This was a no-brainer to have happened. As one of the parents of Vistara, Singapore Airlines was always going to use its own reach to allow for Vistara to gain traffic in India. And one of the tools for that is the frequent flyer program. Last few weeks, I’ve covered the earn and burn aspects of Club Vistara, which is the loyalty program for Vistara. Just this morning the airlines (Singapore Airlines and Vistara) have announced that the flyers on both the airlines will be able to earn miles/points on taking flights on the other partner with effect from March 2015. For redemptions on the other partner, it will be possible from May 2015 onwards. KrisFlyer members will be able…
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Hogwash Update: BA Executive Club making available cheaper Avios redemptions on BA/Iberia flights
Earlier today, I wrote a post on British Airways Executive Club introducing changes into the earning side of the program. The summary is that if you buy cheap tickets, you get less miles and less tier points, however if you buy a high fare or a premium cabin ticket, things get better for you. Here is the official statement from BA. All these changes come into effect April 28, 2015. From a burning perspective, the changes have gotten positive, not!. One of the sweet spots for BA’s program is redeeming for Short Haul flights, where they charge as less as 4500 Avios for an economy flight. This is due to their distance-based award chart. Business Class & First Class in…
Breaking: British Airways Executive Club revamping earning structure for tier points & Avios
This just in. As a Gold member of the British Airways Executive Club, I do send a chunk of my business their way on my business travel. Reader Deovrat alerted me to some changes they are going to be making to the structure of the Executive Club for bookings made from April 28, 2015 onwards. Tickets booked before April 28, 2015 will earn Avios at the old rates. Earning Changes: On a first look, it looks like BA is going the way of awarding more miles to higher fares, and snipping it from the lower & deep discounted economy tickets. Overall, a positive change for people booking closer to date of departure and by deduction higher fares. Minimum amount of…
Uber offering INR 600 for signup via referrals till February 1
Uber has been my favourite local travel solution for about a year now. Uber has been on an expansion spree across India, having operations in 10 cities across India now. One of the best parts about using Uber is their on-demand app, which shows you the location of the nearest cab and you can order it. There are mostly enough cars on the road to bring you one within ten minutes. The UberBlack service usually has Toyota Innovas and premium cars around India, while the UberX service has midsize economy sedans. UberX usually prices at a slight premium to local transport options such as cab, but I find it reasonable enough to have made a switch to UberX in Mumbai…
4 days to take a call on your PremierMiles balances
At the end of 2014, Citibank made a decision that they wanted to devalue their PremierMiles a bit. A whole lot actually. So, they are moving the 1 PremierMile = 1 Airmile equation to 2 PremierMiles = 1 Airmile, bringing it to the valuation that American Express offers (2 MR = 1 Airmile). All good things come to an end, and here are my thoughts on why this happened. At this point of time, the moment of choice is here and there are four paths to take. You can do either of the following: Continue as is with your PremierMiles card, earn 10 PM/INR 100 for airline purchases and 4 PM/INR 100 for everything else. You are essentially earning 5…
Back at the Lounge: January 25, 2015
Hello again from the luxurious Club InterContinental at the InterContinental Asiana Saigon. I’m just back in the hotel for a short while, and here is a quick update for all of you if you missed anything in the week gone by: The Novice Perspective Say Hello to Shipra, who is my fiancee and now a contributor to the blog. She introduces herself and puts out her first post about travel credit cards here. Do encourage her with feedback and comments. Miles & Points We know about the earning on Club Vistara, now here are the first details about how redemption will work on Club Vistara. Promotions Hyatt’s Stay More Play More promotion is on offer till April 2015. Jet Airways Jet Airways’…
The Novice Perspective: Initiating my Fiancee to Points & Miles
Like regular readers would know, last year, I met a girl, fell in love, and asked her the question. She said yes! It is about time to introduce all of you to Shipra. Shipra, has lived, worked and travelled across 4 continents. While she travels on work, she also makes a great co-traveller for me as we go around conquering cities small and big every now and then. Shipra will try and be a regular around here, and these are her perspectives that she will bring to you. I’ll turn the mike to her to make her introductions, while I go back to sipping my Diet Coke at the InterContinental Asiana Saigon’s 20th floor lounge. Of course, if I got…
Jet Airways’ meal pre-ordering service does not work, no really!
If there is one wish I have in this lifetime, that is Jet Airways fixing its meal services. However, this post is not about that, but about their recently launched meal pre-ordering service. In December, Jet Airways’ started to offer meal pre-ordering for their premium cabin passengers, flying on international flights. As per Jet Airways, you can pick a meal from the options offered online between 60 days to 2 days out. I was booked to fly with them in January to Vietnam on their newly introduced flight to Ho Chi Minh City, in Business Class. So, I decided to take a spin on this meal service. Over many days, I selected meals, however nothing stuck on the ticket. Every time…
Club Vistara to have chart-based redemptions
Ever since Vistara took wings, one of the questions I’ve been asked is how does the loyalty program, Club Vistara, work? I’ve been able to piece together the earning part of Club Vistara. Eventually, since there were no hints or announcements about how does redemptions on Club Vistara work, I reached out to Vistara executives to ask about the redemption plans for Vistara’s loyalty program. To put it in context, there are 3 kinds of loyalty program models prevailing in the industry: Mileage based: Where you earn miles basis number of miles you fly, usually 100% of miles flown, and redeem on the airline metal or other airlines using a chart which calculates what is the price for a redemption.…
Hyatt’s Stay More Play More promotion till April 30, 2015
Hyatt has been offering their first promotion for the 1st Trimester of 2015, since January 15 now. The promotions are customised, like is the trend in hotel promotions now a days, and you can receive one of the following options when you punch in your Hyatt Gold Passport number in the page provided in the link above: 2,000 points after 1 stay 5,000 points after 2 stays 20,000 points after 10 nights (my offer) 50,000 points after 20 nights (5,000 after 5 nights + 10,000 after 10 nights + 15,000 after 15 nights + 20,000 after 20 nights for a total of 50,000) 65,000 points after 25 nights (30,000 after 15 nights + 15,000 after 20 nights + 20,000 after…
Air India’s Maharaja getting new clothes? Not really!
Everyone seems to have picked up the story from the Times of India yesterday, where they gave the spin that the Air India had decided to give its Maharaja mascot a makeover to look more like the common man. Here is how they portrayed the comparison: Of course, in the battle of clicks, many stories came out calling this Maharajah hideous. I have to admit he looks hideous, but what the stories conveniently forget to tell you is how there are so many adaptations of the Maharajah and this is just one of them. Take a look at some of his other adaptations: Of course, it was left to Air India to clear up the mess. And they had…
