I have to admit, British Airways is becoming one of my flights of choice this year, as I reattempt my growth back to American Airlines Executive Platinum and route some of my Europe travel via London which adds flexibility into my schedule (2 flights a day to Mumbai, as compared to one a day with Jet Airways at Brussels which is my evergreen option). They have been running an excellent promotion for a while, which was highlighted to me sometime back but I failed to write about because I thought it was useless. I changed my mind last night. British Airways has had a tie-up with Groupon in India to sell promotional vouchers, where they are offering the following deals…
About Ajay
Selective Fare Sales on Jet Airways and SpiceJet today
Jet Airways has launched a fare sale today, valid for sale between 1 and 4 May 2014, and is valid on the following routes for purchase only via www.jetairways.com or their mobile app. It is an interesting motley of routes, including some popular routes including Mumbai – Goa. Do remember, the discounts are on 30, 60 and 90 day out flights, so don’t expect to find a discount on +1 day flights. You can travel on these special fares till September 25, 2014. Also, SpiceJet has a fare sale going on till May 2, 2014 as well. This time around, the sale is offering fares between INR 1899 and INR 1999 on many routes from the following cities: Ahmedabad, Belgaum,…
SriLankan is inducted into oneworld
It’s official. After a marred effort to have Kingfisher Airlines as a part of the oneworld alliance in 2012, the alliance finally got its first member from the Indian subcontinent today in Sri Lankan airlines. Here is a picture of the A330 in oneworld livery unveiled today, at the Hambantota Airport in Sri Lanka: [Picture courtesy: Mavis Toh on Twitter] The first scheduled flight for SriLankan’s as part of oneworld will be UL318 departing from Colombo to the Kuala Lumpur hub Malaysia Airlines at 7.45 am on May 1, 2014. SriLankan’s website states that members of oneworld airlines’ loyalty programmes will receive double the normal mileage awards/points when flying on SriLankan during the “welcome”period of May 15 to June 30,…
More information on US Pre-clearance from Abu Dhabi
Not so long ago in January 2014, the US Customs & Border Patrol Pre-clearance facility at Abu Dhabi was established. Now, Etihad put up a new short and sweet video on their website to show how it works (no wonders here). The details are however more interesting. Etihad now operates multiple flights to the USA. They’ve in fact engaged Jet Airways’ Boeing 777-300ERs to operate one of the flights (EY103) between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK as well. As it turns out, Etihad would offer the US Pre-clearance facility only on the following flights, which are operated on its own metal: Etihad Airways operates flights to three destinations in the U.S. – New York (EY101 only), Chicago (EY151) Washington…
Today only: Free Uber rides in Hyderabad for voting
Earlier this month, Uber provided free rides in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore with providing two free rides to voters to encourage them to get out and vote. The campaign is a national one, and since it is voting day in Hyderabad today, you can sure use two free rides between 7 am and 7 pm today. The promo code for Hyderabad, which is valid for these 12 hours, is VOTEHYD. You can add these promo codes mentioned above as a new or existing user of Uber, to get two free rides for INR 1000 each. If you’re not familiar with Uber, it is a smartphone application for iOS/Android which connects you to a nearby premium/luxury car such as a Toyota…
SPG & Hyatt promotions in your mailbox
Last week, there were some targeted promotions sent out via email to members of the Starwood SPG and Hyatt Gold Passport programs, which should be of interest to some of you. These would have quietly landed up in your inbox and you need to look for them and register to be able to make use of the offer. Hyatt has sent out offers to various members, which I believe would be targeted for activation or comeback of members. The offers range from: 1 free category 1-4 night for one eligible stay 1000 points for one eligible stay 5000 points for five eligible stay 5000 points for three eligible stays 5000 points for one eligible stay 5000 points for four eligible…
Air India to start Delhi–Rome/Milan flights from June 2014
In its classic manner, Air India is putting out a new flight between Delhi and Rome/Milan from June 6, 2014 but there is no marketing or the mention of this flight on their website, yet. You can’t even look up the route on Air India’s own website. As per AirlineRoute.net, Air India is returning to Italy as of June 2014. The flight will do a triangular routing, just like their Australia segments between Melbourne/Sydney, and the schedule will be as following: AI123 DEL1420 – 1930MXP2100 – 2210FCO 788 246AI122 MXP2100 – 2210FCO2335 – 1015+1DEL 788 246 AI123 DEL1420 – 1905FCO2040 – 2200MXP 788 x246AI122 FCO2040 – 2200MXP2330 – 1015+1DEL 788 x246 It is a very interesting development from two perspectives.…
Jet Airways contemplating all business Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai flights?
This has the whiff of an interesting and creative news about it, but there is no way I can validate this news till it is officially announced. Aerospace Diary, the blog of Indian aviation journalist Neelam Matthews, wrote last night, that Jet Airways is configuring a Boeing 737-9 series plane to make it an exclusive Business Class flight, launching it next month on occasion of Jet Airways’ 21st anniversary. Here is what she says: AerospaceDiary has learnt an all- business class service on B737-900 could be started between Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai. She clearly has some Ministry as her source, as she states further: While many would look at this as a gutsy step given that it were to happen, and with the…
New Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles program is here, and not bad at all
One of the best things to happen to Star Alliance airlines was the status match they offer to their Gold Elite level, which was first revealed on this blog. While I still haven’t made it to their CIP lounge in Istanbul, I hear often it is one of the best business class lounges out there. Turkish Airlines had a dual redemption chart: one for redemption on Turkish Airlines metal and one on Star Alliance airlines. Last month, they revealed that the program was going to be revamped, and new program is going to be launched as of June 1, 2014. Just a short while back, they launched a new website dedicated to the new mileage program at www.new-milesandsmiles.com. Here are…
Air India Award Seats at 25% off for travel till May 31, 2014
Update: It is now official and Air India has put out a promotion page as well. Air India seems to be on a roll these days with its frequent flyer program. I am guessing while I had a view that they are the most miser program out there, someone is working to change my view a bit. They still don’t provide 100% flown miles like Jet Airways does, but they have created new opportunities to earn miles such as the SBI Air India Credit Card, which can let you earn miles at about 8 INR spend per mile earned if you go for the top end variant. Now, a new unannounced mileage seat sale has come into play from today…
India now allows gate-to-gate use of Portable Electronic Devices
For the longest time, India has had a rule, which stated that Portable Electronic Devices could not be used while planes are airborne, not even in flight-safe/airplane mode. Not that it dissuaded passengers because we thought our rules were in line with the rest of the world and hence we continued to use them anyways. Sometimes you’d run into issues with airline staff, because they wanted compliance, but it would all pan out well in the end. Until the DGCA put SpiceJet in a mess for this incident on Holi. Yesterday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s civil aviation regulator, decided to finally update the rulebook to bring it in line with the rest of the world. the last…
