I’m still a little bit shocked at the way things played out last week in the air, and realising I won’t have a different point of view to offer, I restrained myself from pouring out on the tragedy that happened over the Ukrainian airspace last week. However, one of the things on my mind has been the reactions that have been made by other airlines to assuage their customers about the situation. Many an airlines went about clarifying that they did not fly over the Ukrainian airspace for a while, but lets stick to the situation closer home. The Government of India issued a statement a couple of days ago about India’s airlines not flying around Ukraine. In the same…
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Tata–Singapore Airlines JV gets set for launch
Last year, I wrote about Tata’s upcoming joint venture airlines with Singapore Airlines, which is the second JV Tata made in 2013 to get back into Indian aviation. Along with Air Asia, they’ve already launched a low-fare carrier called Air Asia India last month, and now the focus is on getting this one off the ground in another couple of months. While Air Asia India is a no-frills carrier, the new Tata/Singapore Airlines carrier will be a full-service carrier which will compete with Air India and Jet Airways on metro routes to start with. They’re in the process of getting their Air Operators Permit in India right now, and their first Airbus A320 (to bear registration VT-TTB) took to the…
Air India offering double miles on the Delhi–Moscow flight
I recently wrote about the launch of Air India’s flight between Delhi and Moscow, which started operations from yesterday, on their Boeing 787 planes. Now, Air India is offering a double miles promotion on their frequent flyer program Flying Returns for those who choose to fly between India and Russia, for flying with them between July 18, 2014 to September 30, 2014. If you will be connecting from anywhere in India, you won’t get double miles for your intra-India flight, but on your India-Russia or vice versa route you should clock double miles. AI has not updated the mileage calculator on their website yet, but Delhi-Moscow should earn 2679 miles one way (base). Remember, Air India does not guarantee 100%…
I just cancelled my Amex Platinum!
Yeah! And it feels liberating! American Express charges INR 50,000 per annum + taxes to provide you their Platinum Charge Card. They promise the world with it, including a luxurious do anything concierge service and access to the Platinum Travel Desk. However, unlike their home market, the USA, the fees is more than double that market, and the privileges are 1/2 or so of that market. There are no mileage or Membership Rewards points to get you started as well, unlike the 100K MR offer in the USA last year. With this insight, this card was never a competitor in my pocket since it was not worthy of the fee in my opinion. Now, earlier this year, American Express India…
Reminder: 5 days left for 50% off Jet Privilege redemptions
Early last week, Jet Airways had announced a sort of a sale, where you get domestic (India) award ticket redemptions at 50% off the usually required number of miles, if you redeem your miles via the website. This sale is valid for bookings made till September 30, 2014 and you need to book tickets by July 21, 2014. You can book business class as well as economy seats for redemptions. This is just a quick reminder, that if you are interested in booking up your redemption tickets, it may be a good idea to plan it out now and book over the weekend. You can find all the details in my original post here. After all, a mile saved is…
Have you tried winning your self-drive car for 2 days yet?
Earlier this week, I announced a giveaway where you could get yourself a chance to win a 2-day drive with Myles, India’s only self-drive service with availability across the country. To be able to participate, all you have to do is the following: All you got to do is to put in the comments section below, a few lines about your best roadtrip experience, or the one you want to have. Also tell me which Myles location would you pick up your car at? You can make an entry or multiple entries till Saturday, July 20, 2014. Do remember to follow @livefromalounge and @myles_IN on Twitter as well to make it count. Remember, your comments need to come in on…
Spicejet & Indigo offering sale fares for travel between August to October 2014
Update: The sale has been extended till July 20, 2014. I am having a hard time keeping up with the frequent sales, and I am guessing you are too, but I’m personally committed to help you get low fares and travel smarter wherever I can help you. So, in that intention, another announcement of a sale fare which is perhaps the 4th, 5th, 10th … scratch that. I’ve lost count. Spicejet held a sale for 2015 dates earlier this month, and now they are back with a sale, where they are selling seats at INR 1699 upwards for dates between August 18, 2014 to September 30, 2014, a period between which some long weekends and important Indian holidays come through…
Malaysia Airlines discount fares from India till 18 July 2014
Malaysia Airlines is celebrating 40 years in India, and they have put out some great deals for travels originating from India to celebrate this. These deals are available for booking till July 18, 2014 and travel till November 30, 2014. Some routes are available for travel till October 10, 2014 only, however. You get to fly from Malaysia Airlines’ 6 stations in India which include Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi to various Malaysia Airlines destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lampur, Beijing, Osaka, Manila, Penang and so on. You can look up the deals on the Malaysia Airlines website under Deals for the Day. Here is a glimpse of some fares I found. Bangkok flights are traditionally supposed to…
Do you need to be an Air India Elite to get access to Star Alliance rewards?
Last week, I put out my first thoughts on the Air India Flying Returns’ program, after they joined in the Star Alliance. One of my first observations was that it is more expensive to burn on Star Alliance partners than to burn on Air India’s own metal for international travel. In the comments section, reader Krishnakumar makes a note: Just spoke to Flying Returns agent over the phone. He says that since I am Base Member of flying returns, I cannot redeem AI miles on Star alliance. You need to be Silver , gold or Maharaja member ! To which I was very surprised. However, today he came back reconfirming this statement: Dear AJ, I reconfirmed. FR told me that…
Go Air & Yatra now earn Extra Membership Rewards on Amex
Membership Rewards is the currency you earn for spending on your American Express Credit and Charge cards across the world. The value of the Membership Rewards points is different around the world, so lets focus on India here, because we are discussing the Indian Membership Rewards points right now. In terms of airline miles conversion, 2 Membership Reward points convert to 1 JPMile, Avios, Flying Returns miles and so on. American Express awards you 2 MR points per INR 100 spent on most cards, and 2.5 MR points per INR 100 spent on your Platinum tier American Express cards such as the Platinum Charge Card and the Platinum Reserve Credit Card. American Express also runs a program called Extra Membership…
Giveaway: A complimentary Myles self-drive vehicle anywhere in India for 2 days
It has been a rainy week out here in Mumbai, and I hear its been raining a lot of other places as well. Makes me want to go out on a drive, but work has been keeping me busy. I thought I’d give one of you a chance to go out on a drive however. You could drive inside your town or take a vacation, as long as you want to be on the wheel, we are cool! Earlier this week, I wrote about Myles, which is a self car-drive rental service offered by Carzonrent. They are the first ones offering such a service in India, across various points in the country. They are based much on the same model…
