Tag Archives for Advice.
Every year, I make a summary of how I did in the miles & points game for myself. Here is a quick insight into how I made my mileage last year, and how you could too convert into the game.
Do share your own tips and tricks as well 🙂
Loyalty programs will almost always give you outsized value as compared to cash! Here is one example of how it went with me and the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, the most exclusive of Hyatt’s properties globaly.
Shipra is my fiancée and the first of contributors at the blog. She has worked with one of the largest airline conglomerates in the world, and is now based in Mumbai. Shipra has lived, worked and travelled across 4 continents. We travel often enough, together and separately. These are her perspectives, as she gets used to the world of business and leisure travel and our hobby! The Novice Perspective: Initiating my Fiancée to Points & Miles The Novice Perspective: Getting used to Airport Lounges The Novice Perspective: Benefiting from hotel loyalty programs The Novice Perspective: Maximising hotel promotions is a fun game! If some asked me this question a year ago, “When choosing a credit card, how would you decide…
I often get asked about how to score a mileage ticket, but I don’t get asked as often about how to earn the miles. People think miles are earned only by flying, something that has changed over the years. Miles can be earned with so many activities, and every activity counts towards your goal for that reward ticket. So stay with me for a moment and let me build my argument. As someone who has been travelling for a lot of years (maybe not as long as some of you who have been flying since I was in my diapers!), I’ve noticed a genuine shift in the way airlines have moved from rewarding loyalty to withdrawing all the perks to…
Just a couple of days back, I was watching a rerun on Up In the Air, and there is a part where George Clooney a.k.a. Ryan Bingham says I do not do anything till it does not affect my mileage balance And I think just the next morning I felt inspired to take on some more on my plate. I got a call requesting me to book a ticket for someone’s international travel, since they knew I could get them a good deal within a short amount of research, and this one was willing to let me book it on my credit card. WOW! The next thing I know is a time crunch, and between meetings and all of a…
Not! BoardingArea, my blog network and host, is going t be down for scheduled maintenance today (10 PM Mountain Time on Thursday, 20 June 2013) and come back up within the next 36 hours or so. We’re doing some exciting changes at the back-end, and due to this, I won’t be able to post anything for you for this timeframe, or you to be able to comment on the blog. If there is something you want to know, you could tweet me at @livefromalounge, or mail me at aj@livefromalounge.com. In the meanwhile, I am very excited to meet some of you in July, so if you’re in Mumbai or will be in Mumbai, do sign-up for the meetup here. I’ll…
Mumbai is under a sort of shutdown today due to the death of a political figure, due to which vehicles are off roads and public conveyance such as taxis have withdrawn from the roads and airports. Things are peaceful out there, but you could be stranded if you’re landing in the city today without a vehicle to pick you up. Airport authorities have organised shuttles to drop people to the nearby suburban train stations, but that is the best they could do. The following travel advisory from my airline for a flight I am supposed to take today, should give you perspective. If you have friends or family in Mumbai, ask them to pick you up from the airport. If…
Diwali is here, which means, that time of the year when I will find the most number of people on the airports going over somewhere. Here is a screenshot from the Jet Airways website last evening on a trunk route: And here is this morning, when I had tried to check-in… most people were still waiting for a sign from God to web check-in! That made me think, let me do a post for you guys to get ready for holiday travel! Here are the things to do: a) Check-In: If you’re planning to get on a plane, go and check-in now on the airlines website. Don’t worry about the disclaimer from Indigo and SpiceJet that only hand baggage passengers…
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…
