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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Spicejet enters the fare war with Jet Airways

I’ve had a long day full of meetings, and I’ve been not exactly in front of the computer all day long. So to recap, Jet Airways made the biggest fare sale in recent times this morning, and if you haven’t got in, there is time ahead. Next, Indigo matched it and undercut by a small amount. Now, Spicejet took it upon themselves to be in the game as well. So, as if the 2013 INR fare sale they made in January was not enough, they announced the new sale a short while back on Facebook. While I am not clear at this moment if this covers all their sectors, I checked randomly and I found some good deals on a…

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Indigo undercuts Jet Airways Fare Sale!

Indigo had to do this, after all, how could they let Jet Airways walk away with all the marketshare. Jet Airways announced this morning the biggest airfare sale of the year, with fares at a low of Rs. 2250 all inclusive onwards. In my post on the sale, I presented an example on Mumbai – Delhi fares being down to Rs. 3300 from their usual Rs. 5,100 one way. Now, it turns out, Indigo is matching the sale, however, offering a smaller range of flights. Have a look for BOM-DEL for a different date than what I mentioned in the Jet Airways sale: These are a full Rs. 10 lower than Jet Airways. So, if Indigo is your airline of…

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India’s biggest fare sale:book Jet Airways till Feb 24, travel till Dec 31

I thought 2013 is going to be an interesting year in terms of Indian aviation. There has been a back breaking impact of low fares on Kingfisher Airlines which wounded up last year, which allowed other airlines to bump up ticket prices. However, prices going up meant passengers numbers went down. To beat the heat of falling loads, SpiceJet went in first with a faresale of Rs. 2013 on any route in India, offering a million tickets, out of which 7 million got sold over the weekend. Now, there is a BIGGER sale. Jet Airways announced this morning a fare sale which allowed anyone to book one of the 2 million economy seats on sale from now till February 24,…

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[Video]: Air India pilot raps about the bad situation at the airline

Most of the videos I post here are humorous, but this one is trying to get across a message. An Air India pilot,  trained to fly the 787 but mostly on the ground, made this rap video and posted it on YouTube about the situation at the airline and what he has to go through. Worth a watch! Your views, guys? My heart goes out for this guy! Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.

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When the travel agent steals and Indian Government notices

I happened to read this in yesterday’s newspaper but was way too shocked about the scam to react. Here is what was happening while no one was looking, as per the news report: The Rajya Sabha secretariat paid long haul international fares for domestic air tickets for one of its members. The scam was detected only when the MP realized the incredulous prices paid for the tickets and then complained to the government. The secretariat paid Rs 99,292 for a one-way Delhi-Chennai flight on Jet Airways for Ashk Ali Tak, a Congress RS member from Rajasthan. A Chennai-Hyderabad ticket on Air India was bought for Rs 35,184. A Hyderabad-Bangalore journey on Jet and a Bangalore-Jaipur ticket on low cost IndiGo…

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Cleartrip launches Pricewatch for international tickets out of India

International ticket pricing is a myth for most. Fares are constantly filed, refiled and have no one direction. That is why, it is never a good idea to ask your neighbour on the plane about the price he/she paid for his ticket. While I don’t want to be sounding like a PR pro telling you this, but I’m just glad that someone did do the honest thing to do and come out with a feature like this. Cue to Pricewatch, the proposition that Cleartrip is making is very simple. Since international tickets are repricing all the time, it is possible that a ticket may cost lower than what you booked it for. Cleartrip will keep the itinerary price on a…

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Citibank Ultima, now just another credit card!

Citibank Ultima is was one of the best lifestyle credit cards in the market, and now it seems that it will be losing the edge soon. The invite-only Ultima card has premium proposition that includes an unlimited Priority Pass, a membership to the ITC Culinary Plus program, Golf privileges, an international medical cover for $50K and other stuff. The reason a business traveller would get interested? Till last December, they used to have a product variant, which used to let you get access to the Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege program Platinum Tier, along with the upgrade vouchers and complimentary 50K JPMiles (used to cost INR 50K per annum in fees!!) Like I reported a couple of months back, this partnership…

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14% discounts by Indigo for bookings till Feb 17

Indigo has sent out targeted mailers to select customers today, offering them a base fare waiver on one-way or roundtrip reservations on their domestic as well as international network, for up to two people. One needs to have a promotional email in their mailbox itself, and the discount is on base fare, so it does not show up as a separate amount when you are trying to make a reservation. However, I did confirm that it exists. If you’ve flown Indigo or signed up for their mailing lists, now is the time to check the spam folder for this email in case you are intending to book some tickets in the days ahead. Related Posts: Indigo takes top spot from…

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An extra 25,000 PremierMiles for you?

In the last quarter of 2012, Citibank ran a promotion for the PremierMiles credit card holders, where the top 2000 spenders who registered for the promotion were going to get a double on their PremierMiles earned during the promotion period. Some of you should have received an email on these lines yesterday: Double Miles Double Happiness Congratulations! 25000 Bonus Miles havebeen credited to your account! Thank you for participating in the Double your Miles campaign for our PremierMiles credit cardholders.We are happy to inform you that your card number ending with XXXX has been credited with 25000 Bonus Miles on 11th Feb 2013.Looking forward to bring you more exciting offers this new year. While PremierMiles have significantly devalued since their…

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Emirates launches a new Platinum tier

Emirates, India’s unofficial national airline (for carrying over 11% of India’s international traffic!) has announced a new Platinum Tier on Tuesday, as it gets ready to roll the red carpet on its new partnership with Qantas. Emirates’ Skywards program already had a Blue, Silver & Gold tier which one could qualify on achieving 25K Tier miles (Silver) & 50K tier miles (Gold). However, the new Platinum Tier is a significant uptick and will be only awarded to members who earn 150K Tier Miles per annum, and will be launched on April 1, 2013. The benefits include the following: First Class check-in and baggage delivery Access for member and a guest to the Emirates First Class lounge in Dubai and Emirates…

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ICICI Bank Jet Airways co-branded sign-up bonus is back till March 2013

ICICI Bank hasn’t exactly been doing a great job with what is perhaps a good product out there in the market for those who like to accumulate JPMiles. However, the Jet Airways ICICI Bank co-branded credit card did make it to my personal list of Mileage Earning Credit Cards which you should keep to earn JP Miles. The reason I’ve been using my blue-cloud JP/ICICI Sapphiro Amex is the 7 JPMiles per Rs. 100 which I earn on this card, the best mileage earning in India for daily expenses at the moment. ICICI Bank has been offering a bonus mileage offer of 50% of welcome miles from time to time, and every time the offer would be extended for one…

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