AKGhost

Hey FTers,

I had a quick NRI Question. I am based in LAX and fly to CCU 2X a year ( Usually via some Star Alliance carrier) and fly around 2 - 3 transcons a year here in the US. I have ~ 300,000 Million Milers on Delta (when I was young I flew the JFK - BOM via FRA route a bit too much) but aside from that nothing else, no statuses.

My goal would be to find the cheapest fares to CCU in general while accruing miles on an Indian Airline to status so that after moving back to CCU I could have status, discounts etc, while flying domestically in India and outbound to SE Asia, Europe, and the U.S. CCU would be my home base in India.

- What airline frequent flyer program would you kind folks recommend?

- Is there a credit card or other means to boost status + mileage. An added bonus would be if it could be used in the United States.

I thank you all in advance!

*I do apologize in advance if I posted this in the wrong section but given the nature of Airlines of India programs, that all of the airline's programs are all consolidated into one sub forum, I feel this would be the only place to get maximal input from this community.

Keyser

both jet & kingfisher are partners with delta....more info here....

jet partners

kingfisher partners

you can also get co-branded credit cards for both airlines....more info here....

jet citibank card

kingfisher amex cards

abhilife2001

Hi,

Your 1st goal as u say is to find and take the cheapest fare to CCU..So, I would see what are the options available for ur travel dates .. Normally I guess u would get AI, EK and sometimes LH or other airlines in ur shortlist...
For accruing those miles in Indian airline partners, as Saad said below both KF and 9W have very decent alliances globally.. But note that unless they are code-share , u will be able to get ur miles credited to tht FFP, but not status .. So, if u r looking for status miles, then u need to book on codeshare partners ( but I wouldn't do that, since my rule is to avoid codeshares if I can)..
IMHO, status within India is not very important since flights r short duration and unless u fly a real lot it tough to retain it..Codeshare as i said may be a lil expensive option but it depends on the sector and load tht day..

Seeing this forum and being a member of 9W myself, I believe it may be a better option to become a member of KF's King club which has a partneship with Delta and Continental and gives 100% credit even for the lowest Y classes..U hv more partneship options with Jet, but the redemption options are less and KF is one the way to join the OW which will give u AA as an option later..
For Credit cards, both 9W with citibank and KF with Amex has CC's which will give u miles for spends..All are intl valid CC's..

Ofcourse others may hv their own views

dgxoxo

You can accrue redemption miles on Delta when flying Jet Airways or Kingfisher. However, you will not accrue medallion qualification miles on Delta, which helps you gain status.

abhilife2001

I believe the OP is looking for the reverse.. ie flying some other airline and getting status on Indian carriers..

AKGhost

Yes, accruing on an Indian Airline. Thank you saad & abhilife2001 for your feedback. I'm going to try to figure something out for the long run out of 9W and KF.

Keyser

no problem at all....let me know if you have any more questions....

AKGhost

I have a new set of questions for ya all:

I'd be putting $4K USD/Mo on the card
From what I read the KF card is not open to Indian citizens from CCU!?
The miles on both would expire after 12 months regardless of use

My goal would be to stack miles like crazy and redeem them later on, 24 mos +

From what I read KF = 1 Mile per dollar (basically) + spend rewards, 9W 2 Miles per dollar but no bonuses.

KF does offer Gold status which may be good if they go OW and I need lounge access stateside?

As a final question, how do these airlines calculate "million miles", via BIS or total earned (just a longshot question)

Thanks to abhilife and saad as well as other Airlines of India experts in advance!

FedUp2

Whatever you do, 'status' is very transient and you can enjoy it at most for 12 months (or until Feb 2013). Also, no amount of mileage earned through CC spend will gain you status; for that you need to actually fly with the concerned airline. Moreover, accumulating a lot of miles on any carrier, to spend slowly over time is a bad idea: Airlines are continuously trying to devalue the miles by increasing the mileage requirements and adding restrictions. Also, once IT joins OW, your OW status will be good for all IT domestic flights. Finally, IMO, accumulating miles on US carrier is a far better idea for the purpose of redemptions, rather than on Indian carriers.

Keyser

where did you read that the kf card is not open to indian citizens from ccu????

on kingfisher you get i point for every inr 40 & 10 times the points if you use it to book on flykingfisher.com which with jet you get 1 point for every inr 25 & booking on jetairways.com will get you twice that....

kingfisher will be part of ow by mid next year so gold status will be pretty handy then....

i'm not sure about the millions miles & what benefit that would have....i have about a couple million miles on jet but i never got any extra benefit....

abhilife2001

+1 to the above..
Though I hv not checked out US Air FFP yet, I hv read abt it a lot on how easy its to accumulate miles there and redeem it on * alliance partners.. I believe many learned folks even buy US air miles just to redeem them on partner airlines and it turns out quite cheap..

AKGhost

When I looked on the Amex site I thought I saw something that said, only available to applicants based in Delhi... (no Kolkata)

Say I spend USD $ 4,000 a month and get 8,000 miles a month on Jet, will those miles expire if I keep churning them every 12 months?

Do upgrade vouchers ever expire?

Thanks again for all of your help everyone!

aniruddh77

JP Miles last for 13 quarters from the quarter of earning.

Yes, at one year from date of issue. Expiry date is printed on the voucher. Having said that, they allow you to revalidate and use the vouchers, as long as its just a couple of months or so after expiry...no written rules on this one. Revalidation - if they do it - is possible at the city offices, and in one-off cases, by 9W's airport duty manager.

AKGhost

Ah I see, Thanks for you assistance!

aniruddh77

9W isn't bothered with activity - earning or burning. 13Q, and anything that's older than that is wiped out.