I was just about to shut my laptop after writing my last post on the Air India – Star Alliance wriggle. But I just happened to note a new news report from The Economic Times, which also got a soundbyte from the aviation minister of India at the same place Reuters got its news from. For posterity sake, rather than quoting the article, let me leave a screenshot, because stories can be refiled online after an intervention. Now, let me quote the relevant bits: Civil Aviation minister told media that Lufthansa, which is the founding member of Star Alliance, was given a lot of benefits to ensure that Air India joins the grouping. “I believe a lot of facilities were…
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Air India is back to Lufthansa for Star Alliance again
You have to give it to Air India, they are making an attempt unparalleled in history to join an alliance. When they had the ball in their court, they just wouldn’t move fast enough and took 4 long years getting ready for integration. As a result, last year Air India was given the boot from Star Alliance, making them the first airline ever to be thrown out before joining. Jet Airways was extended the official invite to join the alliance instead. Now, Air India has gone back to Lufthansa for the nth time to ask for their assistance in getting into the little circle of airlines. This has been reported by Reuters today. India plans to ask Germany’s Lufthansa AG…
Winning entry for the StarMegaDo Giveaway [+Prizes]
Along with most of the BoardingArea bunch, I’d participated to organise a giveaway last week where each of the participating blogs was supposed to pick an entry towards the final giveaway. The winning entry was supposed to be announced on 8th October, and here is what Random.org speaks: Here is the winning entry from KOMAL: My favorite Star Alliance airline is none other than Singapore Airlines. With a great inflight service and unlimited entertainment options,it makes it easier for me to thoroughly enjoy my flight if i can’t get sleep.Plus it allows me to travel the many destinations with good connections which most other airlines do not.So,for me it is SINGAPORE AIRLINES from STAR ALLIANCE,my perfect cake with the best…
Finally, Kingfisher’s license maybe at stake
Since the past ten months, Kingfisher Airlines has been in crisis mode and it has only grown worse over the months. Since the last weekend, there has been industrial action at the airline for the nth time, and the management grounded the shrunk fleet, first till October 4th and then till October 12th. All these days, it seemed the influential promoter was getting a free hand because of the political connections he had, and because the airline is too big to fail for all the banks who have doled out the debt to the airline in good times. At numerous times, the aviation ministry clarified, including earlier this week, that the airlines’ license is not at stake. However, there are…
A compilation of all the airline fees in India
Airline fees has been a hot topic of debate, with airlines unbundling all their services. I personally don’t like the escalating fee for everything on an aircraft, because it adds up to a lot, and back in the day it used to be complimentary or way less of a charge. It becomes hard to keep track, and note that there so many new fees being introduced these days, like the money charged for a ticket printout, or convenience fee charged to book a ticket online. I’ve been meaning to compile a master list of all these charges and put it up as a resource here, but haven’t had the time. But somehow, the good Samaritans at Cleartrip.com thought of the…
Buck up: Sign up to win a seat on the StarMegaDo here! [Prize too!]
Hello folks, just a quick reminder that I’m participating in the BoardingArea giveaway where almost all the BoardingArea bloggers are participating. If you want to get a shot at the charter flight, aviation geekdom fun and everything happening alongside from November 13-17, you should enter here! Once you head there, you’ll also find yourself another 30 shots at winning the mega giveaway. Remember, this one is open till 23:59 Hours Mountain Time on October 7, 2012 and you can participate once on each blog. And to encourage a few blog readers in India to sign up, for those of whom who belong to India and participate in the official entry post all of 5th October 2012 (till 23:59 IST), I…
Lufthansa sets a Re. price on its internet service on flights from India
Just a little followup post from the last time I wrote about Lufthansa’s internet offering on their flights from India. Lufthansa has now set an Indian Rupee price as well, in case someone wanted to pay using their INR CC on board. Like I mentioned in the last post, Lufthansa was charging 10.95 Euro/hour on this service, or 3,500 Miles & More miles. This is consistent with the Rs. 737 pricing set out in Indian Rupees. Lufthansa clearly is on a roll in India with the 747-8’s flying around from Delhi and Bangalore and the new lounges they are creating for their Indian travellers. Related Posts: Lufthansa now offers in-flight wifi on flights from Chennai & Mumbai And the next…
Citibank adjusts some PremierMiles redemptions
I think getting into tourist season, coupled with the high prices of oil is forcing the hand of Citibank on the PremierMiles card. Citibank has revised redemption rates on some routes which are short-haul and have seen decreasing capacity from airlines (read increasing airfares), w.e.f. 1st October 2012. I notice that some of the routes are seeing a 30% increase in miles needed for redemption, such as Mumbai – Goa which goes up from 4000 Miles to 5200 on a low-cost carrier. Take note, that unlike an airline reward ticket, Citibank PremierMiles redemptions mean you redeem your points for a PAID ticket that is issued to you, so you can actually earn miles on these tickets as well if you…
Virgin Australia now codesharing on India flights with Singapore Airlines
For for people in India who want to visit Australia, they will now be able to book up their flights to India now with the Virgin Australia partnership with Singapore Airlines, all the way from India. AirlineRoute.net is reporting that Virgin Australia has significantly enhanced its partnership with Singapore Airlines as of late-September 2012 and a lot of new routes to be code-shared in this round will be SQ’s Indian routes: Virgin Australia operated by Silk AirSingapore – BangaloreSingapore – ChennaiSingapore – CoimbatoreSingapore – HyderabadSingapore – KochiSingapore – KolkataSingapore – Thiruvananthapuram Virgin Australia operated by Singapore AirlinesSingapore – AhmedabadSingapore – BangaloreSingapore – ChennaiSingapore – DelhiSingapore – KolkataSingapore – Mumbai Due to the strategic partnership between Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia…
Kingfisher Update [Updated!]: Expecting to fly in 5 days?
While Kingfisher Airlines does not have any cash left to pay employees as per media sources, it has extended its lockout till 7th October for the time being, which means it is not selling tickets till 7th October, and no flights will be operating till then as well. Like I mentioned yesterday, it however looks like this time it will take a lot longer to revive operations since the airline is now under regulatory pressure to review the situation, come back with a FIRM plan of action and pay salaries before it goes up in the air. However, as per Reuters, the airline is now making statements that about 100 employees have come back unconditionally to work, and they hope…
Kingfisher fiasco expected to be a long drawn one?
I usually prefer not speculating about things going bad at an airline, trying to give the longest rope to the airline in the absence of facts. However, it looks like this time the facts are not on Kingfisher Airlines’ side. Like I mentioned yesterday, Kingfisher Airlines is now in industrial action, undergoing a situation where all the flights are grounded, however the airline prefers to call it a partial lockout. The airline’s CEO reportedly met about a 100-odd staff today in Mumbai, trying to buy time (one more time!) from the staff. While the staff have refused to work without all their dues being cleared for the past 7 months, the regulator DGCA has also asked them to pay all…
