Delhi Airport is one of the better airports around India, but one of the most expensive ones as well. The airport charges about INR 232 – 550 to domestic passengers, while they charge between INR 518 to INR 1270 for an international passenger. These are called the UDF (User Development Fee). Compare this with Mumbai, where you pay about INR 300 for a domestic departure. It seems that the Airport regulator in India, AERA, has now asked the Delhi Airport operator GMR Group to reduce the charges at Delhi Airport by about 78%. In the past few years, Delhi was allowed to charge astronomical rates because they had done a lot of capital expenditure in bringing up the airport, which…
JetPrivilege upgrades restructured for good!
Last year, Jet Airways’ loyalty program JetPrivilege restructured their earning and burning structure, and did away with fuel surcharges on award tickets. On the back of a higher mileage required for an award ticket in premium cabins (a BOM-BRU business class o.w. moved from 54,000 JP Miles to 85,000 JP Miles, but no fuel surcharge now), there was a sweet spot that existed, called mileage upgrades. You earn miles for your ticket, and you pay lower number of miles for your upgrade as compared to a business class redemptions, hence it was a great deal, since you really had a much less net outflow in terms of number of miles for a premium cabin travel. The standard benchmark for an…
Can Jet Airways harmonise their Boeing 737 fleets please?
Just last week, I was away to Vietnam on Jet Airways’ latest route, fully aware that Jet Airways operates a Boeing 737 flight, via Bangkok. Now, as a 22 year old airline, I can appreciate that Jet Airways has inducted planes over the years. But to have a zillion uncoordinated products, is not really giving customers on the international segments a harmonious experience. For instance, when I flew from Mumbai to Bangkok on 9W70, I got a plane (VT-JBY), which had a leatherette business class, however, with no Audio Video on Demand. There was a simple overhead screen, playing a video. However, there was no audio channel to hear out the video on. There was no in-seat power, so, my…
Uber continues to offer INR 600 for new signups around India
A few days ago, Uber around India, started to offer INR 600 credit for new signup, instead of INR 300 which is the usual credit you get on another day. Initially the promotion was valid for people signing up till February 1, 2015. This has now been extended to an indefinite period. Uber is present in 11 cities in India now: Mumbai Delhi Pune Bangalore Hyderabad Kolkata Ahmedabad Chandigarh Chennai Jaipur Kochi If you want, can use my referral link, and I would be thankful for your support. Join over 4000 people who check-in daily to find out about the best in travel.Free emails (once-a-day) | RSS Feeds | Facebook Updates | Twitter | Instagram
A cheap way to extend validity of your JP Miles for 2 years and earn some in the process
One of the new enhancements that JetPrivilege rolled out for members a few weeks ago was the extension of their miles validity from 3 years to 5 years, as long as you had one co-branded debit or credit card, and one activity on the card in the past year. I think it is a great feature to offer, and I personally benefit from it if I drop off from my Platinum status sometime. Now, just very recently, HDFC and JetPrivilege’s co-branded debit card, dropped fees to INR 500 per annum (free for first year for Classic,Preferred and Imperia banking members). In this case, you’re getting 1000 JP Miles, to set up your debit card, 2000 JP Miles for your first…
March 2015 onwards, you can earn KrisFlyer miles for Vistara flights
This was a no-brainer to have happened. As one of the parents of Vistara, Singapore Airlines was always going to use its own reach to allow for Vistara to gain traffic in India. And one of the tools for that is the frequent flyer program. Last few weeks, I’ve covered the earn and burn aspects of Club Vistara, which is the loyalty program for Vistara. Just this morning the airlines (Singapore Airlines and Vistara) have announced that the flyers on both the airlines will be able to earn miles/points on taking flights on the other partner with effect from March 2015. For redemptions on the other partner, it will be possible from May 2015 onwards. KrisFlyer members will be able…
Hogwash Update: BA Executive Club making available cheaper Avios redemptions on BA/Iberia flights
Earlier today, I wrote a post on British Airways Executive Club introducing changes into the earning side of the program. The summary is that if you buy cheap tickets, you get less miles and less tier points, however if you buy a high fare or a premium cabin ticket, things get better for you. Here is the official statement from BA. All these changes come into effect April 28, 2015. From a burning perspective, the changes have gotten positive, not!. One of the sweet spots for BA’s program is redeeming for Short Haul flights, where they charge as less as 4500 Avios for an economy flight. This is due to their distance-based award chart. Business Class & First Class in…
Breaking: British Airways Executive Club revamping earning structure for tier points & Avios
This just in. As a Gold member of the British Airways Executive Club, I do send a chunk of my business their way on my business travel. Reader Deovrat alerted me to some changes they are going to be making to the structure of the Executive Club for bookings made from April 28, 2015 onwards. Tickets booked before April 28, 2015 will earn Avios at the old rates. Earning Changes: On a first look, it looks like BA is going the way of awarding more miles to higher fares, and snipping it from the lower & deep discounted economy tickets. Overall, a positive change for people booking closer to date of departure and by deduction higher fares. Minimum amount of…
Uber offering INR 600 for signup via referrals till February 1
Uber has been my favourite local travel solution for about a year now. Uber has been on an expansion spree across India, having operations in 10 cities across India now. One of the best parts about using Uber is their on-demand app, which shows you the location of the nearest cab and you can order it. There are mostly enough cars on the road to bring you one within ten minutes. The UberBlack service usually has Toyota Innovas and premium cars around India, while the UberX service has midsize economy sedans. UberX usually prices at a slight premium to local transport options such as cab, but I find it reasonable enough to have made a switch to UberX in Mumbai…
4 days to take a call on your PremierMiles balances
At the end of 2014, Citibank made a decision that they wanted to devalue their PremierMiles a bit. A whole lot actually. So, they are moving the 1 PremierMile = 1 Airmile equation to 2 PremierMiles = 1 Airmile, bringing it to the valuation that American Express offers (2 MR = 1 Airmile). All good things come to an end, and here are my thoughts on why this happened. At this point of time, the moment of choice is here and there are four paths to take. You can do either of the following: Continue as is with your PremierMiles card, earn 10 PM/INR 100 for airline purchases and 4 PM/INR 100 for everything else. You are essentially earning 5…
Back at the Lounge: January 25, 2015
Hello again from the luxurious Club InterContinental at the InterContinental Asiana Saigon. I’m just back in the hotel for a short while, and here is a quick update for all of you if you missed anything in the week gone by: The Novice Perspective Say Hello to Shipra, who is my fiancee and now a contributor to the blog. She introduces herself and puts out her first post about travel credit cards here. Do encourage her with feedback and comments. Miles & Points We know about the earning on Club Vistara, now here are the first details about how redemption will work on Club Vistara. Promotions Hyatt’s Stay More Play More promotion is on offer till April 2015. Jet Airways Jet Airways’…
