Last week, I wrote about the addition of a digital wallet to Uber in India, done largely with the intention to comply with Indian payment guidelines. The additional benefit of course, is that you get to use debit cards and net banking to pay for your uber rides. Now, they have brought out a promotion across India to promote usage of the new payment option. As per Uber, if you add a Paytm wallet to your account by November 19, 2014 (23:59 IST) and recharge it (procedure described here), you get a free ride upto INR 500 which you can use up to November 23, 2014. Remember, the minimum recharge is INR 100, and even a minimum recharge should be…
My Jet Airways wishlist : Same day standby on earlier flights
Yesterday, I wrote about my wish for a consistent meal service on Jet Airways. Today, I thought why not add another thing to this wishlist with my experiences with Jet Airways on Sunday. I was supposed to be in Gurgaon for a couple of days over the weekend to meet up old friends from my alma mater. But when I booked my ticket, there was no firm plan in place, but I wanted to lock in tickets early to be able to get a good price with so many sales being in in play at that moment. Hence, I booked the outermost possible ticket to return to Mumbai (a 9 PM DEL-BOM flight). Cue to November, the plan worked out…
My Jet Airways Wishlist: consistent economy meal service
In case you did not get the memo, Jet Airways has been on the move again. After trying out a multiple brands model, it is coming back to becoming a full-service carrier. Here is how I see a full-service carrier v/s a no-frills carrier in India: Mileage accrual and status recognition for frequent flyer elites Priority services a premium service cabin such as business class meal service in all cabins ability to offer connections A few years back, I wrote a piece about Jet Airways cutting back on meal services. They were not eliminating meals, but progressively reducing the size of the meals, enough to make a snack size dinner. The reductions may not be prominent, but preserves are gone…
AwardWallet+ codes for all of you…
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…
Uber adds digital wallet to allow use of debit cards & netbanking in India
Uber sees India as its fastest growing market outside of the USA. However, ever since they launched in India a year ago, Uber had a big hiccup in their growth, which was the non-acceptance of debit cards. For those of you who are not in the know, Indians love debit cards and not credit cards as much, and they want to use money from their bank accounts to the extent possible. With RBI’s notification to Uber to stop using their payment gateway in India without 2-factor authentication, Uber had to solve this problem quickly because they’d have to shut down operations by end of October 2014 (later extended to November 2014). Anyhow, they’ve now added a new digital wallet from…
Always check those emails from airlines
A couple of weeks back, right after Diwali, I found an email my partner forwarded to me which was sort of worrisomely worded. And, it was from Air India, harmlessly subjected about a schedule change. She did not give it much importance at that moment, and did not open the email. On check-in, we realised her flight was now rescheduled and brought ahead over an hour. In fact, the flight she was booked on was actually cancelled (AI 626 LKO-BOM), and instead they decided to make the BOM-LKO flight a circular flight BOM-LKO-VNS-BOM flight with flight number AI 625. All these details were in the email, except we did not see it in the first time. Yawn, now on the…
Etihad Gold till March 2016 with Citi Prestige
One of the key reasons for me to have signed up with the Citi Prestige Credit Card which was launched in India earlier this year, was the plethora of status it comes with in terms of travel. Some of it I need, some of it I don’t. One of the first requests I filed in to get a Status upgrade was on Etihad. Etihad offers Gold status, which is their second-from-top status to Citi Prestige Members. This could be useful for members in India since you are getting an alternative to Jet Airways’ Gold status, and it comes with pretty much similar benefits on Jet Airways as Jet Airways’ Gold status, apart from being useful on other airlines such as…
My fastest Gold Status achievement till date
I am not talking about Aegean Gold which could be achieved with 20,000 miles of Star Alliance flight credits, that anyways changed this month onwards. Back in August, Starbucks India finally launched the Starbucks Rewards program in India after building up their franchise over the past 2 years. It is a pretty simple program. Buy a Starbucks prepaid card, and register it at card. starbucks.in. There on, use the card to make payments for all your Starbucks across India. For Every 300 INR spent, you get 1 star. When you run out of credit, reload the same card. You can even have multiple cards on your account, like I have two added at the moment. There are 3 tiers: Welcome:…
Oberoi Advantage 2014: 1 complimentary night for 5 paid nights
The Oberoi Hotels, which is one of India’s luxurious hotel chains, does not have a loyalty programme per se, but they do offer from time to time, a free night after you’ve stayed with them for a few nights. For the Winter of 2014, they have formalised this program as the Oberoi Advantage 2014. For 5 nights that you stay at various Oberoi Hotels between the period October 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015, you get one free night at any Oberoi Hotel in India, Indonesia, Dubai, Mauritius and Egypt. Complimentary night stay includes accommodation in a standard double room and is inclusive of taxes. Your paid nights have to be at Oberoi Hotels in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai and Dubai…
British Airways’ “The Welcome of Home” campaign
British Airways loves the Indian community. No wonder, they come up with a campaign or few every year to show their love for the Indian community. Some of the nice ones in the past include the one for Valentines Day this year, and one of the best was the The Ticket to Visit Mom campaign which they put out last year. Now, they’ve just come out with a new one, which chronicles the journey of an Indian expatriate in Canada, coming back home. And it is another great one! India is the second largest market for BA outside of the UK, so no wonder they keep up the engagement with these tearjerkers. I personally have no issues flying BA,…
Etihad Guest offers 20% bonus on Amex & Citi points to miles conversion
Etihad Guest is the loyalty program of Etihad Airways, and I am trying to get a hang of it ever since they have been associated with Jet Airways. The thing is, Etihad is not such a great program on its own for mileage earning and burning, because the burn on Etihad’s own flights is dynamic and too darn expensive. However, Etihad Guest offers some hidden gems for those of us in India. Etihad, just like for all their Etihad partners, offers a redemption chart of Etihad Guest miles on Jet Airways as well. Here is the chart in PDF for Domestic and International Routes. This can be a pretty useful chart since you get to travel with lesser number of…
