The news I’ve been waiting for. Like you know, Jet Airways parted way with Citibank for their decade old co-branded credit card and tied up with three partners instead: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and American Express. I’d talked about the imminent launch of this product last month. HDFC Bank went first with releasing their product, and ICICI Bank went next. These have been in the market for a while now. American Express seemed to take some time, since they had to first disengage with the Kingfisher co-branded credit card they already had in operation to launch the new product with Jet Airways co-branding. Anyways, all the hard work is behind us and the new credit card has now been launched.…
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Reminder 1: Register for PremierMiles promotion before November 30
If you’ve been making your Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card work hard over the past couple of months in the festive season, I hope you are aware of the Double Your Miles promotion that has been in place since October 1. The top 2000 spenders this quarter get to double their miles earned on the credit card. Here are all the details you need from the earlier post I made on this. Here is a quick reminder, that the registration for the promotion closes on 30 November 2012, so, if you have not registered, you should do that now. If you have more than 1 Citibank PremierMiles credit cards, you will need to register each one individually for this promotion. Related…
Sometimes, I can goof up!
I’m sure this is not the first time in recent history I’ve done this, but I am just wowed at my capability to leave some miles on the table. I just happened to be checking into my HDFC World JetPrivilege account, and you can see for yourself what did not go right here… The lack of coffee is all that I can blame this on. If you haven’t found out what is wrong, your clue is hidden here. Related Posts: Sunday Plastic: Jet Privilege HDFC Bank World Credit Card Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.
Just exactly how efficient is Etihad Guest as a loyalty program?
I have to say all the money to run two massive airlines in a small country has not brought the best of systems and processes to the airline which wants to be the next Emirates. My first brush with the Etihad Guest loyalty program was when they announced a status match, and I applied for it. It took Etihad 2 months or more to process my Status Match request, and they only informed me in June 2012 that my request was confirmed. Now, hypothetically, Etihad is putting you in an elite tier (Gold), and wants to be a classy airline. Which should mean you should get your membership kits in time, no? Guess what, after many emails, I received my…
8 days for Amex transfer bonuses to British Airways Avios / Etihad Guest miles
Beginning of the month I had alerted all of you regular readers about the promotions going on with American Express, where there is an offer to transfer Membership Rewards (their reward currency) for cards issued in India. There are two promotions: Transfer your Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios, and you could earn a 30% bonus on these transfers. Amex MR transfer to Avios at the rate of 1.6 MR = 1 Avios, which translates, with this bonus, to 1.23 MR = 1 Avios. While British Airways is one of the more expensive airlines due to their fuel surcharges to use Avios on, you could use them with so many of the oneworld airlines. Transfer your Amex MR to…
Spicejet offering Mumbai–Male for Rs. 12K roundtrip, Delhi-Male for Rs. 14.5K
A few days back I wrote about the inaugural fares being offered by Spicejet for their flight to Male (Maldives). While the offer still exists, I was surprised to know today that they were offering a combo fare on that flight, from Mumbai, and maybe other destinations as well. I only found out when a friend booked and tweeted about it. So, here is the deal. If you want to go to Maldives, and are happy to fly Spicejet, from Mumbai (BOM) to Cochin (COK) and then onwards to Male (MLE), you can score a fare for as low as Rs. 12,000 all inclusive. Fares from Delhi are very impressive as well at Rs. 14,500 all inclusive, basically the same…
Jet Airways pulls out of Delhi–Milan from 1 Feb 2013
Jet Airways has been out on a carnage, trying to examine and take a hard call on the routes and making sure only profitable routes survive. Yes, that is a dream for all airlines to be able to dictate prices and still have their planes full on the places they fly. However, Jet Airways has had to bite the bullet and they’ve recently withdrawn from Mumbai – Johannesburg and Chennai – Brussels – New York JFK, while still maintaining presence in New York via the BOM-BRU-EWR flight they operate. However, airlines frequently need to invest money in building a route, and those things work sometimes, and not at others. There is cost of hiring staff, setting up a station and…
Indigo unveils new retro-cool uniform for pilots
Indigo just went uber-cool all over again, with their new uniform innovation. Though they are a low-fare airline, perhaps they are India’s best at marketing themselves with a tongue-in-cheek cool about them. Incidentally, they are also India’s biggest domestic airline now.I’ve previously talked about their meals in matchboxes which I totally love, and also their Runway musical which is a class apart. Indigo just came up with new uniforms for their pilots, which boast of a Navy Blue Bomber Jacket, White shirt and Trousers. And this goes away from the traditional civil pilot uniform where a shirt+tie+blazer is the official look. Have a look at the video they posted: Do let me know what do you think of this. Does…
And now, an Air India domestic fare sale till Nov. 21, stacked with another roundtrip discount
Last week was the fare-sale from Indigo and SpiceJet, where they were offering fares as low as Rs. 1,699 for a 72 hour period. Now, it seems, full-service carrier Air India has decided to follow the same route and offer a fare sale on all its domestic routes. From today till November 21, Air India will be offering all inclusive fares in four fare slabs Rs. 1,799, Rs. 2,699, Rs. 3,699 and Rs. 4,199 for flights on all their domestic routes for the period of travel being between 16th January to 31st March 2013. Here are some of the fares which will be available: Chennai-Delhi: Rs 3,699/- Delhi-Kolkata: Rs 3,699/- Chennai-Mumbai: Rs 2,699/- Delhi-Mumbai: Rs 3,699/- Chennai-Kolkata: Rs 2,699/- Kochi-Trivandrum:…
Travel advisory if you’re coming to BOM today
Mumbai is under a sort of shutdown today due to the death of a political figure, due to which vehicles are off roads and public conveyance such as taxis have withdrawn from the roads and airports. Things are peaceful out there, but you could be stranded if you’re landing in the city today without a vehicle to pick you up. Airport authorities have organised shuttles to drop people to the nearby suburban train stations, but that is the best they could do. The following travel advisory from my airline for a flight I am supposed to take today, should give you perspective. If you have friends or family in Mumbai, ask them to pick you up from the airport. If…
Air India’s Mileage redemption is back online
Air India’s frequent flyer website, www.flyingreturns.co.in had knocked off the capability to redeem miles online with effect from 17 August 2012, temporarily. Many wondered why this decision was taken. I did not have a chance to write about it then, but was seemingly due to the abuse of their online redemption system by some insiders (yes, don’t be surprised!) Anyways, the good news is the system is back up live now and you can make your award redemptions online going forward. I hope they’ve been able to plug the loopholes that caused them to take the system offline. You see a screenshot of the live system again. Air India is not the best airline out there to fly around India…
