Just last month I had the unwanted honor of having perhaps the smallest ‘Dinner’ meal on a Jet Airways flight. I’m afraid I’m going to have to institute a rolling trophy on this one and pass it on from Jet Airways to Cathay Pacific. I was flying a red-eye BKK-BOM in economy which the Cathay Pacific staff had confirmed to have dinner service. Since I barely had much to eat in the day, I decided to lounge-hop in the evening at the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and I grabbed a little bite at each of the 3 airport lounges I visited. However, when dinner service started, the FA told me there was the option of Chicken and Rice in non-vegetarian helpings…
About Ajay
And we are back…
I received a few emails from readers about why I wasn’t posting the past few days. I can assure you the intent was always there, but I was on a vacation with the family and we got a good six days off together after a very long time, so they got all the attention. We headed over to savour some of the much talked about Bangkok tourist sceneries, and drove over to Pattaya for a few days by the seaside as well. Wrap in an anniversary dinner with the parents, and I think this was much needed family vacation after maybe a couple of years. As I write this, I’m back to my base in Mumbai a few hours ago…
Its raining 40% off sales from SPG, Intercontinental and of course Hilton
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…
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…
