Tag Archives for India.
United Airlines award space is wide open between the U.S. and India. You can fly out of San Francisco, Chicago, or Newark (or, potentially, connect to one of those cities) and on to Delhi with some availability to Mumbai as well. You’ll find at least two business class seats every day through the end of the schedule.
India has a population equal in size to China. However it isn’t nearly as significant economically or geopolitically. It hasn’t experienced China’s growth. India’s economy is about one fifth the size. And even on a purchasing power parity basis the average Indian is about 60% poorer than the average resident of China.
They don’t think they need foreign flights to improve commerce and bring down costs. They’d rather protect their homegrown oligarchs.
On Friday night’s American Airlines flight 292 from New York JFK to Delhi, a passenger urinated on a seat opponent. Unlike recent similar incidents, though, this wasn’t a case of the man walking up and aiming at the victim. I
Once you’re on the bus you can usually be confident that you’ll at least make the plane. I’ve never seen passengers miss a flight once on the bus.
Yet somehow Indian low cost carrier Go First boarded passengers on a 1058 mile flight from Bangalore to Delhi onto a bus and then forgot them. Reportedly 55 passengers were left behind. Four buses were used for the flight, but only three bus loads of passengers actually made it into the cabin.
Seventy eight percent of passengers on a single flight from Italy to India tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival. The Wednesday Boeing 767 charter from Milan Bergamo to Amritsar on EuroAtlantic Airways had 179 passengers on board and 125 tested positive for Covid-19 (78%) after landing. That’s no entirely surprising!
American Airlines launched its New York JFK – Delhi flight, marking its return to India, but it’s been plagued by massive problems. They haven’t been granted the right to fly over Russia, and so the flight takes two hours longer than flights on other airlines. That means more fuel and more crew and the plane has frequently had to take a diversion – further lengthening the trip and inconveniencing passengers.
Right now fares would have to be a lot lower for anyone to want to fly American over even Air India, let alone United from Newark. Addressing the issues has been a company-wide priority for the airline.
A kangaroo once walked into an airport pharmacy in Australia and also hopped down the aisle of an American Airlines flight so it shouldn’t come as a terrible surprise to see a monkey sidling up to the bar in one of the lounge at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Although passengers in the lounge were certainly surprised to see the monkey take a drink of fruit juice, and not tip the bartender.
Hotels are collaborating with hospitals in India offering vaccine packages and India’s government is cracking down.
By working together with hotels to offer vaccines, Indian hospitals are creating an explicit price. They’re bundling the goods, and that makes it harder to separate how much you’re paying for an included bath robe versus for a life-saving jab.
The new ban on most travel by non-U.S. citizens or permanent resident who have recently been in India which goes into effect Tuesday is symbolic – porous and giving people advance notice to get into the country under the wire – was meant to appear that the administration is ‘doing something’. Covid-19 variants spreading in India are already here in the U.S. Travel bans won’t keep them out.
With the Department of Justice ramping up its investigation of American’s partnership with JetBlue at the behest of competitors, this ‘Northeastern alliance’ is out today with exciting new routes demonstrating the additional flying that becomes possible through the partnership – and just how much more formidable the competition with Delta and United becomes in the Northeast as a result.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
