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It looks like beleaguered low-cost airline SpiceJet might be seeing a turn in fortunes. That, or they're in desperate need of operational cash. Either way, looks like a bonanza for passengers, with Super Sale, their first fare sale of 2015. The sale offers a total of 500,000 seats starting at an all-in price of Rs 1,499. The sale is available for all bookings between 28 and 30 January 2015, for travel between 15 February and 30 June 2015. This is a fairly large travel window, if you have confirmed plans that you can book between today and this Friday. As always, there will only be a limited number of seats per flight that are on sale, so do take note of that. My personal litmus test for pricing are the MAA-DEL-MAA and BOM-DEL-BOM routes. The fares on these are pretty good, I must say. For instance, MAA-DEL has fares around the Rs 3,600 mark each way, and the total fare comes to Rs 9,200 including taxes, fees, etc.  BOM-DEL has base fares in the region of Rs 1,800-2,000 each way, re...

Uber has been my go-to cab service ever since they launched in Chennai, my home city. I love the overall service (though they don't offer high-end cars any more...sigh...), as also their promotions . They've also recently launched UberX and UberGo , which are their middle-spectrum and low-end cost options respectively. And for a short time - I mean really short time - they're offering a sign-up credit of Rs 600 (instead of the usual Rs 300). This offer is valid for signups till 31 January 2015, and you'll need to take one ride at least, before that. In the interest of full disclosure, I will also receive a Rs 600 credit during this period (Rs 300 otherwise) for every sign up using my referral code ( ubermilesandevenmore ) or by signing up using this link . You don't have to use my link but I'm grateful to you if you do use it - thank you!

I've been off the blog a little bit because I've been swamped with work. But the last time I wrote, it was about Vistara's upcoming destinations . Specifically, I'd said "...The new destinations that are planned include Goa, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and my guess is that these destinations will have direct flights to/from Delhi." Earlier today, Vistara announced two new routes, both ex-Delhi. So yes, DEL-GOI-DEL and DEL-HYD-DEL are the immediate next routes for Vistara, which will start 20 February 2015. The flight schedules for these sectors is as follows, and are valid till 28 March 2015: UK847 DEL GOI 11:20 13:50  UK862 GOI DEL 14:30 17:10 UK829 DEL HYD 6:40 8:50  UK830 HYD DEL 9:30 11:40  UK879 DEL HYD 17:15 19:20  UK870 HYD DEL 20:00 22:15   Currently, although Vistara permits selection of these sectors on their booking page, these sectors aren't actually bookable. I got the following error repeatedly for DEL-GOI... Stranger still, I got this er...

Air Vistara, the joint venture between the Tatas and Singapore Airlines, started operations on 9 January 2015. As of now, they operate BOM-DEL (and vice versa), BOM-AMD (and v/v), and DEL-AMD (and v/v). When they were planning their routes in April last year, they had submitted to the DGCA, a proposal that covered Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Jammu, Patna and Chandigarh as destinations. Air Vistara currently has a fleet size of 3, but is expected to expand to 6 by March 2015. The new destinations that are planned include Goa, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and my guess is that these destinations will have direct flights to/from Delhi. The fog situation in India (especially in the north) is likely to be the reason they're waiting till March to launch these new routes. Bagdogra and Guwahati may also be other routes, according to an inside source in Vistara. Vistara has also announced its revised flight schedules for 16 February to 28 March , just before the...

Whoever said a picture says a thousand words ...was lying...I've got no words for this. I'm hoping against hope that this isn't true.  The Times of India reported this late yesterday / earlier today . So the old Maharajah is being offloaded, and will be replaced by a new and younger version of the mascot, sans turban with spiky hair, wearing jeans and sneakers . There's been tons of awesome reactions about this change, which is supposed to reflect " the modern times and with the new AI which is also trying to cut flab to become a lean commercial entity. The Maharajah now has a leaner, young, sporty and more dynamic look. He has made a big comeback in our ad campaigns. We are using 27 different pictures of the new Maharajah to showcase some of the destinations we fly to ", according to a senior Air India official. Here are a few reactions from Twitter: Air India mascot now looks the kind of Connaught Place tout Air India warns you never to buy an Air India tick...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm doing a self-assessment of what I have on elite status, points and miles; as also my strategies for 2015. I'd really value your inputs on my take to the various programs. I'm covering hotel loyalty in this post, and you can check out the previous post on airline statuses, here . Status  My biggest scores in the last couple of years have all been through promos: IHG Platinum through one of their exclusive signups HHonors Gold using the  Visa Infinite Card credentials SPG Gold after just  one stay in Asia Pacific and paying with a World MasterCard Marriott Rewards  Silver through a promo  which was  recently upgraded to Gold .  and so I don't expect these to last much longer. . Expecting my HHonors Gold status to lapse after 2014, I squeezed out some benefits on my  last award stay with them at the Hilton Jaipur  by maxing the redemption value at 5k points a night. However (and su...

Twelve days. That's all it has taken Indian aviation to launch fare sales. Last year, the leader in this pack was SpiceJet. Sadly, they're in no state to compete here this year. But late last evening, Air India was the first off the blocks. News reports also suggest that they've become profitable (really? when, where, how???), but I'm not sure that's in any way connected with the Spring Sale 2015 that they've launched, offering tickets starting Rs 1,557 per sector. Buy before 18 January 2015 for travel between 16 January and 30 April 2015. You can check out some of the fares (base and YQ fuel surcharge) here , and book on www.airindia.in . And earlier today, Jet Airways responded with their own offer for identical starting fares (Rs 1,557). Almost similar conditions, except that travel dates end by 15 April 2015, but date changes are permitted for a Rs 2,000 fee. For MAA-DEL (my most-travelled sector), I can see return fares in the region of Rs 9,900 on both A...

Hilton has a couple of good deals going right now, if you're interested. There are actually two separate deals - one each for Asia-Pacific (including India) and one for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Low rates in APAC until 31 March 2015 Earlier this week, Hilton launched its first sale of the year in Asia Pacific, with rates starting $41 (or approx INR 2,500) a night, for stays until 31 March 2015. Some of the deals in India are pretty good, particularly the ones that offer a 25% discount for stays before 31 January 2015 (book by 20 January 2015) . A couple of examples: The Doubltree by Hilton in Agra, a new property, is available for just under Rs 6,000 a night and looks ideal for a visit to the Taj Mahal. Similarly, at Rs 12,600 a night, the Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa is a relative steal, compared to normal prices. You can access these rates here . Up to 33% off on all weekends in 2015 (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Hilton has launched a promotion for up to 33% d...

10 days into 2015 means most loyalty programs have reset their earnings clocks. However, my personal situation on the loyalty front is a bit more complicated. You see, I've had a role change in the organisation I work for, which means I don't expect to be flying and staying as much in hotels as I did in 2014 or earlier. That's going to make it a whole load tougher in the points and miles hobby. I briefly thought about making a graceful exit entirely from chasing points and miles, but that'd be quite impossible! So I've decided to stick on, but I guess it'll be more of watching from the sidelines. However the final truth is, that it is a sort of partial goodbye to the points, miles and statuses I've had and earned in the last 12 years or so. So being at a sort of existential crossroads, what I'd like to do through this post is a public self-assessment of what I have on elite status, points and miles. More importantly, I'm putting out my priorities and...

Earlier today, Indigo announced an offer for a complimentary meal for all bookings made via the Indigo app, on 9, 10 and 11 January 2015. The booking should be made at least 24 hours before the travel. A meal on Indigo usually consists of a sandwich / sub / paratha and a soft drink. Note, that the complimentary meal being offered is a vegetarian meal . I imagine that all passengers on an eligible PNR will be entitled to this offer meal. Indigo's food selection used to be quite decent, and very differently packaged and presented when compared to other airlines. However, I flew them only last night, and the portion size seems to have reduced, not unlike Jet Airways ! Having said that, this offer at least saves you a couple of hundred bucks on each flight. I don't see a limit to the number of bookings you can make. So if you know your upcoming travel schedules and want to max out on this offer, you may want to make all your bookings using the Indigo app, on or before 11 January 2...

Effective today, ie 5 January 2015, SPG's next promotion, called Double Play, goes live and is open for registration. There are bonus points to be had on  spends , as well as on  number of nights stayed , between today (5 January 2015) and 15 April 2015. The "double" aspect of the promotion works like this: On eligible stays of 2 or more nights: 2 bonus Starpoints per $, in addition to the normal earning rate of 2 Starpoints per $ spent (not counting SPG tier bonuses for Gold and Platinum members - they will earn 1 more Starpoint per $, as tier bonus) - that's a total of either 4 or 5 (if you're SPG Gold / Platinum) per $ spent; and Irrespective of length of stay: 1000 bonus Starpoints for every 5 nights at SPG properties, capped at 4000 bonus Starpoints (or 20 nights total). Also, these nights need not be consecutive. In effect, single night stays will count for the second aspect of the promotion (1000 points per 5 nights) but not the first (2 bonus Starpoints ...

Jet Privilege is expanding its hotel partnerships that enable earning bonus JP miles (while foregoing the ability to earn hotel loyalty points and stays). They recently announced promotions for bonus JP miles on stays with  IHG  and  SPG  (expired 31 December 2014), and on dining at  SPG restaurants in India . And continuing with these partnerships is an offer to earn bonus JP miles on stays with Marriott hotels in Asia Pacific between 1 February and 30 April 2014. Essentially the deal is that you earn 2500 bonus JP miles per Marriott stay, for a total of 20 stays (or 50,000 miles), valid on bookings before 31 March 2015 for stays between 1 February and 30 April 2014. You can access the promotion here (registration required) . If you're on Marriott Rewards points earning mode, you'll get this error message. If you do, and you want to register to earn JP miles instead of Marriott Rewards points, then you need to login to your account and change your earning ...

After hiving off the Jet Privilege program into a separate entity that's majority-held by Etihad, Jet delivered quite a few changes in 2014. I've been on more than a handful of Jet Airways flights in the last couple of months, and I've seen these changes take effect properly. However, as is always the case, not all changes are necessarily ideal! So here's a quick run-down on what's been happening and what to expect in 2015. Earning miles Readers and mileage addicts will be aware that Jet upped its game starting July 2014. First, they introduced a minimum mileage earning system for distances under 500 miles , making it worth the while to fly Jet on short-haul flights, and so earn 500/375 miles (for Jet Airways/ Jet Konnect respectively) on Economy class travel, and 750 miles in business class. Jet also did largely away with tiered % of earnings based on fare class, which means that virtually all fare classes now earn 100% of the flown miles.  This excludes cabin bonu...

I've been traveling a reasonable bit in December 2014, which included two stays in Jaipur (of 2 days and 1 day). Fortunately, I was able to book both stays using my HHonors points when the hotel was available for 5,000 points a night; it has since gone up to 20,000 points, after Hilton's category revisions made the Hilton Jaipur a Category 3 hotel. My first stay was in a standard room, which I'm writing about in this post. Another post will feature the suite at this hotel, that I was upgraded to. This is a franchised hotel. However, it is also the first time I've seen the local owner's name displayed so prominently at the hotel.  Also, do excuse the quality of pictures - I reached Jaipur late evening, and was too tired to try and locate all the lights (it  was  difficult!), so the room pictures are in low-light conditions. It was just before Christmas, and so there was a bit of decoration in the lobby area. Lobby with X-mas decorations Reception and waiting area Che...