This week, I wrote a column which summarizes the various routes Indian airlines are consolidating on or expanding to. You can read it here. You can look up the previous columns here! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
Snack is the new dinner on Jet Airways?
Late last week I ended up scheduling a few meetings in the Middle East, and I booked to fly out from Mumbai on Jet Airways to Muscat (Oman). Jet Airways kind of suited the timing as well, the flight was a 10 PM flight which meant I could spend the Sunday at home and fly out in the evening. Me and a couple of colleagues were at the airport at 8 PM grabbing a few beers, but we did not eat too much, since we expected dinner on our flight. Here is what the flight details say on the website. Now, this is supposed to be a ‘full-service’ Jet Airways flight, which meant the minimum meal service I expected, even…
Sunday Plastic: SpiceJet SBI Titanium Credit Card
Quite a few exciting credit cards are coming out for the travel-oriented and I am having quite a bit of a job on hand to keep up to speed. Spicejet, India’s second biggest low-cost airline after Indigo, has had a tie-up for a credit card with SBI for a while. About 10 days back they re-launched the card with a suite of benefits that make it look exciting now, and I am considering applying for one now. While I have reviewed the Amex Gold Charge Card and Citibank Premier Miles Credit Card in the past, this is the first time I am reviewing an airline co-branded credit card, perhaps the only Indian airline co-branded card on the market right now…
1-year fee waiver on the yet-to-be-announced Jet Airways co-branded credit card
Ever since Jet Airways and Citibank went their own separate ways, Jet Airways is working on a new co-branded credit card partner bank, and has publicly announced a deadline of 15th July 2012 it has set for itself to announce a new partner. It first sent out this email to all holders of the Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card: In the interim, do continue using your Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card (JACC) until 15th July, 2012 and every spend between now and 15th July, 2012, will entitle you to earn the base plus triple JPMiles. This offer is applicable to all JACC card holders – Platinum, Titanium and Citibusiness. Example: A Jet Airways Citibank Platinum credit card holder earns 4…
Etihad Guest status matches completed!
A couple of months back Gary posted about Etihad Guests offering 1,000 status matches. While it seems a lot of folks applied, no body heard back from Etihad for the longest time. As per this thread on FT, conspiracy theory went around about Etihad creating a huge marketing database and not keeping up to the ‘first’ 1,000 applicants in the list. Shoot me, but I support the theory because there is a lot more movement happening with people who apply, for instance, to the Turkish Airlines Star Alliance Gold status match ongoing at present. Status Matches are commercial decisions for airlines, however, when the marketing material speaks of the first 1,000 then clearly it took them a lot longer to wade…
Another new Jet Airways convenience fee now in place!
Seems like someone is out to milk its customers. On one hand, Jet Airways offers Rs. 200 and Rs. 500 discounts on its website, asking people to book directly with them, and now, they have sneaked in a new ‘convenience fee’ a la ‘low cost airlines’ to recoup some of the money they let you save on their flights. Take a look at this new convenience surcharge and be aware when you book online on JetAirways.com… here is the first screen when you select your flight and get your fare details in place, no mention of the ‘convenience fee’!!! And now, on screen 2,when it is time to pay up, you will find out that Jet Airways mysteriously adds another…
Why is Jet Airways assigning American Airlines elite levels to its FFs?
Some funny things are happening with the Jet Airways online engine for the past few days, and no one has been able to put a finger on why or what is going wrong. For about 3 weeks or more now, Jet Airways is showing up American Airline status tiers in their PNRs. Look at this ticket I booked a short while ago. A short-hop domestic flight I will take soon, but when you look at the red-circle, you see, for the purpose of this ticket Jet Airways shows my status as (GLD/RBY), which in AA and oneworld parlance should be Gold tier (AAdvantage)/Ruby (oneworld). When I booked the ticket, it showed my correct tier with Jet Airways, and now this.…
Lufthansa fare sale for travel to Europe and North America [Y] and iPad sweepstakes
Lufthansa is offering fares to travel to Europe and North America from their Indian gateway points in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune via Germany. You can book between 01 and 30 June 2012. Travel dates for the specials are slightly different and listed below. I see some very good fares on this sale for N. America travel from Indian ports: BOM->SEA->BOM: Rs. 63,600 BOM->JFK->BOM: Rs. 59,600 You can purchase by 30 June 2012, to depart from India between 8 June 2012 – 31 August 2012 and return by 28 February 2013. Minimum stay is 3 days and maximum stay 6 months. For Europe, there are some reasonable fares as well: BOM->MUC->BOM: Rs. 37,800 BOM->MXP->BOM: Rs. 42,600 There are lots…
Spicejet inaugural fares from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai for Rs. 7777 + taxes
Spicejet seems to be obsessed with the number 7 these days. They recently offered a fare sale of Rs. 777 + taxes on domestic segments. Now, Spicejet is launching its flights to Dubai on 25th June 2012 from Mumbai and Delhi and is offering introductory fares on spicejet.com of Rs. 7777/- + taxes from either cities to Dubai. To celebrate this launch, SpiceJet is offering introductory airfares starting from just Rs.4477 (plus government taxes) one way, on the 2 routes connecting Dubai with Delhi and Mumbai, which will be a limited seat offer on online bookings. SpiceJet will fly Boeing 737-800s on these sectors. I would have loved to be on the inaugural flight, I’ve never been on a flight…
Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege Mega Miles bonus miles are posting…
For those of you who had transferred your credit card points to JetPrivilege by 31st May 2012 under the Mega Miles bonus offer, the 25% bonuses have credited on 4th June 2012. While most of my bonuses have posted, a couple of them have not. I would advise all of you to log into your JP account and look up your mileage activity. If something missing or did not credit correctly, do drop an email to JetPrivilege at jetprivilege@jetairways.com. If there are questions, feel free to drop me a comment here or an email and I will come back to you on it. Related Posts: Jet Airways offers 25% bonus on credit card conversions to miles till 31st May 2012…
So whats up at Kingfisher Airlines?
It has been a while since Kingfisher Airlines came in the news, so I thought it was a good time to post an update. For most who remember, Kingfisher Airlines was in a state of implosion a few months back and I wrote about it. While I was sad to report that the international operations were shut down, I am glad I did not have to write a second part of the obituary about domestic operations shutting down. Over a period I have realised that Kingfisher Airlines, for the flashy branding I had in my head, has been lucky to have a passionate set of crew who has stuck with the airlines in the bad times. I also consider them lucky…
