It is that time of the year when hotel loyalty programs make adjustments to their hotel categories. The category of a hotel depicts how many loyalty points should your be charged to stay at the hotel, or how many points required for cash+points and so on. Very recently, Hyatt adjusted their category charts, and a lot of India hotels dropped a category down. Here is a full list of all the hotels [PDF] which are going to be adjusted. I read that 22% of the hotels are going to be impacted by this move, which means if you have an award stay upcoming you should be interested in this. The new prices go into effect as of March 10, 2015,…
About Ajay
Vistara’s plans ahead: IFE & flights to USA/Europe
Vistara is perhaps one of the most keenly watched airline in India in a long while, all because they are the only new full-service carrier to have launched in the past few years in India. One of their innovation is the launch of a Premium Economy class, which I consider an Economy+ category. Now, I’ve reviewed the first flight of Vistara as well, and gone into the details of their frequent flyer program over and over again. However, two new pieces of information have emerged about their plans over the weekend. Firstly, the SimpliFlying blog reports that Vistara is almost ready to make an announcement on provision of Inflight Entertainment on their domestic segments: There will also be an imminent…
Back at the Lounge: February 22, 2015
Hello from Mumbai, where I just got back in after a quick overnight trip from Pune. I hope everyone enjoyed the nice victory of India in the Cricket World Cup today. Here is a recap of the posts from last week, just in case you missed something: The Novice Perspective: Shipra wrote this evening about how she is enjoying maximising hotel promotions. Miles & Points: Etihad Airways is offering Gold Elite tier status matches Etihad Guest offering 25% bonus on transfer of Amex Reward points Club Vistara is offering 2x Club Vistara points to try out their Premium Economy class News: Jet Airways is trying out the implementation of Mobile Boarding Passes at the Bangalore Airport. Air India: Air India…
The Novice Perspective: Maximising hotel promotions is a fun game!
Shipra is my fiancée and the first of contributors at the blog. She has worked with one of the largest airline conglomerates in the world, and is now based in Mumbai. Shipra has lived, worked and travelled across 4 continents. We travel often enough, together and separately. These are her perspectives, as she gets used to the world of business and leisure travel and our hobby! The Novice Perspective: Initiating my Fiancée to Points & Miles The Novice Perspective: Getting used to Airport Lounges The Novice Perspective: Benefiting from hotel loyalty programs This writing is a sequel from my last week’s post on how I am learning about hotel loyalty programs. Like I mentioned, I have spent the last couple…
Jet Airways trialling mobile boarding passes in India
While I love me a paper boarding pass for my #avgeek collection, they are a dying breed. Except in India so far, where paper boarding passes are used to go through the abuse of the security check, with stamps to signify that a security screening was done. However, there is change coming through. Jet Airways has recently partnered with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the people responsible for security of the civil aviation flights in the Indian skies. Along with BCAS and the Bangalore airport, Jet Airways is running a pilot to trial the use of barcoded boarding passes on passenger mobile phones. This is a good move after the security requirement for a printed ticket was shot down.…
Why Air India did not accept those passengers?
A few days ago, I posted about a few passengers who arrived at the airport late, and Air India refused to check them in since they were beyond the cut off time. Now, much has been said about why they should have been on the plane or not, but I just thought I’d bring you perspective about why they should not have been on those plane. I asked Shipra, my fiancée, to chime in, since she has worked in ground operations for an international airline out of two major airports, and would have been able to give perspective on why this was not a done deal to get them on board. In the last few days there has been too…
Etihad offering Gold Elite tier status matches
Etihad Guest, the frequent flyer program of Etihad Airways, is offering a tier match to their Gold tier (second from top-most) and inviting people to apply for the status match till March 15, 2015. Etihad has long been offering status matches to Gold Elite tier, at least once a year. If you are in India and have a Citibank Prestige card, you anyways have an assured access to an Etihad Gold account, but if you don’t you should continue reading. Etihad Guest is a beneficial program for Indian frequent flyers, who travel on Jet Airways. Reciprocal benefits are available and you can use Etihad Guest miles to travel around India. The program works best in case you are a frequent…
JetPrivilege Platinum? You may bring a guest along to the lounge
Jet Airways withdrew the access for a +1 guest for higher end elites in 2011. Before 2012, the policy for lounge access used to allow JP Platinum members to bring 1 guest along to the lounge, regardless of the fact if the Platinum member was flying Economy or Business class. As a not so frequent flyer then, I used to benefit travelling with my colleagues at that point of time who were Platinum tier members. However, with effect from February 16, 2015, Jet Airways has reinstated this benefit for Platinum tier members. Which means, Jet Airways Platinum tier members can now help a family member/friend/colleague into the lounge along with them as well. Do remember however, that this lounge access…
Review: JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa
We spend a leisurely weekend in the hills at the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Mussoorie. This is a beautiful resort that has two great things about them; First, they managed to build a great team with a majority of staff being local. Second, their focus on the local economy. Local cooks were hired on a part time basis to bring local flavors to the cuisine.
This is a hotel I’d love coming back to, more than once. And I hope they keep their standar
Etihad Guest 25% bonus miles on Amex Membership Reward conversion
Etihad Airways is offering a 25% bonus on conversion of your Membership Rewards points to Etihad Guest miles, in case the transfer is completed between February 11, 2015 and March 11, 2015. The usual rate for conversion is 2 Membership Reward points = 1 Etihad Guest mile, but with this conversion bonus built in, it comes down to 1.6 MR = 1 Etihad Guest miles. Etihad Guest is a very useful program for Indian frequent flyers, given their partnership with Jet Airways. So if you’ve been looking to convert those Membership Rewards points, right now is a great time to start. Here are the terms & conditions of the promotion: Etihad Guest Miles transferred may take up to 7 days…
When Air India did its job and got flak for it!
There is a video making the rounds these days, where Air India employees are putting up with passengers who arrived late and the flight was closed. This is a video which was shot at Mumbai’s Terminal 2 a few days ago, with a camera smartphone and uploaded to a social network for maximum impact. Apparently, a bunch of passengers arrived at Terminal 2, Mumbai, 55 minutes before the flight. For Air India, they operate a few flights from Terminal 2 at this moment, but these are domestic legs of international flights. For instance, very clearly mentioned on their website, is this information: Assuming the passengers arrived at Terminal 2 and not Terminal 1A, which is at least 20 minutes away…
