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Guest Post: Bidding adieu to The King of Good Times on Kingfisher’s final Dubai flight

April 1, 2012 by Ajay 2 Comments

Kingfisher Airlines has received many a good word from their frequent flyers, and almost all of them feel sad that the airline is progressively going down. I invited Arun Rajagopal, a Kingfisher loyalist based in the UAE to write a trip report on Kingfisher’s final flight to Dubai when I heard the airline was shutting down international operations. Turning over the mike to him without further delay… I’m a loyal customer of India’s Kingfisher Airlines. I first flew Kingfisher in Jan 2011 but since then I have flown them 15 times. I fly them as much as possible. I often pay a premium to fly them even when I have cheaper or non-stop flights available. I even recommend it to…

Review: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Economy

February 25, 2012 by Ajay 3 Comments

Introduction Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2 Jet Airways Economy Class Mumbai to Brussels British Airways Galleries Club Lounge, Brussels National Airport American Airlines Business Class Brussels to New York JFK and Five-Star Arrival American Airlines Premium Check-in and Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines Economy Class JFK to London LHR American Airlines Arrivals Lounge, London LHR Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, London American Airlines Flagship Check-in and Flagship Lounge, London Heathrow American Airlines Economy Class London to Chicago American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Chicago ORD American Airlines First Class from Chicago ORD to Dallas Fort Worth Hyatt Regency Hotel, DFW Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles American Airlines First…

Review: Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2

February 14, 2012 by Ajay 36 Comments

Trip Report: Halfway around the world for the OWMD

February 13, 2012 by Ajay 2 Comments

The lifeline for Indian airlines is on its way

January 18, 2012 by Ajay Leave A Comment

A lot of ink has been spent worrying about Indian airline companies in the past few months, with all the $ costs of their plane leases, jet fuel and other expenses going up 20% on one side for no fault of theirs, and they being forced to sell tickets on a low cost to compete with the government-owned underdog. All these blokes who fly planes in India do not have a government lifeline from my tax money as Air India does, and evidently, have been priming for a shutdown (at least speculation is such!) Everybody out there believes there is a huge market in India for aviation. If only 5.5 million passengers out of a billion+ population flew inside India in…

And now its American Express India’s turn to downgrade Membership Rewards

December 28, 2011 by Ajay Leave A Comment

Sigh, it is the season of downgrade of benefits and American Express does not want to be left far behind from the pack. They have decided to close 2011 on a high note by sending me (amongst several other) cardmembers with a very nicely wrapped letter which has 2 layers of envelopes before you get to the letter itself. Now you think, this arriving right after Christmas must be Santa Amex Claus sending you a Lotto ticket to win in the MR sweepstakes. But all it comes to is an intimation on the downgrades which kick in a few weeks from now. If you’ve been reading up about my American Express Gold Card adventures, I’ve been pretty happy with them so…

Free First Class Upgrade on Emirates and 10% off sale (15th/16th Nov 2011 only)

November 15, 2011 by Ajay 3 Comments

Emirates is one of the Asian airlines trying to become a preferred airline for the world, what with its huge orders of the Boeing 777s and the Airbus A380s. India is a key market for the Emirates and they just brought out two great offers for Indian flyers: MasterCard 2-day Sale from India to the World (valid 15/16 Nov 2011) You could be booking up a ticket to the entire route network of Emirates, which includes good connectivity to Europe, USA, Middle-East and Africa, and offers you upto 10% off using the promo code INMST11. This offer is valid only for air tickets booked on 15th and 16th November 2011 (for travel between 15th Nov 2011 to 22 Dec 2011)…

Review: Chennai Airport (MAA) and Airborne to Colombo(CMB) on 9W254 in Economy

October 8, 2011 by Ajay Leave A Comment

Introduction & Trip Index Considering Jet Airways was out to prove a point, they had put out their Guest Relations manager at Chennai on the job to make sure my transit at Chennai was smooth. I arrived at the Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, and I had a porter waiting for me right outside the plane waiting to bring our handbags to the International Terminal. He insisted to carry my bag but I had to really request him and plead with him that I was okay carrying my own bag! He brought us to the Arrival area of the Chennai Airport, where I was coming after quite a few years. There was construction going around all over, and I…

Do you still want to travel in the Indian festive season? Here is how…

October 7, 2011 by Ajay 4 Comments

Unless you are allergic like me to paying super-duper high business class prices for economy seating to travel around India in the next 2-3 months, your options are fast getting limited to travel around in the festive season in India. Like I mentioned in this post a few days back, airlines have predictably decided to add to their revenues by jacking up ticket prices over the next few months. I was not surprised but slightly disgusted at double fares in the same fare classes which got inflated over a week or so. October to December is peak travel time in India, what with all the festivals for everyone bunching up, along with a longish wedding season coming up too! Here…

Review: Mumbai Airport (BOM) and Airborne to Chennai (MAA) on 9W 469 in Economy

September 22, 2011 by Ajay 2 Comments

Introduction & Trip Index Since I was going to be heading to Colombo via Chennai, I arrived at the Mumbai Airport domestic for my check-in on the BOM-MAA leg of my trip on Jet Airways (9W 469). I was going to be seated at the back of the plane, but I found some amusing things happening around here! Jet Airways wanted to prove a point, that they would take care of this entire trip to go event free, because I’ve been poking holes in their service delivery for a short while now. Since this was a long weekend coming up, there was the obvious long queues at the airport on the evening wanting to fly somewhere. On arrival at the…