I’ve frequently given commendations and flak to Jet Airways here, but they keep getting better by the day and I just sometimes cannot figure out how to keep up with them. This one is a real lottery and they’ve left me scratching my head. Stay with me. Last weekend, I was spending a lot of time booking tickets for my own and family’s travel in the days to come. And on Google, an innocent text-advertisement kept popping up. Have a look here: Now, first, I followed the weblink mentioned all the way through to the Jet Airways website by typing http://www.jetairways.com/SeatSaleOffer and https://www.jetairways.com/SeatSaleOffer. At both times I got this screen below: Whatever, then I went on to directly click…
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Turkish Airlines’ still status matching to Star Alliance Gold
A couple of months back I wrote that Turkish Airlines was freely matching top-tier elites from SkyTeam, oneworld and even Star Alliance to their own program Miles & Smiles. While we would have expected that this opportunity would have quickly closed out, it turns out that Turkish is still out there matching up folks to its program, though various people report a hit and miss scenario. Some have received their status match confirmation in a day while others have not heard for over a few weeks. My brother, who is an elite on another airline and ends up flying Star Alliance to and around the USA a couple of times a year, received his match earlier this week within 24…
A Thai Vacay: Airborne flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy
Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion The flight I was booked on was CX 750, a hopping service from Mumbai, which flies to Bangkok and then over to Hong Kong. After buying my tickets online, I tried to assign seats via the Manage my booking feature, however seems like after the reservation systems upgrade CX had earlier this year they…
A Thai Vacay: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai
Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion Update: New Lounge as of February 2014 is covered here. I must be over 40 trips old to the Clipper Lounge in Mumbai Airport’s International terminal, however, I’ve almost always used the business class section of the lounge all the time. Reason being, I’ve never flown First Class from Mumbai (there are hardly any first…
A Thai Vacay: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai (BOM)
Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Air-borne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion My flight on Cathay Pacific was a 5:20 AM flight, which basically meant a night without sleep to make it to the plane. So, instead of screwing up sleep totally, I decided to arrive at the airport early enough to be able to grab a bite at the airport for a late-night dinner, and…
moneylife: My column on current travel promotions
Last weekend, moneylife put out a column i wrote on some of the travel deals which could knock off a reasonable price off your domestic flight ticket in India. You can read it here. You can look up the previous columns here! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
moneylife: My column on Hotel Loyalty
This is my column which got published in moneylife while I was away on vacation. It talks about the benefits you receive when you are loyal to a hotel chain. You can look up the previous columns here! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
Jet Airways’s announces new credit card partnerships with 3 banks
About 7 weeks back I informed you about the on going trouble between Jet Airways and Citibank and how their 12-year long credit card partnership was coming to an end with effect from 15th July 2012. I had hinted on the partners in the works on this FlyerTalk thread, and both my predictions have come true! Now, the new tie-ups have been announced just in the nick of time, just like Jet Airways promised, but it looks like 2 out of the 3 are still work in progress. I don’t thing either of these 3 banks is going to be jumping with joy at their partnerships, since they will obviously be able to offer airmiles as rewards to their customers,…
A Thai Vacay: Introduction
Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion Thailand has been a case of so close yet so far for me. I know of a zillion (exaggerating!) Indians who frequent Thailand as if it in were their backyard, some for shopping, and others for a quick vacation. However, for me it just remained an occasional transit airport (BKK) when travelling across to…
Hang on, do not use your Citi PremierMiles for Jet Airways redemptions
So I have been telling you to go get yourselves the Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card for a while, right? Like I recently wrote, Citibank and Jet Airways walked away from the Jet Airways co-branded partnership. But this seems to have had a huge impact on the ability of Citibank to run its PremierMiles program as well. A few days after this move, Citibank PremierMiles portal www.premiermiles.co.in could not display any tickets on Jet Airways, either for revenue or for redemption. What validated the assumption that Jet Airways/Jet Konnect was not showing up on the PremierMiles website by design was this little note that turns up every now and then asking you to book on the Jet Airways website and get…
Get a free night at Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa
Hyatt has been running the Freetime promo on its resort properties and quite a few Indian properties are participating as well. So what is the Freetime promotion? For Hyatt properties in India, you get a free night on staying a minimum number of nights paid stay at participating resorts/hotels. The Hyatt promotion, valid from June 21 to September 8, also offers a 2 PM late checkout, when you use the following link to book your stay, or use the promocode FRTIME while making your reservation on the Hyatt website. If you are a beach person, specially in the monsoon rains, Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa is your closest bet at getting the free night under the Stay 3 Get…
