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due to the death of a political figure, due to which vehicles are off roads and public conveyance such as taxis have withdrawn from the roads and airports.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…
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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…
Spicejet offers inaugural fares to Male
Spicejet is starting a daily service to Maldives capital Male from November 29 onwards, which will be operated on their Dash8 Q400 planes, from Cochin to Male and back daily. The operational timings will be: Kochi-Male 12:50(Dep) – 14:10(Arr) Daily Male-Kochi 14:45(Dep) – 17:05(Arr) Daily Spicejet is offering inaugural fares for the flight, for Rs. 4,999/- one way all inclusive. Maldives is usually a expensive place to be in, but if you want to go, this should be a good fare to catch. Maldives own airlines also just launched a flight to Mumbai and Chennai on an Airbus narrowbody plane. Visa is issued on arrival for 30 days, free of cost. Related Posts: Maldivian to launch services to Mumbai and…
Spicejet launches pre-assigned seats, priority check-in
Ancillary revenue is the in-thing for low-cost carriers these days. Indigo took the lead with this concept long back, when they introduced Indigo Plus, which was the wrap of a cold meal on board + pre-assigned seating. They topped up with another new service offering called Fast Forward, which included priority check-in and priority baggage claim a short while back. Jet Airways is also toying with idea of charging for meals, lounge access and priority check-in. Spicejet could have not been left behind, right? However, maybe they did not think of this before. They have recently announced the launch of Spicejet MAX, which offers priority check-in, seat selection and a meal on board. What I find interesting is, that while…
Travelled SpiceJet 10/Nov through 13/Nov? Hope you got your 1,001 voucher
If you flew SpiceJet from 10th November to 13th November 2012, to mark the festive occasion of Diwali, SpiceJet has been handing out gift vouchers of Rs. 1,001 to everyone. This was not a promotion they’d spoken about earlier or on the website, but they posted on their Facebook page on 12th November. This post never stated the terms and conditions, but at a later stage, here are the terms & conditions clarified: This basically clarified that everyone travelling during that period was eligible to receive this voucher. However, seems like a lot of people did not receive them, including my brother who flew SG in these dates. I was asked to send them the PNR, and they would respond…
25% off on long-haul redemptions in British Airways/Iberia
Avios was formed a year back, and that is when British Airways switched to this new mileage currency. Now, to celebrate a year of the switch, Avios is offering a discount of 25% on long-haul redemptions on the British Airways and Iberia network, in all their cabins (economy, business and first). While Iberia is not servicing India, British Airways serves quite a few bases in India, including Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Now, British Airways is known for passing on the high fuel surcharges on their flights to the passengers. However, a 25% discount should make you feel better. So, BOM-LHR is 25,000 Avios + Taxes/Fuel Surcharge in Y. However, the lesser redemption value would show up as 18,750 Avios +…
So I had another good flight with Jet Airways Premiere
I must admit I have not been flying Jet Airways on my domestic routings of late. I have heaps of trip reports to write, but essentially, when I went by for my little holiday to the Park Hyatt Goa in June, I had a no air-conditioner flight on Goa to Mumbai. I decided I when I got back to be treading away from them for a while, but I already had reservations with them for this November trip so I thought I’d brave it out this one time then. Jet Airways, on the other hand, seemed to have other plans for me. I was travelling my regular BOM-DEL segment, something I do a zillion times. I’d asked for an upgrade…
Diwali wishes, and keep travelling…
Since the lone writer at the blog (yours truly), prefers to come home to the family during the Diwali festivities, you may notice a reduced posting frequency over the next few days. However, wanted to wish all of you in India and around the globe, a Happy Diwali. May your windfalls not just come in terms of cold cash, but also lots of miles and points to travel! If you’re travelling, safe landings and cheers! Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.
Last few hours to book tickets on Indigo and Spicejet in a sale
A quick reminder, like I wrote two days back, there is a sale going on till 12 midnight tonight at Indigo airlines, where you can book to travel between January and March 2013 with a significant discount. Rush to their site if you have any travel plans in mind and you’d like Indigo to bring you there. Also, it totally missed my attention till today, that SpiceJet is running a similar flash sale as well till midnight tonight, with the exact same terms and conditions as Indigo, and the sale ends tonight again. Remember, the India domestic flights are only covered in this promotion. So, if you know what you want to fly to where between January and March 2013,…
Flash Sale: Indigo 72 hour sale, travel Jan-March 2013
Indigo just put up a flash sale at 12 midnight India time valid for the next 72 hours, where they are offering flight tickets on all domestic routes at a significant discount on the base fare. You could end up saving quite a bit if you have your travel plans for early next year firmed up during this time frame. Take a look at some comparisons I made for you below: Mumbai to Delhi would cost about Rs. 4,800 one way on 9 January 2013 which is not in the sale period. But with the sale on, it goes down to Rs. 3,500 one way. Sweet. This is only valid on the domestic segment flights of Indigo, not the international…
Are you ready to travel this weekend?
Diwali is here, which means, that time of the year when I will find the most number of people on the airports going over somewhere. Here is a screenshot from the Jet Airways website last evening on a trunk route: And here is this morning, when I had tried to check-in… most people were still waiting for a sign from God to web check-in! That made me think, let me do a post for you guys to get ready for holiday travel! Here are the things to do: a) Check-In: If you’re planning to get on a plane, go and check-in now on the airlines website. Don’t worry about the disclaimer from Indigo and SpiceJet that only hand baggage passengers…
