Tag Archives for Visa.
Etihad’s loyalty program company has signed up a deal with Visa to focus on issuing co-branded cards across the world with Etihad Airways Partners and Visa as the network. Maybe this means I can get an Etihad Guest co-branded card in my home market?
Qatar has introduced a new 96-hour free transit visa if you are using Doha airport to transit the country, which is available to all nationalities under certain conditions. Certainly may be worthwhile to check out Qatar while you are there!
I write this post from the Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 lounge, where I am finally comfortable after a long few days of feeling like kicking myself in the backside. You will perhaps read it after a few hours when I will be airborne. You see, I was trying to be loyal to the Royal airline (i.e., the British Airways), and for this, I need to get a visa every now and then, even to transit through the UK to go to a Schengen country. God help me with why do I need a visa for transit to Schengen countries, when I don’t need one to travel to the USA, Australia and some other places via the UK. The visa costs…
Earlier this year, I wrote about the planning to offer electronic visa clearances to travel to India for passport holders of almost all the countries. Now, the initial plans talked about implementing it in October 2014. However, the government changed about 45 days ago, and it is a respite that this new plan is still on, and implementation details are beginning to roll out in a phase-wise manner. In the first half of this week, it was decided that by December 2014, at least 40 countries will receive their electronic visas/ travel clearance. While the list of countries has still not been decided, you could expect the regular suspects to be all there, such as USA, UK, Netherlands, Germany, France,…
Hilton has been frequently in an arrangement with Visa to offer complimentary Hilton Gold status to Visa’s premium credit card holders. They had a complimentary Hilton Gold status promotion last year as well, where people could register online and get instant Hilton Gold status. Visa & Hilton have brought back their joint promotion, however, this time the Hilton Gold promotion is valid only for Visa Infinite card holders, for cards issued in Asia Pacific (except Japan), Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. The promotion is valid till December 31, 2014 and one needs to call the Visa Concierge number to be able to upgrade their membership to the Gold Tier. I find the Gold Tier at Hilton one of the…
One of the biggest gripe I have heard about people wanting to visit India is the visa process, which has no end to it. Visa processes are usually agreed on a reciprocal basis, however, India just tossed that rule out of the window and is going to make sweeping changes to the way it processes visitor visas. In a decision taken by the Government of India, which will hopefully be implemented by October (the official timeline), India will eliminate the need for a visa altogether, and move to an electronic travel authorisation scheme, where people would log in and apply for a visa online and pay for it. On arrival in India, a biometric collection will be done (fingerprints), and…
A few days back I posted about the free Hilton status for Visa Infinite card holders issued in Asia Pacific. A reader, AW, left me a comment which said: Worked like a charm with my ICICI Jet Airways Sapphiro Visa Card (Visa Signature). Ah well, I was being lazy and did not try this myself before. So, I pulled out my ICICI issued Visa Signature (the Jet Airways one), and turned out it passes the check. Also, then I checked the same with my Citibank Ultima credit card as well. It again went ahead and asked me to put in my Hilton digits and password. Since I already have status with Hilton, I did not do this bit, but you…
One of my intentions to be writing this blog is to help you guys travel well. Last year, I wrote about Lounge Access with MasterCard plastic in India, which has become one of the highest accessed posts on this blog. Some of the other tools I’ve created earlier this year is the list of the best mileage credit cards in India, and a calculator which helps you find the best mileage earning CC for your needs. The Visa Lounge Access program has been in operation for a while now and is currently valid till September 2013. Under this program, all premium Visa cardholders (Visa Signature or Visa Infinite) from various banks get free access to lounges and airport restaurants in…
If you read the visa word and came over, take note this is not a credit card hawking post. Just a simple rant! Now that we have that out of the way, lets begin. For the upcoming oneworld MegaDo, I signed on for the optional segment across the pond in London. A few days ago, while flipping through my passport, I realised my UK visa had expired and I needed a new sticker. Usually, since I travel often on work, I count on the office to pay for my visa expenses, but this being a personal trip, I started to read the rules. Here is what came up at the section for visa charges: Now here is my problem. This…
I just got off the phone with Citibank. This was one long tiresome negotiation we put each other through. And my misery is finally over. A few months ago Citibank and Jet Airways started taking away the benefits on the Citibank-Jet Airways Credit Card offered in India. I wrote about them and also contacted the Airline and the Bank to have a hard look at the whole setup and see what the competition was doing. As expected, I drew a blank there.I used to love this card since it contributed quite a bit to giving me my free round trip to the USA in Jet Airways Premiere Class this year, but the new terms did not look attractive anymore. It…
