Air India’s Flying Returns is one of the most difficult airline loyalty programmes in which to earn status. There is a simple reason for this. The only way to qualify is through tier points, which means domestic flyers can only qualify for the airline’s status if they frequently fly in a premium cabin with revenue tickets. While the airline is working on revamping the entire loyalty programme with a consulting firm’s assistance, they are also trying to stimulate signups for their programme by offering shortcuts to status, for instance, the promotion that was done in retrospect last year.

Air India’s new promotion offers a Silver Tier upgrade for just one flight.

Air India’s status ladder offers three status tiers: Silver (equivalent to Star Alliance Silver), Gold (equivalent to Star Alliance Gold) and Maharajah (equivalent to Star Alliance Gold). The airline offers this status as per the following qualification requirements on an ongoing basis:

• Silver: 25,000 Tier Points (equivalent to 63 Mumbai – Delhi flights in 365 days on the cheapest economy class ticket)
• Gold: 50,000 Tier Points (equivalent to 125 Mumbai – Delhi flights in 365 days on the cheapest economy class ticket)
• Maharaja: 75,000 Tier Points (equivalent to 186 Mumbai – Delhi flights in 365 days on the cheapest economy class ticket)

The programme does not have a flight count metric to enable domestic flyers to become loyal to the airline, which leaves domestic frequent flyers to choose based on schedule and cost rather than prefer Air India. IndiGo’s new loyalty programme will also leave less affinity for these unsurmountable goals for domestic flyers (provided it is a good programme).

Air India has launched a new promotion on International Women’s Day, offering all new registrants an instant upgrade to the Silver Tier of the loyalty programme after just one flight. The promotion has been announced on Social Media, and you need to enrol for membership in Air India’s Flying Return Programme using this specific link between March 8 and March 15, 2024. You need to subsequently book a flight, fly it (Air India), and credit the flight to the new membership number you’ve generated. This flight needs to be flown by March 31, 2024. If all these terms are complied with, Air India will upgrade the status to Silver Tier by April 30, 2024.

Here is the series of creatives that Air India released on Social Media.

The promotion does not provide any other details; however, they confirmed on X/Twitter that it was not specifically applicable only to women.

If you choose to partake in this promotion, then you get the following benefits on Air India’s Silver Tier:

• 15% Bonus Points
• Ten kg/1 piece additional baggage allowance
• One Upgrade Voucher for self
• Dedicated Check-in Counter
• Priority Baggage Delivery
• Priority Boarding
• A flat fee of INR 1000 for changes or cancellation

Bottomline

A new Air India promotion has been launched, offering a status upgrade for new enrolments against one flight only. The promotional link for signing up to AI’s Flying Return programme is open for one week only, and you need to fly AI and credit the flight to Air India by March 31, 2024.

What do you think of the new Air India promotion, and will you partake?

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