air india frequent flyer program
 

hi,

has anyone signed up for frequent flyer program of air india? Is it any good? Can we use miles on star alliance partners like LH or SQ?

Yep the flying returns program is good if you are looking for redemption on AI flights itself, since AI isn't part of *A so you can't use their miles to redeem on other *A partners but with LH and SQ they have a tie-up whereby you can credit AI flights to either one of them. So you can pick and choose either one of LH or SQ FFP's if you are looking for international redemption but if you are looking for domestic redemption you can enroll for flying returns program, i guess they still have the 1000 miles sign up bonus promo running.

thanks buddy... really helpful

I'd stay far far away if I were you. Its a pain in the rear to redeem the miles.... you actually have to fax in a form with your passport, etc before you can redeem anything

but the availability is good! ;)

I guess the availability is good precisely because no one actually makes any award bookings since it's such a pita

no pains , no gains. on other airline, the pain is to find seats, here the pain is just to book them.

Not so tough anymore. They've changed things a bit. All you have to do is land up at the nearest Air India office and the redemption can be done over the counter. Subject to seat availability of course..

Even easier now
 

Actually I just redeemed recently and its even easier. A few months ago AI moved to an internet based redemption feature. Choose your flights, date and number of seats and as long as you have enough miles for redemption and there are open seats on the flight the redemption is possible. No limits imposed on available award seats like most other airlines. Payment of taxes can be done online using a credit card so the process took all of 20 minutes for me. Its a far cry from having to take your award form and passport to a ticket office and have it issued manually.

One little note of caution, if the miles are being redeemed at an Air-India office, they don't seem to accept a credit card payment for the tax bit and ask for the same to be paid in cash.. other wise all in all in a very straight-forward and quick process.

thanks evry one... just one more query hows jet airways frequent flier and the service they provide on delhi jfk/ewr route??
really appreciate ur replies

service on economy- is it good in comparison to air india..
my two options air india and jet.. can u compare the two airlines on this route?? my tentative date of flying out is 30 june and return journey is 25 july

What is the tier-qualification requirements for Flying returns..? I have noticed on a few sectors AI awards more miles (on revenue) than 9W & charges less miles (on redemption) than 9W.

Although the difference is marginal, 9W doesn't award miles on deep-discounted tickets, unlike AIC. Tempting me to join FR..!

Thanks,
GuyFromBOM

been a member since the 90s....as others have said, its a great program when it comes to redemption....

:confused::confused:

when was the last time you did this????its all online now....

between jet & ai there is no comparison....jet would win every single time....

if you have a choice then stick with jet....

yup..i have booked online redemptions (domestic India trips) with ease on AI.
Once I had to change an award ticket. For this, I had to go to the office. But, no issues...they re-did the ticket in 10 minutes or less.

I have the same question, the Flying Returns website is quite pathetic really

there is no published criteria....they were going to change that if they got into star alliance but no clue what's going to happen with the tier qualification now....

With AI, can one person book award travel for another?

So how many flights / miles would one need to be promoted from basic to Silver tier..?

no clue....a few years ago i was flying ai a lot....one day i get the maharajah card in the mail....that's supposed to be their highest tier....my travel on ai has reduced over the years but i've still maintained my maharajah status with them....this year i've only taken about a dozen ai flights so i wouldn't be surprised if they demote my status for 2012....

I don't know of anyone who ever got demoted until or unless you totally stop flying with them, the status stays. The biggest benefit I see with them is the Maharaja lounge, some of them are really pretty good.

and most suck.

Wow, typically AIC style..! The upgrade / re-qualification criteria are not published. Simply implying: "Take it or Leave it"..!

KingClub is miles ahead with its dedicated website and all T&C's published online..!

LOL....only if those Kingfisher flights show up on time...or even show up at all.
I almost stopped flying IT....i take 9W or AI.

kingclub is a pain in the ... if you are trying to redeem partner miles....you can't make an online request....you have to download the award form, then fax or scan it back to them....after that they take ages (often months) to get back to you....in mid august i inquired about a partner award on air france....they got back to me almost a month later letting me know there is availability....i asked them what the taxes & fees would be & it has now been another 2 weeks & no one has gotten back to me yet....

For me, KFA works just fine... earning tier points / miles also on deep discounted tickets with lounge access.

Ooh, that's not too good..!
I haven't attempted partner redemption yet, but redemption on KFA is fine. One difference I have noticed is that redeeming miles on Kingfisher Red is much 'cheaper' than redeeming on JetLite / Jet Konnect.

A letter of recommendation? :p

From your friendly MP, MLA, Collector, Tehsildar or Block Development Officer? :p

Think criminal - politician, so the first two plus all our friendly politico-sleaze balls in jail. Today's collectors are little better than servile travel agents and tour operators:(

Has anybody recently used online redeemption?

I am getting this error for every thing i try.

'Unable to price the selected journey - please select a different option'

I don't know why they even have a webpage. Also does anybody know if a ticket can be booked for somebody else. I have miles in my parents account and i want to travel on that. How to book it?

how to registration in air india flight

I've used online redemption a number of times. You can indeed book a ticket for someone else.
What sector are you looking to redeem miles for?

I didn't get your question, do you want to register for Air India's frequent flyer program?