I did DEL-MAA yesterday, was booked on 9W FSC (ie, not Jet Konnect). I wanted to reschedule to an earlier flight, which was a Konnect flight, but was told that I had to pay full fare. Here's the shocker - the full fare on Jet Konnect is the *SAME* as that on the FSC 9W flight.

I think the only remaining benefit on JetKonnect is that you get to earn the same miles as in 9W FSC. You also get the same bonus miles if you book your tickets using a Jet Airways Citibank Card [JACC] (co-branded) (4 for Rs 100 on plat card, 2 for Rs 100 on gold; double/triple of that on promotions).

However, if you're looking for lounge access, it makes eminent sense to get a JACC gold or plat, which gives you lounge access automatically (so do Diners, regular Citibank Plat, etc), irrespective of which airline you're flying.

Am still holding on to my 140k miles to use on an upcoming international family vacation... after that, who knows! I also heard Paramount is looking to start int'l ops pretty soon... ^

Hmm... I have been told that Paramount is relatively useless. They charge the J fare, but just block off the middle seat, from what I hear...

Domestic or int'l? I know in domestic, paramount has only a window and aisle seat...no middle seat at all - 100% sure of this, given that they use Embraer aircraft and also, I've flown them quite often now (convenient timings for MAA-HYD-MAA and MAA-CCU-MAA). For their international flights, I believe they will be following the same seating pattern, and read somewhere recently that they are / will be ordering specially configured aircraft for this...

MAA-CCU-MAA, you say. I'm about to travel CCU-MAA-CCU. I take that you recommend Paramount? Or is there another airline that you would recommend to me for that trip. Keeping in mind that I'm going to be taking an Indian Railways train from Tatanagar to Howrah, and then taking a taxi from Howrah to the Airport...

Oh I'd recommend paramount any day. the MAA-CCU-MAA timings are brilliant, and provide for a full day's work in CCU [the only dampener is that most CCU ppl don't know what a full day's work means ]

With CCU-MAA-CCU, the prob is that the first paramount flight into Chennai is at 1330 hrs ex-CCU... and the next (last) is at 2125 hrs ex-CCU. So if you don't mind coming in one night earlier, perfect...

Don't know if you know, but they also run a set of promotions through AVA, where you can get a steal sometimes...

The thing is that I'll be in MAA for a week. So I guess that the times aren't going to be a problem.

As for AVA, I'm not exactly sure what that is, what it stands for, or how to access the promos. I tried running a google, but with no luck. I'd appreciate it if you or any other FT'er who knows could take a minute to detail it a bit more.

Oh, and right on with the CCU comment. Their workday seems to barely last 5-10 minutes.

Thanks,
AY

+2

Don't get me started - went to ONGC the other week and it doesn't matter if you're in BOM, MAA or CCU

AVA is a merchandising unit (http://www.avamerchandising.com/) that has tie ups with some of the LCCs. In Paramount, every flight gets you a scratch card, and the product on that card is yours for a handling charge of ~Rs 500. You also get a mini product catalogue, where the prices are ridiculously cheap compared to market, and products are genuine - I got a Swatch chronograph for Rs 1200 ^ . The scratch card and mini-cat are handed out in-flight, and there's some action you need to take on board. But the products can usually be collected on arrival at the AVA counter. Out of stock or large products (eg, HP's print-scan-copy-fax) are couriered to your address.

As far as I know, they have tie ups with Paramount, Jetlite and a few credit card companies as well including Citi and Axis Bank.

Hope that helps...

Yup. I'm taking a look at their web-site right now and seeing if they have anything for me. Worst comes to worst, the India office can book the Indian National rate for me instead of the NRI rate...

not sure if you'll find much on their website, it doesn't have a catalog (i think) and doesn't let you order online (i know)...in any case, i think this current thread is being hijacked by AVA and paramount! maybe we shd have another one for those... what say?

Original post taken down due to privacy issues correctly brought up by another FTer. Would be willing to share a note from Jet management with regards to the FSC to JetKonnect potential transition through PM. PM me if you want to take a look; I'd be happy to send it.

And yes, aniruddh77's note below won't make sense until you read the note.

Clearly 9W's trying to "capitalise" on the demand for LCCs, and in the context of the current economic conditions, I find their logic hard to beat. But don't they realise its temporary? Also, I heard somewhere that (particulary on international routes) if 9W fills up its J class 100%, then any fare collections in Y is purely profit - I did some math myself and have largely been able to confirm this.

AY: Given this, I find your friend's response quite ambivalent And I do hope you don't get into trouble for making public, what might otherwise have been innocent private correspondence !!!

If all (or most) of their flights go the Konnect way, then there won't be much to differentiate them from other airlines, except the relatively high fares! What use is it paying full fare Konnect if I can afford full fare 9W? In any case, with their latest slew of very low priced offers, am not sure 9W can sustain their FSC model for much longer...

I always felt that Jets biz cabins were always quite full on Domestic flights. Not sure what benefit they will get by going all economy.

Quite! And this new policy will certainly dissuade me from buying any more of those 8/12 sectors domestic business coupon booklets.

Definitely not worth it these days. Under the coupons, I think the average fare is INR 16k per sector. You can get regular bookings at Rs 10k/sector incl taxes if you can book early enough. Pity those coupons can't be used on int'l sectors.