Update: It is now official and Air India has put out a promotion page as well. Air India seems to be on a roll these days with its frequent flyer program. I am guessing while I had a view that they are the most miser program out there, someone is working to change my view a bit. They still don’t provide 100% flown miles like Jet Airways does, but they have created new opportunities to earn miles such as the SBI Air India Credit Card, which can let you earn miles at about 8 INR spend per mile earned if you go for the top end variant. Now, a new unannounced mileage seat sale has come into play from today…
Flying Returns
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Amex MR to adjust mileage transfer ratio (downwards) in India again
Last year, American Express went about readjusting the cost of transferring MR points into miles with various programs they partner with. While the usual transfer rate used to be 1.6 MR = 1 Mile, after last year’s readjustment everything except JPMiles and Air India Flying Returns Points, everything was 2 MR = 1 Mile. Now, as per email communication being sent out to members today, this will change as of May 2014 as well: Effective May 10, 2014, there will be a change in airline miles redemption for Jet Airways and Air India. The existing Membership Rewards redemption rate of 1 JPMile for every 1.6 Membership Rewards Points and 1 Air India Mile for every 1.25 Membership Rewards Points would…
Air India offering double miles in March–April 2014
Air India put out a new promotion earlier this week, where they are offering double miles for flying on select routes from March 15, 2014 to April 30, 2014. These double miles are double for your eligible class of flying, and hence if you’re booked deep discount economy fares (E class, for instance), you will only get double of 25% of miles for the distance you fly (in case of domestic flights). And yes, Air India does offer 500 miles per sector as web booking bonus as well. Personally, I don’t find this a very attractive offer, since booking the same segments with Jet Airways would give me 100% of flown miles as credit, and 500 miles as online booking…
The hidden traps of having the Air India SBI Credit Cards
I somehow do hate it when various companies do not give full disclosure on their products. The flavour of the season has been the Air India SBI Credit Card, where the issuing company took a lot of time to come out with the first set of cards. Check out my post a few weeks back, where I discussed the launch of the card, which is also now being used by SBICards as a customer problem resolution centre of sorts with stock replies! Now a couple of things I could not find out on the website, or I was not informed about when I was signing up for the credit card. First and foremost, when a credit card company states that…
Air India offering 1000 miles for opening new frequent flyer account
Air India’s Flying Returns might be turning into an important program to look up again because of their recent in-principle acceptance in the Star Alliance, and the ability to earn these miles with credit cards as well now. For those of you who do not have an Air India Flying Returns account, this might be a good time to start-up on one. Air India has been offering 1,000 miles towards opening a new account for a while. All that it requires of you to be doing, is to go to this link, and generate a new account for yourself. Miles will post on taking the first flight. Related Posts: Air India finally gets invited into Star Alliance Credit Card Review:…
The SBI Air India Signature Card adds an upgrade voucher!
When I first started out to review the SBI Air India Signature Card, I was basing my review on the information that was provided by SBI Cards in this respect. Now, just like all other new products, I’ve had my fair share of sparring with SBI Cards as well, but yesterday, I got third time lucky and finally managed to submit my application to SBI Cards after two time-wasting attempts by them before. As I was trying to find more information on this credit card, I came across this on the Air India website: Premium privileges include 1 complementary domestic upgrade voucher Complementary lounge access (emphasis, mine) This is not information that was put out by the credit card company.…
My botched up experience applying for the SBI AI Card
After launching a good product, it seems like SBI Cards is running their SBI Air India card just the same way like ICICI Bank did with the Jet ICICI Cards last year. I placed a request for an appointment for the card in the first couple of days it launched. I never heard back from the SBI Card team for an appointment till the first 10 days or so. And then, I started getting all sorts of calls, emails and messages on my own post, with SBI Cards asking me for information. I replied to them on email, on FlyerTalk as well. No one bothered to respond. And then, I messaged a friend who worked for their company. I was…
Credit Card Review: Air India SBI Visa Signature
With this post, I am reintroducing the Credit Card Reviews series in India, which I had to stop a while ago due to paucity of time. Air India & GE/SBI Credit Cards recently teamed up to launch co-branded credit cards which could earn you quite some miles, making me think of calling it perhaps the best credit card to earn miles in India at the moment. They’ve launched 2 credit cards, one at the Signature level and one at the Platinum level, and I will review both separately. Sign-Up Bonus: This credit card offers a tidy sign-up bonus of 20,000 Air India miles to start you up with the credit card product. You also get an upgrade voucher from Air…
Air India Awards to Australia now available
Air India is launching a new flight from Delhi to Melbourne & Sydney on their B787s later this month. Air India has just opened up the award availability on this segment, and like it is with Air India, there is ample award opportunities in Business as well as Economy. For dates closer to the launch, here is the availability on a random date. You see 2 seats in Economy & Business each. I went in a little further into October And then into next March I find this to be an extremely reasonable pricing for award tickets both on the economy as well as business class of the plane, considering that this would be about 12 hours of flying time.…
Using Air India Flying Returns to get 10 Kgs extra baggage allowance free
I truly think that Air India Flying Returns is not a great loyalty program and I’ve said it before. However, in the wake of Air India, Jet Airways, Go Air and Indigo dropping their free baggage allowance to 15 Kgs, it seems to have become an inconvenience to some travellers who still feel the need for more baggage allowance. Baggage allowance seems to be going at Rs. 250 (~$4) per Kg above the allowance, and it pinches pockets to pay. SpiceJet is the only Indian carrier offering 20 Kgs at the time of writing this. Anyhow, there is a simple trick for the heavy travellers who choose to book with Air India. Most airlines with a loyalty program offer their…
Air India offering double miles on metro sectors till September 30,2013
Air India is offering double miles on its Flying Returns program if you fly between metro sectors around India between July 15, 2013 and September 30, 2013. The list of sectors which count as metro sectors is below: There are no elaborate terms & conditions, so the only thing I’d like to remind you is that Air India grants miles sparingly on low-fare tickets, for instance, 25% of flown miles on an E class ticket. Here is their earning chart. And here is my view on the program. Hey, this promotion is exciting only for those who are flying in business class I guess, or full fare economy. Related Posts: Is Air India Flying Returns the most miser frequent flying…
