First and foremost, get that pack of tissues handy. British Airways released a new video commercial this morning, targeted at the Indian market called Go further to Get Closer. Have a look: British Airways has clearly stepped up their India efforts over the past year, having recognised India is the second biggest market for them outside the UK, the other big one being USA. Now, here comes along an interesting offer as well, where BA claims to give you up to 70% off on tickets for 2 to the UK. This isn’t an online offer, so I made a friend make a call BA, and for a random date in June 2014, the offer price was at about INR 45,000…
About Ajay
First pictures of the new Terminal 2 at Mumbai and interim lounge
A loyal reader Arjun Warty, happens to be on the second flight out of the newly cutover Terminal 2 at Mumbai (British Airways 198), and he was kind enough to share his experience and pictures with us. While I am waiting to check out the airport myself, here is what he reported back: The elevated access road is not open, so you have to use the old airport road and take the on-ramp after the line of hotels, near the Sky Chef building. There were guards at the start of the on-ramp checking which flight you were on and directing you to the correct terminal. The entrance is huge and with multiple drop off points I hope the midnight chaos…
Air India considering pruning First Class service
As it prepares to join into the Star Alliance, Air India is also considering taking some wise measures to improve it’s balancesheet. As per the airline, the occupancy in First Class on its international routes is usually low, and a lot of government officials decide to upgrade themselves complimentary for this reason. As per the Economic Times, Air India is now taking steps towards closing down the First Class on its long haul routes such as Newark & Chicago. While this may not be happy news for award ticket seekers who would have loved to try out Air India, I guess it is a sensible decision to have a two class configuration, much in line with most other airlines around…
Jet Airways offering double miles on Bangalore/Hyderabad–Abu Dhabi & v.v.
Like I wrote a couple of weeks back, Jet Airways is launching new routes from Bangalore & Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi. To celebrate this launch, they are offering double base miles for the first two months on these sectors, i.e., between March 1 and April 30 2014. This means you can net about 8300 JP Miles if you fly economy on these route round trip before this date (including 250 JPMiles for web-checkin and 500 JPMiles as online booking bonus per segment). If you have some sort of status with Jet Airways, you’ll get your tier bonuses as well. If you travel business class, you can get another 850 miles per segment approximately. And not to forget, if you book…
My 2014 Credit Card Strategy
Last week, I wrote about my 2013 Mileage Credit Card strategy, where I told you guys I managed to get something about 264,000 miles basis credit cards issued in India for the full calendar year. For 2014, here are the credit cards I am looking at having in my wallet. Take note that while I intend to publish full reviews for each product at some point of time, it may be a while before I would be able to bring them all in the fold. To make it simple, I’ve updated my Mileage CC calculator for 2014 numbers, so have a look and see which is the best one for you. Here are the cards I already have, and I’ll…
Etihad Guest offering a status match to Gold
Etihad offers a Gold Guest status match every now and then, and they are now inviting frequent travellers to sign up for the next round. For those of you who are interested, this round of the status match will be valid for applications received till February 22, 2014. Of course, the requirements are that you should be a Gold member of another frequent flyer program, that means one less than the top or the top most tiers in most programs. You should send in your existing gold card/higher, your latest statement along with your Etihad Guest membership number to guesttiermatch@etihad.ae before 22 February 2014. The members who will be matched, will be informed within a month of application, although Etihad…
Miles & More/Axis Bank offer upto 50,000 miles bonus
A lot of readers have been barraged (by Internet advertisements!) and have asked me recently about the Lufthansa Miles & More Axis Bank credit card which was introduced in 2013. The truth is, I’ve been inquisitive for a long while myself, but I’d sought some clarification from the bank, who did not come back to me after repeated attempts over the past 30 days or so. Miles & More has had a rough patch in India all these years, shifting credit card issuance partners every now and then, first from Deutsche Bank which is a global partner, who sold off the portfolio to IndusInd Bank, and now the switch to Axis Bank. The Axis Bank Miles & More co-branded credit…
Reminder: Mumbai Airport switches to new Terminal 2 on 12 Feb’14
A few weeks ago I had posted about the imminent (re)launch of Terminal 2 at Mumbai Airport. Just as a heads up, the new terminal is all set to take international traffic coming into and leaving Mumbai airport with effect from Wednesday, the 12th of February 2014. Air India’s Singapore-Chennai-Mumbai (AI 343) will be the first flight to land at 1 p.m. at the new terminal, and Jet Airways’ Mumbai London flight (9W 118) will be the first flight to take off from the new terminal. There will be no shutdown for the transition. Here is a video of the new terminal, for those of you who are preparing to come to Mumbai’s International Airport in the coming days. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bgXx3t0l0E…
My 2013 Indian Credit Card mileage wins
I know it is a little late in the day to put out a round up for 2013, but I thought I’d do it anyways. I did not get the time to put a post earlier than this, but all I can tell you is we are lucky to be living in times when the mileage earning game is just about getting started in this country. And I am happy to be on board earlier rather than later. For the rest of you, miles and points are not just a silly hobby, but they can finance a lifestyle if you did all the right things. For the longest time, for 10 years or so actually, India just had one major…
India to grant visa on arrivals to everyone
One of the biggest gripe I have heard about people wanting to visit India is the visa process, which has no end to it. Visa processes are usually agreed on a reciprocal basis, however, India just tossed that rule out of the window and is going to make sweeping changes to the way it processes visitor visas. In a decision taken by the Government of India, which will hopefully be implemented by October (the official timeline), India will eliminate the need for a visa altogether, and move to an electronic travel authorisation scheme, where people would log in and apply for a visa online and pay for it. On arrival in India, a biometric collection will be done (fingerprints), and…
Etihad’s 50.1% stake buy in JetPrivilege cleared
Back in 2012, I had written about JetPrivilege, the loyalty program of Jet Airways, being spun off into a separate company. Some of the biggest Mileage programs around the world are run as independent companies, and I saw this approach as no different. However, it came handy when the deal was to be made between Jet Airways and Etihad for a strategic alliance. Etihad typically uses the loyalty programs to fund a lot of money for the airline. They infused a huge amount into the TopGuest program of Air Berlin, and then they bought out a majority stake in JetPrivilege for about $150 million. When this deal was formalised, I’d hazard a guess that I must be worth $250 as…
