Not like I’ve been swarming in PremierMiles, but I’ve been able to make some good transfers over the past 18 or so months to get the best value out of my PremierMiles. And while I’d encourage you to participate in this poll where I am trying to figure out how do you guys use your miles, here is a flight I just stepped off which is perhaps my best redemption of PremierMiles till date. I spent the past week travelling to the other side of the globe for the Boarding Area Conference, and then, on the way back, got a flat tire, and also stopped by in NYC for a bit. On the way back to Mumbai, I wanted to…
Is Club Carlson considering a program revamp?
Club Carlson, the membership loyalty program of the Club Carlson chain of hotels, seems to be dipping its toes in the water to see if it could make a switch from a membership points and free nights oriented program to a benefits oriented program. I recently received and completed a survey from Club Carlson, where they tested this concept and while they said this may or may not fly, they even had a name in place, calling it Members Club. Now, CC has been at the forefront of big lucrative promotions and giveaways for the past two years, inflating the number of enrolments in the program, and getting the eye of the road warrior and the leisure traveller alike, in…
Poll: How do you use your India-minted miles?
Yesterday, I got involved in a Twitter debate on what is the worth of a mile earned in India, and I thought I’d put my views across on the blog to share with all of you and hear what do you have to say. This will be a series which will focus on valuing the key mileage currencies in India. For earning capabilities in India, there are 4 kind of miles one could earn and accumulate, using different ways. Here they are: Jet Privilege miles: Earn them by flying the airline or its partners, or credit card spends, or multiple program partners who are listed on the airline’s website. Air India miles: Earn them by flying Air India/Singapore Airlines/Lufthansa. Citibank…
Streetside eating in NYC
Like some of you know, I trekked all the way from Mumbai to Colorado Springs (via AUH,JFK/LGA, DEN) to meet the Boarding Area set of bloggers and some other awesome bloggers for a weekend conference (sort of thing!) mixed with a tequila night and other fun stuff made possible by Randy Petersen and the House of Miles crew. While I’ll discuss that on the blog later, on the way out, I thought I’d build in a couple of days in the schedule to pop into New York and soak in the city (always a good idea!), apart from meeting friends I haven’t met in a while. I had a schedule mess, and I eventually arrived in NYC a full 12…
Sorry AJ, no TSA-Pre for you!
Err, I know the sense of entitlement this post evokes, but stay with me, and hear my story of le-sigh and disappointment. The title of this post the exact words I heard from the TSA this evening at JFK. I am flying the American Airlines First Class in their 3-class Flagship Service First Class today, in fact this post is being written somewhere up in the air right now. This made me eligible to use the brand new Flagship Check-In service introduced by American Airlines earlier this month at Terminal 8, New York JFK. After a red carpet experience with American’s staff at JFK, the agent at the check-in counter hands me back my Indian passport and my boarding pass,…
Citibank PremierMiles enhances mileage earning from June 2013
I’ve been an ardent fan of the Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card. I believe its a secular mileage-earning credit card, and pays you a good amount of miles for your travel spends, specifically airline bookings, and I rate it high up there in my mileage earning CC 101. However, I’ve been disappointed a bit this past year, since they lost Jet Airways as a mileage transfer partner, and capped off the limit for mileage earning on tickets to Rs. 500,000 per annum, amongst other devaluations. However, seems like some of these changes are out of the window, and there are some real ‘enhancements’ in the true sense of the word and not how rhetorically airlines/credit cards/loyalty programs use the term these…
I got a flat tire on a plane!
On my way back from the Boarding Area Conference (BACon) at Colorado Springs which ended today, I was booked on a very simple route to get to New York via Dallas/Fort Worth in the afternoon. If all would have been well, I’d have been on the East Coast by now, sleeping in a hotel room in Manhattan. However, it was not to be. Once we were seated on our slightly delayed flight, the captain informed us we had a flat tire on the plane, which could happen on landing at high altitude airports such as COS, and as such, they won’t be able to move before the tire was changed. The good news, he said was, they had a tire…
Jet Airways’ promotion: Get Rs.500-1000 off on your next flight booking
A week ago, I posted about a promotional sale that Jet Airways had launched around its global ops to celebrate its 20th anniversary. However, there was nothing for India announced then. However, that offer came soon after. Jet Airways is offering for its domestic flyers in India, a discount code on your next booking, if you book for travel commencing on or after June 16, 2013. For a one-way reservation in Economy or Premiere, you get a coupon code for Rs. 500 off on your next booking, and for a return trip booking, you get Rs. 1,000 off on your next reservation (valid only on domestic travel). The coupon codes need to be used up before September 30, 2013, however…
Unbundled airfares begin to take off: Indigo, Air India and Jet Airways go first
Unbundling airfares was expected to take off in a while, however the airlines are already set to go ahead and charge exotic varieties of add-on charges on top of your ticketed price right away. Indigo was one of the first to take off with the new charges, and will now charge an additional Rs. 200 if you want to pre-book a window or aisle seats on their planes. If you want a front row seat or an emergency exit, you should be ready to fork out another Rs. 500 for this privilege. They’ve fondly called this Seat Plus. If you intend to pre-assign a non-premium seat, just pay Rs. 100. This is working out exactly as I predicted on May…
Lounge Bites: May 05, 2013
I’m just trying to wriggle my way out of a bad bout of cold and flu which kept me out of action since 2-3 days. I figured a complete, medicinal recovery would be better than trying to drag my feet and keep up with work and other stuff, so I missed out some things. Here is a recap for you: Travel Agents across India seem to be off work on Tuesday 7th May 2013. So, if you depend on them, organise your business a day before or after. I am still refusing to believe this fully, but I am scared for flying Air India if this is true. Apparently on a Bangkok – Delhi flight, both the pilots went to…
Jet Airways’ North America, Europe & SE Asia anniversary discounts (book today)
On the occasion of Jet Airways’ 20th anniversary, Jet Airways is offering promotional discounts for their flights originating from Newark, ending into any destination operated by Jet Airways, if you book by the 5th of May 2013 using their US website. Be sure to use the following coupon codes while making the fare search, though I am not sure $20 for a business class ticket (Premiere) is worth it. For those who live in Europe, there is a different promotion, a flat out 20% off if you book today (May 5) using the Belgian Jet Airways website.
