Sigh, I’ve just wasted a whole productive hour of my life this afternoon, and I need to vent it out. So, bear with me for a bit. Domestic Flight Cancellation Charges One of the advantages of the Flying Returns program is that at elite tiers, such as Gold and Maharajah Tiers, you get almost free domestic ticket cancellation/rebooking, as compared to the INR 1600-1900 which is the going price these days amongst Indian airlines. They charge you a modest INR 200, which also allows people like me to take a bet on fares long out and lock in some tickets subject to our schedules. Here is a snapshot of the benefits for Air India Gold Club: Now, the trouble seems…
About Ajay
Uber may need to Indianise payment solution sooner
Trust your competitors to bring you down. I would file this under the dirty tricks department. Uber has been expanding pretty fast around India, and now offers services around ten cities. Cashless transactions and on-demand services are their differentiators, and I love the fact that I don’t have to deal with cash when I get out of the car, and it goes automatically on my credit card. In India, all credit card transactions are supposed to go through a 2-factor authentication. For offline purchases, this is Chip+PIN (+Signature as well, yet!). For online purchases, this means a One Time Password or Visa/MasterCard online authentication. Uber bypassed it by using a gateway based in the Netherlands. All the homegrown services such…
Air India offering free domestic tickets
Air India is running a promotion on their website, called, umm, the Get Lucky offer. This promotion offers every 100th ticket booked on Air India’s own website www.airindia.in, a complimentary domestic ticket, and the winners get notified at the end of their ticket booking process itself. The promotion runs between August 15, 2014 to September 30, 2014. The complimentary tickets are valid only after you travel at least one segment on your journey, if you booked an international ticket. If you booked a domestic ticket, it will be valid after you complete your entire journey. If you book a one-way ticket, you get a one-way ticket as your gift, and if you book a round trip, you get a round…
Some AwardWallet+ Codes for all of you
I’ve done AwardWallet upgrade giveaways in the past, but seems it goes out like hotcakes. For those of you who don’t know, AW is a website that allows me to track my points and miles totals across loyalty programs in a one-view format. AwardWallet provides a free account, which tracks all your accounts for free, but only displays upto 3 expiration notices. There is also AwardWallet Plus, which costs you $5 upwards for 6 months (you choose the price), and allows for details on all your accounts to be tracked along with the expiry notices. Now, if you haven’t had an AwardWallet account ever, you could sign up for a free 6-months usage of AwardWallet Plus with this link. Otherwise,…
Citibank, Axis Bank & American Express Credit Card Referrals in India
Citibank offering up to INR 9999 for member referrals in India Citibank ran a pretty lucrative member-get-member promotion earlier in the year, where they offered the originating member (who made a referral INR 2,500) per card referral which was successful. Citibank is now back with a new promotion, where you get INR 2,000 per card referral which is successful, up to 5 cards for INR 9999. I think the INR 9,999 limit comes into play because at INR 10,000 or more, they’d have to start doing Tax Deductions and issue TDS certificates as well. You need to have an existing Citibank Credit Card or Citibank Savings Account to be able to make a referral. The person you refer to, should…
Hyatt Gold Passport rolling out targeted promotions: Upto 50K GP Bonuses
Hyatt Gold Passport is perhaps a very very good program, except I don’t always get to appreciate them because of their limited availability where I am present. Now, Hyatt is back with promotions for the September – November 2014 quarter, a time which is usually packed with business travel. This is a rehash of the Hyatt New Possibilities promotion, which ran same time last year. Except, this time around, they are doing targeted promotions. Here are the few offers I’ve heard of so far: Offer 1: Upto 50,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points Stay 5 Nights: Get 5000 Bonus Points Stay 10 Nights: Get 10000 Bonus Points (Total 15000 Bonus Points) Stay 15 Nights: Get 150000 Bonus Points (Total 30000 Bonus…
Uber launches in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata & Jaipur today
Uber has been growing fast in India, just like they’ve been doing around the world. Last year, around the same time, they launched in Bangalore as their first Indian market. Since then, they’ve launched in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai & Pune. Just today they’ve launched in the four cities mentioned above, all at one go. Interesting mix indeed, and this also makes a statement that India is indeed one of the bigger markets Uber is targetting to get a sizeable marketshare in. Here is a look at the fares: Ahmedabad Chandigarh Jaipur Kolkata What is interesting for me is that the base fares are very low, and so are the per minute charges, which are at INR 1 instead of…
My Credit Card Strategy 2014 update
In the beginning of the year, I wrote my credit card strategy for 2014. I’ve been meaning to give a mid-year update, but not been able to do so far. Anyhow, lets take a look now at how things are going, and what may be the plan ahead. Here are the credit cards I already have, and my view on them. Citibank PremierMiles Visa (Keep): This is my favourite credit card all around, and if you’ve poked around this blog, you would have noticed I love this product. I intend to keep it and use it as my primary card to book airline tickets and make use of all the special Citibank promotions that come 3-4 times a year, such…
Regarding the Delhi Points & Miles Meetup this weekend
I’ve been out of action for about 3 days now, chilling out in a pool at the Park Hyatt Goa, not drinking beer, but having some good wine and Long Island Iced Teas. Anyhow, time to be back in action. Before I left, I put out an announcement for the Delhi meetup which I am hoping to organise this Friday. I was told there is a technology issue in RSVP’ing. So, I’ve fixed that up, and you can RSVP here. Also, I am inviting suggestions for the place to organise this. I’m out of touch with the places to go in Delhi, and Q’BA at Connaught Place comes to mind. Any other suggestions? Update: I’ve firmed up Q’BA and blocked…
Delhi NCR Reader Meetup August 22, 2014
I’ve not been up to too many reader meet-ups in the past few months. However, it is time to get them re-started. I think Delhi might be a good place to start. I’ll be in Delhi next week, and I’d like to have some AvGeekish or not, travel and points and miles company to chat up with over drinks/dinner on the evening of August 22, 2014. Thank God It’s Friday. The venue is not decided yet, but I’m planning to keep it to Central Delhi or South Delhi, to make sure people can make it. And we start about 7:30-8:00 PM onwards. Pay for your own food and drinks, and we get you awesome company. To get me a fair…
I finally get my first Best Rate Guarantee claim. Yay!
With the penetration of the Internet, one of the enabling factors for the various travel providers such as hotels is their ability to cut out the middle-men, i.e., the travel agents. The only way the can afford to do this, or they claim to do this, is by promising that they are putting out the best available rates on their websites, and no one else is going to be lower. The hotel business does have a lot more commissions as compared to the airline business, which works on wafer thin margins for the agents now. Hence, the ability to discount for a travel agency is much more, and they do it all the time. What do I stand to lose,…
