Air India has been working to get ready for the Star Alliance, and one of the common question I have been asked over the past few days was about the benefits that members will be able to get as Star Alliance elites. I had made a post last week about my expectation on what will be the benefits for AI flyers on joining the Star Alliance. One of the remarks was on the expected outcome of status equalisation with Star Alliance tiers. Here was what I wrote: Air India elites will now be Star Alliance Elites: Air India has 4 membership levels: Base, Silver, Gold and Platinum called Member, Silver Edge, Golden Edge and Maharajah Club. You cannot earn elite…
Air India
Tag Archives for Air India.
Air India set to fly to Moscow from July 18, 2014
Air India is on a roll these days expanding its international network, on the back of the 787s that are coming into their fleet. And I like it, purely because they are an international airline and need to be connecting to various countries to be able to be called on. Yes, they are losing money, but if they have a fighting chance to try their way back into being the preferred airline for Indians, they had to go international. After moving many of their loss-making routes to the 787s, they are now focussing on starting new ones. They recently launched flights to Italy, and are now going to launch flights to Russia again. This route was served long time ago,…
How will the Indian flyer benefit with Air India joining Star Alliance
Earlier this week, I put out the news about the official joining date for Air India to come into Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance. July 11, 2014 would be the day when they become the 27th airline to join the alliance. Readers have asked me over email and comments about the details of how is this going to impact their travels, and I thought it would be a good idea to make a post on how things will be different with Air India here on. While details are sketchy, I’m sure we will have more details soon. More destinations and choices: When an alliance comes into the picture, all the airlines codeshare with each other to be able to…
Air India to join Star Alliance on July 11, 2014
My question seems to have been answered. Via the Mint newspaper, it seems like the CEO board of Star Alliance finally voted to receive Air India in their network, and Air India will be joining the network formally about 20 days from now: State-owned Air India Ltd will join the Star Alliance grouping on 11 July … The person cited above said the airline will join the alliance on 11 July and one of Air India’s Airbus A320 will be painted in Star Alliance colours for the event. As per the Wandering Aramean, Air India has begin to show up on the Star Alliance internal websites as well, and you can check out this information at www.starallianceemployees.com. There is a…
Air India to be finally a part of Star Alliance soon?
I guess there is not much suspense left in this one, but I am still not saying it is done till it is done. If you remember, one of the earliest posts on this blog was about Air India being jilted from the Star Alliance. Now, their is much begging, pleasing and a lot of backroom action that has happened in line up to today’s meeting of the CEO board of Star Alliance, where Air India’s membership for the Star Alliance will be voted upon the second time in seven years. Word is expected later this evening about the outcome. Air India joining the Star Alliance not just gives Star Alliance members access to facilities and flights of Air India…
Air India extends 25% award redemption discount till 30 June 2014
In late April, I had written about Air India’s Flying Returns program offering a 25% discount for redemption tickets on Air India flights, for flights which will be taken before May 31, 2014. This is a very generous discount promotion, because of two reasons: The promotion is valid for domestic and international flights both, only on Air India metal, unlike Jet Airways 20% discount past 2 years which was only valid for Domestic flights. The promotion is valid across classes of travel, all the way up to first class. Now, they have extended this promotion for travel in June 2014 as well, and as a result if you will book yourself a ticket on Air India via miles, you should…
Air India offering double miles on Italy flight
I recently wrote about the launch of Air India’s flight to Milan and Rome, and how they were offering a sweet deal from anywhere in India to be able to get you over to Italy. Air India is now offering a double miles promotion on their frequent flyer program Flying Returns for those who choose to fly between India and Italy or vice versa on AI by July 31, 2014. If you will be connecting from anywhere in India, you won’t get double miles for your intra-India flight, but on your India-Italy or vice versa route you should clock double miles. AI has not updated the mileage calculator on their website yet, but Delhi-Milan should earn 3834 miles one way…
Personal Electronic Devices on India’s airlines
A few weeks back I had written about the regulatory notification which modified the rules for the use of Personal Electronic Devices on airplanes while in flight and on the ground. Since then, I’ve waited for airlines to go ahead and execute the rules on the ground. I’m glad to report now it is no issue to use your electronics on board. Here is a collection of various domestic airlines and how they are implementing the rule at this moment: SpiceJet: SpiceJet was the first off the block. They claim they were the first to implement the revised rules, however they are allowing the use of PEDs/phones only above 10,000 feet even now. As per their COO, they don’t find…
Great Summer Fares 2: Air India offering INR 35K+ fares to Italy
Yesterday, I wrote about the 30K fares to Paris on Jet Airways, which I think is a very good fare to inspire you to visit the City of Lights. There is also British Airways, which is doling out vouchers for you to apply for your visa and giving you a discount accordingly. I wrote a few days back about Air India’s launching flights from Delhi to Milan and Rome. This will be a Boeing 787 flight, which will stop at both the cities, and do a circular route back home. While Air India has not started selling this flight on their own website, they seem to be offering great fares from anywhere in India to Milan/Rome, at a flat price…
Air India looks all set for Star Alliance this summer
Hot on the trails of SriLankan Airlines joining oneworld, Air India seems to be working on all frontiers to get set to join Star Alliance. While there have been a lot of news reports in the past couple of days, this interview with the CEO of Star Alliance, Mark Schwab seems to nail the date down to June or July 2014 after an endorsement from the CEO’s of other Star Alliance members as of 23 June 2014. Our CEOs get together in London on the occasion of the new Star Alliance terminal at London Heathrow on 23 June where we expect an endorsement vote to be taken up on Air India joining Star. And we are just beginning to coordinate…
Air India to start Delhi–Rome/Milan flights from June 2014
In its classic manner, Air India is putting out a new flight between Delhi and Rome/Milan from June 6, 2014 but there is no marketing or the mention of this flight on their website, yet. You can’t even look up the route on Air India’s own website. As per AirlineRoute.net, Air India is returning to Italy as of June 2014. The flight will do a triangular routing, just like their Australia segments between Melbourne/Sydney, and the schedule will be as following: AI123 DEL1420 – 1930MXP2100 – 2210FCO 788 246AI122 MXP2100 – 2210FCO2335 – 1015+1DEL 788 246 AI123 DEL1420 – 1905FCO2040 – 2200MXP 788 x246AI122 FCO2040 – 2200MXP2330 – 1015+1DEL 788 x246 It is a very interesting development from two perspectives.…