Hello folks, just a quick reminder that I’m participating in the BoardingArea giveaway where almost all the BoardingArea bloggers are participating. If you want to get a shot at the charter flight, aviation geekdom fun and everything happening alongside from November 13-17, you should enter here! Once you head there, you’ll also find yourself another 30 shots at winning the mega giveaway. Remember, this one is open till 23:59 Hours Mountain Time on October 7, 2012 and you can participate once on each blog. And to encourage a few blog readers in India to sign up, for those of whom who belong to India and participate in the official entry post all of 5th October 2012 (till 23:59 IST), I…
About Ajay
Lufthansa sets a Re. price on its internet service on flights from India
Just a little followup post from the last time I wrote about Lufthansa’s internet offering on their flights from India. Lufthansa has now set an Indian Rupee price as well, in case someone wanted to pay using their INR CC on board. Like I mentioned in the last post, Lufthansa was charging 10.95 Euro/hour on this service, or 3,500 Miles & More miles. This is consistent with the Rs. 737 pricing set out in Indian Rupees. Lufthansa clearly is on a roll in India with the 747-8’s flying around from Delhi and Bangalore and the new lounges they are creating for their Indian travellers. Related Posts: Lufthansa now offers in-flight wifi on flights from Chennai & Mumbai And the next…
Citibank adjusts some PremierMiles redemptions
I think getting into tourist season, coupled with the high prices of oil is forcing the hand of Citibank on the PremierMiles card. Citibank has revised redemption rates on some routes which are short-haul and have seen decreasing capacity from airlines (read increasing airfares), w.e.f. 1st October 2012. I notice that some of the routes are seeing a 30% increase in miles needed for redemption, such as Mumbai – Goa which goes up from 4000 Miles to 5200 on a low-cost carrier. Take note, that unlike an airline reward ticket, Citibank PremierMiles redemptions mean you redeem your points for a PAID ticket that is issued to you, so you can actually earn miles on these tickets as well if you…
Virgin Australia now codesharing on India flights with Singapore Airlines
For for people in India who want to visit Australia, they will now be able to book up their flights to India now with the Virgin Australia partnership with Singapore Airlines, all the way from India. AirlineRoute.net is reporting that Virgin Australia has significantly enhanced its partnership with Singapore Airlines as of late-September 2012 and a lot of new routes to be code-shared in this round will be SQ’s Indian routes: Virgin Australia operated by Silk AirSingapore – BangaloreSingapore – ChennaiSingapore – CoimbatoreSingapore – HyderabadSingapore – KochiSingapore – KolkataSingapore – Thiruvananthapuram Virgin Australia operated by Singapore AirlinesSingapore – AhmedabadSingapore – BangaloreSingapore – ChennaiSingapore – DelhiSingapore – KolkataSingapore – Mumbai Due to the strategic partnership between Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia…
Kingfisher Update [Updated!]: Expecting to fly in 5 days?
While Kingfisher Airlines does not have any cash left to pay employees as per media sources, it has extended its lockout till 7th October for the time being, which means it is not selling tickets till 7th October, and no flights will be operating till then as well. Like I mentioned yesterday, it however looks like this time it will take a lot longer to revive operations since the airline is now under regulatory pressure to review the situation, come back with a FIRM plan of action and pay salaries before it goes up in the air. However, as per Reuters, the airline is now making statements that about 100 employees have come back unconditionally to work, and they hope…
Kingfisher fiasco expected to be a long drawn one?
I usually prefer not speculating about things going bad at an airline, trying to give the longest rope to the airline in the absence of facts. However, it looks like this time the facts are not on Kingfisher Airlines’ side. Like I mentioned yesterday, Kingfisher Airlines is now in industrial action, undergoing a situation where all the flights are grounded, however the airline prefers to call it a partial lockout. The airline’s CEO reportedly met about a 100-odd staff today in Mumbai, trying to buy time (one more time!) from the staff. While the staff have refused to work without all their dues being cleared for the past 7 months, the regulator DGCA has also asked them to pay all…
Kingfisher: its not over yet?
My previous coverage of the Kingfisher Airlines and disruptions Kingfisher Airlines could just have been that lucky child which has been pulling off a lucky streak for the longest time. I am sure you’ve already read quite a bit on its current disruption, where unpaid employees have caused industrial action, which has been quoted as a reason by the management to ground all flights till October 4. While they may have had their reasons to not pay salaries for 6 months, I still don’t appreciate the management calling their employees’ actions Illegal, while not commenting on their own where they have not paid salaries for half a year (See press release here) The airline management, which was holidaying away, was…
Today only: SpiceJet discounts upto Rs. 3,500
SpiceJet knows the promotions game and it keeps churning out new ones every now and then. There is one going on till midnight of 02 October, 2012 (India Standard Time) valid for travel till 15th October 2012 where you can get upto Rs. 3,500 off for your oneway / return trips on the domestic segments of the airline. This discount is valid for all tickets booked via the phone, travel agents, at the SpiceJet ticketing counters on the airport or via www.spicejet.com and does not need a discount code to book, i.e., the discount is already built into the ticket price announced/displayed to you. Here are the salient T&C: Offer valid for booking made between 7 pm, 1st Oct to…
Get closer to your free ticket to the Star MegaDo here…
AvGeek or not, this should definitely interest you. A MegaDo, as some of us airplane and travel nerds define it, is an opportunity to get behind the scenes with airlines and alliances and see how an airline works. I was on the oneworld MegaDo in January 2012, and I met people from all over who were excited about flying. Check out the full details of that experience here. Here are a few of the experiences we shared: A simulated water evacuation A trip to the Boeing 737 plant in Everett Inside the charter flight…at 35K feet BoardingArea is giving away a couple of seats on the StarMegaDo 4 charter this year. You get to hobnob with the United executives, fly…
Jet Airways withdraws Lounge Access for Silver members
Jet Airways is under tremendous pressure, yes we know that. 75% or whereabouts of its domestic flights now fly under the JetKonnect tag, we know that as well. It is withdrawing international routes, including the latest one MAA-BRU. And while it revamped lounge access policies just 9 months back and revamped its JetPrivilege program only about 6 months back, it has now decided to go onto its ‘enhancements’ again. Be aware that lounge access may be bought in the future if this post of mine is true. I just received an email a while back, where Jet Airways has withdrawn lounge access for all Silver members from the domestic network, which by the way, includes yours truly since I am…
And the 20% off on JetPrivilege redemptions continues
Jet Airways had brought out a fabulous redemption offer where they were inviting travellers to redeem JPMiles for 20% less on domestic legs. It is actually a very good offer, because this allows you to redeem a full-service 9W flight in economy for the same mileage as a redemption on a low-cost carrier on PremierMiles (i.e., BOM-DEL is 8,400 PM for an LCC, and 8,400 JPMiles for a 9W flight). The promotion was valid for redemption and travel till December 30, 2012. Now, they are extending it to March 31, 2013. This might be a change for good, or a phase when Jet Airways is trying to encourage redemptions so that they can burn some miles off their balance sheet.…
