My 2015 JetPrivilege strategy

As my blog title reads, I am fairly new to frequent flyer programs. An upgrade to business class (using my dadś miles) when traveling from BOM to SIN got me interested in this, and I have been pursuing FFPs ever since. My first upgrade was with an Indian carrier – Jet Airways. Naturally, I am a member of their loyalty program – JetPrivilege, and am always keen on getting better status with them.

I joined JetPrivilege in June last year, and have already accumulated an excess of 12.000 JPMiles with them. I was able to do so without traveling much, as they have some excellent partnerships that allow members to earn JPMiles.

Like many other airlines, Jet has partnerships with car rental brands like Hertz and AVIS. Traveling with TABCab allows members to earn even more miles when in need of a taxi service. When in India, these partners can help in earning some additional miles while carrying out daily business.

Using partners like these is very helpful, but in 2014 I managed to get an excess of 5.500 miles by participating in on-line promotions. Let me expand on this:

1. TripAdvisor.in: JetPrivilege allows members to earn JPMiles for every review submitted to TripAdvisor’s India site. I managed to earn about 1300 JPMiles with them. If TripAdvisor keeps its offer, I intend to submit more reviews for attractions I have been to. Visit: http://www.jetairways.com/EN/NL/JetPrivilege/Partners/Lifestyle/TripAdvisorLifestyle.aspx
2. HolidayIQ: Jet and HolidayIQ recently ran a promotion where members were awarded for reviews submitted to HolidayIQ. For 8 or more reviews, members are awarded with 1100 miles. Visit: http://www.jetairways.com/EN/NL/JetPrivilege/Partners/Lifestyle/HolidayIQ.aspx
3. Scripbox: Setting up an account with Scripbox allows JetPrivilege members to pocket 3000 JPMiles. This requires providing some information like bank account details, but the promotion certainly is useful. If you do not want to complete the paper work, I suggest creating an on-line account with them. This provides members with 300 JPMiles.

Jet also awards 500 JPMiles every time a booking is made directly with them (on their website or on their app). I have received this bonus several times and the free miles don’t hurt ;)

For 2015, I plan to use Jet as my primary carrier when traveling within India (would be at least 2.000 to 3.000 JPMiles + 500 miles bonus by booking on their site directly for each flight). If Jet does continue promotions on TripAdvisor (or on HolidayIQ), I plan to write more reviews for them (which can provide a cool 12.000 JPMiles/year for each promotion :D). For Indian residents, the Jet Privilege co-branded cards provide a great sign-up bonus (about 10.000 JPMiles without referrals) and also extend the validity of every JPMile in your account. This way members can potentially earn about 14.000 (2000+12000) to 37.000 (3000+24000+10000) JPMiles, with minimal traveling.

Of late, I have been contemplating on showing some love to my Etihad Guest account. Etihad is a great airline, and serves a huge number of international destinations. Moreover, they it is cheaper to redeem Etihad miles on Jetś flights. My PremierMiles can be converted to Etihad Guest miles (http://earnandburnmiles.blogspot.nl/2015/01/transferring-premiermiles-to-airline.html), and I can get an American Express charge card whose Membership Rewards can be transferred as well (http://earnandburnmiles.blogspot.nl/2015/01/a-comparison-of-travel-credit-cards-in.html).