Thanks...back then even this did not work...I hope AI get a bit more responsible and post these planned downtimes beforehand.

@deovrat: Has there been any update on the AI-FR's redemption rates for *A partners?

Hi GuyFromBOM,
I emailed them a month back as a reminder. The same person replied and said that there was a big meeting involving some AI's big names and the loyalty team had to explain why this was not implemented earlier and why it was necessary. The board has given the green signal and they are working with their IT provider now and teaching their front line employees for the new changes simultaneously.

I had hoped this to be over by now, but it still seems some distance away. At least, they are moving in the right direction is all I can say.

Thanks for the update, deovrat!

Would it be possible to bring to their notice that a major chunk of the codeshare flights listed by AI (and published on FlyingReturns website) aren't available for booking- not just on AI website, but also at the City office.

Case in point is AI codeshare on TK:

Of the 14 TK flights marketed by AI under AI 60xx series, only 4 flights (to/from India-IST segments) can be booked on AI stock. This, despite AI having assigned codeshare flight numbers to all the flights.

http://www.flyingreturns.co.in/html/...age=earn&al=TK

If the above is implemented *correctly*, the AI-SBI co-branded card holders will be on cloud 9.. AI have some of the most frequently travelled routes available to be booked as codeshare.

Thanks.

PS: Besides TK, there are other carriers / stations as well which are listed as codeshare service, but not available for booking by AI.

PM'd you some contact info.

I just searched Cleartrip for fun, and they allow booking of other Codeshare flights as well. So AI has filed these fares in GDS most probably, but they themselves can't access it and private booking sites can! :confused:

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Capture_3.jpg

AYT is not even listed on the AI booking site as a possible station..!:confused:

On the other hand, AI codeshare on a 3rd party booking site is no good for the AI co-branded card bonus mileage! :(

Thanks for pointing it out, will probably be useful to remedy the situation! ^

Hi all,

Can someone help me with the benefits of combining/linking one's spouse's account? My spouse and I have our respective AI FFP accounts and have sizable number of Air Miles.

I am unclear about the actual benefits/disadvantages of linking both the accounts.

Like for example, if linking accounts gives us a total Air Mile of 50k+, would one or both of our accounts be upgraded to the Gold tier? (or)

On the other hand, in the above scenario, by linking accounts, does it in anyway debar my spouse and myself from moving the AI FFP tiers?

The above is just one advantage/disadvantage scenario I could think of ..any information on this topic would be very helpful to me :).

Thanks.

I can see that you have posted into AI-SBI thread for a similar question as well.
I hope I can simplify it for you.

Imagine that the miles are categorized into 2 categories.
Lets call them:
1) Status/Tier Miles
2) Redeemable Miles

Now, the first type of miles are the only miles that are responsible for determining your frequent flyer tier.

The second type, redeemable miles, do not contribute to your member tier at all. Rather, you can only use them for redemption for flights, or any other thing.
e.g. I can be a base tier member with 1 million redeemable miles, but zero status miles. That does not make me a Gold Tier/Maharajah member. I will only be able to redeem those redeemable miles towards something, like free flights.

If that's clear enough, then we move towards how to obtain these two types of miles.

a) Status/Tier miles can only be obtained by directly flying Air India flights/Air India codeshare flights. There is no other method/shortcut to accrue them.

b)Redeemable miles can be obtained from a variety of sources, not limited to:
-Direct flying AI/Codeshare flights (Yes, these miles can act both as Status as well as Redeemable miles)
-Credit card signup bonus/spend bonus
-Flying a Star Alliance airline and crediting the miles to your AI FFP number
-Buying miles from AI for hard cash
-Any other method

Again, at the expense of repeating myself, these can only be used for redemption towards AI/Star Alliance flights. NOT towards Status/FFP tier.

Hope that wasn't too confusing.

So, coming back to your original query, you can combine your and spouse's miles, but they are only of redeemable variety. So, none of you will move up/down a tier. You will only pool the miles for use towards redemption.

Feel free to ask any follow-up questions.

Thanks a ton deovrat :)

3 questions
 

#1 Is it beneficial to book Air India tickets on the AI website or rather through a travel portal (goibibo, cleartrip,...)?

I did a random check for a 1-way trip from Chennai to Hyderabad on 25th July 2015 (Economy class), the final prices:

• On Air India website : Rs.2610
• On Goibibo : Rs.2810 (after adding a convenience fee)

Rs.200 is a saving nevertheless and am sure there could be a bigger saving when booking longer distance flights (say Chennai - New Delhi or New Delhi to Chicago,...). How's the experience of the members here .. do they prefer the AI website or travel portals?


My 2nd question: Booking class wrt AI FFP miles
When booking a ticket on the AI website, we clearly know the class (as far as I have seen) even before we make the payment.

#2 Is it possible to determine the booking class for AI tickets when using travel portals (goibibo, cleartrip,..)? If yes, how?

My question arises from the fact that there 3 sub-classes under Economy (refer below link):
http://www.flyingreturns.co.in/html/...ia_flights.php

The booking class is critical since the sub-classes L, U, T, S, E under Economy only allow for 50% of Accrual Level as % of base miles i.e. we get only half the miles we originally travelled. For example: Chennai - New Delhi in Economy will usually get you 1095 miles. But, if this trip was made under the mentioned sub-classes, we would get only 548 miles (the 50% comes into factor here)!!



#3 How can we ensure to book our tickets on the sub-classes H, K, Q, V, W, G or Y, B, M which give us 100% of accrual on miles travelled?

Most of my travel is on business ..and occasionally I need to book international air tickets for my family. I was hoping there would be some way to book my tickets on the sub-classes (under Economy of course) which gives me 100% payback for my money?

Note: I recently missed out on 4000 odd miles because my ticket was booked under the lowest sub-class in economy for the international leg of my trip. The domestic leg of the same trip though, was booked under sub-class V which gave me 100% of the miles travelled :D.

I aim for a more informed travel in the future ... thanks in advance for your inputs.

In my personal opinion, its almost always beneficial to book a ticket directly from an airline.

Pros:
1) You generally (though not always) get the cheapest ticket.
2) In case of AI, you can choose seats at the time of booking itself on the website.
3) Seeing as you are considering applying for an AI-SBI Signature credit card, spend on AI website will give you 20 miles/Rs. 100. Spend on any other travel portals will only yield 4 miles/Rs.100.
4) I personally feel that entering our contact details directly with an airline while booking helps in case of any delays or disruptions as they already have your details on file so they can contact you. Travel portals may or may not transfer your details to the airline as reliably.

Cons:
1) In rare cases, a travel portal may have access to some low-class inventory and may have lower prices. It always helps to check both airline website and travel portals before final booking.
2) Travel portals can mix and match airlines. An airline might not be willing to book tickets on those airlines who it cannot call partners.

This is somewhat of a grey area and might differ from site to site.
If done correctly, the first letter of your PNR should be your booking class; though I have seen this theory go out of the window with some of the portals.
Some other members may also chime in on this one.


This has a somewhat easy but wallet-pinching answer.
When you book on AI website, you see these different price options. e.g. , Web special fares, Discounted fares, Flexible fares, etc.
Web special generally is the cheapest and then the fare rises for other classes.
When you click on more expensive fares, the class of booking (shown below on AI website) changes to one which accrues more % of miles flown. The ones giving 100% are on the higher end of fare spectrum.

Hope this helps.

Man .. talk about caveats :rolleyes::p. Thanks again deovrat.

@GuyFromBOM: I noticed that AI website had moved Live Chat option from Frequent Flyer tab to general Contact tab.
Verified that they are catering to all general queries now, and not solely FFP queries. Hence modified the wiki.

Hi,
Has anyone tried redeeming AI miles on *A partners while being outside India. I am in KL and trying to book an AirNewZealand flight from Sydney-Christchurch and return and have been ping ponged so far. Emailed to FFP, they told me to contact KL office, contacted they are saying since ANZ office in SG, so they have sent it to SG (how stupid is that) and I am sent back to FFP.

Must be an easier way out?