Author: Miles and Even More

And the most visited international destination in 2016 is…

Bangkok, India, News, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

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

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New use for your JP miles as Jet Airways expands relationship with Delta, Air France and KLM

Air France, Alliances, Delta, Jet Airways, News, Redemption, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

In March this year, Jet Airways moved its European hub (as part of its hub-and-spoke model) from Brussels to Amsterdam, while concurrently launching services to Amsterdam. Jet Airways has also operated daily flights on the Mumbai-Paris route for more than two years now. All of these give Jet Airways access to code-shares out of Amsterdam and Paris.

So the latest news is that Jet Airways will enhance its cooperation with Delta Air Lines and joint venture partner Air France-KLM. Here’s more on this development.

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Buy IHG points with 100% bonus – for another 4 days only!

IHG, Promotions, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

IHG is currently offering a limited-time flash sale for a 100% bonus on all IHG Rewards Club points purchased, valid till 30 September 2016. Though I’d normally not recommend buying points or miles speculatively, this could be a great opportunity to top up your IHG points balance, particularly if you’re just not too many points short of a targeted redemption. Here’s a quick look.

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The all-new Club Vistara: New Platinum tier, increased points earnings, status matches and more

Travel, Vistara

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

We at MAEM don’t track Vistara as much as we probably ought to, mainly because we have limited access to and need for the airline – they don’t fly to where we’re primarily based (which is MAA). That said, the program interests us enough to write about it, and many of you are members of Club Vistara, Air Vistara’s frequent flyer program. So we thought we’d write about several changes to this program, that were announced at a media event earlier today.

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Jet Privilege shopping mall is another JP miles earning opportunity

Jet Airways, JetPrivilege, Miles, Promotions, Technology, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

Jet Privilege, the mileage program of Jet Airways, already has several tie ups with partners, that enable members to earn JP miles on purchases or other transactions with them. These include partner airlines, hotels, retail chains, travel companies, car rentals, and such. And the latest addition to this is Jet Privilege’s shopping portal, run in partnership with Flipkart. You can now earn JP miles for your purchases with Flipkart, going up to 16 JP miles per Rs 100 spent on such purchases. Here’s how you can earn those extra miles, and a pro-tip.

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Starwood-Marriott officially combine, and here’s how you can benefit!

elite status, General, Loyalty, Marriott, Marriott Rewards, News, SPG, Starwood, Status Match, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

The long-drawn-out story of Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood has finally been given the go-ahead. And so, today – 23 September 2016 – marks the integration of loyalty programs of the two hotel chains. Here’s what you need to know about the combination, and how it affects you.

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SPG Hot Escapes for 21 September 2016 announced

Promotions, SPG, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

SPG has announced its latest list of Hot Escapes hotels, which are basically a selection of hotels hand-picked by SPG and made available at a reasonable to significant discount. Hot Escapes hotels are usually available at a discount of at least 15-20%, and going all the way up to 30-35% (and some times as high as 40%), but need to be booked by the Saturday. The deals are usually open for stays up to 6 weeks from the date they are announced.

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DGCA bans in-flight pictures in many cases

avgeek, General, Indian aviation, News, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

The civil aviation regulator in India – the DGCA – has issued regulations that make taking pictures on board aircraft pretty much impossible in most cases. And this applies to both passengers and crew, though differently. Call me cynical, but I get the feeling that the DGCA is overreacting, though airline crew and passengers aren’t entirely blameless in the matter. Nonetheless, here’s a deep-dive into the latest regulations on this front.

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Disappointed because I was upgraded, no chain-smoking, and some IHG insights

General, IHG, Promotions, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

I spent a night at the Crowne Plaza Greater Noida, in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India last week. I’ve reviewed this hotel before, so I’m not going to write about it again. But I was upgraded to a suite (apartment room, as they call it), and I’m disappointed. However, the visit was useful to some extent, and I learned some new stuff. Here’s more.

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Indigo trying to emulate SpiceJet’s SpiceClub?

Loyalty, Promotions, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

The budget airline market can be brutally competitive. And nowhere more so than India, where the aviation market is one of the cheapest globally. So it comes as no surprise that Indigo – which is normally the leader in most things marketing and innovation in the Indian aviation space – had to follow SpiceJet’s Spice Club, by offering relatively huge benefits for a pretty small price. Here’s more on the yet-unnamed offering.

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Two days in Bucharest – Day 1

Photos, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More

I was on a recent work trip to Bucharest, Romania in end-July. I flew Lufthansa business class (including intra-Europe business class). I’ve reviewed those products here and here, so I won’t be writing about them again. I stayed at a serviced apartment sort of place, booked by my hosts, and hence there’s no review.

I was able to get a little bit of time off on two of the 3 days that I was there. I usually take a long(ish) walk in order to (a) see and get a feel of the place a little bit, and (b) tire myself out so I get a good night’s sleep. This trip was no different. The first day was actually a half-day, the afternoon I landed.

This post has some (what I think are) awesome sights from that evening. The second post in this series (called Day 2) has pictures from what was was actually Day 3 of my stay (I had the entire day to myself). But that’ll come later. Here goes day 1.

Warning: You’ll probably see a beer (or 4) here among the pictures. That’s just honest journalism!

Sculptures outside the National Theatre

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Indigo joins the fare choices bandwagon

aviation, Fares, India, Indian aviation, PaxEx, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

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…

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Are you an Uber VIP?

News, Travel, uber

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

Over the last few weeks and months, we’ve brought you news and updates on Uber in India, and sometimes globally. You can find out if you’re an Uber high-roller, view your personalised Uber analyltics and visualisation, replacing surge pricing with fixed prices (which, if you ask me, is ripe for misuse and maybe Uber is already doing it), or scheduling future rides with Uber.

Now, as Uber celebrates 3 years in India, we bring you Uber VIP. Actually, it is more Vinay than we, given he’s our resident Uber expert! So, over to him.

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SPG GONE NUTS? Hot Escapes has 1130 hotels on offer, and clearly seems to be an error

Promotions, SPG, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

SPG has announced its latest list of Hot Escapes hotels, and it does look like an error (I’m sure the entire travel community will be really happy if it is NOT)! There’s a total of 1,130 hotels offering discounted rates, this week. Mind you, the SPG chain is only 1,200 hotels big, so this week virtually every single hotel seems to be on offer! Swansong before Marriott swoops in?

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How well does Jet Airways train its ground staff, I wonder

Jet Airways, PaxEx, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

Being in the service industry myself, there are some aspects of dealing with clients and customers that are inviolate. As a result, training employees on these becomes an essential aspect of an organisation’s success. That includes airlines, specifically Jet Airways. Here’s a recent story that left me wondering how well Jet Airways trains – and more importantly, updates – its front of house staff.

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New use for your Emirates miles, Sully, Defunct airlines of India, and much more

aviation, Award, Baggage, Emirates, Hotel Reviews, Indian aviation, Jet Airways, Promotions, Redemption, SPG, Technology, Travel, uber

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

…or, The week that was – 11 September 2016.

Fifteen years back today changed the way many of us look at the world – more in the wrong way – and brought in massive changes to air travel. Think enhanced security, “random” screening, and whatever else!

Anyway, it’s been a rather slow week here at MAEM, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening out there in the travel, hotels and airlines space. So 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!

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Defunct airlines of India – Part 2

Indian aviation, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

Last week we published the first part of our series on Defunct Airlines of India, in which we covered some stalwarts and fresh approach in the form of Vayudoot, Damania Airways and Skyline NEPC. This week, we take a look at two airlines that entered the market with very different – in fact, extreme – approaches. But almost as if to prove that opposites attract, eventually came together. We’re talking about Air Deccan and Kingfisher.

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Sully! At a movie hall near you, real soon (hopefully!)

avgeek, aviation, Travel

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

Courtesy our constant, never-ending quest for points and miles and travel to a great extent, we can safely conclude that most of us are aviation aficionados at the base of it all. And it isn’t every day that you get to see a film that’s centered around aviation releasing as well. (I still get my yearly fix of Top Gun even after all these years). That said, the only thing that beats watching these aviation movies, is watching these aviation movies on a plane!

Anyway, so I thought it might be useful to remind readers, that tomorrow is the worldwide release of the much awaited film Sully, an biographical account of the miraculous landing of a US Airways Airbus A320 flight number 1549 on the Hudson river, minutes after take-off, on 15 January 2009. 

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Find out how much you’ve spent on Uber rides, and where you rank among top spenders!

General, News, Technology, Travel, uber

Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More

Recently, I was looking around for a way to see how much I’ve spent on Uber till date. Less than half-way into a manual process, I realised this was going to involve herculean effort, as there is no direct way through the Uber app itself. And so all efforts were soon called off. However, a little bit of research, and I stumbled upon this site. And they seem to have it figured out. How accurate the numbers are is anyone’s guess, but it’s a start. It’s a simple 2 step process to get your numbers. Here’s more.

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