I have traveled on a free ticket from India to Indonesia last week!!
Ya, its called award ticket which will be earned through accumulation of miles from a frequent flyer program. Its called 'Flying Returns' which is a joint programme of 'Indian Airlines' and 'Air India'. You get some points called 'miles' for every flight you have flown on their designated airlines. These miles can be exchanged for free tickets.
I had my first flight in life on this 'Indian Airlines' on 27th January, 2001 from Delhi to Ahmedabad in India. I remember the date because I was airlifted for an emergency relief operations to Gujarat which was devastated by the earthquake the previous day.
I traveled with my General Director and I vividly remember him telling me how to put on the seat belt. Those days, travel by airlines in India was very expensive and rarely people travel on flights. After that I have never stopped flying...
Those days, we need to present 3 boarding passes traveled with in 3 months of this airlines to qualify for 'Frequent flyer' membership. I was so excited when I received my first Frequent flyer card.
Recently Indian Airlines has announced that all the points earned up to 31st December 2003 will lapse if they are not redeemed. When I looked at the total miles earned till now it added up to a good 27,885 miles. This is sufficient to exchange for a Mumbai- Jakarta ticket which will cost just 25,400 miles.
Now, how do I get an International flight ticket from India while residing in Indonesia? When I contacted the airlines in India, they require passport, and has to be collected in person. So I tried contacting the airlines office in Jakarta. Since its a small office, they quickly managed to contact India, issued the ticket which was picked up by my office in Jakarta.
One twist here, while the ticket is free, we have to pay applicable taxes to the airlines which cost USD 58.
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