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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Air India’s 787 updates

Air India received its first Boeing 787-8 airplane a couple of weeks back, and started to put it on domestic service after some confusions. The Aeroblogger website carries an interesting guest post, which is a trip report on the Delhi-Bangalore segment served by the plane. In the meanwhile, Air India received its second Dreamliner VT-AND in mid-September as well. Word is that VT-ANI, the first Dreamliner built in Charleston will be also handed over to Air India shortly. Air India is picking up good loads at least on the Delhi-Bangalore flight of the 787. The trip report hints to that, and also a pilot who said recently AI to Bangalore was going with 244 pax on board. Keeping that in…

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Finally, Jet Airways makes good free co-branded credit cards for ‘Wheel of Fortune’

It seems every now and then, corporates require a little push and pull to be reminded about promises they have made to customers. While it took a while to remind Jet Airways that it had promised the members of its frequent flyer program Jet Privilege, free first year membership to their new co-branded credit cards, it now looks like the nudging is working. Some members who selected HDFC Bank as the co-branded credit card partner of Jet Airways, have reported to have received these emails over the past couple of days: While the 1,000 JP Miles were already credited to these member accounts in August 2012 (check your account), it seems 9W took a long while before working out the…

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Reminder: 1 Week to apply for ICICI Bank Jet Airways co-branded card with bonus JP Miles

If you guys have been tracking closely, Jet Airways recently partnered HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank to launch a new range of co-branded credit cards. ICICI Bank is giving out a joining bonus of upto 10,000 JP Miles depending on the tier of the credit card you go for. However, if you apply up to 30th September 2012, you also can have a 50 % bonus on your welcome miles. Sapphiro:10,000 JP Miles + 5,000 bonus JP Miles Rubyx: 5,000 JP Miles + 2,500 bonus JP Miles Coral: 2,500 JP Miles + 1,50 bonus JP Miles All the cards come in an American Express version and a Visa version, and you can have both versions for the same fees, which…

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SPG & Etihad are giving you a chance to win a VIP trip to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

I usually don’t put out many of the contests a lot of the hotel chains put out, but this one is special, because it is F1 related. SPG has teamed up with Etihad and Team Mercedes AMG Petronas to offer the chance to one lucky winner and a +1 to go to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, fly business class on Etihad and stay at the Westin Abu Dhabi. Check out the contest at www.spgpoleposition.com and you have uptil 1st October 2012 to participate. To have a chance of winning simply watch the video, then log in with Facebook and give the the name of the friend that you’d like to accompany you. SPG will reward you with an extra…

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Winners of the SpiceJet Rs. 1,000 Gift Coupons are…

This is giveaway season, and I put out a giveaway contest a couple of days back to give out two Rs. 1,000 Gift Vouchers, thanks to my brother and thanks to Whizkid  on Flyertalk. Here are the winners of the two contests we ran: – Mailing List Subscription: Manish Singh – Facebook Page:  Snehal Patil Congrats guys, your vouchers will be in your mailbox shortly! For those who did not win, more goodies on their way shortly! Happy flying! Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.

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Reader Question: Amex Plat Travel v/s Citibank PremierMiles,what is better?

A reader Ajay posted a query on the Reader’s Questions page a few days back about the best credit card to pick to generate miles on travelling. Here is the little ping-pong we’ve had so far: Ajay asked: Hi Aj, I want to get a new credit card and it looks like the AmEx Gold Charge Card and CitiBank Premier Miles card are the best available options. What would you suggest I get? Here is some information to help you help me make an informed decision! 1. I travel 1-2 times a month domestically and 1-2 times a year internationally.2. I have FF accounts with SQ, Jet, and Emirates but don’t have a lot of miles on any as I…

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Air India’s first revenue flights of the Boeing 787

Like the regular readers know already, Air India received their first Boeing 787 planes about a fortnight back. It took them 15 days to start deploying them on revenue flights while other airlines such as Ethopian took delivery and had a party flight on the way into Ethopia itself. I’ve been circumspect about the success of Air India with these new planes being inducted, however, I finally was able to confirm the schedule a few days back and I put it out on a post for aviation lovers to read and book up if they wanted to be on that flight. However, looks like Day 1 was a washout for the airline. Air India’s marketing machinery sucks and almost everyone…

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Speculation: Is Jet Airways going to get a shareholder in Etihad Airways?

I read an interesting discussion in the news yesterday. A report published in the Business Standard in India wrote about senior Jet Airways management, including chairman Naresh Goyal and CEO Nikos Kardasis camping in Abu Dhabi to thrash out a deal for Jet Airways getting an investment from Etihad Airways. This is on the heels of Indian aviation opening up for foreign investment last week: Four days after the Union cabinet allowed 49 per cent foreign direct investment in aviation, a new strategic alliance seems to be on the cards. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and his top management are in Abu Dhabi for the past couple of days to negotiate with Etihad Airways, fuelling speculation of a possible alliance…

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Giving away 2 more SpiceJet Rs. 1000/- off vouchers!

Since I saw a lot of people interested in travelling with SpiceJet this month, as in terms of participation in last week’s giveaway, I am giving away two more SpiceJet Rs. 1000 off vouchers this week. One comes thanks to my brother, and another comes thanks to reader Whizkid on Flyertalk. Like the last time around, it is very simple to participate in this giveaway. All you have to do is sign up for the mailing list here, and activate your subscription so that we can send you all the news and deals about Indian aviation, travel and promotions, once a day. Giveaway is open for subscribers till 20 September 2012 23:59 India Standard Time, and for Indian residents (residents,…

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Winner of the Park Hyatt Goa Giveaway announced!

Thank you guys for your enthusiastic participation in the room night + spa giveaway we held a while back. I’ve had a busy week of sorts, so could not come back to you guys earlier with the winner. Anyways, Random.Org drew the luck of the draw, and it seems the lucky winner is @IndreaMichele from our set of Twitter followers. Here is the winning tweet: Congrats @IndreaMichele, I’ll be in touch to send the voucher to you and send your details over to the friendly guys at the Park Hyatt Goa! To lookout for and win in further giveaways, it is always a good idea to follow the Twitterstream at @LiveFromALounge! Related Posts: We’re giving away a stay at the…

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Spicejet changes policy for international connections, limits baggage allowance

The one true reason for international flyers to arrive at a major airport in India like BOM, DEL, CCU etc. and to fly to their eventual destination on SpiceJet all this while was that SpiceJet provided a liberal allowance to international travellers into India/ departing from India to carry their full baggage allowance (as designated by the international carrier) provided they had their connection within 24 hours. This excluded any baggage allowance for elite status. Here is what the Terms of Carriage used to state: Guests connecting to / from any international destination to SpiceJet for domestic travel within 24 Hours are entitled to free baggage allowance as permitted by the international carrier, subject to the allowance being specified on…

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