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...or, The week that was - 28 August 2016 . Here's a round up of the week that was - a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting.Hope you had a great week, and here's wishing you the very best in the next one! Airline News Jet Airways' 10% discount on all international routes (including codeshares with Air France and Etihad operated flights) - book by 28 August. Jet Privilege is selling JPmiles with a 40% bonus when you buy miles by 31 August 2016 . That's just over Rs 1.02 a mile. Review: GVK Premium Lounge Mumbai International departures Go Air to go international soon? When? Where? On-board internet access within India soon.  To go or not to go? A Royal Air Maroc B737 is in two minds ! If you're a nightclub person AND in need of some Etihad Guest miles,  here's the perfect offer for you ! Hotel News Hilton HHonors' extends the 2x points promotion through the end of the year . SPG...

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...

A couple of days back, I wrote about SPG offering free internet in 2015 for direct bookings . IHG and Marriott are already offering or have announced internet for all members, and Hilton HHonors offers complimentary high-speed internet for its Gold and Diamond members. But in all of those cases, there are often restrictions on the number of devices that can be connected or the speeds are not necessarily great. There is great variability in terms of what you get in different parts of the world - in India and Asia-Pac for instance, complimentary internet either isn't usually a problem, or isn't very expensive. Yesterday, Hyatt made an announcement that will surely make the other biggies in this space change their strategies around complimentary internet.  Starting February 2015, all guests at all Hyatt hotels will receive free wifi internet across an unlimited number of devices and laptops. And unlike SPG, this benefit will be available irrespective of the booking source. And t...

Last week, Starwood announced free internet for all SPG members starting 2 February 2015, as long as the booking is made directly on spg.com, using the SPG app or on hotel brand sites. This clearly seems to be to compete with IHG (which announced free internet for all members earlier this year) and Marriott (free internet for all members starting 2015). To accommodate this, SPG will be providing differential internet options - standard and premium. Gold and Platinum members will be entitled to premium internet, while other members will get standard internet (upgradeable for a fee). Free premium internet will also be available to partners (such as Crossover rewards with Delta and Your World Rewards with Emirates). In addition, Gold members will receive free premium internet in addition to their welcome gift. ( If you haven't got SPG Gold yet, you could do so with a single stay in AsiaPac, paid for with a World Mastercard. ) The only drawback to this, which Loyalty Lobby also points...

It has been a rather interesting week, though a tiring one. On the personal travel front, I was away for 3 days in 3 cities, and in what is beginning to be par for the course, included a very short stay at the JW Marriott Bangalore that I'll write about soon. It has also been an interesting week on the general travel front - one fare sale , then another . Both of these are live at the moment, so do consider them if you want to. And of course, there's the big news about (positive) changes to the JP program . And then there are some interesting pieces that I though were worth sharing: It seems that I've been remiss is using "Holland" and "The Netherlands" interchangeably. While I did know that there was some difference, I've never had it put across as wittily as this video does.   Just The Flight has this truly awesome infographic on tourist scams to avoid. Definitely worth a read, especially if you have some travels coming up. I can't say I'v...