I have to admit that for all the admiration I have for Virgin Atlantic airlines, I’ve never been able to get on their planes because I’ve never had enough miles to travel with them. So I never had a hang of what goes on in their premium cabins on flights from Heathrow, where they have a bilingual menu for their guests from India in English and Hindi. An acquaintance recently happened to be around, and discovered this hilarious menu, where the English menu was literally translated to Hindi. So, Pudding has become halwa in Hindi, and on the other hand, Rise & Shine, their label for their breakfast service has been left in Hindi rather than maybe just labelling it…
UK do you really think I want to pay your GBP 3,000 for your visa?
One of the by-products of being a British colony was that India got to be a part of the Commonwealth, but that’s where the vanity of it stopped. The UK government has of course considered it to be mandatory to make visa very expensive for Indians to access their country, and as per what I read the visa cost went up thrice over the first half of this year itself. The money United Kingdom asks for a 6-month visa, the United States of American would usually grant a 10-year multiple-visit visa to Indian passport holders. However, the UK seems to be surely losing the plot and the intent to get more Indian passengers who seem to be going over despite…
Which is the best Indian mileage-earning Credit Card?
The quest for the best Indian mileage-earning credit card has been on going. No one throws 50K miles our way to sign on a credit card here. Back in January, I created a calculator for everyone who wanted to figure out which was the best credit card according to their usage of credit every month, for travel and everything else. At last count, I had over 1,000 people using that calculator to make their assessments or validate their choices on which credit cards to pick for earning miles in India. Things change all the time, such as mileage earned, so I’ve tweaked the calculator accordingly. Here is the new version of the calculator, accessible from my Google Drive. The earlier…
Jet Airways: convert hotel points to JP Miles with 20% bonus
Apart from offering a bonus on conversion of your credit card reward points to Jet Airways JP Miles, there is also another recently launched promotion from 9W, where you could convert your hotel points from 9 different hotel chains to JP Miles. As per the promotion, which is valid between 20 July 2013 and 31 August 2013, if you converted your hotel points into 9W miles as per the following ratio, you’d stand to gain an extra 20% bonus from Jet Airways. However, my personal view is that this is not exactly a great promotion. Hey, for 50,000 Club Carlson points, I could be getting a good one night stay at a hotel in Europe in stead of 5000 JPMiles…
World’s second best airport, Delhi, goes under the rains
The Delhi Airport tom toms around its stature as the second best airport globally, in the 25-40 million passenger category. And I have to admit its good, way better than the sort of dump Mumbai Airport is which I have to use most often. However, there are times when the airport goes under, and this is the second time that it happened this rainy season. Here are pictures from posted on Twitter by journalist Tarun Shukla of the Delhi Airport which was flooded by the rains yesterday. Thankfully the drainage worked better airside and flight ops were not affected. However imagine the surprise if you landed in Delhi yesterday and having the need for a boat instead of a golf…
SPG offering discounts & benefits for Starwood restaurants around India
One of the lesser known aspects of being a member of the Starwood Preferred Guest program is that you usually get a 15% discount at most restaurants in SPG properties for dining in. You also get points for your dining at these SPG properties. However, SPG has recently launched a promotion, with 29 participating restaurants in India, which takes it to a whole new level. With the SPG Triple Benefits being offered from July through September, at the 29 participating restaurants, you get the 15% off on your dining bill anyways. On top of that, each restaurant has individual offers as well. For instance, at the Prego (Westin Gurgaon), you get a complimentary cheese platter and complimentary entrees as well.…
Air India offering double miles on metro sectors till September 30,2013
Air India is offering double miles on its Flying Returns program if you fly between metro sectors around India between July 15, 2013 and September 30, 2013. The list of sectors which count as metro sectors is below: There are no elaborate terms & conditions, so the only thing I’d like to remind you is that Air India grants miles sparingly on low-fare tickets, for instance, 25% of flown miles on an E class ticket. Here is their earning chart. And here is my view on the program. Hey, this promotion is exciting only for those who are flying in business class I guess, or full fare economy. Related Posts: Is Air India Flying Returns the most miser frequent flying…
Bonus miles on the ICICI Bank Jet Airways Visa credit cards for sign-up and use
ICICI Bank and Jet Airways, when they launched their co-branded cards last year, had a huge focus on pushing the American Express versions, and they were (still are), offering upto 9 JP Miles for regular spend. This is a promotional offer limited till October 2013. ICICI Bank, a couple of days back, however, launched a new promotion, where there is a higher sign-on bonus for the Visa version of their credit cards, in case you sign up till October 31, 2013. Here is how it works: Sapphiro (highest): 15,000 JP Miles for sign-on instead of 10,000 JP Miles. Also, 8 JP Miles/INR 100 spend till October 2013, and a free economy ticket code on Jet Airways domestic flights. Rubyx (medium):…
British Airways offering Club World fares from India to USA at 25% off
British Airways’ business class is available at a 25% off from India to the US routes, if you booked up your travel before 31 July 2013. The promotion is valid for booking uptil 31 July 2013 and outward travel uptil 30 September 2013. However, if you’re headed to New York or Toronto, the promotion is offering tickets up to 31 December 2013. You can book your tickets from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.
A new Indian Aviation regulator and a new fee for you
Last week was full of news articles about how a new Aviation regulator is coming up for India. The currently existing Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) will soon be replaced with a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which will be an autonomous regulator for Indian civil aviation, unlike DGCA which is under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India. Business Standard published a very good news report on the proposed structure of the new aviation regulator, and how it needs to be self sufficient. Unlike the DGCA, CAA will need to earn its own bread and butter. Here is how it proposes to do that: CAA will primarily get revenues from three sources: First, the Airports Authority of India will…
Kuwait Airways in the fray for Spicejet?
I know it is easy for names to be thrown around, but this one seems to be from a credible source. Spicejet has changed hands and names quite a few times, with the last being the change of management control, when Spicejet was sold to the Sun Group of India. Rumors going around were that Qatar Airways will be investing in the airline. However, Qatar Airways has rubbished this in the past. Last evening, Indian dealmaking website VCCircle however talked about a new participant in the deal, and they say Kuwait Airways may be interested in picking up about 25% of the airline, for a sum of Rs. 1,000 Crores (about $166 million). Unlike Jet Airways where the deal also…
