Things have an interesting way to move around in the Indian aviation sector. Air India took 4 long years to be ready for the *A, and eventually their membership was put on hold. Last week, a full year after the Air India membership being put on hold, I wrote about Jet Airways’ formal invitation to join the Star Alliance being made public, and how it would work out for Jet Airways. In a press report by a major Indian financial news paper, which is actually an interview with India’s civil aviation minister, it now comes to light that Star Alliance has responded last week to Air India in the negative and the Government of India will be supportive of Jet…
About Ajay
Jet Airways–HDFC Bank Credit Card is now free for Jet Airways Platinum
Yesterday I wrote about the new Jet Privilege – HDFC Bank credit cards which are now out in the market. In a comparison with the old tie-up with Citibank, there were some better benefits which I pointed out. Here is a summary: JetPrivilege Platinum members used to have the Citibank Credit Card free as long as they held their Platinum tier. With HDFC Bank, that was not the case. In the tie-up with Citibank, there were renewal benefits where the card-members would get bonus miles on fee payment every year. With HDFC Bank, that benefit was withdrawn. The upgrade vouchers for Rs. 2,00,000 spend offered by Citibank are replaced with one tier point for the same spend with HDFC Bank.…
Jet Airways’ HDFC Bank co-branded credit card does not raise the bar!
Jet Airways announced three weeks back that they were going to partner with 3 banks to launch co-branded credit cards and HDFC Bank will be the first off the mark there. Last evening, the product details of the HDFC Bank – Jet Airways credit card were put out on the HDFC Bank website. In summary, the Jet Privilege HDFC Bank credit cards will be offered in 3 variants (all MasterCards) : World, Platinum and Titanium. Have a look below at the comparison sheet of the three versions (click on the image to zoom in). I will review all the products in detail in my review series of credit cards for mileage in the coming days, but here are some first…
Cleartrip Flash sale Rs. 2000 off on Roundtrip bookings using iPhone app
This just popped up on the radar and should be of use to all the iPhone owners. You can download the Cleartrip iPhone app from the iPhone App store and use a coupon code ‘CTIOS’ to book a roundtrip using the iPhone app, to get Rs. 2000 off on your ticket. Cleartrip claims only a limited number of tickets will be getting this discount, so get yours now! When I tried booking the ticket with the app, it told me the coupon code is not valid. So, I am trying to figure out what is wrong. In the meanwhile, if you have a successful booking, do let me know via the comments section of the blog below. Update: I talked…
SpiceJet monsoon discounts are back (again)
It seems like QR codes and deal-of-the-day works really well for SpiceJet. They have held two fare-sales this year already, and the second one was as recent as July. They are back this morning with another round of promotions, where they publish a discount code on their website every day, valid for making reservations on the website till 12 Midnight IST on the same day. The rules remain the same as the previous promotion and I would direct you to the earlier post for the directions to use the promotion. These discounts are valid for domestic as well as international reservations. As of this moment, there is no end date to this promotion but they usually last a week. If…
Go Goaah: Alila Diwa, Goa
Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa Alila Diwa After a very relaxed few days at the Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa, I was going to switch to the Hotel Alila Diwa where a friend of mine was hosting his wedding proceedings for the next couple of days. Since both the hotels are about 10 minutes apart, we used one of the complimentary shuttle cars offered to us by the Park Hyatt to drive down to the Alila Diwa. The Alila Diwa is a large hotel,built on a 12-acre big piece of land next to a paddy field. The hotel received the ‘Top 25 Relaxation/Spa hotels in India 2012’ commendation from TripAdvisor, which it proudly displays on its website and…
Citibank PremierMiles Card: more changes!
For those of you who have recently received their Citibank PremierMiles cards after the Jet Airways Citibank credit cards were discontinued (and prior loyalists like myself), here is a recap of some of the incremental changes in the offering that has happened over the past few months: The new cards, as well as the earlier issuances earn 4 PremierMiles per Rs. 100 spent on normal spend (see here). On airfare, the 10 PremierMiles per Rs. 100 spent has been limited to the first Rs. 500,000 spent directly with the airlines. Regular 4 PM per Rs. 100 spent applies afterwards (see here). Bookings via premiermiles.co.in does not attract this limit and gets you 10 PremierMiles per Rs. 100 spent all the…
15% base fare discount on Indigo [book till August 10]
Indigo is offering a 15% discount on base fares for booking flights via their website to its registered members. There is no date of travel notified for this discount so you can book your tickets for as far out as the date Indigo offers. Once you log in, you need to proceed with selecting your flights just as you would usually do. Then, once at the payment page, apply the Promo Code ‘FOREVR6E’ to see the final price of your flight with the 15% off amount before making a payment. Take note, the amount off is only on the base fare, so the fuel surcharge will still be charged in full on these tickets. The promotion is valid for ticket…
Jet Privilege to be spun off from Jet Airways
I was wondering with all the chatter at Jet Airways about increasing ancillary revenue, when were they going to take a profit centre approach towards their frequent flyer program. It turns out, this year is a good time for them to take that road, as per their annual report which was published a while back. The annual report states that a special resolution has been requested for voting with shareholders to establish a 100% subsidiary which will look at managing and marketing the Jet Privilege loyalty program. The loyalty industry is evolving in India. Your Company proposes to leverage this evolving business opportunity by setting up a marketing services company engaged in the business of managing reward points and loyalty…
40 JP Miles per Rs. 100 spent on flowers till 15th August 2012
Its the festive season and if you’re looking forward to sending flowers to your loved ones around India (or in India, depending on your location), you can now earn 40 JP Miles per Rs. 100 spent on the way. From 1st to 15th August 2012, Ferns n Petals is offering 40 JP Miles instead of the usual 30 JP Miles per Rs. 100 spent on your transactions on their website using this link. JP Miles cost Rs. 1.25 per JP Mile on purchase, and even with the 40% bonus offer, would cost you Rs. 1.12 per JP Mile to buy. If you purely looked at this as a mileage buying opportunity, you’re out of the money by Rs. 65/100, but…
Star Alliance and Jet Airways – 3rd time lucky?
I don’t know if the timing of this bit of news was timed such, but the formal announcement of Jet Airways seeking Government of India’ permission to join the Star Alliance came out in the open exactly a year after Air India’s joining the alliance was put on hold. A news report published in the Mint (an editorial collaboration with the WSJ) last night puts out in the open what has been long known to be Jet Airways’ and Star Alliance’s secret ambition. After Air India’s attempts to join *A faulted and Kingfisher Airlines shrunk rapidly to keep out of oneworld, this is the third attempt of an Indian carrier to join an airline alliance. A meeting between Jet Airways…
