Flying Returns

Tag Archives for Flying Returns.

Air India confirms benefits for elite members on joining Star Alliance

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

Air India Award Seats at 25% off for travel till May 31, 2014

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

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:…

Continue Reading »

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.…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »

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…

Continue Reading »