Jet Airways is preparing to start the Mumbai – Paris route with effect from May 14, 2014 using one of their Airbus A330-200 aircraft. As per RoutesOnline, this service will be a day service from Mumbai to Paris, arriving there in the evening, and turning around the same night to get back into Mumbai next morning. 9W124 BOM1200 – 1750CDG 332 D9W123 CDG2110 – 0945+1BOM 332 D Tickets are already on sale for this route. What is interesting to note, is that there is also cooperation with SkyTeam more often now, with this route into Paris, and the potential move of Jet’s European hub to Amsterdam from Brussels. This comes on the back of another report where Jet Airways will…
SpiceJet rejigs network, withdraws from Guangzhou and goes to Hong Kong
Spicejet is trying to get it right, one more time. However, it’s strategy to open new stations and routes which haven’t been flown before from India, is clearly not working. For instance, Pondicherry, which was opened up a year ago, is now being closed. The airline announced the following route changes as a part of its summer schedule: Withdraw Pune – Bangkok Withdraw Varanasi – Sharjah Withdraw Delhi – Guangzhou Pondicherry is being closed down Trichy is being closed down Hong Kong & Dhaka will be the new stations in the network (Details not available yet) So, for an airline which has been trying to get it right for a few years, this is one more time they are trying…
Previewing Ola Luxury Mumbai
Like I wrote a few days back, Ola Cabs recently started to offer a Limo service in Mumbai, giving themselves a headstart over Uber which will be launching in Mumbai soon as well. I wanted to try out the services, however, had a tough time getting my hands on one of their few cars which are on the road right now. Reason, I figured was most of these cars are positioned in suburban Mumbai, and I live in South Mumbai. So, my first experience with them only happened past Saturday, when I could finally snap one of their cars which might have made a ride into South Mumbai. You can only book via the app which is available for iPhones…
Jet Privilege offering 2,500 JPMiles for new account signup
Jet Privilege, which is the frequent flyer program for Jet Airways, is offering 2,500 JPMiles for sign-up, if you are not an existing member of the program. Jet Airways operates on domestic as well as international routes to the Middle-East, South-East Asia, Europe and North America from India. If you are not already on Jet Airway’s JetPrivilege frequent flyer program, and are planning to signup, now is the time to do so and lap up 2,500 bonus JPMiles for the enrolment. Jet Airways, via Google, has given out a link for new enrolments which get credited with the bonus after signup. Here is a screenshot of their banner which turned up on FlyerTalk this morning. You can access the enrolment…
Get 2,000 extra Membership Rewards Points/ JPMiles on taking an Amex referral (India only)
Back in November, American Express India launched a member-get-member promotion, where the referrer and referred new cardholder are both going to get bonus points/miles for signing on for a new American Express Credit Card via this program. Under the program, the referrer will get 3,000 extra JPMiles if they hold the Jet Amex, and 3,000 extra Membership Reward points if they have the Amex Gold Charge Card/Platinum Travel Card/Platinum Reserve Credit Card. A maximum of 5 referrals would be awarded, and you can submit your referrals all the way uptil October 2014. Self nominations do not count. The Referred Member will, on successfully getting an Amex Jet/Platinum Travel/Platinum Reserve Credit Card via the referral scheme, get 2,000 MR/JPMiles within 6-8…
Mumbai Terminal 2 date (re)set to February 12, 2014
Last week, I wrote about Mumbai’s international operations being switched over to the newly developed Terminal 2 from January 15, 2014. This was based on public domain information available at that point of time. The new status is that the airport terminal was inaugurated on Friday last, and I was not there, because I was busy in meetings. Anyhow, that is not important, but it is important to know that the airport operator has now reset the date for transition of international operations to the new terminal building to February 12,2014. Hence, it is business as usual for this month, and you should be able to take your first flight from the new terminal as of mid-month February 2014. Make…
Rock bottom fare sale on Air India till Jan 15, 2014
It is purely my fault that I did not take this seriously before and notify you guys. Maybe we can also blame Air India for not going to town about this sale. But, we still have time to make up for it! Air India is selling tickets anywhere around India at low-fare carrier prices uptil January 15, 2014. I was looking to book some tickets for later in the year, considering I am just about starting to plan my travel for the year, and I came across this promotion. Here is a comparison for BOM-DEL for a long-dated ticket, which I booked for Rs. 8200 on Air India for later this year and tickets are supposed to be their cheapest,…
Olacabs cashback of Rs. 75 per booking for 2014
A few weeks back, I had written about the opportunity to receive Rs. 75 as cashback everytime you used the taxi aggregator OlaCabs around India. At that point of time, it was valid only till till the end of 2013. However, I recently checked and there is a renewed opportunity to earn Rs. 75 as cashback everytime you make a confirmed booking for OlaCabs (Local Taxi, Local Rental or Outstation Rental), for the foreseeable future (the next 4 years actually!) You could register yourself at CashKaro.com, and then search for Ola Cabs on their website. After you have selected Ola Cabs, click through their website and go to the OlaCabs website. From here, you can make a taxi reservation just…
Mileage Earning Credit Cards in India: 2014 comparison
Last year, I managed to put together a worksheet where I wanted to be able to help you all compare the various mileage earning credit cards in India, as per your spend patterns. Since then, a lot has changed in terms of products out there in the market. Some of these included the launch of the SBI/AI credit card, and the scaling down of mileage earning on ICICI Bank Jet Airways credit cards. I’m now happy to put out version 2 of the worksheet, which you should be able to access via Google Sheets. Like always, here is a quick primer on how this works with a few simple inputs: Step 1: You’d need to select if you are Jet…
OlaCabs launches Luxury service in Mumbai, Delhi is next!
OlaCabs, the Indian cab aggregator service which has been modelled on Uber, has been out there preparing to give Uber competition in the premium sedan segment for a while. Hence, Ola Luxury was launched in Bangalore in September, right after Uber picked it up as their launch city for India. Now, while Uber is preparing to come to Mumbai, Ola has taken the battle to Uber’s camp by launching Ola Luxury in Mumbai first. Their premium fleet includes car brands like Audi, Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes and Toyota Camry at the moment, and more coming soon. In terms of pricing, OlaCabs is offering the first two kilometres for a flag down cost of Rs. 250, and then Rs. 20 per kilometre.…
Mumbai’s new Terminal 2 to go live on January 15, 2014
Mumbai is the one of the busiest airports in Asia, and lived with a constraint all along for zero space availability around the airport to be able to expand it. However, come January 15, there will be a new terminal 2 up and running, which is going to expand the capacity of the airport, to about 40 million passengers per annum, from the existing 32 million passengers capacity. Air India’s Newark-Mumbai flight will be the first to arrive at the new terminal. The airport, which will initially serve international flights, will become an integrated terminal serving domestic flights as well by the end of this year. The new terminal will have 188 check-in counters and 60 immigration counters for departing…
