Airliners-India.com

ABN397 · Member Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 113 Location: India

This is with respect to the use of the "exclusive" lounges for pax who are not travelling by First or Business class, or those who are not having reached elite status. Since most of my flights in the recent past have been on low-cost carriers, I have studied this in some detail Smile

However, I would request the frequent travellers to bring this up to date.
In early 2005, a gold credit card (whether Visa or Mastercard) was enough to get complimentary snacks at the Welcomgroup lounge at Delhi. If there were two people, both were expected to have gold cards. Because of this I got a gold Citibank card for my spouse, although it doesn't have any other advantage (since nowadays all credit cards including add-on cards are free)
At that time there were little signs saying that Gold cardholders of several banks (eg Stanchart, Citibank, HDFC, ICICI and a couple of others) were welcome. Gradually this decreased until in early 2006 the Mumbai lounge only accepted ICICI gold cards-although luckily they didn't insist on my spouse having one of her own. Anyway the snacks at the BOM lounge were considerably less compared to the one at DEL.
In between we acquired platinum cards from Citibank (again, at no extra cost) and used them at the Welcomgroup lounge while going from DEL to LHR by BA economy. Didn't try the lounges while leaving LHR as we were too busy looking through the duty-frees.
From advertisements in magazines we get the impression that Gold/Platinum/Titanium Mastercards still give you the lounge facilities (even if you are travelling by Air Deccan). Can anyone clarify what the present situation is? Fortunately, our Platinum cards are Mastercard and not Visa.
I have the feeling that this applies only to the Welcomgroup/Taj/Oberoi lounges.

VABBy · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 823 Location: DEL

Dont have a clue abt the louges bt when it comes to meals there is a new kid on the block who is now doing roaring business thanks to the LCC boom.

Its none other than newly revamped malaysian owned fast food chain called Nirula,s .

Mates u wud be Glad to know that the takeaway outlet of Nirula,s located in Domestic Departure of pvt airlines terminal has sales which are higher than some of the full service resturants of the chain.

One of my close mate who was the airport as he is the vendor of the chain and was doing some renovation reported that each and every point of time he cud atleast see 20-25 ppl in que for placing orders...

Second outlet about to be opened in the same pvt terminal is YO China again specalising in sasta desi punjabi chinese food ...
_________________
Expeditors- You'd be surprised how far we will go for you www.expeditors.com

Nimish · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject:

The policies are going through a revamp and are not being communicated clearly. For instance I was at BOM (the IC terminal), and the lounge no longer offered free access to Gold/Platinum/Titanium VISA cards - only to Gold/Pt/Ti Mastercards!

BLR does not offer free access anymore.

I've generally found the lounges in the intl terminals at BOM/DEL/MAA quite good for free access (though I've not been there in the past year or two, so things may have changed on the ground).

aarbee · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 328 Location: WAS/AMD

ABN397 · Member Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 113 Location: India

To add: BLR seems to have a lounge only for IC Business class passengers.
The Welcomgroup lounge at DEL 1-B seems to have some tie up with 9W as some of the non-Business Class passengers can use it-possibly those who have enough frequent flyer points.

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Diners card has automatic free entry to quite a few lounges across the world if you own a Diners card. Although not quite exhaustive but does help if one is travelling economy.

Check out the lounges anc cities where applicable here.

http://www.dinersclub.com/en/DCIHome/airport.jhtml

Sri_Bom

Nimish · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: Diners Card

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Nimish

I think you should have taken Diners to the consumer courts authority, its time such gimmicks are pulled up and brought to light...I mean if one shells out such high annual fee on the card then deserves not to be taken for a ride....

SRI_BOM

Nimish · Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:

Luckily - I have a lifetime free Diners card!

But I agree - this was/is absolute consumer cheating from Diners.

aarbee · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 328 Location: WAS/AMD

Nimish · Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Diners Card

ABN397 · Member Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 113 Location: India

Finally, here is the correct situation taken from the Mastercard website. This applies only for Titanium/Platinum/Black Mastercards issued in India. Gold cards no longer have this privilege. Visa apparently doesn't offer any such privilege. Also note that nothing is said about lounges outside India.

https://www.mastercardmoments.com/partner_maincontent.php?partnerid=707&cat=1090

Those who fly frequently by Economy Class worldwide might look at Priority Pass, which comes in different flavours:

www.prioritypass.com

Birendra · Member Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 1411

Does that mean having a Gold Mastercard is more valuable then any other gold card!

Nimish · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject:

Birendra · Member Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 1411

victor2alpha · Member Joined: 08 Apr 2007 Posts: 120

In BLR, although the lounge is basically for IC biz pax, I have seen IT / 9W and Air Deccan use them (DN only for HIGH profile pax.. Some South Indian film star..)

BTW we at IC used to take in ppl with Gold / Platinum cards.. These are basically the FF / Amex + IC cards etc..
_________________
victor2alpha

ABN397 · Member Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 113 Location: India

I had given the update on Mastercards. Perhaps someone can give details for Amex and Diner's Club-although their ownership is tiny in India. Even in the US they seem to be much less popular than Visa and Mastercard.

aarbee · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 328 Location: WAS/AMD