Category Archives for News.
Singapore has now announced a new visa-free transit facility for Indians, where you can visit Singapore for upto 96 hours during a transit from Singapore. This is a great development for everyone who wanted to transit via Singapore and stay to see the wonders. Check out the details!
Air India has just gotten approval to fly East to get to SFO, which means they will be able to get into San Francisco faster and at lesser cost. Here is how this impacts you.
Club Vistara is offering a 1-year upgrade to Club Vistara Gold for HDFC Infinia card holders, and Silver status to HDFC Regalia card holders. While the hard benefits are limited, there are soft benefits such as random upgrades. Here is how to get the Gold status if you qualify for it.
c JetPrivilege, Jet Airways’ frequent flyer program, runs a campaign to offer you a bonus for all your points (credit card points etc.) to be converted into miles. In 2013, they offered a 20% bonus on converting hotel points to miles, apart from a credit card conversion bonus of a similar amount. They’d have run higher promotions in the past, and in 2012 it used to be 25% bonuses. The promotion is back, albeit for a limited time, for 2015, and this time around, JetPrivilege is offering 20% extra miles for your conversion of points to JP miles. The conversion bonuses run between March 2, 2015 to March 31, 2015. Which means any request that gets completed within this time…
There is a video making the rounds these days, where Air India employees are putting up with passengers who arrived late and the flight was closed. This is a video which was shot at Mumbai’s Terminal 2 a few days ago, with a camera smartphone and uploaded to a social network for maximum impact. Apparently, a bunch of passengers arrived at Terminal 2, Mumbai, 55 minutes before the flight. For Air India, they operate a few flights from Terminal 2 at this moment, but these are domestic legs of international flights. For instance, very clearly mentioned on their website, is this information: Assuming the passengers arrived at Terminal 2 and not Terminal 1A, which is at least 20 minutes away…
I truly think that Air India Flying Returns is not a great loyalty program and I’ve said it before. However, in the wake of Air India, Jet Airways, Go Air and Indigo dropping their free baggage allowance to 15 Kgs, it seems to have become an inconvenience to some travellers who still feel the need for more baggage allowance. Baggage allowance seems to be going at Rs. 250 (~$4) per Kg above the allowance, and it pinches pockets to pay. SpiceJet is the only Indian carrier offering 20 Kgs at the time of writing this. Anyhow, there is a simple trick for the heavy travellers who choose to book with Air India. Most airlines with a loyalty program offer their…
Turkish Airlines, as a member of the Star Alliance, has started to status match members of the BMI Diamond Club program on the announcement of BMI getting sold to IAG (British Airways) and hence breaking away from the Star Alliance. However, as it is now turning out, Turkish is also status matching into other alliances. As of today the following status matching is being done: Silver on another carrier (BD/Another alliance) –> TK Miles and Smiles Classic Plus (*A Silver) Gold on another carrier (BD/Another alliance) –> TK Miles and Smiles Elite (*A Gold) No status match to the Miles and Smiles Elite Plus (TK’s top tier) Status is good for 2 years from the date of status match. Requalification:…
Reader Abdullah posted a question on the Reader’s Questions page which I thought was more appropriate to answer here since every once in a way I receive queries on Jet Airways upgrades. Here is a quick Q&A explanation: Question: I keep visiting your page as i am too a FF of Jet Airways, though its mostly domestic flights. I need some advice, i have these upgrade vouchers to business class around 6 of them and my status is Gold card holder of jet airways. Whenever i fly i look for best fares but then these best fares dont allow a upgrade to business class. How can i use these vouchers? 1 of this voucher expires april 30 next month. I…
MasterCard provides Airport Lounge Access In India. Here is how to travel like a business class passenger!
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…
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…
