As the oldest loyalty program in India, Flying Returns has slowly built up key partners with whom you can earn points. While the easiest way to earn is still to fly Air India, Star Alliance, or partner airlines, credit cards can also help purchase redemption tickets. Here's what you need to know to earn points with Flying Returns.

Earning with Air India

When presented with three fare classes in economy, all of us are likely to go for the cheapest one, barring baggage or change fee requirements. However, Flying Returns calculates points earned based only on cabin and ticket type, so paying a few extra dollars for the next fare class can make a major difference.

Air India Economy has three fare classes (Super Value, Flexible Saver, and Flexible); Premium economy and business class have two (Super Value and Flexible); and first class only one (Flexible). On a hypothetical roundtrip from New Delhi to London Heathrow, here are the points earned in each cabin.

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As you can see, the jump from Super Value to Flexible Saver can yield nearly double the miles. However, this is subject to the difference in fare, and unless the difference is less negligible, this is unlikely to be good value. In business class, the difference isn't significant, and the price gap will be, so it's likely not worth it.

Perhaps the best part of the process is that Air India has a handy tool to calculate the points you'll earn on each flight, laid out by fare class. Be sure to check this out before your next flight.

Star Alliance partners

Of course, one of the best parts of Flying Returns is the ability to earn with its Star Alliance airline partners. Each partner has a different earning rate based on fare class and distance. Taking Turkish Airlines as an example, the lowest fare class, V, only offers 25% of miles traveled, while Y/Q will give you 100%. On long-haul flights, where the variance can be so extreme, the fare class on your booking is worth noting to see if the next one up makes sense.

There are some sweet spots: Aegean, Asiana, TAP Air Portugal, SAS, Croatia Airlines, and a few others trigger 200% in business class, regardless of fare class. Lufthansa and Air New Zealand are good options in business as well, offering 150% and 200%, respectively.

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Credit cards

If you fly Air India frequently and live in India, the airline has two co-branded credit cards with SBI (State Bank of India). These have some impressive earning benefits. For instance, the cheaper of the two cards (Platinum) will get you 15 reward points for every ₹100 ($1.2) spent on Air India's website or app. So a $610 (₹50,000) booking would get you 7,500 reward points, by far the best deal. On daily spending, the earning drops to 2 points per ₹100 ($1.2), with bonuses for hitting specific annual expenditures.

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The highest-end card (Signature) gets you 30 points per ₹100 ($1.2) spent, so the same booking would get you a stunning 15,000 points. Regular earning is 4 points, making this one of the best cards to have in your wallet if you fly with Air India heavily, especially internationally.

What do you think about the earning opportunities with Air India's Flying Returns? Let us know in the comments!