Uber has been on the rise in India. Just last week, they activated a new city in their portfolio, making it 11 Indian cities in 13 months of operations here. Recently, they added the capability to pay with a digital wallet in India, and this week they are all out to promote it across the country. Here is what you need to do… Step 1: Add an UberWallet (via Paytm) to your payment account. Step 2: Add at least INR 100 in funds to your payment wallet. Step 3: Select your wallet as your payment method Between now and November 30, 6 pm IST, whenever you get a ride via the Uber app and choose to pay with Paytm, you…
About Ajay
Mumbai’s Terminal 2 now has new First & Business Class lounges
Mumbai’s Terminal 2, when it was open for business in February 2014, had started out with a temporary lounge, which was in itself a step-up from the earlier airport’s lounge. I wrote a full review of the interim lounge here. The airport, unlike its earlier version, was going to disallow airlines from operating their own brand lounges, and the airport operator was instead going to offer one First Class and one Business Class lounge each for all airlines to share, owned by the airport operator. There was much discussion about when these lounges were going to be open for the public. The news is, now! Just a couple of days back, the new lounges were inaugurated, and now they are…
Write off cash or save award ticket for future?
Be careful with your money, Ajay! is not a phrase I have to hear often, but sometimes I wonder myself if I am doing the right thing or not, so I look to you guys for suggestions and experiences. For an upcoming trip, I had held award tickets on Jet Airways and Air India both, thinking I would be able to take a call on which one to use as I came closer to the travel date. The whole travel plan happened on a whim, so I was not sure about how my schedule was going to evolve closer to the travel date. One thing was for sure, I did not want to be on an early morning flight, but…
Using Etihad miles to fly Jet Airways around India
One of the most attractive award charts out there for travel around India, is that of Etihad Airways, which offers some sweet redemptions on Jet Airways. Check out this PDF here which lists the routes and mileage requirements per sector. I have had the intention to use this chart to book tickets on Jet Airways, but never had any sectors to try it out on, since revenue tickets are usually cheap enough. Recently, however, I was in a situation where I needed to book up family for an up coming trip, and revenue tickets were expensive, and this was the perfect time to try out this method. I call the Etihad award chart sweet, because it has some real gems…
Huff-puff, and I reach AAdvantage EXP
In July, I wrote a post about how I was having trouble moving forward with my quest for AAdvantage status. I had done the required number of points, but somehow AA did not take a view on it. It turns out, AAdvantage is strictly implementing a particular clause this year, which is a pre-qualification for any elite qualification with American Airlines. They are also implementing a no soft-landing policy this year, which led me to go down to base member tier in the first place. Usually, I’m able to comply with this 4 legs requirement early in the year itself, however, this year, business travel and personal travel was slow during the beginning of the year.It came later in the…
India’s best loved miles are Citi & JetPrivilege
A few days ago, I did a dipstick survey with my readers about which were the miles they liked to accumulate and use most. I did get a fair number of responses, and on tabulating all of them, it looks like Citibank and JetPrivilege miles are the most popular ones, neck to neck with each other. The odd entries were the ones for AAdvantage and Emirates Skywards with one entry each. Air India Flying Returns miles showed up, but not in as many numbers as Citi and JP. Citi (PremierMiles & Prestige) Citibank offers the PremierMiles card which allows you to earn 10 miles/INR 100 spent on air tickets directly with the airline, as well as with certain other partners…
Jet Airways adds functionality to see your upcoming trips online
One of the things I like to see on my frequent flyer profile for any airline is my upcoming reservations with that airline. And I have been able to see these with all the airlines I frequently travel with such as British Airways, American Airlines and Air India, but not with Jet Airways. The thing is, I have so many reservations out there, that sometimes it can become a little hard to track it all (although I do religiously try and add everything to WorldMate the minute it is booked!) It is a very simple thing to do. You make the name and frequent flyer numbers as your keys, and pull their upcoming travel information in their frequent flyer profile.…
IHG India offer: 1 free night globally for 3 paid nights in India
The Intercontinental Hotel Group came up with a great promotion yesterday for members in India. Called India Free Nights, the promotion offers you a free night across the world in IHG’s 4700 hotels for staying 3 nights in any IHG Hotel in India. Between November 17, 2015 and April 30, 2015, for every 3 nights you will spend at any IHG hotel in India or Nepal, you get credited with one free night, up to a maximum of 3 free nights. The free nights can be redeemed across any of the IHG hotels across the world till December 31, 2015. You need to register for this promotion here. The significant terms and conditions for this promotion state: The three qualifying…
Free Uber ride for linking Paytm (Act fast)
Last week, I wrote about the addition of a digital wallet to Uber in India, done largely with the intention to comply with Indian payment guidelines. The additional benefit of course, is that you get to use debit cards and net banking to pay for your uber rides. Now, they have brought out a promotion across India to promote usage of the new payment option. As per Uber, if you add a Paytm wallet to your account by November 19, 2014 (23:59 IST) and recharge it (procedure described here), you get a free ride upto INR 500 which you can use up to November 23, 2014. Remember, the minimum recharge is INR 100, and even a minimum recharge should be…
My Jet Airways wishlist : Same day standby on earlier flights
Yesterday, I wrote about my wish for a consistent meal service on Jet Airways. Today, I thought why not add another thing to this wishlist with my experiences with Jet Airways on Sunday. I was supposed to be in Gurgaon for a couple of days over the weekend to meet up old friends from my alma mater. But when I booked my ticket, there was no firm plan in place, but I wanted to lock in tickets early to be able to get a good price with so many sales being in in play at that moment. Hence, I booked the outermost possible ticket to return to Mumbai (a 9 PM DEL-BOM flight). Cue to November, the plan worked out…
My Jet Airways Wishlist: consistent economy meal service
In case you did not get the memo, Jet Airways has been on the move again. After trying out a multiple brands model, it is coming back to becoming a full-service carrier. Here is how I see a full-service carrier v/s a no-frills carrier in India: Mileage accrual and status recognition for frequent flyer elites Priority services a premium service cabin such as business class meal service in all cabins ability to offer connections A few years back, I wrote a piece about Jet Airways cutting back on meal services. They were not eliminating meals, but progressively reducing the size of the meals, enough to make a snack size dinner. The reductions may not be prominent, but preserves are gone…
