Air Mantra, a regional carrier, took wings with its first flights on the Amritsar – Chandigarh and return segments yesterday (23rd July). Owned by the Religare guys, Air Mantra is taking a vastly different strategy so far in terms of airlines currently operating in India, by operating very small planes on routes which connect smaller cities and avoiding the trunk routes altogether. The airline has been assigned the IATA code of M1, although I cannot seem to find their registered code on the IATA website, and they were granted a scheduled operator permit on 1st June 2012. The airline is using turboprop Beechcraft 1900D planes, of which it has 2 of these currently to serve routes which would not be…
English
Category Archives for English.
A Thai Vacay: The Millennium Hilton, Bangkok
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 I arrived at the Central Pier of Bangkok using a mix of the airport express train system of the city, and switched to the Bangkok Mass Transport System later. Our hotel was located across the Chao Phraya river that runs through the city and put us towards the western end of the city and…
The Jet Airways Walt Disney livery in the making
If Eva Air’s Hello Kitty airplane fascinates you, recently Walt Disney India went out to collaborate with Jet Airways to do something similar. For a whole month, a Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 (VT-JGC) will be flying around wrapped with Disney characters. Here is a time-lapse video of the making of the plane. This is the second Jet Airways livery change this year and I expect a lot more to come. Here is the first one earlier this year with the Nokia Lumia wrap. Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
Sunday Plastic: American Express Platinum Travel Card
The turmoil at Kingfisher Airlines seems to have affected their relationship with American Express as well. The American Express Kingfisher First Credit Card, while it still exists in the pockets of those who had them for years, is not being issued anymore. American Express then had to quickly work on an alternative and they have recently launched the American Express Platinum Travel Card. Here is how I look at the American Express card hierarchy in India as of now: American Express Platinum Charge Card American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card American Express Gold Charge Card American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card Like you can see, the American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card is the entry level American Express card…
Welcome to the Jet Airways ticket lottery!
I’ve frequently given commendations and flak to Jet Airways here, but they keep getting better by the day and I just sometimes cannot figure out how to keep up with them. This one is a real lottery and they’ve left me scratching my head. Stay with me. Last weekend, I was spending a lot of time booking tickets for my own and family’s travel in the days to come. And on Google, an innocent text-advertisement kept popping up. Have a look here: Now, first, I followed the weblink mentioned all the way through to the Jet Airways website by typing http://www.jetairways.com/SeatSaleOffer and https://www.jetairways.com/SeatSaleOffer. At both times I got this screen below: Whatever, then I went on to directly click…
Turkish Airlines’ still status matching to Star Alliance Gold
A couple of months back I wrote that Turkish Airlines was freely matching top-tier elites from SkyTeam, oneworld and even Star Alliance to their own program Miles & Smiles. While we would have expected that this opportunity would have quickly closed out, it turns out that Turkish is still out there matching up folks to its program, though various people report a hit and miss scenario. Some have received their status match confirmation in a day while others have not heard for over a few weeks. My brother, who is an elite on another airline and ends up flying Star Alliance to and around the USA a couple of times a year, received his match earlier this week within 24…
A Thai Vacay: Airborne flight CX 750 (BOM-BKK), Cathay Pacific, Economy
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…
A Thai Vacay: Clipper Lounge First Class, Mumbai
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…
A Thai Vacay: British Airways Galleries Lounge, Mumbai (BOM)
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…
moneylife: My column on current travel promotions
Last weekend, moneylife put out a column i wrote on some of the travel deals which could knock off a reasonable price off your domestic flight ticket in India. 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.
moneylife: My column on Hotel Loyalty
This is my column which got published in moneylife while I was away on vacation. It talks about the benefits you receive when you are loyal to a hotel chain. You can look up the previous columns here! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
