The last I checked, I hadn’t visited an airline office in years, unless you’d count hangar visits and training facilities into the list. The internet and telephone pretty much does it for me. My last visit to an airline office was in 2008 if my memory serves me right, and this was to an Air India ticketing office in Mumbai, because they couldn’t issue my tickets to Singapore online for some reason. And then, it happened again, a visit to the same Air India office yesterday afternoon. It was not like I wanted to go or something, I’d rather have been punching away emails or making work phone calls or doing something productive. However, I was in the neighbourhood for…
ICICI Bank withdraws Kingfisher Airlines co-branded credit cards
This has been long coming actually. Back in January 2013, American Express withdrew their co-branded card partnership with Kingfisher Airlines. It seems ICICI Bank followed closely after but in a not so public manner, and has now announced the plan of action to discontinue their partnership with Kingfisher Airlines, due to discontinuation of the said airlines’ services. As per their announcement: We wish to inform you that the ICICI Bank and Kingfisher Airlines co-brand Credit Card program has been discontinued due to discontinuation of Kingfisher Airlines services. As a result, the ICICI Bank Kingfisher Airlines Credit Card will be valid till March 31, 2013. For your convenience, an ICICI Bank Platinum MasterCard Credit Card will be issued to you in…
Going Dutch: Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam
Introduction Check-in: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai Airborne: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Premiere (A332) Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam Hotel Sheraton Brussels Airport, Brussels Check-in: Jet Airways Lounge, Brussels Airborne: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333) After landing up from my flight to Brussels airport, my usual routine is to walk up to the train station situated right under the airport, and buy a ticket to my destination in the Netherlands. If I don’t have much time, I choose to take the Thaly’s but if I do have the time, I take the Belgian international trains. However, this time, the snow seemed to have had other plans for me. I wanted to take the Thaly’s and make it quick, but…
Get Lounge Access with Visa Cards in India (2013 edition)
One of my intentions to be writing this blog is to help you guys travel well. Last year, I wrote about Lounge Access with MasterCard plastic in India, which has become one of the highest accessed posts on this blog. Some of the other tools I’ve created earlier this year is the list of the best mileage credit cards in India, and a calculator which helps you find the best mileage earning CC for your needs. The Visa Lounge Access program has been in operation for a while now and is currently valid till September 2013. Under this program, all premium Visa cardholders (Visa Signature or Visa Infinite) from various banks get free access to lounges and airport restaurants in…
It can be a royal pain to get the ICICI Bank Jet Airways credit card
There, I said it! I’ve covered all the 3 co-branded partnerships between Jet Airways and different banks on this blog whenever they were introduced. I’ve also gone through the process of acquiring all these cards over a period of time, proof enough of how much I love collecting JP Miles. There has been a certain amount of enthusiasm and confusion wrapped around all the three products launched by the various banks, but ICICI takes the cake. Let me share my experience with acquiring all the 3 cards and the story so far. HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank was the first off the block in August 2012, announcing their credit card partnership with Jet Airways. Since I already had a HDFC Bank…
Review: Flight 9W228 BOM-BRU on Jet Airways Premiere (A332)
Introduction Check-in: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai Airborne: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Premiere (A332) Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam Hotel Sheraton Brussels Airport, Brussels Check-in: Jet Airways Lounge, Brussels Airborne: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333) After the trip to the Clipper Lounge, my flight’s boarding was announced and I headed to the gate. There was a separate queue for Premiere class boarding and I headed through that queue to the plane. There was a secondary security check on the gate as well. Jet Airways 228 Mumbai(BOM) – Brussels(BRU) Tuesday, March 12 2013 Depart: 2:05AM Arrive: 07:50AM Duration: 10hr15min Distance flown: 4,271 miles Aircraft: Airbus A330-200 Seat: 2D (Premiere Business) Meal Service: Dinner (Refreshment), Breakfast I was flying the Mumbai…
Citibank Ultima limits Priority Pass benefits
Citibank seems to be falling off the cliff on the Citibank Ultima credit card, which was their equivalent of the most aspirational credit card in the Indian plastic space. Like I wrote earlier, they recently withdrew the proposition where you could pay the exceptionally high fee for this card and also get Jet Airways Platinum membership in the process. The few benefits still on the card are also seeming to be withdrawn slowly and steadily. One of the prime benefits of the card, for the travel focussed tribe, was the Priority Pass, where you could access it and bring along a colleague, or two, or three along into the same lounge along with yourself. This was of interest if you…
Review: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai
Introduction Check-in: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai Airborne: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Premiere (A332) Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam Hotel Sheraton Brussels Airport, Brussels Check-in: Jet Airways Lounge, Brussels Airborne: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333) Update: New Lounge as of February 2014 is covered here. I intended to arrive at the Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 in good time for this trip. Part of the reason for that was that I had just gotten done with a long day with a client, and I wanted to relax and be at ease on my flight, since I was going to slip into work as soon as I landed up in the Netherlands post my flight. However, the whole expectation of having…
Mumbai Airport finally has premium security queues!
On my last trip out of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Sivaji International Airport terminal 2 (Going Dutch), I noticed a new thing I hadn’t seen the last time I was there in December 2012. I was going to fly Jet Airways Premiere (Business class) to Brussels, and after clearing Immigration/Passport Control, I headed into what I thought was going to be a long serpentine queue for the security check. However, I was pleasantly surprised when there was a new signage in the security hall, which said “First Class/Business Class” passengers. To me, this indicated that there was a priority queue put in place for premium travellers and for disabled passengers, which, incidentally was much smaller than regular queue. Your boarding pass had…
Indian airport security may go the TSA way
Last week, an interesting news report surfaced in the Times of India, which detailed the plans of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, which is in charge of airport security in India, experimenting with a new model for passenger screening. As per this news report: Flyers in India may soon be required to take off their shoes and belts to clear pre-boarding security checks just like in all US and some European airports. As per the BCAS, this is being considered to ensure that “shorten serpentine queues at frisking counters as well as enhance the quality of checking.” They have already done a pilot project in Delhi at Terminal 1D, the low-fare carrier terminal, where they are now evaluating the…
Going Dutch: Introduction
Introduction Check-in: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai Airborne: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Premiere (A332) Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam Hotel Sheraton Brussels Airport, Brussels Check-in: Jet Airways Lounge, Brussels Airborne: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333) Earlier this month I needed to plan a trip to The Netherlands, not for fun but for work. The direct route from Mumbai (BOM) to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) has only one flight, which is actually a SkyTeam flight operated by Delta on the route Mumbai – Amsterdam – Atlanta, using their Fifth Freedom rights. However, having travelled on that flight once, I decided I did not like it much. What could you expect of Delta afterall? They took 1.5 hours just to serve me…
