Indian Airports
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
We absolutely love Mumbai airport’s swanky Terminal 2, which recently celebrated its 5th anniversary. Design-wise, the terminal is absolutely spectacular and houses India’s largest public art programme, with over 5000 pieces of artwork from different parts of India. The terminal is said to accommodate about 50 million passengers per years and has more than 200 check-in counters, 6.4 km of conveyor belts. Premium travellers enjoy GVK’s world-class lounges for First and Business Class passengers, while shoppers at international departures and arrivals can enjoy a massive duty free selection.
Indira Gandhi International Airport
The Indian capital’s Terminal 3 is one of the most impressive terminals we’ve seen in the country. Besides the fact that the terminal recorded over 34 million passengers in the last year, it is spread across 5.4 million sq ft. The departure hall has six check-in islands with over 168 check-in counters and 49 outbound immigration counters. The airport has a variety of lounges — we love the Air India and Vistara lounges — in addition to a massive shopping-mall style retail space and dining area. Delhi’s Terminal 3 also acts as Air India’s main hub with great connectivity between Australia and Europe, with one stop in Delhi.
Kempegowda International Airport
When Kempegowda International Airport opened in 2008, it was considered revolutionary and ahead of its time in terms of modern design, amenities and city connectivity. Today, the main airport in Karnataka’s IT hub continues to offer a great, highly-functional airport experience to both international and domestic travellers, of which it welcomes approximately 20 million annually. The airport boasts some amazing shopping options, particularly in the domestic terminal, and a few shared lounges such as the massive Plaza Premium lounge. Since the airport is situated quite far from downtown Bengaluru, there are many connectivity options on offer, as well.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
One of the major hubs in south India, given the fact that Hyderabad is an important IT centre, the city’s well-equipped airport currently welcomes around 12 million passengers per year. The terminal, divided into international and domestic sections is an LEED Silver certified building and is spread across 117,000 sqm. The airport experience here is particularly seamless and we absolutely love the food and shopping options. In addition, the connectivity options to Hyderabad city and its different techno parks and corporate districts are extremely well-organised.
International airports
Singapore Changi Airport
This airport hardly needs an introduction as it has been winning numerous awards as the best airport in the world. A destination in itself, Singapore Changi Airport is renowned for its inclusion of nature, and the stunning new Terminal 4. The airport offers a plethora of facilities and services such as high-end shops, art exhibits, its multitude of gardens, lounges and dozens of retail and dining outlets. Additionally, Changi Airport has always been known for pioneering innovation, and T4 is a great example of this because of its fully-automated departure process.
Heathrow Airport
One of the world’s busiest airports, Heathrow Airport is also the largest of the five primary airports in the city, With its four active terminals T2, T3, T4 and T5 which are connected by a shuttle, offering a wide range of services and amenities. For added comfort, there are some lounges that one can enter by paying at the counter, or by purchasing a lounge pass or through a lounge membership programme. Not to forget its fabulous duty free shopping experience.
Munich Airport
Known as one of the busiest airports in Germany, Munich airport has connections to destinations all over the world. There are over 150 retail stores and restaurants, and other recreational areas for air travellers. The Hilton Munich Airport hotel is also best for short stays or layovers. Additionally, the airport is also the secondary hub for Lufthansa Airlines.
Hamad International Airport
The international airport for Doha— Hamad International airport accommodates over 30 million passengers annually. Very recently, the airport completed the first phase of its Smart Airport Programme, unveiling new self-service check-in and bag drop facilities. There are a total of 62 self check-in kiosks, and 12 self-service bag drops – at the moment they are exclusively for the use of Qatar Airways customers. If you have some free time at the airport then it is recommended that you check out its wonderful architecture and duty free zone.
Inflight Entertainment
Emirates
Emirates passengers can now use the airline’s app to browse their inflight entertainment options ahead of a trip, create a playlist and sync it to their seat once on board. The option is currently available on 100 Boeing 777 aircraft and will be rolled out across the entire Emirates fleet in the coming months.
Emirates’ entertainment system ice has over 1,000 movies, which it claims is more than that of any other airline, as well as television shows, podcasts, music and games.
Cathay Pacific
Passengers travelling on Cathay Pacific can connect to Wireless IFE on Cathay Dragon A320 aircraft. One can download its free StudioKA app where you will have access to over 70 Asian and Hollywood movies, over 550 TV shows and over 450 music albums. Moreover, business class passengers are offered ipads with pre-loaded fabulous content.
Singapore Airlines
`Travellers flying on Singapore Airlines can binge-watch new release movies, full seasons, and classics on KrisWorld, the in-flight entertainment system. Passengers can also create playlists by downloading their airline app, which later can be used on board as a remote control or second screen.
Qatar Airways
Oryx One, in-flight entertainment has unlimited content — from latest TV shows to TV channels such as the BBC, Discovery and National Geographic to Arabic TV box sets, the airline offers you more entertaining options to choose from. Passengers can also enjoy the flexibility of sending and receiving SMS or MMS messages, e-mail, or browse the internet over your smartphone or laptop using OnAir GSM/wifi service onboard.
Inflight amenity kit
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines’ Suites’ passengers, on select flights are offered a unisex kit, designed and created in partnership with Lalique. The kit features a Lalique candle, scented soap, lip balm and body lotion. There are separate kits for men and women as well — each of which includes a fragrance, a lip balm and a specially designed pouch. Additionally, the women’s set includes a face moisturiser and hand cream while the men’s set includes a body lotion and aftershave balm.
Etihad Airways
The Residence, First and Business Class passengers on Etihad Airways receive Acqua di Parma products on board. Packed in the brand’s signature Parma yellow coloured bag, the inflight kit for First Class consists of a miniature version of the classic Acqua di Parma Colonia fragrance, Colonia lip balm and Colonia body lotion. First Class toiletries include Colonia hand soap, hand cream and the bathroom kit has a shower gel, body lotion, hair shampoo, and hair conditioner.
British Airways
British Airways has revamped its on board offerings for First Class cabin. As a part of this, the airline is offering new male and female loungewear designed exclusively by luxury British fashion brand Temperley London. Adding to this is a bespoke British Airways amenity bag with Temperley’s “Star” design. The kit will have products from skincare brand ELEMIS’ Ultra Smart Pro-Collagen range. The men’s kit contains Ultra Smart Pro-Collagen eye cream and matrix moisturiser, cleansing micellar facial wipe, skin soothe shave gel, Fortitude deodorant and hydra-nourish lip balm.
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways has partnered with luxury luggage brands Bric’s and Nappa Dori for limited edition amenity kits available in First and Business class during long and medium- haul flights. The Bric’s kit in first class comprises of exclusive products from Italy’s Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio, lip balm, hydrating facial mist, anti-ageing moisturiser, and night recovery cream. Likewise, first and business class passengers on medium-haul flights receive Nappa Dori amenity kit featuring select images from destinations across Qatar Airways’ global
Business jets
Falcon 8X
The Falcon 8X can fly nonstop from Sydney to Mumbai, Perth to Johannesburg or Cairns to Anchorage. It offers the quietest and most comfortable passenger cabin in business aviation, along with a broad selection of standard cabin configurations, including a large entryway that offers a certified crew rest for very long flights and a shower option. The 8X is available with a wide range of state-of-the-art options, including:Dassault’ s revolutionary FalconEye Combined Visual System, the first civil Head-Up Display to combine synthetic and enhanced vision capabilities, FalconConnect, a new inflight connectivity service that integrates all cockpit and cabin ground and satellite communications into a single bundled offering, making onboard connectivity systems easy to use and consumption simple to manage and control. Capacity up to 8 passengers.
Gulfstream G650
This twin-engine business airplane is produced by Gulfstream Aerospace. An 8 foot 6 inch/2.59 metre-wide cabin, the largest in its class, helps create an exquisitely comfortable environment for 19 passengers. Its flexible cabin design offers more design configurations for meetings. Moreover, the Gulfstream Cabin Management System (GCMS) synchronises with Apple iOS or select Google Android smartphones and tablets.
Bombardier Challenger 650
The cabin volume for the Challenger 650 is 1,150 cubic feet. With seating capacity up to 12 passengers, its stylish seats feature 180°-swivel, tracking, recline and berthing capability. There are concealed tables at each executive seating arrangement making it a perfect business jet for corporates.
Global 8000
Global 8000 covers club, conference, private and en suites. The highlights include 4-seat meeting and dining space, large entertainment cabinet, 6 ultra-large windows, among others. The Global 8000 aircraft’s remarkable 7,900 nautical mile range enables it to connect some of the world’s most expansive city pairings, including routes such as Los Angeles to Dubai, Sydney to Sao Paulo, or Tokyo to San Juan.
Frequent flyer programme
Miles & More by Lufthansa
Members of Lufthansa’s frequent flyer and awards programme, Miles & More can earn and redeem miles from about 40 airline partners, including 28 members of the Star Alliance. What we like most about the programme is that it has partnered with more than 270 non-aviation companies where members can avail premium offers from different sectors such as hotels, car rentals, shopping, subscriptions and books, among others. Besides the regular Miles & More membership which is achieved from one award mile and more, there are three different status levels, depending on the status miles which are earned by flying with members of the Star Alliance: the Frequent Flyer from 35,000 status miles or 30 scheduled flights in one calendar year, the Senator from 1,00,000 status miles in a given calendar year and the HON Circle Member from 6,00,000 HON Circle miles in two consecutive calendar years. Miles & More status members benefit from a huge range of privileges such as waiting list priority, preferential check-in, free baggage allowance or Lounge access. In addition, there are changing offers to earn miles. For instance, members can earn extra miles with Best Western Hotels, Enterprise Rent-A-Car® and Hertz at the moment.
The Marco Polo Club by Cathay Pacific
The Marco Polo Club, the exclusive loyalty programme of Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon comes with a range of benefits and services. The Marco Polo Club has four tiers — Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond. Green tier is the entry level, and benefits vary based on membership tier such as priority check-in and boarding, extra legroom seat redemptions, advance seat reservations and priority wait-listing; excess baggage allowance, Worldwide lounge access; Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon Lounge access among others.
As a Marco Polo member, one can earn Club points whenever one flies with Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon or any of their Oneworld® alliance airlines, making it one of the most admired loyalty clubs. The Club points are calculated based on a combination of airline, cabin, fare class and distance travelled. Moreover, the latter can also be extended to Cathay Pacific’s on-ground hotels, restaurants and car-rental partners.
JetPrivilege by Jet Airways
Jet Privilege Private Limited, a specialised loyal and rewards management company, a joint venture between Jet Airways and Etihad Airways has evolved and grown significantly from about 72 programme partners and 2.8 million members in 2013 to nearly 150+ partners and a 9.5 million+ strong member family today. Each time a member does an activity with any of the partners like booking flights or hotel stays, filling fuel, shopping online or using their co-brand cards for everyday spends, to name a few, they earn JPMiles. The accumulated JPMiles can then be redeemed for free flight tickets to over 1000+ destinations worldwide or for hotels stays or for rewards on the JetPrivilege Reward Store. Members can also use their JPMiles for refueling at select outlets of Indian Oil Corporation Limited in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Members enjoy benefits like priority baggage tagging, additional baggage allowance, advance ticket booking, dedicated check-ins, easier reservations and many more, to make their flying experience even better.
Emirates Skywards
Emirates Skywards offers four tiers of membership – blue, silver, gold and platinum — each with unique incremental benefits, apart from its partners for members including dedicated check-in, priority boarding, lounge access, complimentary advanced seat selection and special wifi privileges. Members build up their tier status by earning Tier Miles on flights flown with Emirates or flydubai. With its Cash+Miles with Emirates you have even more choice when it comes to spending your Miles. Every time you book a flight you will have the option to pay using a combination of cash plus Skywards Miles. This programme has witnessed considerable growth in engagement with members in 2018.
