Jet Airways cuts lounges across India w.e.f. Jan 1, 2012

Somehow Jet Airways’ does not seem ever interested in informing this lowly Gold member of their JetPrivilege program about their new initiatives, so I’ve had to depend on FlyerTalk for this update. Jet Airways has apparently being ‘Reviewing’ its lounge contracts with all the airports it operates with in India, and is terminating about 10 of them. 9W, in an email sent out to select members of the Jet Privilege program, believes that the product offering would become diluted or unviable at these airports, and hence is terminating them from January 1, 2012.

Going forward, Jet Privilege will offer lounge access at the following airports domestically, and that too only for Platinum, Gold, Silver and Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card members:

  • Mumbai
  • Delhi
  • Kolkata
  • Bengaluru
  • Chennai
  • Hyderabad
  • Goa
  • Ahmedabad
  • Vadodara
  • Pune
  • Kochi

Point to note here is that in India, no airline except Air India ever got the right of way to the airports, and hence they almost always depend on airport restaurants, contract lounges etc to offer their elite travellers the lounge facilities. At Bengaluru, in fact, Jet does not even have a lounge, and it has offered passengers a food coupon for years to eat at the food court for years.

This in addition to the earlier devaluation of the Jet Privilege programme where facilities for guesting one additional co-passenger were withdrawn earlier this year. The meals also have gone down in quantity substantially!

So, all you frequent travellers, take note. And yes, time to sign up for one of those lounge access offering credit cards! I can also seem to think where the next masterstroke will be, so all you silver members, watch out! 😉

 

Related Posts:

 

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

More articles by Ajay »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *