I hate to start the New Year with some sad news. In 2011, I’d called the Citibank PremierMiles the best travel credit card around in India, because you could earn 1 airmile across airline programs for every INR 25 spend, and then you could earn 1 airmile across airline programs for every INR 10 spend for air tickets or booking via specific websites. With effect from February 1, 2015, all that changes.Citibank is devaluing the transfer ratios for the transfer to their partner airlines from 1:1 to 2:1, which means, 2 PremierMiles = 1 Airline Mile. For your reference, the following airlines are partners with Citi for conversions to airmiles: Cathay Pacific Delta Airlines British Airways Thai Airways Malaysia Airlines…
Jet Airways offering tickets INR 2015 onwards
Merry Christmas folks. Sorry, Santa had a lot of places to be last night and he just woke up a while ago. The sales are back in full force, and while I don’t write about each and every sale on my blog, this one looks like it makes the cut. Jet Airways is back with the first sale for the 2015 season. They are offering domestic Economy tickets at INR 2015 onwards, for travel between 01 February 2015 to September 30, 2015. For Business Class seats, tickets are going at INR 7,999 onwards. Ticket classes on sale are B, O & W for Economy and P for Business, and these are non-refundable tickets. Tickets need to be booked by December…
30 AwardWallet Codes going away today
It is that time of the month again, where I am putting out my stash of AwardWallet codes for all of you. Like you’d know, AwardWallet is a website that allows me to track my points and miles totals across loyalty programs in a one-view format. AwardWallet provides a free account, which tracks all your accounts for free, but only displays upto 3 expiration notices. There is also AwardWallet Plus, which costs you $5 upwards for 6 months (you choose the price), and allows for details on all your accounts to be tracked along with the expiry notices. Now, if you haven’t had an AwardWallet account ever, you could sign up for a free 6-months usage of AwardWallet Plus with…
A Detailed Look at the Club Vistara Program
A few days ago, I had put out the first glimpse of the Club Vistara program, the revenue-based frequent flyer program for the new airline Vistara, which is taking wings on 9 January 2015. Now, here is a first look at the Club Vistara program and how it will operate. Enrolment: Membership is open to members of all ages, except that if you are/you have kids below 18 years of age, the parents need to sign a consent form before enrolling the kids. Like I mentioned earlier, you get 500 points when you enrol for the program and take your first flight within a month. Points Earning: It is widely known by now that Vistara will have a revenue-based frequent…
Flight Review: AI 687 Mumbai-Delhi, Air India, Business Class (B777)
A couple of days back, I was supposed to take a Mumbai – Delhi flight, to come back to family for the holidays. Since I kind of like wide body planes and the new GVK Lounge at Terminal 2, I booked myself on AI 101 which does BOM-DEL-JFK, but is a late night flight arriving into Delhi about midnight. However, last minute, I realised Air India was also operating a BOM-DEL flight in the afternoon on their 777s. I guess this is a plan for them to be able to clear the winter rush, as well as accommodate all the people who may get displaced from other flights due to fog. So, I looked at the price, and it was…
Last minute holiday plans? Tips to pay reasonable fares (in India)
On Sunday, I was at the Mumbai Airport Terminal 1A, flying over to Delhi for the holidays. I had a busy year, and I am still not done with it, with social and family commitments to come up for the next few days. Anyhow, the rush at the airport made me realise how many people were heading all over the place: some to visit family, some on vacation and so on. It may also be that a lot of plans are going belly up because Spicejet is in deep trouble. However, I see, at least on metro segments, all hope is not lost to get home on a reasonable fare. In fact, I myself cancelled a late night ticket on…
Vistara Unveils their A320 product and experience: First Look
They intend to be the Louis Vuitton of Indian aviation, my words, not theirs. Just this morning, I was over at the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi to witness the unveiling of the in-flight product and experience from the latest Indian airline waiting to take to the skies, Vistara. It was an interesting presentation, but I did not come back with much that they promise to do which only they do, and not others. Apart from the Premium Economy cabin class of course. The Product: Like I mentioned a couple of days ago, Vistara will be the first Indian airline to carry a Premium Economy product. The plane will be a 3-class configuration. Business Class: Vistara takes pride in a…
Lounge Review: Air India Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 1A
Just yesterday, I flew over to Delhi from Mumbai, yet again. I was originally scheduled to get into Delhi on AI101, which is perhaps one of my favourite flights given it gives me access to the Terminal 2 GVK Lounge, and I get to fly a Boeing 777-300ER between the 2 hour Mumbai Delhi segment (the flight further heads to New York from Delhi). However, given that it is winters and Delhi has a massive fog problem, and I did not want to really really get into home middle of the night, I decided to change my plans. I now was going to depart from terminal 1A, from where Air India operates, and this meant I had access to the…
JetPrivilege offering 2-3x bonus miles Jan-Mar 2015
Jet Airways clearly has a great tool in its fight against all the incoming new carriers, and it is called JetPrivilege. So yesterday, when Vistara announced the launch of their operations on the Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Ahmedabad and Mumbai-Ahmedabad sectors as of January 9, 2015, Jet Airways hit back with some nice goodies to tell them who is the boss! Yes, Jet Airways flights on all these segments will earn double bonus miles in economy on all the sectors listed above, and triple in business class. These miles are apart from the tier and cabin bonuses for both these airlines. All flights booked before the promotion launch date also qualify. Join over 4000 people who check-in daily to find out about the…
Club Vistara: India’s first revenue Frequent Flyer Program offers 500 points for signup
This is known by now, that Vistara is taking wings as of January 9, 2015 with a special Delhi-Mumbai flight. I also posted a while back about the inflight experience a bit. Now, lets come to Club Vistara, the frequent flyer program for the airline, which will be India’s first revenue-based frequent flyer program. Out here, we already guessed the name right a few months ago. The program will have 3 tiers: Club Silver Gold My guess, looking at the loyalty program’s dashboard is, that you need to earn 25,000 status points to get to Silver, and another 25,000 Status Points to be able to make it to Gold Tier. The benefits, are unknown and the website does not talk…
Vistara’s seat details and in-flight dining revealed
While we did not have any information about Vistara till last night, the details have now started to roll in. For those of you who have not read this post about the initial details, do that now. Now, while there are no pictures of the seats, the description gives away enough: Business Class: 42 inches seat pitch and 7 inches seat recline extendable leg rest, foot rest, and height-adjustable headrest with wings soft and cuddly cushion on every seat to provide additional back support personal storage space at the side of the seat, for small items such as glasses, a tablet, etc. Premium Economy: 33 to 36 inches seat pitch 4.5 inches seat recline (except for the row with 36…
