It has been roughly about ten days since InterMiles went live, the new face of JetPrivilege. With the latest version of the programme and the Etihad devaluation, it is practically difficult to get anything like the good old days of the programme, where deriving INR 1 value per JPMile used to be my benchmark. But they still may be of use for more than just for buying a pressure cooker or an oven, in the long run.
So, late last week as I was at the Dubai Airshow, I got word from Shipra that she was one of the finalists at the SheThePeople Digital Women Awards 2019. However, she was not sure if she wanted to go to attend the ceremony. Reason? A tight schedule at work and the skyrocketing ticket prices were the reason. That meant that Shipra had a very narrow window to fly to Delhi.
Anyhow, because it was a cause for celebration with all the excellent work Shipra is doing with the PointsPurse initiative, I figured I wanted to come along as well with her, so now we needed two tickets instead of one. While the original plan was to fly out first thing on Saturday morning to arrive straight at the venue, the tickets skyrocketed by the time I could pull the trigger. So, I started to look through my stash of miles to see what could be useful for such a late redemption. I found a delightful spot with a ticket we could both get behind, an Air India tag flight from Mumbai to Delhi, which was going for INR 18,500 for two seats in cash.
But, this was a lot of cash for a ticket, so I looked at redeeming some miles. Looking through InterMiles, I saw this flight was available for 15,000 InterMiles per head and INR 750+GST. This was not the base slot of 8000 InterMiles per head, but about double that. There were also tickets available for 35000 InterMiles per head.
While I did not get my value of INR 1 per InterMile, I did better than most valuation from InterMiles, which goes between 17 and 33 paise, getting about INR 0.56 value per InterMile, which was more than the usual value one could get from these miles. I’m not sure how this managed to slip through the cracks of the algorithm of InterMiles. Best part, I could add my LifeMiles number to the ticket and earn some LifeMiles as well after the travels.
I’m curious to hear from others if they have been noticing similar value coming out of their InterMiles now, or are they just seeing the name change and nothing else change.
What has been your experience with redeeming InterMiles for flight tickets after the cutover to the new programme?
Pretty useless in terms of value. For a small flight between Delhi to Amritsar (normally priced around 3500 to 4000 INR), they charge around 18K intermiles and 1000 INR on top of that. pretty useless considering how hard they make to earn miles and then how little worth they are when u look to redeem
@Ajay, Could you do a guide to intermiles 2021 edition ?
Unfortunately, in addition to the higher miles required, one also has to deal with shortage of available seats. So these miles are no good for even last minute bookings. I guess it’s best to let them accumulate and use them for international flights booked in advance.
Horrendous . now that it is intermiles.
Tried booking CJB to BOM
The Indigo fare was 4600/- INR. (on their site)
The charge “proposed” by Intermiles.
Total 10,000 miles required.
5000 miles (balance)
Balance miles purchase at 2200 INR.
GST @18%
Convenience fee 1000 INR
Pay in cash 3770 INR +5000 miles.
Does this make sense?!
I have not been able to redeem any of my Intermiles for any Air tickets. The page does not show up at all.
Got a .25 Rs conversion rate and had to pay 1200 on top of it. The original price was 2xxx and the Intermiles charged were 8000 + 1200Rs GST. Absolute trash conversion.
I redeemed two tickets for BOM-COK at 30,000 miles total for the pair. Revenue was around INR 8,000 each, so the valuation is consistent with what you got as well.
I booked award ticket via intermiles and it took same miles as in jet privilege after suspension of jet airways !! No change..only name has. Changed
I tried redeeming Intermiles for Amazon vouchers.
Got the order through and then a day later, Intermiles cancels my order with an email and no reason is specified. Just like that cancelled.
Dunno why?
Redeemed 4 tickets BOM-IST return on Etihad at 260000 plus INR 25000/- Dep 27/5/20. Arrival 04/06/20. The same flight reVenue Farr was for INR 234000/-
last month I was travelling from GOA to KOLKATA and oneday before journey tickets price was Rs.13250 Indigo I redeemed 12k JP miles + taxes for the ticket , well I got a good value
how much tax amount?
Good to know