Flying high

Stay at the Taj Group hotels and earn miles on Lufthansa's frequent flyer programme.

What's it?
If you fly the German carrier Lufthansa often enough and are a member of its frequent-flyer programme, Miles & More, well, your stay at any of the Taj Group hotels will now fetch you extra miles.

Why are we writing about it?
Lufthansa certainly considers India as one of its prime markets in Asia. Last year the airline and Jet Airways entered into a reciprocal frequent-flyer programme whereby passengers can redeem and earn points on both the carriers.

Now, by joining hands with Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, it has made it even more attractive for businessmen travelling to India to fly its aircraft.

What's in it for me?
You can earn 500 miles per stay at any of the accommodations of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces. The group has 59 hotels in 41 locations across India and 18 international hotels in the Maldives, Mauritius, Malaysia, Australia, UK, USA, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa and the Middle East.

However, you can earn miles by staying at five of the Taj Luxury Hotels and three of the Taj Palace Hotels. And as a Miles & More member, you are given an early check-in and late check-out facility as well as an upgrade, but all of this is, of course, subject to availability.

To sweeten the offer, the airline lets you earn double award miles from June 1 through to August 31, 2007. The miles that you earn here can be redeemed for the usual gamut of stuff like flights on Lufthansa and its Miles & More partner airlines, shopping, rental cars or even donate your miles for a cause like support orphans or save a rainforest.

Where can I book?
You can reserve a room by logging on to the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces website, www.tajhotels.com or sending an e-mail to reservations@tajhotels.com, or you can call their toll free numbers 00 800""45 88 18 25.

Take it or leave it
Well, Taj Hotels has a similar tie-up with other legacy carriers like British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Delta and the Gulf airlines like Gulf Air and Qatar Airways.

The list of participating hotels is much larger in case of all these carriers and, in fact, Virgin Atlantic's frequent flyer programme even allows you to redeem miles against stays at any of the Taj group of hotels.

African safari
EXPANDING NETWORK

Airlines find a new destination in the dark continent.

Virgin Atlantic now flies daily between Heathrow and the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The UK-based carrier will ply an Airbus A340-300 aircraft with 240 seats onboard "" 34 first class, 35 business class and 171 economy seats.

Nairobi is Virgin Atlantic's fourth service to the African continent. Around 5,00,000 people fly to Nairobi each year to enjoy the Kenyan locales, wildlife, its outstanding game reserves with large numbers of passengers also flying to and from America, via London.

It is also the leading hub for East Africa, providing a gateway to the whole of East Africa and the Indian Ocean.

SNIPPETS

Playing Gulf
Etihad Airways now flies three times a week from Abu Dhabi to Thiruvananthapuram. The airline also plans to start a flight to Kochi next week. Launch prices for Etihad's new Thiruvananthapuram flights start from Rs 13,860 for economy class, Rs 27,060 for business and Rs 43,450 for first class.

Etihad also plans to increase the service to both destinations to daily flights by October. Meanwhile, another West Asian carrier, Oman Air, will now fly four times a week to Jaipur.

The Pink City is the airline's eighth destination in the country after Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Delhi and Lucknow. Oman Air is also planning to launch new flights to Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

King connections
The king of good times, Kingfisher Airlines, which is chalking up plans for its latest acquisition, Air Deccan, is also expanding its route network.

The Vijay Mallya-owned airline will now fly between Kolkata and Chennai via Ahmedabad and Pune. With this flight, Pune and Kolkata will be linked for the first time. The airline has also announced a new flight between Kolkata and Bangalore.

Pack up!
Students flying British Airways between June and October can carry an extra 23 kilos. The offer is valid for tickets purchased before end-September.

To avail of this facility you have to register on www.bapromo.co.in. You can also win prizes like a complimentary ticket for one of your family members or one of your friends.

Message a car
Looking to book a car at the airport? Now, you can make your booking via SMS. PayMate, a wireless transactions company, has partnered with Akbar Car Rentals, India's largest private car rental agency, to initiate car bookings through SMS.

To book a car all you need to do is SMS CAR to 667711. You will be called by a customer service executive to complete the booking details and payment formalities.

All confirmation and cancellation details will be communicated via an automated SMS engine. The service is being launched in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune and Ahmedabad.