This week, I wrote up on the various changes made to Indian Frequent Flyer Programs in the past quarter, and 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.
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More speculation on where is the Air India 787 flying?
I’m reserving comment on the bailout of Air India till a little later when I can write a long post about it, but the big news is that the airline which taught Singapore Airlines the ropes of being a magnificent airline stays in business for the time being, on a $5.3 billion dole though to which my tax payments will generously contribute. Heck, I don’t even get miles for this generous contribution to someone else’s balancesheet ! Now, I’ve been interested in tracking the progress of the Air India 787 for a long time, and that they will get these 27 planes is now confirmed with the bailout as well. I had a good look at the planes in Hyderabad…
Jet Airways offers 25% bonus on credit card conversions to miles till 31st May 2012
I seriously can’t believe my eyes that this one missed my eye. See, I am Jet Airways favourite child, so I never receive their mailers and I am supposed to figure out the entire JetPrivilege program on my own. And I’ve ignored this one for a month or so because some lazy copywriter Jet Airways employs at their office or their website office has the date written as 2011, so I just ignored! Anyways, the good news is that Jet Airways and the credit card partners feel generous and hence a 25% bonus on transfer/conversion of points to miles from any of their 15 credit card partner’s reward points into JP miles. And there are also conversion rewards for the…
Air India offers 100% Bonus Miles on select domestic and international routes
As a part of the switch to the domestic schedule from 26th March onwards, Air India has made the following changes to its schedule and capacities: Added 3 new flights: Delhi – Bahrain – Delhi Visakhapatnam – Dubai – Visakhapatnam Hyderabad – Kolkata – Hyderabad In addition, services on the following routes have been increased: Delhi – Tokyo – Delhi : From 4x to 5x per week Delhi – Dammam – Delhi : From 2x per week to 7x flights Delhi – Riyadh – Delhi : From 2x per week to 3x per week Mumbai – Cochin – Mumbai : From 1x daily flight to 2x daily flights And while it was upto it, it upgraded its equipment on a…
Birdwatch: Photo # 6 (Thai Airways)
Reader Sonal Gaurav sends in this picture of the Boeing 777-200ER parked at the Kuala Lampur International Airport. In the background you get to see the Malaysia Airlines B747 as well! Thank you Sonal Airline: Thai Airways Location: Kuala Lampur International Airport Airframe: Boeing 777-2D7 / HS-TJE If you want to share a picture of a plane, an airport, or anything aviation related, please send it across to aj@livefromalounge.com with the details and I’ll put it up here. Thank you! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS. 0 5share1share6
Holidaying in India? Taj offers Early Bird rates [Book by 15-Apr, stay by 30-Sep]
The Taj group of hotels, owners of some of the most iconic hotels such as the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai and Taj Falaknuma Palace Hyderabad, has brought out a new vacation promo at some of their properties at tourist hotspots in Kerala and Rajasthan. Wrapped under the Taj Holidays brand, it offers a package for stays and meals at some of their off-beat properties. The promo, available for a single- or a double-occupancy stay offers 2 nights of stay, breakfast + 1 day meal and a 20% discount on F&B across the properties participating in the offer (taxes inclusive). You can extend the stay on a pro-rata basis and the weekday/weekend rates offered are the same. None of the palace…
moneylife: My column on Opaque Fares
This week, I wrote up my views on Opaque Fares being offered recently in the Indian market recently, and 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.
JetPrivilege 20% discount on redemption pulled for international sectors
If I earned 1$ for everytime I picked up a mistake Jet Airways makes, I’d be a millionaire by now. A few days ago I wrote about the very generous Jet Airways redemption offer where all redemptions on Jet Airways metal, made online, were going to be priced at a 20% discount on miles. This offer was made to tie-in with the recent enhancements of the Jet Airways JetPrivilege program. As a part of the offer, all JetPrivilege redemptions made using the website jetairways.com would attract the discount. The offer page as well does not limit the benefit only to domestic flights (see screenshots below): For the first few days you could book tickets to go on international sectors with…
Video: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner test program
“If its not Boeing, I’m not going” is the common adage you learn while you’re in the Washington state of USA, and it gets louder the closer you get to Seattle. I’ve been a great fan of Boeing airplanes for a very long time and hence keenly looking over the various phases of the B787’s development. I recently discovered a video that Boeing uploaded a few days back, encapsulating the various tests the Boeing 787 airplane went through to get the new plane certified and upto safetry standards. Turn up the volume, get the popcorn, at 11:32, this is a mini-movie in itself. All of it is fascinating, some more than the others at 4:20 where you get to see the high-speed…
Readers Question: Using Jet Airways upgrade vouchers
Reader Abdullah posted a question on the Reader’s Questions page which I thought was more appropriate to answer here since every once in a way I receive queries on Jet Airways upgrades. Here is a quick Q&A explanation: Question: I keep visiting your page as i am too a FF of Jet Airways, though its mostly domestic flights. I need some advice, i have these upgrade vouchers to business class around 6 of them and my status is Gold card holder of jet airways. Whenever i fly i look for best fares but then these best fares dont allow a upgrade to business class. How can i use these vouchers? 1 of this voucher expires april 30 next month. I…
Guest Post: Bidding adieu to The King of Good Times on Kingfisher’s final Dubai flight
Kingfisher Airlines has received many a good word from their frequent flyers, and almost all of them feel sad that the airline is progressively going down. I invited Arun Rajagopal, a Kingfisher loyalist based in the UAE to write a trip report on Kingfisher’s final flight to Dubai when I heard the airline was shutting down international operations. Turning over the mike to him without further delay… I’m a loyal customer of India’s Kingfisher Airlines. I first flew Kingfisher in Jan 2011 but since then I have flown them 15 times. I fly them as much as possible. I often pay a premium to fly them even when I have cheaper or non-stop flights available. I even recommend it to…
