Your questions
Please do let me have your questions, and I will try my best to answer them. Thank you!
Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day's sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today's world of terror threats), and I'm grateful to them for that. The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here's a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn't come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case). Index of posts Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class Review: Serendib Lounge, CMB airport Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris Re...
Reader VAIBHAV says...
ReplyDelete------------------------
Hey
Great blog! I was looking for your suggestion on which CC should I apply for?
My current CC bill is around 10lac per month. Im confused between amex jet card and hdfc diners club black card. Open to other suggestions as well.
Thank you
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Thanks Vaibhav. I'm not sure what your miles earning strategy or objective is, so I'll keep this very broad and brief.
The Amex Jet card, in addition to the Amex privileges, gets you miles (a ton, at your spend rates!). HDFC Black gets you AIRMILES, which (by my knowledge) is like PremierMiles - redeemable on many airlines. That is a good starting point. HDFC Black also gets you access to multiple airline lounges, though I've heard mixed responses (some say you get to the Diners Club lounge program, others have got free membership to Priority Pass with a $27 fee per visit).
In summary, HDFC Black offers more choices with miles redemption than the Jet Airways Amex card. I'm also guessing that being a Diners card, HDFC Black will come with other exclusive offers; Jet rarely does, and HDFC doesn't stand to gain much with that partnership. Finally, there *is* some exclusivity with Black!
Reader IVAN says...
ReplyDelete----------------------------
i am a fan of your blog, and would like to ask you that if i join say a hilton property in delhi, can i
get the free night in goa? or does it have to be in the same property.
also the dinning discounts, are they restricted only to the property that we enroll at or can we use it in participating hotels?
i visited the hilton premium club website but it was not helpful.
thanks,
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Hi Ivan,
Unfortunately, you cannot redeem the free night certificate at any property other than the one at which you register for the HPC. So if you join the HPC at a Delhi property, then you can only redeem it for a room at that property. However, you do get a 30% off voucher at all other participating Hilton properties in India, which includes Goa also.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI follow your blog very closely. I must thank you for creating the awareness.
I had a question, which is the best way to spend in foreign currency. Is better to do cash transactions of spend by CC. CC will impose a surcharge of 3.5% + 1.5% marked up rate than market, but in return you get points. Also, if it is CC then which is the best card for FCY transaction.
just to follow up... I have a euro trip coming up and Wanted to check with you reg the foreign transactions.
ReplyDeleteHow do you end up spending foreign currency? Credit cards, travelers cheques etc.
Which one has the best value and benefits?
If its credit cards, which one in India has the least foreign currency markup?
Would love to know your thoughts.
BTW: please post your accor part of the hotel loyalty programs.. when ever you can.
Thank you
Hi Ravikiran - I'll be responding to your question on credit cards and foreign exchange transaction fees, tomorrow. Hope it is useful!
ReplyDeleteHi, just saw your reply today and wanted to update you that I did get some compensation on this.
ReplyDeleteI sent them an email to head-customerservicesindia@aexp.com and told them about the issue, They said they won't be able to change my earning ratio but can offer me 2000 one time bonus MR as a tradeoff. I accepted their offer and got the MR as well.
I have a problem. I am booked on 9W from AMD-BKK. Then on a separate ticket on Bangkok Airways, I am booked on BKK-PNH. Same for the return. PNH-BKK on Bangkok Airways and then BKK-AMD on 9W. On both the outbound and the inbound I have 4 hours to connect in BKK. Now my question is:
ReplyDelete1) Will Jet check my bags through to PNH? They are partners but I don't know if they have an interline agreement or not
2) If I travel with only hand baggage and check in online for my Bangkok Airways flight,will I need to still clear Thai Immigration and re check in for my connecting flight, seeing that it is an International flight from Thailand to Cambodia and they need to check my travel documents, or will a trip to the transit desk airside suffice?
3) And if all goes to hell, is 4 hrs enough to clear immigration, re-check in and clear security again in time? First time at BKK airport so no idea here.
According to my understanding if I only travel with hand baggage, I'm good to go. But it would be helpful to know what you think.
Do you blog about offers on Emirates/ethiad/qatar?
ReplyDeleteI was looking to travel to America in September and came across blog. We wanted to fly business and wanted to know if you have any tips to save cost and miles?
Nikita - yes we do reasonably often, when the promotion or offer is compelling enough. Like some 50% off sales or multiple miles earning opportunities. I don't believe there are any right now, except Emirates' book business class and fly first class (one leg of the trip). However, do keep an eye out on the blog. Also, if you see anything you think we've missed or shd be writing about, let us know those as well!
DeleteAs a matter of fact, we're working exactly on that, for some of the hotel programs. Do watch out for those on the blog
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, you can't swipe PP twice. However, if you had another card that provided lounge access, you could take guests in (provided the lounge agent permits). I've done that often, and once, for 3 guests on 3 diff cards !
ReplyDeleteHi - Thanks for your comment! On question (1), you can never convert any miles back into cash. On that note, economy class tickets are generally inefficient to spend your miles on (unless it is when last-minute fares are really high). You can get better value per mile on business class, and often even on partner airlines (we've posted on both these aspects on the blog - check out the beginner's guide series as well). On question (2), I think the gap between the payback rates (only 0.2%) isn't significant, plus I don't believe HDFC has promoted Regalia the way Citi has done with PM. Also, Regalia is seen as a very high-end product, even though the fees are actually lower than PM's! So I think it has all to do with optics, nothing else, that people seem to prefer Citi PM over Regalia. But that's just my view!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI thought of seeking some advice from you before booking a flight ticket for Toronto in the coming days. It'd be great if you could share your thoughts! The best option for me at the moment seems to be flying via BA. I am a Premier Miles Card holder which presents me with a couple of options:
(1) I could book the ticket on Premier Miles, redeem my points and pay the balance using my card. I am assuming I'll still earn points for part of the booking that was done using credit.
(2) The other option is to transfer the points that I have to BA's Avios Membership program. Citi has a promo running that will reward members with a 50% bonus for transfers done before the 30th of September.
Would like to know if it makes sense to opt for #2 and if so, for what reasons.
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
S
Hi SJ,
DeleteSorry about the late reply to your msg.. was in scotland without any laptop and network..
Now to answer your question, there are a lot of factors that would determine the final answer.. first of all where in India are you flying from.. being located in Delhi or Bombay, makes matters always easier.. Secondly the date when you are flying and lastly, is it one way or return.
BA is a distance based chart, so if you add a flight from somewhere in India to a gateway city like Hyd, or Del, your price would increase versus say a region based chart like that of American Airlines.
To set the base rules, PM provides a value of 0.45 rupees per miles. Taking into account the miles you lose by not booking cash with them, their value is approx 0.43 per mile.
Since I din have all the answer, I made some random assumptions. I did some quick search for one way on 12th Oct, from Delhi. Fortunately for that day, there is a cheap Saudi Airlines ticket available on premiermiles website, for 54660 miles (rupees 24597) and no cash. Which is not a bad deal whichever way you slice it. Also, given premiermiles transfer to all airlines at a 2:1 ratio, most often that not, using it on their website is always the better option.
For BA, you will need about 39000 PM miles, which will convert to 29250 BA miles. That would get you an Off Peak ticket with BA. The tax component though is an exorbitant 17390 rupees. The return on your miles is a mere 0.17 rupees per mile, which is way worse than the original PM value of 0.43 rupee per mile.
If you were to choose a Peak date, that would be 60,000 PM miles and the same tax. The value would drop to 0.12 rupees per mile.
Now, if I were to eliminate the Saudi Airlines Option, because of flight duration, the second best option, given the flight duration and price combination, is KLM at Rs. 38,990 (86644 PM Miles). If this was your starting point, BA's 39000 miles option is a better deal. Compared against this, your value for PM miles would be 0.50 rupees per mile.
I checked the other partners of Premier Miles and none of them have an award chart that would work in your favour, barring Cathay Pacific. But that comes into play if you are booking a return award.
So, as I said, a lot depends on the 3 questions I posed for you. If you can email me the details on flyfromscratch@gmail.com, I would be happy to assist you further.