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According to Skift , in a recently released survey conducted by MasterCard, Bangkok took away top honours as the number one city in the world in terms of Overnight International visitors. Now before we proceed, what I guess "overnight" means in this context is that the said visitors have spent at least one night in the city, as opposed to transit folks or day-trippers. Given that Bangkok is involved, we thought this clarification was needed!!! Pic courtesy:  http://www.thousandwonders.net/Bangkok Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) is a ranking that's been initiated by the financial giants Mastercard, which explained in a nutshell, is a bid to track and understand which cities globally attracting traffic. They've broken down the results into a lot of varying sub metrics based on major geographical sub groups such as North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific (APAC), but we've stuck just to the macro numbers and tried to unde...

Now seems to be the time to actively market differential pricing (read: differential benefits) on airfares (and we're not talking just travel classes). The trend is catching on globally, and closer home,  Etihad and Jet Airways have done it already, with some success it seems. That success is probably what has triggered Indigo to follow suit, with Fare Types, their own version of fare choices! Read on... Fare types As with all things Indigo, the folks at Interglobe have kept the offerings relatively simple, with only 3 basic fare types - Lite, Regular and Flexible. Each fare type seems to be aimed at specific traveler types. Here's a summary : Lite Fare This is a new category for them and basically is aimed at the day trippers. For folks who have no checked in luggage and only hand luggage, this is your fare type. Cancellation and flight changes all entail fees and this seems to be on offer only on the domestic flights of 6E. Specific seat selection entails additional costs. ...

We have a rather large reader base in the US (second only to India), and I wanted to do them a good turn to write about some fare sales currently happening, for travel from the US to India / the Indian sub-continent. What makes it more interesting is the fairly wide travel window - between September 2016 and June 2017. These may be useful for folks in the US that usually come back over to India during the Christmas break, or indeed any others that have India on their travel plans soon. The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway SQ is offering round trip fares from San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Houston, to various destinations in India including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Kochi, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam. The promotional fares are available from 1 to 30 September 2016 for travel from 1 November 2016 to 30 June 2017. Blackout dates apply for Economy Class from 9 December 2016 to 8 January 2017. All Business Class fares require a minimum...

ASan and I met for lunch over the weekend. If you knew us personally, you'd know that we're both forever thirsty, if you get my meaning. You'd also know that there are always discussions around ideas for posts. Most of them are flights of fancy (pun intended!), and almost always unviable. But two men with some alcohol in them can dream, can't they? Anyway, this time the discussion finally got down to something that interests both of us, though in very different ways. ASan is a bit of a history freak, getting dreamy and bleary-eyed when you talk of anything 20 years or older (he thinks he’d have fit better into society a hundred years ago, than now). And I'm an AvGeek to the core and a huge  fan of REG Davies. So when the talk finally came around to Indian airline companies that used to be, we hit paydirt! After some decent and serious research, we think we've come up with our own Indian Aviation History 101. Given the volume there is to share, we’ll be splitting...

Soon, you should be able to update your Facebook status or your Twitter feed, or chat on Whatsapp or browse the internet, when on flights in and over India.  In what is an absolutely fantastic development, there is likely to be favourable news about the use of wifi on board aircraft inside Indian airspace. "We will soon, within 10 days, be allowed to wifi on board on aircraft flying in and out of the country," said RN Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, yesterday.  Let's take a look at some of the history around this aspect, and how things are expected to change. The situation so far As of now, no airline can allow on-board telecommunications (except within the flight itself) over Indian airspace. This even includes airlines just transiting over Indian airspace, without a stop in India. Which is why if you've flown, say, between Singapore and the middle east, internet services would be suspended as long as the aircraft is over Indian airspace. Sample of ro...

Late last week, SPG announced additional benefits to its affiliation with ITC Hotels in India , whereby SPG members can now redeem Starpoints for ITC Dining or Wills Lifestyle (retail) certificates. Also, members of the Club ITC program can convert their Club ITC Green Points into Starpoints. Now, SPG is looking to further enhance its India presence (though not necessarily just with ITC Hotels) with Your Choice Rewards exclusively for its members resident in India. Now here's a new opportunity for SPG members resident in India, to take advantage of from stays at participating Starwood hotels in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives, for stays until 30 September 2016 . Registration is mandatory (to be done by 15 August 2016 ), and only the stays after registration count for this promotion, so I suggest you register immediately, at this page . You can get your choice of one of the following, after every 8 nights stayed at properties participating in this promotion: Rs 5,00...

Readers are aware that we've been tracking the updates on the new Civil Aviation Policy 2016 that is expected to be announced in the next few days. We first discussed some of the things that could be in the new policy , and then last Saturday, we brought to you the announcements by the Minister for Civil Aviation . Earlier today, an urgent meeting was called by the Minister, involving CEOs of the various India based airlines, in advance of the cabinet meeting that was also held today. Here are the top items of note in the expected draft of the new civil aviation policy. The government is planning an ecosystem that will lead to an increase in air travel by making it affordable. As a consequence, there will be a cap of Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights between smaller towns and cities. Government will refund 80 per cent of the losses incurred by airlines due to the above fare cap. Government proposes increasing connectivity to the country’s smaller towns and cities by offering sops and i...

Earlier this week, we brought you some updates on the new Civil Aviation policy that is to be announced in the coming weeks. And this morning, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathy Raju, made announcements about several proposed changes in the new policy, which is expected to be announced in the next ten days. If these changes go through, customers should generally be a happy lot, though the same cannot be said of India's airline operators. Let's take a look at these announcements. To address the proposed changes better, let's take a look at the changes classified by their nature. Refund of fares paid First, and the biggest of them, is that refunds will apply on all fares, including promotional fares and special fares. Refunds to be applicable on all fares including promo and special fares — Ashok Gajapathi Raju (@Ashok_Gajapathi) June 11, 2016 It will also now be the airline's responsibility to ensure that passengers get their refunds within 15 days, even i...

SPG publishes deals every Wednesday, under a category called Hot Escapes . These are basically a select list of hotels where rooms are available on sale, with discounts typically at around the 20% mark. I've been tracking SPG Hot Escapes for several months now, but haven't really written about it. So why am I writing now? I'm not really sure, but after all those months of following SPG Hot Escapes each Wednesday, I finally see an Indian hotel in the list! This week's Hot Escapes - which need to be booked by Saturday - includes the Le Meridien Pune.  This is not a hotel I've been to, and I can barely find any reviews online (other than on travel websites).  Nonetheless, the pictures suggest it could be a fairly good hotel. The Le Meridien Pune is available for booking by Saturday, 11 June 2016, at rates as low as $73 a night, for the next six weeks. Conclusion SPG does have some really great deals as part of the Hot Escapes offers, but I don't think this one at ...

Qatar Airways is running a rather under-advertised sale in business class, for various destinations in Europe and the US, from India and Colombo. These are valid for bookings by 9 June 2016 for travel by 30 November 2016 (ex-India); and bookings by 10 June 2016 for travel by 15 December 2016 (ex-Colombo). Here's more. ex-India sale This isn't a Ramadan offer, but largely coincides with the actual Ramadan offer in other jurisdictions (including ex-Colombo). Discounts go up to 30% ex-India. Here are some of the fares per person, for select routes: Here are the T&Cs for this offer, which you can access here : Sales period: 06th June - 09th June 2016 Travel period: Until 30th November 2016 The fares include taxes, fees and surcharges, which are subject to change due to currency fluctuations. Blackout dates apply; please review at the time of booking. Seats are limited and hence subject to availability and not guaranteed until the purchase is completed. Refund / Reissue charges...

Starwood has announced Triple Up , a new promotion starting 9 May 2016, valid for stays till 31 July 2016 . Registration is required, and will open starting 3 May 2016 and close on 17 July 2016. They're offering 3x Starpoints at all Sheraton hotels, 2x Starpoints at all other SPG properties, and a further 1,000 Starpoints for weekend stays. SPG's previous promotion - Take Two - which ends on 30 April 2016, started out rather weak, offering 2x Starpoints on stays of 2 or more nights, plus 250 Starpoints a night at select hotels. They enhanced this later by tacking on bonus thresholds for staying 15-24 nights (2500 Starpoints) and beyond 25 nights (7500 Starpoints), which made it more bearable! This new promotion for May-July 2016 continues to offer 2x Starpoints, though the highlight is the 3x Starpoints at Sheratons. The additional bonus of 1,000 Starpoints for weekend stays applies only for stays of 2 nights or more , that include Friday and Saturday nights (Thursday and Frid...

With Valentine's Day just round the corner, love is in the air, and particularly so for Qatar Airways and Gulf Air, which are offering 2-for-1 promotions for business class bookings done till 14 February 2016. Qatar's offer Qatar Airways' Companion Offer  is a buy-1-get-2 promotion on both business class and economy class tickets, booked by 11 February 2015, for travel between 15 February and 15 June 2016 . The offer is valid for two adults on a slew of Qatar's routes. In addition, members of Privilege Club (Qatar's frequent flyer program) also earn 2x miles , which is an excellent second benefit. This offer sees some pretty decent fares ex – India to a whole line up of European & American destinations in both Economy & Business Class. With a strong in-flight product and good connecitvity via their hub in Doha, this would be a good deal for anyone planning a trip few months out. Some indicative routes and prices are: You can read more about the offer, detai...

Although this news is now a tad bit late, we figured it would still make for a good read. In the first week of December, Accor cemented a deal to acquire three luxury brands namely, Raffles, Fairmont & Swissotel, all of which come under what’s known as the FRHI Hotels and Resorts. This merger should see some legendary hotels being added to the Accor stable. Fairmont is known for some of its historic hotels in North America, as well as several landmark and iconic properties across the world. Hotels such as Raffles Singapore, The Savoy in London, Shanghai’s Fairmont Peace Hotel & The Plaza Hotel in New York just to name a few, would all now come under the larger banner of the Accor hotel group.  Fairmont Jaipur This move interestingly comes close on the heels of the other big news from 2015, Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels .  Coming back to Accor, this acquisition should now add strength to its luxury segment which would otherwise had only the Sofitel Legend br...

Once again, SPG has made changes to its hotel categories, as part of its annual reviews and revisions of the program. The last time this happened was last February , and that worked rather well for Indian properties. This time, about 22% of all SPG hotels are changing category in all. Of these, 10.5% are moving up and 11.8% are moving down. This time too, there's good news from an Indian perspective . But first, let's get done with the relative bad news! Four Points by Sheraton Dehradun - from cat 1 to cat 2  Four Points by Sheraton New Delhi - from cat 1 to cat 2  Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa  - from cat 3 to cat 4 The Westin Pune Koregaon Park  - from cat 2 to cat 3 And if I recall correctly, AJ (Live from a Lounge) had written about the Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar actually deferring its opening! So much for the vagaries! Now for the good stuff. In all, 12 hotels are changing categories. They are: Hotel From Cat To Cat ITC Gra...