Airbnb is a website where you can rent out lodging offered by other hosts in their homes in the form of a room, a bed or a complete apartment by itself. They have recently entered into a tie-up with American Express in India, to offer Amex’s Indian card members a discount of 50% (upto 4000 INR) for one booking per registered member. Here is how it works. You select a property on AirBnb, get your price quote in INR, then plug the coupon code which is AMEX#### (the #### are your Amex Card’s first 4 digits). This brings up the discount on your reservation and then you can go ahead and pay the rest of the amount. You can book…
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Air India offering double miles on Italy flight
I recently wrote about the launch of Air India’s flight to Milan and Rome, and how they were offering a sweet deal from anywhere in India to be able to get you over to Italy. Air India is now offering a double miles promotion on their frequent flyer program Flying Returns for those who choose to fly between India and Italy or vice versa on AI by July 31, 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-Italy or vice versa route you should clock double miles. AI has not updated the mileage calculator on their website yet, but Delhi-Milan should earn 3834 miles one way…
Credit Card Review: Citibank Prestige India (2014)
A couple of months back, I’d put out some of the feelers I was hearing about Citibank Prestige being launched in India. I’m glad to report the rumours are mostly true! You see, Citibank went downhill with the Ultima, then decided to reinvent the product as the Citibank Prestige in India. Ultima will now be an invite-only card again going head to head with the American Express Centurion in India. The Citibank Prestige has been on offer since about a month now, and is looked at as a lifestyle card, however, I look at it as a great travel credit card. Lets have a look at all the features of this product. Citibank Prestige is offered as a Visa Infinite…
Why Uber may self-decimate in Mumbai?
It is no secret that I am an Uber fan. I’ve admitted as much in the past. I’ve used their services in various parts of the world, but most of my interaction with them has been based in Mumbai and Delhi. And lets say 70% of my rides with Uber have been in Mumbai, 20-25% in Delhi and the rest elsewhere. While I can compliment Uber for running a great show in Delhi, I think they will sooner than later be self-decimating in Mumbai. Uber likes to be known as a technology company. Hence, they claim they operate the backend of a network of cars across 100 cities, where I demand a car wherever I am, and the chauffeurs who…
Personal Electronic Devices on India’s airlines
A few weeks back I had written about the regulatory notification which modified the rules for the use of Personal Electronic Devices on airplanes while in flight and on the ground. Since then, I’ve waited for airlines to go ahead and execute the rules on the ground. I’m glad to report now it is no issue to use your electronics on board. Here is a collection of various domestic airlines and how they are implementing the rule at this moment: SpiceJet: SpiceJet was the first off the block. They claim they were the first to implement the revised rules, however they are allowing the use of PEDs/phones only above 10,000 feet even now. As per their COO, they don’t find…
SpiceJet introduces new meal options
Now, SpiceJet had been going downhill for a while, but they focussed on the basics and started to deliver on-time performance and clean planes again. They’ve also reworked the seats. Then, they added on-time guarantees, and now they are fixing up the food on the plane. While this should be a non-news, it is news because this is a part of their turnaround plan coming together. One of my troubles flying SpiceJet in my last life have been that the food was not too great. Trust me, I don’t need food on a small flight, but there are days I would get to the airport just in time for the plane, and eat on the plane. The good news then…
Jet Airways and Etihad Airways announce reciprocal benefits
Last year, Etihad completed the purchase of 24% equity stake in Jet Airways, as a part of building its own equity alliance. As a part of the alliance, usually most other airlines enter into a reciprocity with Etihad’s own loyalty program whereby the guests of both programs are granted privileges on each other’s metal. With Jet Airways, this has been a long time coming, and I suppose Etihad has been waiting to complete their acquisition of 51% of Jet Privilege to be able to integrate the two. This transfer only completed as of April 2014. Anyhow, the good news is, that as of today, the reciprocal benefits have been announced by both the carriers. First lets take a go at…
Jet Airways strengthens codeshare with Air France, offers double miles on AF flights too
Strange is the aviation industry, where competitors become bedfellows. Jet Airways last week launched its own flights between Mumbai and Paris, which will be 4 times weekly right now and go to daily frequency in July. Jet has been very careful to operate a daytime flight here, because Air France already operates a daily departure from Mumbai in the evening slot. Initially, it looked like Jet Airways was only going to go after the O&D traffic because they did not have connections at the other end. Now, early this month, Jet Airways and Air France got their codeshare together, and both the carriers will place their codes on the other’s Mumbai-Paris-Mumbai flights with effect from May 25, 2014. This offers…
Buy 2x LifeMiles till May 30 / earn 1 mile extra for every 5 you buy
LifeMiles is the mileage program of Avianca, and they joined the Star Alliance in 2012. Ever since, they’ve been the avenue to buy low cost miles in the Star Alliance program, and get into premium cabins at a reasonable price. In one of my posts in December last year, I’d advised my readers to sign up for the program, because they frequently do promotions where you can get 100% bonus miles. Now, for the past few days, uptil May 30, 2014, they are back with a 100% bonus promotion, where you would be able to buy miles at 1.5 USD cents per piece (about INR 0.90) for a total of 75000 miles which you can purchase. You get upto 150000…
SpiceJet reconfiguring aircraft for more legspace upfront
SpiceJet has been in the process of a turnaround, and while the frequent sales have given them the cashflow, I’m hearing more and more good things from people about the better quality of their product in the past few months. Me, I quit flying them a year ago when they messed up badly on timing of flights, and a morning flight actually arrived late in the evening. But I’ll definitely give them a try after the turnaround is complete. In the meanwhile, it looks like SpiceJet is actually putting its money where the mouth is, and creating a differential offering for SpiceJet Max across its planes. Most planes, as per the COO Sanjay Kapoor, are under reconfiguration at the moment…
Qatar Airways now transfer partners for PremierMiles
PremierMiles is one of my most used credit card in India, and I definitely love it when they add more and more transfer partners. There has been a recent addition, and this is the Qatar Airways Privilege Club, where you can now transfer your PM for a 1:1 ratio. To be sure, Qatar Airways is not exactly one of the best mileage programs out there, but with this addition, PremierMiles has 2 out of the big 3 Middle-East airlines in their club, all of which incidentally offer pretty sucky redemption values. Considering QR is a oneworld member, I’d have expected similar rates for redemption on their own metal as well as partners, but this is not the case. They charge…
