Air India has followed the rest of the pack into grounding its 787 fleet of 6 planes as of 17 January, following the FAA advisory issued in the USA. The Indian regulator DGCA followed into the steps of the FAA, and directed Air India to ground all the 6 planes, till Boeing could prove sufficiently to the FAA that the planes are safe. The Boeing 787 serves largely domestic routes at this moment, and 3 international services to Dubai, Paris CDG and Frankfurt from Delhi. The DGCA has formed a committee to look into the safety and engineering aspect of the 787 as well. Air India’s 787 had a technical snag on the inaugural flight as well, and reportedly had…
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Mileage Earning Credit Cards 101 – India edition 2013!
I met a fairly well travelled bunch of people this past weekend for a coffee in Mumbai, and I was very surprised at the end of this conversation when we pulled out our wallets to pick the tab. The payment was split between two of the folks, and I was not allowed to pay. However, both the cards used for payment were not mileage earning or anything close! The scene was repeated later that evening with a bunch of friends. Someone beat me to reaching out for the check, and another non-mileage earning credit card went into the payment mode. Look, I have nothing against non-mileage earning credit cards. I was using them at a point of time (when there…
The mess that is Air India, feat. #snacksonaplane
Just a quick rant on Air India, looking at some very unimpressive news I read about how things are run at this government-owned airline today. Apparently, one lady pilot at the airline decided to take things into her own hands, defy crew scheduling instructions and operate a hopping Mumbai – Jodhpur – Delhi flight, because she had a food parcel to pick up at the Jodhpur airport. Best part, they let her in. The humor in this situation, the local tabloid which reports the incident has published the recipe of the speciality snack as well in the newsreport. Snacks on a plane, anyone? Yesterday, we also found out that the clerks and the top men of Air India, as in…
Flying from Delhi? Get a refund.
This just looks like a Monopoly game instruction but for those who are flying out of Delhi from January 1, 2013 onwards, it could be some money in your pocket. The Delhi Airport has had to reduce their Airport Development Fee, one of the highest in the world, to more moderate levels from January 1, 2013 on the instructions of the regulator. Before January 1, 2013, the ADF used to be Rs. 200 ($4) for domestic flights and Rs. 1,300 ($ 24) for international flights taking off from Delhi airport. The entire fee is supposed to contribute to the development of the airport. From January 1, the new ADF applicable is Rs. 100 (~$2) for all domestic departures, and Rs.…
Indigo & GoAir matching SpiceJet sale on some routes
It turns out price warrior SpiceJet is not alone in this fare war since this morning where they released tickets for Rs. 2013 all inclusive. Indigo joins in, without advertising the sale on a lot of routes with an all inclusive price of Rs. 2010. I suspect this would last as long as SpiceJet offers the low fares, so if you are looking for a weekend trip of sorts or a visit someplace, do also look up the Indigo website for your options. Like with SpiceJet, the tickets are also available with travel agents, including online travel agents such as Yatra, Cleartrip and the others. Update: GoAir is also now in the game with Rs. 2007 fares to most places…
Spicejet sale: Rs. 2013 a.i. for travel anywhere in India
I love SpiceJet sales because they end up making me book tickets when I have no plans to go anywhere. To beat the lean season of travel (February – April 2013), they just unleashed a new promotion this morning which is valid for tickets booked on January 11 – January 13 2013, for travel between February 1 to April 30, 2013. Here are the offer details: SpiceJet, India’s preferred low fare airline, presents The Big Sale, 10 lakh seats up for grabs at an all inclusive fare of 2013! Simply log on to www.spicejet.com and book direct flights to any domestic destination on SpiceJet, for travel between 1st February to 30th April, 2013. Terms and Conditions: Offer valid for bookings…
American Airlines all set to codeshare with Qatar Airways
Like we know, Qatar Airways is getting ready to be inducted into the oneworld alliance somewhere late 2013 or early 2014. As a part of this induction, they will be individually cooperating with each member airline to work on a synchronised flight plan to offer connections around the world. Seems like the work with American is done, and American and Qatar Airways will be good to go live with a Codeshare agreement as of 26 February 2013. As per American Airlines, The agreement with Qatar will include codesharing on nonstop flights between the U.S. and Doha, flights connecting at the carriers’ European gateways such as Paris and London, and flights to cities in the U.S. and beyond Doha. Additionally, members…
American Express withdraws the Kingfisher Credit Card!
With the airline no longer in existence, Amex finally pulled the plug on their co-branded credit card partnership with Kingfisher. All existing cardholders have been sent out individual letters (not emails, not announcements on the website…) about the decision of Amex to part ways with KFA. This could partly also be the influence of their recent partnership with Jet Airways for a credit card. Here are the key details of what will happen now on for the existing KFA credit card holders: Amex is replacing all the KFA cards with the Amex Platinum Travel card and all the card holders will receive the new card in their mail in a few days from now. Here are some details of the…
Air India’s attempt to sneak into Star Alliance
Air India seems to be making all the right moves while its competitor for the Star Alliance membership Jet Airways is busy trying to make a strategic alliance with Etihad. What I cannot figure out is, why was the Indian Civil Aviation ministry’s unnamed officials making all the noises about the conversations between 9W/EY before it was formally announced. Anyways, as per more noises from the said ministry and a newspaper report published today, seems like Air India and the ministry (the owner of Air India) are reaching out to the member airlines of the Star Alliance to get them to vote in favour of Air India joining the alliance. They also insist that airlines are conveying to the civil…
My experiences with OlaCabs
When in Mumbai, the black and yellow cabs are my friend. However, there are days you need a car to wait on you, or it is sultry enough in a city like Mumbai to pop into an airconditioned radio cabs. I’ve had it with the regular fleet cab services such as Meru, Mega, TabCabs and what have you, primarily because the cabs do not provide a fleet cab experience anymore. Since demand far outstrips supply, many a times it is a game of dice. You sometimes get a confirmed cab booking or a last minute text message saying the cab company has no cabs to allocate. Cue to flagging a cab on the road to the airport or wherever… All…
American Express devalues Membership Rewards in India
It is old news that Amex in India has been devaluing the Membership Rewards. A year back, Amex reduced the number of MR one could earn on a few types of payments and even imposed a Rs. 250 fee for redeeming on airline miles. While the website has no indication of this devaluation, members are being individually informed via their statements. Here are the transfer partners who are now changed from 1.6 MR = 1 FFP to 2 MR = 1 FFP, with effect from 16 January 2013: British Airways Cathay Pacific Etihad Airways Finnair Singapore Airlines Thai Airways Virgin Atlantic These are all of the airline transfer partners that American Express India has in India, apart from Jet Airways…
