I was just waiting for this to happen in India. American Express has been offering a transfer bonus on British Airways currency Avios for a while now, and different time periods for different countries. I was hoping India was on the map as well, and I just heard that was indeed the case. For a limited time, till November 30, American Express is offering members who have Amex cards issued in India a 30% bonus on transferring their Membership Reward points to Avios (the mileage currency used for British Airways and Iberia). Usually, 1.6 MR transfer into 1 Avios, but in this case, the redemption level looks better, and you can convert MR into Avios at 1.23 MR = 1…
Indigo launches Priority check-in & Priority Baggage services
Indigo, India’s no. 1 domestic airline, has launched ‘Fast Forward’, a new Priority check-in and Priority Baggage service at the metro airports in India. Chargeable at Rs. 200 per passenger per flight, Indigo is promising quicker processing of your Boarding Pass (which can in some cases directly be printed from a self check-in machine), by creating Priority Boarding counters on 6 major airports in India –> Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad. You also get baggage first on arrival. To avail this service, please report to the ‘Fast Forward‘ counter at the airport and show your itinerary. You can either pay for this service online on www.goindigo.in or during check-in at the airport. The fee will be applied for…
Maldivian to launch services to Mumbai and Chennai (and Dhaka!)
Maldivian, the national carrier of the Maldives, acquired their first jet plane a week back, an Airbus 320, which will join the fleet at the end of October 2012. Maldivian is now preparing to launch non-stop flights between Maldives and India (Mumbai-BOM and Chennai-MAA) from mid-November 2012. © Clément Alloing Mumbai and Chennai do not have direct connections to Male at this moment, so this is a a great move on their part to make a direct inroads into these two airports. At the moment, the Air India flight to Male flies via Bangalore (BLR) and Trivandrum (TRV), so this will cut down the flight time to a direct 3 hours flight from Mumbai to Male…
How to help my kid brother travel better?
My kid brother flies only internationally on work trips, for most years that I remember him working. An odd trip here or there domestically. However, he is a novice to the world of miles and points and enhancing his travel experience (such as sitting in the lounge rather than waiting at the gate). So, every time he has a mandate from work to travel, I take over as what I call myself as the concierge service while he is travelling, all the way from half way around the globe away. Complimentary services include figuring out the best seats on the plane (he flies coach, sigh!), lounge access, hotel room upgrades if possible, banking the miles to the various hotels/airline programs…
Sign-up for Lufthansa Miles & More, try your luck for 80,000 miles
If you don’t have a Miles & More account and you are based in Asia, right now seems to be a good time to sign up. Miles & More is the frequent flyer program for Lufthansa and group airlines such as Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, etc., and through October 14, 2012, they are running a sweepstakes to enrol new members. If you go to this link and sign-up, you will automatically be participating in a promotion, where the winner will be awarded 80,000 Miles & More miles, good for a return ticket in economy from Asia to Europe. The Sweepstakes is limited to residents of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia and India, and…
Air India 787: Flying to Frankfurt from Oct 15!
Air India recently received its third 787 plane, the first one completely built in their new facility in Charleston. This plane, VT-ANI has arrived in India on Tuesday, and now Air India has the sort of numbers to rotate planes for an international flight of the medium/long-haul variety. Like I posted earlier, this was the plane expected to be handed over a while back. Another 787 is coming to them in October 2012, and then one more expected by the end of this year. Air India is now expecting to launch their international flights on the Delhi-Frankfurt route from October 15, 2012. However, habitual of them, they have not updated this in the GDS yet, and there is no trace…
Indian Government admits to being partisan to Lufthansa
I was just about to shut my laptop after writing my last post on the Air India – Star Alliance wriggle. But I just happened to note a new news report from The Economic Times, which also got a soundbyte from the aviation minister of India at the same place Reuters got its news from. For posterity sake, rather than quoting the article, let me leave a screenshot, because stories can be refiled online after an intervention. Now, let me quote the relevant bits: Civil Aviation minister told media that Lufthansa, which is the founding member of Star Alliance, was given a lot of benefits to ensure that Air India joins the grouping. “I believe a lot of facilities were…
Air India is back to Lufthansa for Star Alliance again
You have to give it to Air India, they are making an attempt unparalleled in history to join an alliance. When they had the ball in their court, they just wouldn’t move fast enough and took 4 long years getting ready for integration. As a result, last year Air India was given the boot from Star Alliance, making them the first airline ever to be thrown out before joining. Jet Airways was extended the official invite to join the alliance instead. Now, Air India has gone back to Lufthansa for the nth time to ask for their assistance in getting into the little circle of airlines. This has been reported by Reuters today. India plans to ask Germany’s Lufthansa AG…
Winning entry for the StarMegaDo Giveaway [+Prizes]
Along with most of the BoardingArea bunch, I’d participated to organise a giveaway last week where each of the participating blogs was supposed to pick an entry towards the final giveaway. The winning entry was supposed to be announced on 8th October, and here is what Random.org speaks: Here is the winning entry from KOMAL: My favorite Star Alliance airline is none other than Singapore Airlines. With a great inflight service and unlimited entertainment options,it makes it easier for me to thoroughly enjoy my flight if i can’t get sleep.Plus it allows me to travel the many destinations with good connections which most other airlines do not.So,for me it is SINGAPORE AIRLINES from STAR ALLIANCE,my perfect cake with the best…
Finally, Kingfisher’s license maybe at stake
Since the past ten months, Kingfisher Airlines has been in crisis mode and it has only grown worse over the months. Since the last weekend, there has been industrial action at the airline for the nth time, and the management grounded the shrunk fleet, first till October 4th and then till October 12th. All these days, it seemed the influential promoter was getting a free hand because of the political connections he had, and because the airline is too big to fail for all the banks who have doled out the debt to the airline in good times. At numerous times, the aviation ministry clarified, including earlier this week, that the airlines’ license is not at stake. However, there are…
A compilation of all the airline fees in India
Airline fees has been a hot topic of debate, with airlines unbundling all their services. I personally don’t like the escalating fee for everything on an aircraft, because it adds up to a lot, and back in the day it used to be complimentary or way less of a charge. It becomes hard to keep track, and note that there so many new fees being introduced these days, like the money charged for a ticket printout, or convenience fee charged to book a ticket online. I’ve been meaning to compile a master list of all these charges and put it up as a resource here, but haven’t had the time. But somehow, the good Samaritans at Cleartrip.com thought of the…
