Just when vacation plans are already locked in and I’ve made quite a few reservations for the coming days, there is a flurry of sales that have hit my inbox today. I figure some of you may be interested in taking another vacation slightly cheaper. SPG has announced a resort sale in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean which offers up to 40% off for bookings made till July 6 and stays can be made till September 30, 2012. About 70 resorts are taking part in this promotion. Obviously, if you click the link all of them look good, the pictures make them look good! The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel and quite some…
About Ajay
Reminder: 1 month to get your Amex LinkedIn referrals
A few weeks back I wrote about the current ongoing American Express referral program that Amex has launched with LinkedIn in India for sourcing the Platinum Reserve Credit Card and the Gold Charge card. Both the cards are going at a discount under this program where you get a 20% discount on the fee for the Platinum Reserve Charge Card and free first year for the Gold Charge Card. I’ve also reviewed the American Express Gold Charge Card subsequently. This is one of my daily usage card now, and I’ve explained the reasons here. I received a few emails from blog readers who I have provided with my reference and they have now started to report that they have received…
New partners on the Citibank PremierMiles card and 1 week to convert from Jet Airways CC
Its been a while since I’ve given you an update on the Citibank PremierMiles credit card. If you’re a Citibank Jet Airways credit card holder, the date to convert to the PremierMiles credit card is coming closer and you have one more week to call the Citibank helpline and get your card converted. I recently reviewed the ‘new’ PremierMiles credit card. If you call before 30 June 2012 to convert your card, you get the new Citibank PremierMiles credit card for Rs. 1,000 annual fee and 10,000 PremierMiles in your account after your first transaction. Here are some pointers to add to your decision-making if you haven’t made your decision yet. Like you know, Jet Airways has been offering 3x…
Is Jet Airways holding on to upgrades too tight?
Like you all know from my little airline dinner post I was over to the Middle-East this past week. While a full trip report will come up soon, this one got me asking why Jet Airways is holding on too tight to their premium cabin seats. Like I do when I travel and I need an upgrade with Jet Airways, I send them an email with the details of the travel team and voucher details. In this case, I wrote to them with the details and I was travelling KWI-BOM. The response from Jet Airways, amongst other things, included the following line: I was looking at the tickets the night before, and Premiere tickets were available on the route, right…
moneylife: My column on international routes from Indian airlines
This week, I wrote a column which summarizes the various routes Indian airlines are consolidating on or expanding to. 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.
Snack is the new dinner on Jet Airways?
Late last week I ended up scheduling a few meetings in the Middle East, and I booked to fly out from Mumbai on Jet Airways to Muscat (Oman). Jet Airways kind of suited the timing as well, the flight was a 10 PM flight which meant I could spend the Sunday at home and fly out in the evening. Me and a couple of colleagues were at the airport at 8 PM grabbing a few beers, but we did not eat too much, since we expected dinner on our flight. Here is what the flight details say on the website. Now, this is supposed to be a ‘full-service’ Jet Airways flight, which meant the minimum meal service I expected, even…
Sunday Plastic: SpiceJet SBI Titanium Credit Card
Quite a few exciting credit cards are coming out for the travel-oriented and I am having quite a bit of a job on hand to keep up to speed. Spicejet, India’s second biggest low-cost airline after Indigo, has had a tie-up for a credit card with SBI for a while. About 10 days back they re-launched the card with a suite of benefits that make it look exciting now, and I am considering applying for one now. While I have reviewed the Amex Gold Charge Card and Citibank Premier Miles Credit Card in the past, this is the first time I am reviewing an airline co-branded credit card, perhaps the only Indian airline co-branded card on the market right now…
1-year fee waiver on the yet-to-be-announced Jet Airways co-branded credit card
Ever since Jet Airways and Citibank went their own separate ways, Jet Airways is working on a new co-branded credit card partner bank, and has publicly announced a deadline of 15th July 2012 it has set for itself to announce a new partner. It first sent out this email to all holders of the Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card: In the interim, do continue using your Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card (JACC) until 15th July, 2012 and every spend between now and 15th July, 2012, will entitle you to earn the base plus triple JPMiles. This offer is applicable to all JACC card holders – Platinum, Titanium and Citibusiness. Example: A Jet Airways Citibank Platinum credit card holder earns 4…
Etihad Guest status matches completed!
A couple of months back Gary posted about Etihad Guests offering 1,000 status matches. While it seems a lot of folks applied, no body heard back from Etihad for the longest time. As per this thread on FT, conspiracy theory went around about Etihad creating a huge marketing database and not keeping up to the ‘first’ 1,000 applicants in the list. Shoot me, but I support the theory because there is a lot more movement happening with people who apply, for instance, to the Turkish Airlines Star Alliance Gold status match ongoing at present. Status Matches are commercial decisions for airlines, however, when the marketing material speaks of the first 1,000 then clearly it took them a lot longer to wade…
Another new Jet Airways convenience fee now in place!
Seems like someone is out to milk its customers. On one hand, Jet Airways offers Rs. 200 and Rs. 500 discounts on its website, asking people to book directly with them, and now, they have sneaked in a new ‘convenience fee’ a la ‘low cost airlines’ to recoup some of the money they let you save on their flights. Take a look at this new convenience surcharge and be aware when you book online on JetAirways.com… here is the first screen when you select your flight and get your fare details in place, no mention of the ‘convenience fee’!!! And now, on screen 2,when it is time to pay up, you will find out that Jet Airways mysteriously adds another…
Why is Jet Airways assigning American Airlines elite levels to its FFs?
Some funny things are happening with the Jet Airways online engine for the past few days, and no one has been able to put a finger on why or what is going wrong. For about 3 weeks or more now, Jet Airways is showing up American Airline status tiers in their PNRs. Look at this ticket I booked a short while ago. A short-hop domestic flight I will take soon, but when you look at the red-circle, you see, for the purpose of this ticket Jet Airways shows my status as (GLD/RBY), which in AA and oneworld parlance should be Gold tier (AAdvantage)/Ruby (oneworld). When I booked the ticket, it showed my correct tier with Jet Airways, and now this.…
