Keep Flying with JetPrivilege

It is a really sad news that Jet Airways, our favorite domestic airline, has temporarily suspended flight operations since yesterday. It is an unfortunate news and we want them to bounce back up really soon, so that we can fly with Jet Airways once again. But, much is already being talked about this in the media and the internet is full of articles, so I would not spend more time writing about the same thing; you might as well just 'Google it'.

What I really want to communicate through this blog is the fact that JetPrivilege, which is part of the Etihad Aviation Group and not Jet Airways, is traveling strong through this turmoil and is still the most popular airline loyalty program in India. The suspension of operations by Jet Airways is in no way affecting JetPrivilege.

An article in The Telegraph titled, 'Jet frequent fliers worried over points' by some journalist named Sanjay Mandal, has tried to tarnish the image of JetPrivelege. Sanjay has done no research, twisted facts and has given opinions which are incorrect. Guess that's what these journalists are paid to do nowadays.

We have been earning and redeeming JPMiles for years now. So, when all this news of Jet Airways going through the last stages of the turmoil came in the news daily, even I was a little worried - I had close to 1 Lakh JPMiles in my account and they were earned through a lot of planning, hard work and patience. I used to check the JetPrivilege website daily and logged into my account to see the status of my miles.

About a month back when Jet Airways started cancelling flights left, right and center (even our recent flights to Goa and back were cancelled and we booked with Indigo as an alternative), I really got scared and even went to the JetPrivilege website to redeem the JPMiles against some products from their store. Fortunately, the site was down and I could not use my hard-earned miles. The next day when I checked the website again, I found a new option called 'Select Flights'. And, here was the savior.

So, what are 'Select Flights'? 'Select Flights' are seat that you can book in any airline that JetPrivilege has tied up with. Basically, you can book a seat in any airline with your JPMiles. The list of airlines that you can currently book seats on with JPMiles are growing by the day. For flights within India we have ourselves seen Air India, Indigo, SpiceJet, AirAsia and GoAir being listed. For international airlines the list is pretty exhaustive as well and even covers some of the most exotic destinations.

How can we confidently say that you can book tickets in any airline with JPMiles through the 'Select Flights' options? Well, we had some upcoming travel in June and August, later this year, with Jet Airways. These flight were booked using JPMiles, so when they got cancelled, our miles were refunded and we went ahead and book our seats with Indigo for the same travel dates using our JPMiles. And, surprisingly, we actually spent less while booking with Indigo using JPMiles as the number of miles required were same (inclusive of taxes, while Jet Airways used to charge the taxes additionally) and we just had to pay a nominal convenience fee.

It is really great that JetPrivilege (and Etihad Aviation Group) has not abandoned its loyal members and come up with an alternative that is far greater than just being able to book seats with Jet Airways (and its codeshare partners) using JPMiles. Now, using JPMiles we can easily book a seat to any corner of the world, without having to worry if a particular airline flies that route or not.

So, stop worry about your JPMiles.

Earn more, redeem more and 'keep flying with JetPrivilege'!