since the ticket was not booked via the direct channel, I was not going to earn Neu Points anyway, so I went with adding my Maharaja Club Number, and the same for my mom, who was my co-passenger.
The screen said that I would only earn Maharaja Points (and Tier Points). No Perks. Fine!
The Digital Boarding Pass I received also included the Maharaja Club Number. One can add it through Manage My Booking or at check-in, but if you miss both windows, no retroclaim can be made.
However, the Maharaja Club Number did not appear on the Kiosk-printed boarding pass.
On the day of departure, I just swiftly completed security without heading to the physical check-in area. After boarding was complete and the flight doors were closed, I received an email confirming that the points had been credited.
And this is the posting on the Maharaja Club activity page.
What was slightly clumsy, though, is that they forgot to update the email subject line, one month in. I’ll leave you note on the discrepancy.
Bottomline
Air India Express launched earn and burn on Air India Maharaja Club a month ago, and it works as intended for earning, as quickly as Air India’s flights themselves. The rules are the same for Air India and Air India Express flight credits, except that, for now, there are no perks for Air India status holders.
What has been your experience crediting Air India Express flights to Air India Maharaja Club?
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