A few days back I wrote about the inaugural fares being offered by Spicejet for their flight to Male (Maldives). While the offer still exists, I was surprised to know today that they were offering a combo fare on that flight, from Mumbai, and maybe other destinations as well. I only found out when a friend booked and tweeted about it. So, here is the deal. If you want to go to Maldives, and are happy to fly Spicejet, from Mumbai (BOM) to Cochin (COK) and then onwards to Male (MLE), you can score a fare for as low as Rs. 12,000 all inclusive. Fares from Delhi are very impressive as well at Rs. 14,500 all inclusive, basically the same…
Jet Airways pulls out of Delhi–Milan from 1 Feb 2013
Jet Airways has been out on a carnage, trying to examine and take a hard call on the routes and making sure only profitable routes survive. Yes, that is a dream for all airlines to be able to dictate prices and still have their planes full on the places they fly. However, Jet Airways has had to bite the bullet and they’ve recently withdrawn from Mumbai – Johannesburg and Chennai – Brussels – New York JFK, while still maintaining presence in New York via the BOM-BRU-EWR flight they operate. However, airlines frequently need to invest money in building a route, and those things work sometimes, and not at others. There is cost of hiring staff, setting up a station and…
Indigo unveils new retro-cool uniform for pilots
Indigo just went uber-cool all over again, with their new uniform innovation. Though they are a low-fare airline, perhaps they are India’s best at marketing themselves with a tongue-in-cheek cool about them. Incidentally, they are also India’s biggest domestic airline now.I’ve previously talked about their meals in matchboxes which I totally love, and also their Runway musical which is a class apart. Indigo just came up with new uniforms for their pilots, which boast of a Navy Blue Bomber Jacket, White shirt and Trousers. And this goes away from the traditional civil pilot uniform where a shirt+tie+blazer is the official look. Have a look at the video they posted: Do let me know what do you think of this. Does…
And now, an Air India domestic fare sale till Nov. 21, stacked with another roundtrip discount
Last week was the fare-sale from Indigo and SpiceJet, where they were offering fares as low as Rs. 1,699 for a 72 hour period. Now, it seems, full-service carrier Air India has decided to follow the same route and offer a fare sale on all its domestic routes. From today till November 21, Air India will be offering all inclusive fares in four fare slabs Rs. 1,799, Rs. 2,699, Rs. 3,699 and Rs. 4,199 for flights on all their domestic routes for the period of travel being between 16th January to 31st March 2013. Here are some of the fares which will be available: Chennai-Delhi: Rs 3,699/- Delhi-Kolkata: Rs 3,699/- Chennai-Mumbai: Rs 2,699/- Delhi-Mumbai: Rs 3,699/- Chennai-Kolkata: Rs 2,699/- Kochi-Trivandrum:…
Travel advisory if you’re coming to BOM today
Mumbai is under a sort of shutdown today due to the death of a political figure, due to which vehicles are off roads and public conveyance such as taxis have withdrawn from the roads and airports. Things are peaceful out there, but you could be stranded if you’re landing in the city today without a vehicle to pick you up. Airport authorities have organised shuttles to drop people to the nearby suburban train stations, but that is the best they could do. The following travel advisory from my airline for a flight I am supposed to take today, should give you perspective. If you have friends or family in Mumbai, ask them to pick you up from the airport. If…
Air India’s Mileage redemption is back online
Air India’s frequent flyer website, www.flyingreturns.co.in had knocked off the capability to redeem miles online with effect from 17 August 2012, temporarily. Many wondered why this decision was taken. I did not have a chance to write about it then, but was seemingly due to the abuse of their online redemption system by some insiders (yes, don’t be surprised!) Anyways, the good news is the system is back up live now and you can make your award redemptions online going forward. I hope they’ve been able to plug the loopholes that caused them to take the system offline. You see a screenshot of the live system again. Air India is not the best airline out there to fly around India…
Spicejet offers inaugural fares to Male
Spicejet is starting a daily service to Maldives capital Male from November 29 onwards, which will be operated on their Dash8 Q400 planes, from Cochin to Male and back daily. The operational timings will be: Kochi-Male 12:50(Dep) – 14:10(Arr) Daily Male-Kochi 14:45(Dep) – 17:05(Arr) Daily Spicejet is offering inaugural fares for the flight, for Rs. 4,999/- one way all inclusive. Maldives is usually a expensive place to be in, but if you want to go, this should be a good fare to catch. Maldives own airlines also just launched a flight to Mumbai and Chennai on an Airbus narrowbody plane. Visa is issued on arrival for 30 days, free of cost. Related Posts: Maldivian to launch services to Mumbai and…
Spicejet launches pre-assigned seats, priority check-in
Ancillary revenue is the in-thing for low-cost carriers these days. Indigo took the lead with this concept long back, when they introduced Indigo Plus, which was the wrap of a cold meal on board + pre-assigned seating. They topped up with another new service offering called Fast Forward, which included priority check-in and priority baggage claim a short while back. Jet Airways is also toying with idea of charging for meals, lounge access and priority check-in. Spicejet could have not been left behind, right? However, maybe they did not think of this before. They have recently announced the launch of Spicejet MAX, which offers priority check-in, seat selection and a meal on board. What I find interesting is, that while…
Travelled SpiceJet 10/Nov through 13/Nov? Hope you got your 1,001 voucher
If you flew SpiceJet from 10th November to 13th November 2012, to mark the festive occasion of Diwali, SpiceJet has been handing out gift vouchers of Rs. 1,001 to everyone. This was not a promotion they’d spoken about earlier or on the website, but they posted on their Facebook page on 12th November. This post never stated the terms and conditions, but at a later stage, here are the terms & conditions clarified: This basically clarified that everyone travelling during that period was eligible to receive this voucher. However, seems like a lot of people did not receive them, including my brother who flew SG in these dates. I was asked to send them the PNR, and they would respond…
25% off on long-haul redemptions in British Airways/Iberia
Avios was formed a year back, and that is when British Airways switched to this new mileage currency. Now, to celebrate a year of the switch, Avios is offering a discount of 25% on long-haul redemptions on the British Airways and Iberia network, in all their cabins (economy, business and first). While Iberia is not servicing India, British Airways serves quite a few bases in India, including Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Now, British Airways is known for passing on the high fuel surcharges on their flights to the passengers. However, a 25% discount should make you feel better. So, BOM-LHR is 25,000 Avios + Taxes/Fuel Surcharge in Y. However, the lesser redemption value would show up as 18,750 Avios +…
So I had another good flight with Jet Airways Premiere
I must admit I have not been flying Jet Airways on my domestic routings of late. I have heaps of trip reports to write, but essentially, when I went by for my little holiday to the Park Hyatt Goa in June, I had a no air-conditioner flight on Goa to Mumbai. I decided I when I got back to be treading away from them for a while, but I already had reservations with them for this November trip so I thought I’d brave it out this one time then. Jet Airways, on the other hand, seemed to have other plans for me. I was travelling my regular BOM-DEL segment, something I do a zillion times. I’d asked for an upgrade…
