Jet Airways withdraws Lounge Access for Silver members

Jet Airways is under tremendous pressure, yes we know that. 75% or whereabouts of its domestic flights now fly under the JetKonnect tag, we know that as well. It is withdrawing international routes, including the latest one MAA-BRU. And while it revamped lounge access policies just 9 months back and revamped its JetPrivilege program only about 6 months back, it has now decided to go onto its ‘enhancements’ again. Be aware that lounge access may be bought in the future if this post of mine is true.

I just received an email a while back, where Jet Airways has withdrawn lounge access for all Silver members from the domestic network, which by the way, includes yours truly since I am realising their stingy policies and flying them lesser and lesser by the day.

Dear AJ,

As you are aware, the Indian Aviation industry is reeling under tremendous cost pressures on account of various factors.

As a result, one of the key features of our service – lounge access, has been under constant review across airports in India. In view of the continuous increase in lounge access costs for Jet Airways, our ability to offer you a world-class lounge experience has been impacted.

Regrettably, effective October 15, 2012, lounge access will be unavailable to our JetPrivilege Silver members.

We regret the inconvenience this will cause you and hope to have your understanding on the changes being made.

Warm regards,
Kaushal Satam
Head – JetPrivilege

Now, a quick scan of the privileges for JetPrivilege Silver members includes only a 10% tier bonus on the miles, and 1 upgrade voucher on tier renewal. I usually get access to the lounges in various cities via the MasterCard lounge access program, but I think it will be wise to grab a Visa Signature card as well now.

I’ll be re-evaluating my Jet Airways travel given this move from the airline and post my future strategy if there is a change in the coming months.

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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. i am ashis bandyopadhyay i have jet silver card.i want know that can i take a lunch form airport. kindly let me know.

  2. @Goyal You may want to convert the Air India gold card to the regular gold charge card which gives 1000 MR points for using your card 4 times in a month for Rs 250+ transaction. Utility bills & Fuel count as well.

    Currently I charge all my utility expenses on PM card. For now fuel expenses are going on the Amex Gold charge card since they have a 5% cash back promotion until Oct 10. Post promo, will switch back to PM card.

    @AJ: Any good fuel/utility payment card that you’d recommend?

    • @Manish good advise on the Amex card. Since I don’t prefer to drive around much, I don’t own a car in BOM and hence no utility of fuel cards for me. 😉

  3. Hey AJ,

    I follow your blog frequently. I have a Citibank Premiermiles card which I use to book airline tickets. Earlier I had the Citibank jet airways card. I also have an Amex air India gold card And Amex KF gold corporate card. Both of these are used less frequently for ticketing. I plan to surrender the Amex Air India card and have applied for the ICICI Jet Sapphiro card as you suggested earlier. My question is not about airline points. I use the Amex KF corporate card for utility, fuel and other spends. But they give 1/100 on utility spends. Can you suggest a card that gives good points on utility and fuel spends?

    • @Goyal I feel most mastercard/visa based cards will give you the regular rate on fuel and utilities. Else you should look at a fuel cobrand card?

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