I just did a gruesome 12 hours of flying wherby I realised flying could actually be healing, medically too! Whoa. So I had to get into Zurich before Monday on a work schedule, and I took the trip into Brussels from Mumbai via Jet Airways, and connected with a Swiss flight 2 hours later. Along the way, I had to clear a serpentine long queue for passport control and transit security. Top it up with the fact that my upgrade did not clear, and I had to rough it out in economy for the 9 hours I was on BOM-BRU. But I am surprised at the way I react to flying (in a positive way of course!). Like I reported…
Travel is glamorous only in retrospect
Upcoming Alert: 9,200 miles over to Europe and back, and a Sunday in Switzerland thrown in! While I have been writing in my head for most of the past week, and on the way back home from work, but for the past few days I have had no hours to put all these thoughts on paper. Why? A trip with two month’s notice going down the wire to a last-minute clincher and the work associated with it. 14-hour workdays at the office and hardly any sleep. My travels and work are deeply interrelated. I work to travel to work to travel to work … you get the gist. And when you are the face of an organisation (or so I…
Trip Report: A short vacation in Sri Lanka
Introduction Check-in: Chatrapati Sivaji International Airport, Terminal 1 (Mumbai), Carnations Lounge Domestic Airborne: Flight 9W 469 (BOM – MAA), Jet Airways, Economy Check-in: Chennai International Airport (Chennai), Clipper Lounge International Airborne: Flight 9W 254 (MAA – CMB), Jet Airways, Economy Taj Samudra, Colombo Exploring Colombo Exploring South-west Sri Lanka Check-in: Bandaranaike International Airport (Colombo) Airborne: Flight 9W 253 (CMB – MAA), Jet Airways, Economy Check-in: Chennai International Airport (Chennai), Jet Airways Premiere Lounge Airborne: Flight 9W 489 (MAA – BOM), Jet Airways, Economy Conclusion In Feb I decided to take a quick couple of days off from work and hop over to Colombo for a four day vacation. This was going to be rest and recuperation for me, and labelled as a ‘do-nothing’…
10,000 MR points/King Miles for referring Amex applications in India
I received an email from American Express while I was travelling a couple of weeks back. This was a promo which they had designed for existing card holders to refer their friends and contacts to American Express for the American Express Kingfisher First Credit Card and the American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card. So, the offer, which seems to be a targetted one, is from a unique tie-up between Amex and LinkedIn in India. I haven’t been at the receiving end of such a marketing offer earlier, and I hold credit cards from most prominent CC issuers in India. The details of the offer are as follows: The applicant of the…
BA switches from BA Miles to Avios Points as its loyalty currency from November 2011
The merger of British Airways and Iberia, which was agreed upon in April 2010, was obviously going to lead to synergies amongst the two carriers, but the mileage programs did not see it yet. And now, BA and Iberia have something to show on this aspect. Since both the carriers are going to operate under their own brands, so the Executive Club, BA’s loyalty program retains its name. But BA is promising to change the way you can earn and spend on BA. And it looks like it is taking feedback on the way. Here is a part of an email I just received from the Executive Club, We know how important the Executive Club is to our customers, and…
Birdwatch: Photo # 2 (Air Macau)
While all of you are trying to help me figure out which trip report comes up next for all of you, here is a picture of one of the most interesting liveries I’ve ever seen. This is at the Beijing Capital Airport, a yellow colored Air Macau aircraft, leased back to parent Air China sitting on the tarmac ready to go (somewhere). It turned out this very interesting plane was my flight to HKG. 😛 Airline: Air Macau (leased to Air China) Location: Beijing Capital Airport Airframe: Airbus 321 If you want to share a picture of a plane, an airport, or anything aviation related, please send it across to aj@livefromalounge.com with the details and I’ll put it up here.…
Help me decide which trip report to bring up next…
From my repertoire of trips made in the recent past, there are four of these which I’d really love to write down for all of you to read. Trouble is, I can’t seem to make up my mind on where to start! And this is where I need you all to help me prioritise all of these, or just tell me which ones you’d like to read first! Here goes…. 1) Colombo on Jet Airways and Taj Hotels Colombo 2) The USA via Brussels on Jet Airways, Delta Airlines and at the Hilton Hotels in Washington DC 3) South East Asia on Jet Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Cathay Pacific and Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, W Hotel, Crowne Plaza 4) Western…
Review: 9W336 Jet Airways, Delhi to Mumbai, Premiere
9W336 is a daily Delhi to Mumbai morning service operated by Jet Airways. Here is a quick review of the service to expect on this flight.
Plaza Premium Lounge Delhi Domestic Terminal 3
Introduction & Trip Index After my hectic work trip got over, I had decided to spend the Saturday with my parents before returning to Mumbai (Bombay) on Sunday morning. Ideally, I’d have loved to spend the Sunday home also, but I was going to be gone for a long time on the upcoming weekend, and hence I was planning to pack up some gear on that particular Sunday and catch up with friends. With that thinking in mind, I was booked on a Sunday morning 8 AM flight to BOM. Yeah, a Sunday morning flight, when I’d ideally liked to have crashed at home. But Sunday flights can be fun, and this was proven again after a long while! However,…
Its Promo season, and SPG asks you to Triple Up!
Right after I registered for the Priority Club Rewards promo, and blogged about it here a short while ago, I noticed that SPG had also announced the fall promo, valid right uptil a slice before Christmas/New Year on December 18, 2011. This one is called Triple Up! SPG has kept it simple this time: Registration necessary by November 15, 2011 at spg.com/tripleup. All stays between September 6, 2011 to December 18, 2011 will earn double points i.e., 4 SPG points per dollar spent (2x of 2 points per dollar spent). Additional 1 point per dollar depending upon your membership tier being Gold/Platinum. If you stayed the night of Thursday or Sunday as a part of your stay, you earn triple…
‘Crack the Case’ inspires IHG Priority Club fall promo!
The IHG Priority Club just announced its fall promotion valid from September 15, 2011 to December 31, 2011. This one is called a ‘Brand Multiplier‘ and seems to be inspired by the ‘Crack The Case‘ promotion that ran about a year back from PCR. ‘Crack the Case’ was a customized promotion and each participant selected by PCR was allocated a few tasks and on completion of each task, one would get a certain number of bonus points. My ‘latches’, as they were called, included one of staying at at least 4 different IHG brands in the promotion period and I’d be awarded 4400 bonus PCR points. So, that was one easy kill! This fall, PCR has taken inspiration from the…
