Review: Chennai Airport (MAA) and Airborne to Colombo(CMB) on 9W254 in Economy

by Ajay Leave A Comment

Introduction & Trip Index Considering Jet Airways was out to prove a point, they had put out their Guest Relations manager at Chennai on the job to make sure my transit at Chennai was smooth. I arrived at the Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, and I had a porter waiting for me right outside the plane waiting to bring our handbags to the International Terminal. He insisted to carry my bag but I had to really request him and plead with him that I was okay carrying my own bag! He brought us to the Arrival area of the Chennai Airport, where I was coming after quite a few years. There was construction going around all over, and I…

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The A|Club Q4 promo – ‘Super Weekends’

by Ajay 2 Comments

Accor will soon refurbish it’s A|club loyalty program which covers high-end brands such as the Sofitel and the Novotel, and also the mid-tier brands such as the Ibis. The program will undergo a change to become the Le Club Accorhotels shortly. However, in it’s current avatar, the A|Club is running a promo to award you double A|Club reward points every time you stay at one of the Accor properties between 10th October and 18 December. Since there has to be a catch, this time around, like the name suggests you have to book up this stay in advance till 15 November through one of Accor’s websites or phone numbers, and make sure you are around for a Friday, Saturday or…

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Do you still want to travel in the Indian festive season? Here is how…

by Ajay 4 Comments

Unless you are allergic like me to paying super-duper high business class prices for economy seating to travel around India in the next 2-3 months, your options are fast getting limited to travel around in the festive season in India. Like I mentioned in this post a few days back, airlines have predictably decided to add to their revenues by jacking up ticket prices over the next few months. I was not surprised but slightly disgusted at double fares in the same fare classes which got inflated over a week or so. October to December is peak travel time in India, what with all the festivals for everyone bunching up, along with a longish wedding season coming up too! Here…

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Here is how to make that connection!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I started this blog on BoardingArea a while back to help share a perspective from Asia about business and leisure travel in the region, with Europe thrown in for good measure. To connect with you better, there is a Twitter stream and a Facebook page which has been around for a while. Please follow @LiveFromALounge on Twitter, or Like on Facebook. Look out for some goodies coming your way on these pages in the future. Additionally, to get you your regular fix Live from a Lounge, you could also now sign up for a newsletter format by email. Find the link at the right sidebar of this page. BoardingArea has recently made this facility available. And if you are a…

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SPG free nights giveaway to celebrate the new ‘Award Nights Count’ benefit!

by Ajay 2 Comments

To celebrate the launch of the ‘Award nights count’ benefit on the SPG program, Starwood has created a contest around it which wants to give you two free resort nights from 3rd October to 14th October. Here is the breaking news post from a fellow blogger at View from a Wing, which started the whole discussion around here about the new benefit coming up, whereby, SPG properties will count award nights in the stay count and nights count towards your next year’s tier. This benefit is being offered from 1st October onwards. SPG wants you to turn up on it’s Facebook page, like them there and proceed to identify the property which is posted on their ‘Award nights count’ contest…

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Vacation travel in India: Is this a case of demand-supply or simple profiteering?

by Ajay 5 Comments

I feel foolish, and a little bit annoyed, but mostly angry! I am the guy who books his Diwali tickets months out to be there with the family in Delhi during the festive season. It is like that one fixture which is completely fixed on my calender. This year, due to some work commitments, I was not being able to pick the final date to fly out to Delhi. By the time I could, look what had happened already…. The very expensive fares remain. A day or two before I checked, 31 Oct was going for only 17K INR!   Jet Airways was gone for sure. The day I was booking my tickets, the 31 October fares were quoting only…

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Air India won an award, what? What? WHAT?

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I have my jaw dropped as I write this. I am slightly surprised that Air India can win an award for good service! And I am trying to figure this out, so stay with me till I figure this out! A tweet appeared on my timeline this evening and I rubbed my eyes when I saw it. It said something to the effect of Air India winning an award for good quality service. It kind of reminded me of the time I last got on an AI plane domestic and I was stranded for approximately 24 hours before I got on the next one. It also reminded me of the time when I got on an AI plane to Singapore…

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To go or not to go low cost in India is the question? Kingfisher says no, Jet yes!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

Indian aviation was the mainstay of the rich and the famous and the honchos till 5-7 years back when yield management was not around, and almost all tickets on a trunk route such as BOM-DEL would cost you upwards of INR 10K (US$ 200) for a 700 miles flight. And then came Air Deccan, the first low-cost carrier in India who launched in 2003 and everyone was forced to drop prices to get a share of the passengers who wanted to get on a plane thanks to Deccan’s INR 1 (2 Cents) and INR 500 (US$ 10) tickets. Air Deccan’s success in gaining mindshare and marketshare led to the launch of other LCCs in India such as Spicejet, Indigo and…

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Its a firesale: Jet Airways and Kingfisher reduce fares on routes where Indigo will fly!

by Ajay 2 Comments

I finally begin to sense a pattern here, and this is clearly thanks to the new kid on the block: Indigo (6E) which started its international operations as of September 1, 2011 with a DEL-DXB flight. Indigo already has a schedule in place to launch flights to Dubai, Muscat, Singapore and Bangkok over between September 2011 and October 2011 from Delhi and Mumbai. Here is a post I wrote about Indigo turning 5 and getting ready to go international. Indigo has started to offer INR 9,999 and equivalent fares in other currencies to celebrate this milestone. Here is an extract of the launch schedule from their website. Indigo, being an all Airbus A320 fleet, will fly the same aircraft to…

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Sign-up to save Jet Privilege, here!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

The ongoing changes to Jet Airways FFP are just a small episode in the saga that has been playing out for a while. Over a period of time you must have found me singing praises of their service levels, but also the difficulties in getting benefits as a frequent flyer with Jet Airways. Here are some of the issues faced in the past: Non-availability on Jet Airways F for mileage redemption Limited availability on Jet Airways J for mileage redemption Upgrades don’t clear Parity in redemption for Jet Airways and Jet Airways Konnect (the low-cost brand) Except for the first issue, I can personally vouch for each of these issues to have happened to me. Considering I do not have…

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Erosions to the Jet Privilege frequent flyer program – one privilege at a time!

by Ajay 1 Comment

If you live in India and fly domestic often, you always really had the choice of aligning with one of the three major domestic airlines: Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Air India has been much in the news already for their lack luster service, management issues and the run-in with the Star Alliance. Kingfisher’s claim to fame is its glamour factor and the association with the beer major Kingfisher! Its financial troubles are well-known too. However, it is still keeping its head above the water. The only full-service Indian airline then which has made real progress over the past years has been Jet Airways. They’ve managed to put their wings out of India at various destinations, and a…

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