AirIndia - FlyingReturns
 

With the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...cards-now.html thread getting quite a few hits about redemption and earning on AI and it's partners, makes sense to have a seperate thread.

Great! It would be awesome if we can create a wiki on here about the basics of redemption, domestic, international and those on Star Alliance.

By the way, I've been in touch of some senior officials of AI since a few days and would like to share some info about Star Alliance redemptions too.

share away....would be interesting to know what they had to say....

Well, I have my eye on a trip in December/January. So I decided to try and get some dummy redemption so that I wouldn't get any nasty surprises later on. I figured I could cancel that award ticket later on.

This is where the first hurdle started. Air India won't let you book an award by phone. They can only tell you if award space is available for a flight and can calculate the taxes, and thats it.
Alright. I picked up the phone and asked for a business class award seat BOM-GRU for a random date, which I confirmed beforehand to have availability on LH via FRA and SA via JNB too.
The agent couldn't find any space. Neither could the next one. Or the one after that.

At the fourth attempt, I asked him if I can manually suggest flight numbers to him so he can search for them individually and build an itinerary.
This worked to an extent and he could see award space, but at the time of pricing, he quoted me BOM-FRA + FRA-GRU miles and not BOM-GRU miles, as he should have. This was the first sign of trouble.

Subsequent attempts on a lazy Sunday revealed that their computers can only price an award point to point. I assume that because Air India priced their own awards on a point to point basis before they joined *A, their agents can't join 2 tickets together for a single itinerary. Turned out their IT systems are not updated either. One guy actually listened to me and told me I was right, but there was no way he can override the system or anything. None of the supervisors I asked could help out any more than that either.

Frustrated, I managed to get through to an Air India FR official and we emailed back and forth. I won't reveal his name or position for the sake of anonymity, but suffice to say that his rank suggested that if anyone could make changes, it would be him.

I wrote him a detailed explanation about if the system was only pricing out point-to-point, then Star Alliance chart was pointless. e.g. There is no non-stop BOM-GRU flight, so that the system could never price an award for BOM-GRU rates in the chart, the rates would always be inflated since they charged each segment separately.

Furthermore, I explained that the "One Stopover or one open-jaw permitted per itinerary" rule was redundant. There can never be a stop-over or an open-jaw when you are only pricing point-to-point.

Long story short, he really listened carefully, asked some clarification questions proactively; and in the end, told me that I was right on all counts and admitted that he had to change some things quickly.

2 days later, I got a confirmation from him that he has held a meeting with their IT guys and their "Service Provider" (I assume its SITA) and informed them about the changes that they needed to make. However, he could not give me a timescale as to when this would be sorted out, though I was promised to be kept informed.
I thought this was quite candid of the guy to accept the system's mistakes and then try to rectify them; especially considering how hard it is in India to convince a (semi)Government official. I'd give them a month or two and try to follow up.


So, for those interested in Flying Returns redemptions for Star Alliance as well as any beginners with us, these are the salient points as of February 2015:

I hope that this was informative. I would of course keep you updated as and when I can get additional information.

Thanks,this is helpful. One doubt, do they charge fuel surcharges for airlines like United who themselves don;t charge fuel surcharges on their own award tickets?

Nice info, @deovrat..! ^

In the meantime, I am compiling a list / links of AI-FR related FAQs, that I would be added into the Wiki.

Sadly they do impose them, regardless of what partner airlines do with their own members. If your itinerary displays a fuel surcharge (ITA Matrix can help you find out), then AI will impose it.

Good job ! Keep wiki privileges either closed or else only open to members with substantial posts/experience.

Wiki is up and running.

Very nice and comprehensive job! ^
I didn't know you couldn't earn miles on Air India Express. :eek:

Thanks GuyFromBOM. Great start to the wiki. ^

Thanks..! ^

WRT to Express, I guess the AI-SBI card users may be able to get the transaction to be counted as "AI" for those bonus miles..! :p

True that, actual flying counts for less these days than the process of booking the flight on AI website. :D
Can anyone confirm that transactions through their city booking offices can also accrue 20 miles/INR 100 rate?

Online, Citi Office, Airport Counter, IVR on Call- as long as it's directly charged by AI and not their GSA or a representative office.

I recently used it in DXB to modify my booking and the chargeslip was issued by the GSA. Hence, no bonus.

Thats good stuff, thanks ! :)

AI-FR's Domestic frequent flyers have an excellent promotion to avail of: My Dream Destination
It's a spend based offer, with an option to get rewarded with base-fare & fuel surcharge waived tickets on AI network.

IMO, Keyser could be one of those who could make the most of this..! ;)

PS: Offer open only to FR members.

star alliance redemption
 

I am trying to redeem TLV to BOM and the best connection is via IST. Managed to get the seats on both legs but as mentioned in this thread, the system is asking for 110000 miles instead of 35000 only.

Any body has any feedback on this issue yet?

Thanks so much OP ! Really helpful info !

Sadly, at this point their systems are still programmed to price it the wrong way and we haven't heard of any reports of them being reprogrammed as of yet.

As deovrat mentioned it's still a work in progress.

BTW, TK is also connected to 9W-JP.. incase, you have JP Miles.

Yes 9W does have a partnership with TK but I may need to cancel/ amend this award closer to the flight. Hence I am avoiding JP miles.

You could also try to redeem CAI/ADD/IST-BOM using AI miles. And buy a seperate flight to the star hub from TLV, possibily on the same carrier. But since these will be on seperate PNRs leave plenty of connection time, so as to avoid a Missed Connection.

Yes this is what I am doing now. Seems like the best option.

i got the email for this offer a few days ago but did not have a chance to look at it till now....i should be able to make good use of this as i have a ton of domestic travel on ai over the next few months....

AI ticket, Flight Cancelled , rebooked on Etihad ..Miles accural where ?
 

Hi,

Had a Moscow - Del - Kolkata flight last week.. Moscow -Del leg got cancelled as some issues with the incoming DEL - Moscow flight..
Hence, they rebooked me to Delhi via Etihad the next morning.. and my DEL - CCU was also rescheduled to another AI flight.

The return leg was all on AI and I flew them as planned.

I see in my AI FR account that the CCU - DEL - Moscow return flights have been posted but not the onward flights.

Question is where should I be getting the flight for the Moscow - Del - CCU leg ?

First thing, I assume you have the boarding passes for DME-AUH & AUH-DEL (both EY) and DEL-CCU (on AI) with you.

Now, your EY flights cannot be credited to Flying Returns as EY does not partner with AI. Those miles can be credited to either a Etihad Guest account or a JetPrivilege account if you have one. You have to send the program an email with your boarding pass images attached and ask for retrospective crediting of miles.

Same goes for AI's DEL-CCU leg, write to Flying Returns along with your boarding pass and ask for retrospective miles.

Hmmm... while I have those and will do the same..problem is the boarding passes don't have an e-ticket number..they specifically gave me (and another person ) a manual paper stating that we need to give this in transit in AUH at the gates else we cannot board the AUH - DEL flight. That was apparantly the 'voucher' thru which EY would be paid by AI for our flights..

But will try and claim from Jet Privilege and AI on a retro basis ..lets see

Funny thing is AI gave me alternate flight options on Etihad even though they are not partners..
We had multiple *A flight options during that time (LH, LX) but they issued ticket on EY.. seemed surprising to me.. Both LX and LH had tickets available for Moscow - Delhi too..

Would be dependent on what class of ticket was booked by AI...

Business or economy flights?

Economy

In case of irreg AI as an IATA member can rebook you onto any IATA carrier to get you to your final destination. The paper you were handed was a FIM.

More here: https://www.caymanairways.net/iata/m...st-Ed-2002.pdf

you can get original routing credit when asking AI-FR and earn miles on 9W :)

This is the best thing I like about AI. Incase of IrrOps, they are smart enough to minimise the impact by issuing endorsments onto another carrier. Other carriers, usually just offer a full refund in case of a delay and not as eager to offer endorsments onto another carrier.

Since you were originally booked onto AI and they 'involuntarily' bumped you off to another carrier, logically, you should earn the same miles / segments as AI- no more, no less.

To clarify this, contact the AI-FR team either on email or using the chat feature on the AI website.

Hello,

I am looking to book an award ticket from Europe to Delhi in mid-July on AI using UA miles. When I searched last Sunday, there was availability showing in all classes from all of their European gateways on my selected date. Now, LHR only shows First, while MXP and FRA show only Business; CDG doesn't appear at all. This is consistent with AI's own search tool. This would have been oddly coincidental (and unfortunate) for all of them to have filled so quickly. Is it possible that this is a bug? Have others experienced this?

Thanks.

Hi intltravel90, first of all AI only has a First cabin on its 77Ws which fly to LHR and JFK/EWR routes. MXP, FRA, BHX, FCO, CDG and DME are operated by 787 Dreamliners which are configured only in 2 classes, Business and Economy. Hence, I'd say that if UA website was showing First class on the routes other than London and NYC, then it was a glitch.

Secondly, AI opens up the same number of award seats for both its own members and to Star Alliance partners. Hence, if you can see a seat via AI's own tool, then you can book it by UA miles.

In my experience, AI releases 2 seats in Business and 2 seats in First consistently for its 77W flights. So its possible that the business class awards may have been snapped up and you may only be seeing F award from LHR. AI does not open any award space closer to departure, so that might be that for a given date.



P.S.: This is the availability for 15th July from LHR - Both J and F available!
http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a...at/Capture.jpg

deovrat, thank you for this thoughtful reply.

As a data point, and to my surprise, when I called United, they were able to book the ticket I was looking for (Economy, which was not clear in my original message). This ticket was not showing on the United website, the Air India website, or the Air India call center. The agent on the phone had no difficulty accessing it.

Wow! United having secret access to hidden award space! Somewhere Smisek will be pulling his hair out. ;)

Thank you for this data point, this is a new occurrence for us.
Is the booking all ticketed with an e-ticket no?
Have any of our other members experienced this?

Yes, I am able to view the ticket on both United's site and AI's site, including the e-ticket number and separate PNRs. I'm able to select seats, too.

As I noted, all of AI's European flights except FCO (but including MXP) went from availability in Economy to none overnight early this week, so it does seem like this may be a glitch.

Glad your booking's worked out and have a good trip :)

Thanks!

[Moved the rest of the question to the DEL transfer thread.]

What are the cancellation charges for award tickets ?