Get upto 1500 Priority Club Rewards points for shopping (outside the US)

by Ajay Leave A Comment

IHG Priority Club has launched an offer whereby one can earn upto 1500 Priority Club Rewards points for shopping at the Priority Club Shop at priorityclubshopping.com. The offer is valid uptil 15th September 2011, where for 3 eligible transactions, one can avail of 500 bonus PC points apart from the points credited for shopping on the online mall.   This one should be of interest to those who would be shipping products outside the USA, and works for me if I choose to ship some of these purchases into India. Storewide purchases are anywhere from 1 to 15-30 PCR point per USD purchase value. And looks like I can purchase Air France tickets from AF’s Canadian website and earn PCR…

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Parody on Star Mega Do 3

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I discovered this hilarious video parody today thanks to Randy’s tweet this morning. Hitler wants to fly on the Star Mega Do 3, and is worried he’ll not be able to fly with Randy because he does not have enough details on how things are progressing! Though I could not quite figure out the use of the ‘fair use’ phrase! I am sure he went on to say, “Hail Randy!” How I wish I was going to be there to witness both of them take the front row together of the Continental jet being chartered for the event! 😉 Apart from a pot shot on Hyatt and United, I love the part where he wonders about those pictures from Boeing.…

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SkyTeam courting Air India (a.k.a. the rebound after being dumped by *A)

by Ajay Leave A Comment

Air India may still have a shot at becoming an awesome airline, and that one is all thanks to joining the SkyTeam ***drum beats*** 😉 I am sure the people at Air India’s helm are watching a lot of “How I Met Your Mother”, and decided to act awesome in line with the Bro Code. After being embarrassed by the Star Alliance, who AI took 4 years to ‘comply’ with the membership conditions of, and then *A leaving them alone at the altar, the news reports are now talking of SkyTeam talking to the Government of India about inducting Air India into their alliance. Speculations were ripe about this as early as the beginning of August, as per the Centre…

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Is Jet Airways losing its golden touch?

by Ajay 3 Comments

About 24 hours ago, I got off my flight(s) with Jet Airways which brought me back from a hectic vacation in NYC, SEA and DCA to Mumbai. As usual, I took my favourite airline on the way back, to fly JFK-BRU-BOM in Jet Airways Business Class. The reason I have enjoyed my experiences in the front and the back of a Jet Airways flight is the eye for details, and the hospitable, welcome approach they have to flying rather than most other carriers. I’ve been used to their (very) good service over a period of time, and which is reason enough for me to stick to them as my preferred airline. And sometimes also go the extra mile to convert…

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Breaking: Here is how you get on ANA’s 787

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Social media seems to have been a key piece in the strategy of airlines for a while, and in line with this, ANA has decided to reserve 2 tickets for people who like its Facebook page here, and then enter a photo-contest to win 2 tickets for the 787 flight. The task at hand is simple. You need to click your picture with the 787 digits and your smile :), and use your Facebook account to upload it on to ANA’s application on their FB page created for this purpose. Only one entry per account is allowed, and this activity needs to be completed till September 5, 2011 23:59 Pacific Time. From September 6 to September 14, 2011 these pictures…

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Jet Airways Citibank Credit Cards devalue upgrade benefits from September 2011

by Ajay 10 Comments

The Jet Airways Citibank co-branded Platinum Card was one of the more popular and advantageous airline credit cards in India. It looks like it had enough of the high table so it decided to jump off right away. I first heard of the devaluation on this flyertalk thread. I have been holding this card for quite a few years, and was in fact the only credit card I used for a very long time and pay a fee for. When I read this new scheme of things, I could not believe my eyes, and since I am travelling I haven’t received my letter from Citi yet. I checked up on Citibank’s India website, and it confirmed the horror story to…

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Jet Airways pilots flying ‘high’!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

This piece of news kind of got me scared a bit, but it is definitely not keeping me away from flying. A recent piece of information tabled in the Indian Parliament reported that there were 67 pilots who were found positive in the pre-flight medical test over the years 2009 to 2011, and one third of them were from Jet Airways. Kingfisher followed next along with Indigo. Make your own interpretations, but for me, this did not change anything except for wondering if Kingfisher Airlines was not providing enough brew to it’s crew, considering it is a sister concern of India’s biggest spirits and beer maker! On a serious note, it also meant that Air India, despite all the wrong…

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Things are changing at Indian airlines….

by Ajay 2 Comments

I happened to remember this one series of hoardings I had spotted a while back while travelling in the country. I thought it would be interesting to share, and managed to find this on an aviation humor website.    Looking back, can someone tell me who changed and who did not, eventually? I think 9W/Jet Airways turned out to be the eventual winner. While the flying models of Kingfisher are doing their job at a bleeding airline where service standards are going down and Go Air has no clear direction to go in!

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Heads roll at Air India

by Ajay Leave A Comment

When Air India got kicked out of the Star Alliance even before it joined, I had a feeling that someone would be fired to fix the blame. And lo and behold, it did not take long for the Government of India to take a decision that it was the Chairman and Managing Director of the airline, Arvind Jadhav, a career bureaucrat who was not able to turn around the airline. So, this morning, it got into the news that he was removed from his post. Air India was a profitable operation until 2005 when it got merged with Indian Airlines. Earlier, AI used to take care of the international market, while IC was the domestic carrier. The rationale for merger…

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If it ain’t broken, still fix it with @DeltaAssist

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I blogged recently about my trashy experience with Delta on my last flight with them here. The crux of the issue on hand was that I complied with their guidelines, and the outdated Delta IT systems did not pick up my Flying Blue status and honour the priveleges. After the flight, I tweeted this to @DeltaAssist. I had asked them to fix this beforehand but I guess I got on with the wrong agent who did not fix the problem. The agents at Delta sent me a direct message back on Twitter asking me for my ticket details and the problem. After a brief conversation on these direct messages, they accepted that they had made a mistake and offered to refund…

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IndiGo turns 5!

by Ajay 2 Comments

One of my favourite airline in the Indian skies is Indigo, and they turn 5 this August. Ever since they first took to the skies, Indigo has been on the low-cost, point-to-point model and essentially promising a no-nonsense, professional travel experience! And have they delivered or have they delivered!? Yes, they are best on-time performance airline in the industry, and the professional experience they offer has helped them sky-rocket to the number 3 spot as per marketshare for all domestic airlines in India (June 2011, DGCA). Indigo made waves when it first went out to order a 100 Airbus A-320s to build one of the largest Airbus fleets in India. They are inducting one plane a month right now, and this is…

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