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Plaza Premium Lounge Delhi Domestic Terminal 3

by Ajay 3 Comments

Introduction & Trip Index After my hectic work trip got over, I had decided to spend the Saturday with my parents before returning to Mumbai (Bombay) on Sunday morning. Ideally, I’d have loved to spend the Sunday home also, but I was going to be gone for a long time on the upcoming weekend, and hence I was planning to pack up some gear on that particular Sunday and catch up with friends. With that thinking in mind, I was booked on a Sunday morning 8 AM flight to BOM. Yeah, a Sunday morning flight, when I’d ideally liked to have crashed at home. But Sunday flights can be fun, and this was proven again after a long while! However,…

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Its Promo season, and SPG asks you to Triple Up!

by Ajay 1 Comment

Right after I registered for the Priority Club Rewards promo, and blogged about it here a short while ago, I noticed that SPG had also announced the fall promo, valid right uptil a slice before Christmas/New Year on December 18, 2011. This one is called Triple Up! SPG has kept it simple this time: Registration necessary by November 15, 2011 at spg.com/tripleup. All stays between September 6, 2011 to December 18, 2011 will earn double points i.e., 4 SPG points per dollar spent (2x of 2 points per dollar spent). Additional 1 point per dollar depending upon your membership tier being Gold/Platinum. If you stayed the night of Thursday or Sunday as a part of your stay, you earn triple…

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‘Crack the Case’ inspires IHG Priority Club fall promo!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

The IHG Priority Club just announced its fall promotion valid from September 15, 2011 to December 31, 2011. This one is called a ‘Brand Multiplier‘ and seems to be inspired by the ‘Crack The Case‘ promotion that ran about a year back from PCR. ‘Crack the Case’ was a customized promotion and each participant selected by PCR was allocated a few tasks and on completion of each task, one would get a certain number of bonus points. My ‘latches’, as they were called, included one of staying at at least 4 different IHG brands in the promotion period and I’d be awarded 4400 bonus PCR points. So, that was one easy kill! This fall, PCR has taken inspiration from the…

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Get upto 1500 Priority Club Rewards points for shopping (outside the US)

by Ajay Leave A Comment

IHG Priority Club has launched an offer whereby one can earn upto 1500 Priority Club Rewards points for shopping at the Priority Club Shop at priorityclubshopping.com. The offer is valid uptil 15th September 2011, where for 3 eligible transactions, one can avail of 500 bonus PC points apart from the points credited for shopping on the online mall.   This one should be of interest to those who would be shipping products outside the USA, and works for me if I choose to ship some of these purchases into India. Storewide purchases are anywhere from 1 to 15-30 PCR point per USD purchase value. And looks like I can purchase Air France tickets from AF’s Canadian website and earn PCR…

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Parody on Star Mega Do 3

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I discovered this hilarious video parody today thanks to Randy’s tweet this morning. Hitler wants to fly on the Star Mega Do 3, and is worried he’ll not be able to fly with Randy because he does not have enough details on how things are progressing! Though I could not quite figure out the use of the ‘fair use’ phrase! I am sure he went on to say, “Hail Randy!” How I wish I was going to be there to witness both of them take the front row together of the Continental jet being chartered for the event! 😉 Apart from a pot shot on Hyatt and United, I love the part where he wonders about those pictures from Boeing.…

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SkyTeam courting Air India (a.k.a. the rebound after being dumped by *A)

by Ajay Leave A Comment

Air India may still have a shot at becoming an awesome airline, and that one is all thanks to joining the SkyTeam ***drum beats*** 😉 I am sure the people at Air India’s helm are watching a lot of “How I Met Your Mother”, and decided to act awesome in line with the Bro Code. After being embarrassed by the Star Alliance, who AI took 4 years to ‘comply’ with the membership conditions of, and then *A leaving them alone at the altar, the news reports are now talking of SkyTeam talking to the Government of India about inducting Air India into their alliance. Speculations were ripe about this as early as the beginning of August, as per the Centre…

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Is Jet Airways losing its golden touch?

by Ajay 3 Comments

About 24 hours ago, I got off my flight(s) with Jet Airways which brought me back from a hectic vacation in NYC, SEA and DCA to Mumbai. As usual, I took my favourite airline on the way back, to fly JFK-BRU-BOM in Jet Airways Business Class. The reason I have enjoyed my experiences in the front and the back of a Jet Airways flight is the eye for details, and the hospitable, welcome approach they have to flying rather than most other carriers. I’ve been used to their (very) good service over a period of time, and which is reason enough for me to stick to them as my preferred airline. And sometimes also go the extra mile to convert…

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Breaking: Here is how you get on ANA’s 787

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Social media seems to have been a key piece in the strategy of airlines for a while, and in line with this, ANA has decided to reserve 2 tickets for people who like its Facebook page here, and then enter a photo-contest to win 2 tickets for the 787 flight. The task at hand is simple. You need to click your picture with the 787 digits and your smile :), and use your Facebook account to upload it on to ANA’s application on their FB page created for this purpose. Only one entry per account is allowed, and this activity needs to be completed till September 5, 2011 23:59 Pacific Time. From September 6 to September 14, 2011 these pictures…

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Jet Airways Citibank Credit Cards devalue upgrade benefits from September 2011

by Ajay 10 Comments

The Jet Airways Citibank co-branded Platinum Card was one of the more popular and advantageous airline credit cards in India. It looks like it had enough of the high table so it decided to jump off right away. I first heard of the devaluation on this flyertalk thread. I have been holding this card for quite a few years, and was in fact the only credit card I used for a very long time and pay a fee for. When I read this new scheme of things, I could not believe my eyes, and since I am travelling I haven’t received my letter from Citi yet. I checked up on Citibank’s India website, and it confirmed the horror story to…

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Jet Airways pilots flying ‘high’!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

This piece of news kind of got me scared a bit, but it is definitely not keeping me away from flying. A recent piece of information tabled in the Indian Parliament reported that there were 67 pilots who were found positive in the pre-flight medical test over the years 2009 to 2011, and one third of them were from Jet Airways. Kingfisher followed next along with Indigo. Make your own interpretations, but for me, this did not change anything except for wondering if Kingfisher Airlines was not providing enough brew to it’s crew, considering it is a sister concern of India’s biggest spirits and beer maker! On a serious note, it also meant that Air India, despite all the wrong…

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Things are changing at Indian airlines….

by Ajay 2 Comments

I happened to remember this one series of hoardings I had spotted a while back while travelling in the country. I thought it would be interesting to share, and managed to find this on an aviation humor website.    Looking back, can someone tell me who changed and who did not, eventually? I think 9W/Jet Airways turned out to be the eventual winner. While the flying models of Kingfisher are doing their job at a bleeding airline where service standards are going down and Go Air has no clear direction to go in!

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