Townhall and AwardWallet+ Giveaway

I started this blog in 2011, not just as a way to share my travels with all of you, but also to share my tips and tricks to being a smart traveller (travel hacker sounds too geeky!). From there to now, we’ve come a long way, discussing airplanes, mileage programs, credit cards which offer miles, trip reports, fare sales and so on. Since I am based in India, I also try and keep the focus on India, because there is no one big source covering the Indian travellers’ perspective and we are 1/6th of the world population.

I recently realised I’ve never asked you guys what would you want to read here, and here on I will try and make it a point to complete the feedback loop more often. So, I invite you to write in the comments about what do you like or hate about this blog, and what else would you like covered more often. While I don’t write this blog full time and there are time pressures, I sure will try to address all that I can.

Also, to thank the reader feedback which is most helpful, I will be sending out 10 commenters a 6-month upgrade code for AwardWallet Plus. AwardWallet is a good place to track all your miles and points in one place, and the Plus service helps you to be on top of a lot of miles and points, with expiry notices as well. If you are a first time user, you could sign-up using my referral account and get a 6-month Plus service to start with.

Look forward to hearing from you all!

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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. AJ,
    First of all, THANK YOU for running this wonderful blog. I’ve been following this for 1+ year, and find the information very useful.
    What I would like to read more is how to redeem award tickets using points, and how to extract best value of miles.

    Thanks,
    Rishi

  2. AJ.. your blogs are a great source of information. I love your reviews of hotels and your trip reports as well..
    I hope you continue your fab job!

    cheers,
    bp

  3. To add to my earlier comment, there was a time when I was traveling and lost all of my paperwork. I was so relieved to log in to my AwardWallet account to find that my travel plans had been automatically added to my award wallet account.

  4. This blog was very helpful when planning my first Indian trip. You could consider covering some non-air transport, like extolling the virtues on the Delhi metro, or giving tips with how to use the Byzantine Indian Railways.

  5. AJ

    Good thought. Some things which are not that deeply covered and you could include (happy to help as well) and update are:

    1 – discount codes and offers on various cards / OTAs
    2 – fare sales originating from India (have seen some in the past from you)
    3 – Views on flight redemption value on Jet and AI miles

    Thanks
    Parag

  6. One of the truly amazing things about the Boarding Area group of bloggers is that followers (like me!) get the benefit of such diverse perspectives. As a US-based reader of Live from a Lounge, I am most interested in your expertise on the best travel “deals” to/from Asia and your first-hand knowledge of unique travel opportunities in India. Keep up the good work!

  7. You are doing a great job…the stuff you post is really helpful.

    I would like you to post more on how to best use mileage points of foreign airlines, for example i would love to know how best to use BA Avios for flight/hotel etc in India since we dont fly out of India so often.

  8. I have really learned a lot from your blog and it is unique in covering Indian aviation aspects. I really don’t see how you could improve the content to be honest, you post any fare deals, carry out credit card analysis from time to time and with a bit of TRs sprinkled in between. It might be a good idea to post about the sweet spots for redemptions for flight to/from India in premium classes and the best ways to acquire those miles.

  9. I have recently started a website on hotel stays (focusing around the ASIA PACIFIC region since that is where I am based in). Your blog, together with others, have served as a huge source of information for me. I think you have excellent coverage and are definitely timely with things. Perhaps, writing from a Status Holder perspective instead of an individual may benefit us even more (i.e. writing as a Hilton Diamond member rather than yourself).

    Thanks for all your contribution thus far!

  10. Hi AJ, I am big fan of your blog and follow religiously. I think you are doing excellent work in terms of flight/hotel deals, upgrades opportunity, trip reports etc. I simply love and enjoy it. Thank you.

    I would like to see more on miles earnings opportunities and how to use miles more efficiently (may be on partner airlines – for best value). I would also suggest you to include a section on top for basics of this game and various terms being used in forums like flyertalk etc.

  11. I love the fact that you tend to post interesting, current, beneficial info that’s still/also pertinent to readers who spend most of their year in the USA. Thank you!

  12. Hi AJ,
    I really like the Indian credit card series you have. Also your post on deals and fare alerts is useful from Indian perspective.
    I think you should do an evaluation every quarter for the same. A lot of travel blogs focus on travel from/to Indai – it would be great if you do a series of how to do best award redemptions for all Indian /foreign service carriers from India to Rest of the world with info like fuel surcharges, etc.
    It would also be good to get info about cashback info (if any) for Indian travel sites.
    regards,
    Sharad

  13. Hi AJ,

    Its a very useful and interesting blog.

    I would like to read more on different itineraries which could be interesting at the same time in-expensive.

    Just to give you an example.. I was willing to take my family for a holiday in May 2013 and was looking to travel to some exotic place in Egypt – Jordan.

    Egypt Air was quoting a price of Rs 2,20,000/- for 2 Adults and 2 Children on MUMBAI- CAIRO- MUMBAI sector which was too expensive.

    So I researched an alternative on Royal Jordanian Airlines for Rs 1,05,000 for all of us.. The details are..

    Mumbai- Amman on RJ

    Break Journey at Amman.. So we spent 5 days in Amman exploring Dead Sea, Petra etc.

    Amman- Cairo on RJ

    Spent 4 days in Cairo

    Cairo- Sharm el sheikh ( I bought a separate ticket on Egypt Air for this sector at Rs 5000 x 4= Rs 20,000)

    Spent a week at Hilton Sharm Dreams resort

    Sharm-el-sheikh- Amman – Mumbai on Royal Jordan.

    This itinerary allowed us to explore multiple places without spending too much ( Rs 125000/- in Total for a family of 4).

    So I would welcome more such ideas on this blog.

    Cheers

    KK

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