About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Jet Airways launches an Android app, iOS coming soon!

At last year’s hangar visit with Jet Airways, there was discussion that Jet Airways would launch apps for the various smartphones out in the market. After all, a mobile phone strategy is not just a luxury anymore but a need for the frequent flyer who has to manage a life on the go. However, it turned out that 9W’s initial focus was on the lower spectrum of the smartphone market, maybe they were trying to iron out the kinks by first focussing on the Windows and the Blackberry platform. However, the good news is, that just last Friday, Jet Airways launched an Android app. Now I don’t have an Android phone to take this app for a test drive, but…

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JP Miles to test drive & buy an SUV

JetPrivilege is offering miles to test drive and/or buy the Rexton, a Sports Utility Vehicle from Korean manufacturer SsangYong and marketed in India by Mahindra. The promotion states that everyone who test drives the car gets 350 JP Miles for the effort, and those who buy the car also get 7,500 JP Miles over & above. The promotion is valid till December 31, 2013. This is where partnerships start getting interesting in the Indian airline mileage space. If you’d want to register for this test drive, follow this link here. Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.

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IHG Last Minute list out for September 2013

IHG has just put out their list of the last minute redemptions for September 2013, which are valid for redemptions on 6,7,8 September 2013 at 50% off their usual redemption rates. Here is the list of hotels this time around, mostly in the USA, but also sporadic ones in China, Canada, UK, Mexico, Finland, India & Spain.  If I were travelling to Delhi this week, I’d definitely try and redeem to check out the Crowne Plaza Gurgaon which is only 15,000 IHG Priority Club points for this weekend.   Which one are you headed to? Related Post: Participate in IHG’s Instagram sweepstakes for 1 million points Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.

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Hyatt 50K Giveaway winners announced

Last week, I ran a 50K Hyatt Gold Passport points giveaway in association with Hyatt Hotels, where there were going to be 4 winners, winning a package of 5,000/10,000/15,000/20,000 Gold Passport points each. We took Random.org for a spin, and here are the 4 prize winners coming up below. 5,000 Gold Passport Points… 10,000 Gold Passport Points… 15,000 Gold Passport Points… 20,000 Gold Passport Points… Congratulations to all four of you, I am going to reach out to each one of the winners to get them in touch with Hyatt to receive their prizes. And yes, don’t forget to sign up for the Hyatt “New Possibilities” promotion which is kicking off end of this week. Look out for more interesting…

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SpiceJet in trouble?

I’m not trying to set off speculation here, but seems last week has been troublesome for SpiceJet. The airline, one of India’s low-cost carriers, has been plagued by low on-time performance for a long time now (85% on time, lowest amongst domestic scheduled carriers + 78% at Delhi, which is its home airport). Apparently their financial situation has not been too great as well, and they have been talking to Kuwait Airways amongst others for equity partnership. An indication of how things are for them lies in what happened with them last month, when Airports Authority of India, a government-owned airport operator which operates most of the airports in India, put them on cash & carry, which means they do…

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How long does it take for a flight to post to JetPrivilege, realistically?

At the outset, this is a rant. So those of you who don’t like ‘em, should quit now. Otherwise, read on. My last trip out of town was to Goa, when I popped on to a Jet Airways plane both ways to go to Goa and come back to Mumbai. Now, I am usually very particular about monitoring my 9W flight credits, because they don’t credit to JetPrivilege on time about 20-25% of the times. There is functionality on the website as well, to claim missing miles, which asks you to load up a lot of details and you’re through. It clearly also states, Incase the member has availed of an upgrade to Première or First Class against vouchers, JPMiles…

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Are you travelling today? Here is a Jet Airways base fare off code for you

I’m truly delighted people are dusting up their inboxes to send in all the coupon codes they have which could benefit someone else. There is a Spicejet code, and a HDFC code posted here, and now Rohit Binrajka sent in another one which takes the base fare off your 9W ticket, incase you decide to travel today. HFqj9Kch You have to book and travel on or before August 31, 2013 and this one is an HDFC Bank Credit Card (Jet airways) issuance. All the best! Related Posts: Airline codes going away for Jet Airways & Spicejet Some GoIbibo.com discount codes going away Giving away a Rs. 750 Jet Airways discount code Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter…

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An extra 1000 PremierMiles to activate EMV by tomorrow

Seems Citibank never wanted me to earn these 1000 PremierMiles so I never got this email. Anyhow, I requested a reader to forward me an email that Citibank has sent out to select group of their PremierMiles customers, who have recently been issued the new chip & pin credit cards. To avail this offer, you first need to look up your mailbox to see if you have received an email from india.marketing@citi.com regarding this promotion. Only if you heard from Citi would you be eligible for the promotion. You need to use your new Chip+Pin Citibank Premiermiles CC with a physical swipe machine (i.e., not over the internet or a phone system) before August 31, 2013 and authenticate using a…

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Airline codes going away for Jet Airways & Spicejet

A couple of days ago, I posted some discount codes which were valid till the end of this month. Here are some more coming from readers: HDFC Bank Jet Airways Credit Card discount promo code: HDcrFZat. (Save INR 750 on the base fare when booking return travel, book and travel on or before August 31, 2013) SBI Care Spicejet INR 500 discount code: Voucher code is SGWV, Voucher no. is 10079414, validity August 31, 2013. (You need to call and book, and works only if paid with a SBI Spicejet credit card) Thank you Rohit Binrajka and Vishal Mehra for these. If there are other readers who have codes they want to publish, you could either email me or put…

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Indigo’s cheeky party video “6E boys 6E girls”

Indigo, India’s largest carrier by market share, recently completed 7 years of operations. And the frugal low cost airline threw a party to celebrate the occasion. Not just that, they shot a music video for the party, which even has the usually serious Aditya Ghosh, their CEO, singing and dancing, along with a few cheeky remarks for the competition as well. I couldn’t stop laughing. Have a look here, what do you think? Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.

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Reminder: Register for the PremierMiles accelerated miles promo

At the beginning of the month, I had written about the current promotion from Citibank for the PremierMiles credit card, where you earn 2x PremierMiles for all spends between August 01, 2013 to September 30, 2013. The importance of earning PremierMiles is that it transfers 1:1 to some pretty useful programs around the globe. Registration is required to take part in the promotion, and open only till August 31, 2013. If you opt-in even now, your spends from August 01, 2013 will be taken into account. All the necessary details are in my earlier post. However, feel free to ask me any questions either here or in the other post. Related Posts: Citibank PremierMiles launches 50% more miles promotion Citibank…

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