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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A Thai Vacay: Airborne flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy

by Ajay Leave A Comment

a man sitting in an airplane

Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion The flight I was booked on was CX 750, a hopping service from Mumbai, which flies to Bangkok and then over to Hong Kong. After buying my tickets online, I tried to assign seats via the Manage my booking feature, however seems like after the reservation systems upgrade CX had earlier this year they…

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A Thai Vacay: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai

by Ajay 4 Comments

a store front with glass doors

Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion Update: New Lounge as of February 2014 is covered here. I must be over 40 trips old to the Clipper Lounge in Mumbai Airport’s International terminal, however, I’ve almost always used the business class section of the lounge all the time. Reason being, I’ve never flown First Class from Mumbai (there are hardly any first…

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A Thai Vacay: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai (BOM)

by Ajay 3 Comments

Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Air-borne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion My flight on Cathay Pacific was a 5:20 AM flight, which basically meant a night without sleep to make it to the plane. So, instead of screwing up sleep totally, I decided to arrive at the airport early enough to be able to grab a bite at the airport for a late-night dinner, and…

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Jet Airways’s announces new credit card partnerships with 3 banks

by Ajay 1 Comment

About 7 weeks back I informed you about the on going trouble between Jet Airways and Citibank and how their 12-year long credit card partnership was coming to an end with effect from 15th July 2012. I had hinted on the partners in the works on this FlyerTalk thread, and both my predictions have come true! Now, the new tie-ups have been announced just in the nick of time, just like Jet Airways promised, but it looks like 2 out of the 3 are still work in progress. I don’t thing either of these 3 banks is going to be jumping with joy at their partnerships, since they will obviously be able to offer airmiles as rewards to their customers,…

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A Thai Vacay: Introduction

by Ajay 2 Comments

Introduction Check-in: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai Check-in: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai Airborne: Flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok Around Bangkok Hilton Hotel, Pattaya Around Pattaya Radisson Suites, Bangkok Check-in: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: British Airways/Qantas First Class Lounge, Bangkok Check-in: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, Bangkok Airborne: Flight CX 709 (BKK-BOM), Cathay Pacific, Economy Conclusion Thailand has been a case of so close yet so far for me. I know of a zillion (exaggerating!) Indians who frequent Thailand as if it in were their backyard, some for shopping, and others for a quick vacation. However, for me it just remained an occasional transit airport (BKK) when travelling across to…

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Hang on, do not use your Citi PremierMiles for Jet Airways redemptions

by Ajay 6 Comments

So I have been telling you to go get yourselves the Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card for a while, right? Like I recently wrote, Citibank and Jet Airways walked away from the Jet Airways co-branded partnership. But this seems to have had a huge impact on the ability of Citibank to run its PremierMiles program as well. A few days after this move, Citibank PremierMiles portal www.premiermiles.co.in could not display any tickets on Jet Airways, either for revenue or for redemption. What validated the assumption that Jet Airways/Jet Konnect was not showing up on the PremierMiles website by design was this little note that turns up every now and then asking you to book on the Jet Airways website and get…

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Get a free night at Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa

by Ajay 1 Comment

Hyatt has been running the Freetime promo on its resort properties and quite a few Indian properties are participating as well. So what is the Freetime promotion? For Hyatt properties in India, you get a free night on staying a minimum number of nights paid stay at participating resorts/hotels. The Hyatt promotion, valid from June 21 to September 8, also offers a 2 PM late checkout, when you use the following link to book your stay, or use the promocode FRTIME while making your reservation on the Hyatt website. If you are a beach person, specially in the monsoon rains, Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa is your closest bet at getting the free night under the Stay 3 Get…

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SpiceJet offering discounts on online bookings

by Ajay Leave A Comment

SpiceJet seems to be making a habit of offering discounts on their website SpiceJet.com. In March 2012, they were offering deal-of-the-day discounts on their website, publishing a new QR code on the site everyday for a different discount code. They further tried another way of discounting by asking for your handphone number in April 2012. However, the deal-a-day code is back now for an undisclosed time period on the SpiceJet website again. On 10th July 2012 they launched the Monsoon Hungama promotion. Discounts offered are per person/per way basis, so you get a fixed amount off on every sector you are booking for each passenger. What’s more, the discount is valid on the SpiceJet international network as well, including the…

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ANA to return to Delhi after a decade

by Ajay 2 Comments

As per AirlineRoute.Net, ANA is going to be return to Delhi with a daily service which starts from 28 October 2012. ANA last flew to Delhi directly in 2001, with a one-stop service via Bangkok. The service will be operated with a Boeing 767-300ER, while it used to be serving with a Boeing 777-200ER earlier. This will be the second destination in India for ANA, which already serves Mumbai on a daily service on the Boeing 737-700ER. Bookings will open on the ANA website and via travel agents on 12th July 2012. This should sure make life easy for frequent travellers between India and Japan. Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.

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