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As you'd be aware, Air India was announced last week as Star Alliance's 27th member . The membership will be effective 11 July 2014. There has been a reasonable amount of speculation on this blog, as also Live from a Lounge (and others too), as to what benefits in Star Alliance will accrue to members of Silver Edge, Golden Edge and Maharaja Clubs levels, in AI's Flying Returns program. While the details are being worked out, here's a first look at status parity, announced by Air India: So, AI Flying Returns Silver Edge club members are being mapped to Star Alliance Silver, and AI Flying Returns Golden Edge Club and Maharajah Club members are given Star Alliance Gold privileges. The benefits for AI Silver and AI Gold/Platinum match exactly with Star Alliance status benefits , though I can't be sure why they changed the order or the language of the benefits! Here is the full description of these benefits: Priority Airport Check-in:  Star Alliance Gold Status allows y...

In today's world of seamless connectivity, it is wonderful to be able to access the internet on board aircraft. Many non-Indian carriers have begun, or are already, providing wifi access; some charge by usage (such as ~$4.50 for 3MB, by Thai), some by time (~$11.50 per hour by Singapore Airlines), and some even provide free wifi access (JetBlue comes to mind). In fact, you can get a full list (updated through March 2014) here . Now with Air India joining Star Alliance , the pressure to step up their game is quite high. And one of the things they're doing is with in-flight wifi access. AI is in talks with Geneva-based On Air, to provide wifi systems on some of its aircraft. "It's just a matter of time until we will have access of satellite broadband on board our international flights. We are in discussions with various agencies and have met officials of OnAir. We will make a decision on it in the coming few months," said Anil Sondhi, executive director of materials...

Work took me to Amlaty in Kazakhstan a couple of weeks back. Here's the trip report index (that will be tentative and changeable until the final part is published!) MAA-DEL on Jet Airways 9W 822, and transit in DEL DEL-ALA on Air Astana KC 908 The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty - hotel review Almaty airport departures and Business Class lounge review ALA-DEL on Air Astana KC 907 (aka 7 am is sparkling wine time), and transit in DEL DEL-MAA on Jet Airways 9W 822 After a 5 am departure from the hotel for a 7.30 am flight, I reached ALA airport in about 20 minutes, given that there was virtually zero traffic on the early Saturday morning. It was still quite early, so the moon had not yet set fully. On the way, I did notice this board for a small local airline that runs flights to neighbouring countries including erstwhile USSR countries. I wonder what exact onboard services they offer !!! I took one final shot of the mountains that are ubiquitous from across anywhere in Almaty, before heading i...

Here's a round up of some recent updates in the travel space (as always, with an Indian flavour): I wrote in October 2013 about how far an Indian passport will get you , without a visa. As a corollary, I've always wondered who the luckiest passport holders are, that hardly require any visas. The answer may surprise you! Are you earning 2,000 Marriott Rewards points every 30 days, that can get you up to 12,000 points till November 2014? That'll be enough for a night in a category 2 hotel. This one is awesome! Man trapped overnight at Las Vegas' McCarran Airport produced an awesome music video , of a cover of Celine Dion's 1996 song "All by myself" , taken using only his iPhone (and I guess some processing software). Here's one with, quite literally, an Indian flavour! How about a $7,000 worth take out order to watch the FIFA World Cup? (HT: Fly & Dine) How far would you go to spite your ex? A man came up with a fake bomb-threat so that he could r...

At 7,807 miles, Air India's AI191 from BOM to EWR may not be anywhere near the longest scheduled and operating commercial flight in the world. But it is, along with UA49, the longest flight ex-India, and it is on the verge of being cancelled. The reason? Billboards (hoardings). That's right. There are three billboards of supposedly unreasonable height on the main road that runs perpendicular to the main runway at BOM. And so, the 340-seater B777-300ER aircraft that plies this BOM-EWR route cannot be loaded beyond 260 passengers, due to reasons of take-off weight, so that it can safely clear this billboard. If you find that strange, here's a bit of back-story: There used to be five billboards, and 4 were taken down and one remained due to legal issues (and if you're even remotely familiar with the legal system in India, you'll know that it could take a couple of lifetimes for cases to be closed in court - there's even one that started in 1878 and as of March 2...

Work took me to Amlaty in Kazakhstan a couple of weeks back. Here's the trip report index (that will be tentative and changeable until the final part is published!) MAA-DEL on Jet Airways 9W 822, and transit in DEL DEL-ALA on Air Astana KC 908 The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty - hotel review Almaty airport departures and Business Class lounge review ALA-DEL on Air Astana KC 907 (aka 7 am is sparkling wine time), and transit in DEL DEL-MAA on Jet Airways 9W 822 I had a car arranged by my client, to pick me up at the Almaty airport. The drive through the city and on to the relatively newer part of it (where the Ritz-Carlton is located) was scenic all the way through. How could it be otherwise, when one side of your route is always lined with mountains?   A twenty minute ride got us to the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which is located at Esentai Tower, a mixed-use building. The hotel's entrance is to the East, while the office premises open up from the West side of the building. Aleksandr, the door...