One of the query I receive frequently from readers has been about the renewal for their Jet Airways co-branded credit cards issued by HDFC Bank, American Express and ICICI Bank. Most readers find it attractive to receive the card in the first year with 15,000 to 30,000 JP Miles as sign-up bonus, and want to cancel it after the first year because the second year renewal benefits are not as good, and they are paying the same amount of fees. While everyone who likes collecting miles across the globe loves to look at the US banks and the ability of US residents to churn credit cards every 3-6 months for big sign-up bonuses, it is a heartbreak indeed that the…
About Ajay
Townhall and AwardWallet+ Giveaway
I started this blog in 2011, not just as a way to share my travels with all of you, but also to share my tips and tricks to being a smart traveller (travel hacker sounds too geeky!). From there to now, we’ve come a long way, discussing airplanes, mileage programs, credit cards which offer miles, trip reports, fare sales and so on. Since I am based in India, I also try and keep the focus on India, because there is no one big source covering the Indian travellers’ perspective and we are 1/6th of the world population. I recently realised I’ve never asked you guys what would you want to read here, and here on I will try and make…
Club Carlson changes & devaluations coming into effect March 15, 2014
Club Carlson has been one of the more liberal programs out there in terms of loyalty for hotels, however, one key feature that they have not introduced yet is to count award nights towards status for the year. That just changed. In a new communication from Club Carlson, new benefits are coming out as of March 15, 2014. However, there is a devaluation in the mix as well. Here are the details: You can now use Gold Points® to book premium rooms, including suites and more Our hotel categories will be updated and will include a new tier for our most luxurious hotels You can now earn Gold Points on food and beverages purchased during Award Nights Bonus for booking…
Review: Vivanta by Taj – Holiday Village, Goa
A couple of months back, I found myself on the plane to have a working weekend in Goa, and the destination turned out to be the Vivanta by Taj Holiday Village, which is one of the three Taj Hotel properties in Goa, and perhaps one of the best ones out there. My flight into Goa was a little late, which meant I was going to be using the shuttle service from the hotel rather than car that we had on disposal. The hotel is a good one hour ride away from Goa’s airport, in the north end of Goa, so I was looking forward to getting moving quickly and join the rest of my colleagues who were already at the…
Complimentary Hilton Gold Status for Visa Infinite Card holders
Hilton has been frequently in an arrangement with Visa to offer complimentary Hilton Gold status to Visa’s premium credit card holders. They had a complimentary Hilton Gold status promotion last year as well, where people could register online and get instant Hilton Gold status. Visa & Hilton have brought back their joint promotion, however, this time the Hilton Gold promotion is valid only for Visa Infinite card holders, for cards issued in Asia Pacific (except Japan), Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. The promotion is valid till December 31, 2014 and one needs to call the Visa Concierge number to be able to upgrade their membership to the Gold Tier. I find the Gold Tier at Hilton one of the…
SPG Gold for 1 night stay: MasterCard offer in Asia Pacific
I had actually written about this promotion about a year back, and I thought I’d post a reminder now. Starwood has had a promotion going on with MasterCard for a while, and open till July 2015, where after registration, with just one stay paid with your World MasterCard, you get Gold Status on Starwood Preferred Guest. The usual stay for Gold is 25 paid nights, and the benefits that come along are 50% more Starpoints, a welcome gift, 4 pm late checkout amongst others. For those of you who have an SPG account, or sign up with a new account, with an address on file in the Asia Pacific region (ex-Japan), you can benefit from this promotion if you have…
British Airways’ new mushy video & up to 70% discount for 2
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…
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…
