Last week, I wrote the Mileage Earning 101 – India Edition 2013, where I had provided you my views on all the credit cards you could use to earn miles in India. I got quite some feedback and requests, including one for a calculator. That prodded me to pull out an old worksheet from 2011 and add some columns to it, adding all the new information available to it. I hereby present to you Version 1.0 of the worksheet, which you can directly access from Google Drive here.

Here is how to use it with just a few simple inputs:

Step 1: Input if you are a JetPrivilege Platinum Member or not.

Step 2: Input your monthly domestic spend and foreign currency spend (the worksheet will 12x it), and if you spend any money on booking tickets directly on jetairways.com, British Airways or other airlines.Take note, the keyword is direct, that means without using a travel agent.

Output: With a sample input shown below, you will see the output projected for all the variants of the credit cards considered. Here is a sample snapshot:

You also see the mileage currency you earn in the same column, because all miles are not the same. PremierMiles, JPMiles, British Airways’ Avios, Miles & More, etc.

You also get to see the lounge access benefits, the cost per mile for you (factoring in your Jet Airways status, which gets you free cards from Jet Airways), and the other important information such as renewal bonuses. Do note, this is not an exhaustive list, and is subject to change of information from the banks.

Do let me know what do you think, and how can I make this better.

Happy earning & burning!

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Like I wrote earlier in November, Citibank is offering a 30% bonus on PremierMiles transfer to British Airways Avios, and a 20% bonus on Etihad Guest transfers, both valid for transfers initiated till December 31, 2012.

This is a quick reminder that if you wanted to make the transfer, right now is a good time to call the Citibank helpdesk for this. Any transfers which are even initiated on the 31st of December will get the bonus mileage. It usually takes 1-2 days for the transferred miles to reflect in the mileage account, and Citi transfers PremierMiles 1:1 to Avios and Etihad Guest, which will become 1:1.3 with the bonus.

Avios is a good transfer opportunity, remember, if you are not flying BA, you can also avoid the fuel surcharges. Ping me if you have any questions.

Related Posts:

• Citibank PremierMiles offers 30% transfer bonus on British Airways Avios & 20% on Etihad Guest miles

Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email,RSS.

Beginning of the month I had alerted all of you regular readers about the promotions going on with American Express, where there is an offer to transfer Membership Rewards (their reward currency) for cards issued in India. There are two promotions:

• Transfer your Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios, and you could earn a 30% bonus on these transfers. Amex MR transfer to Avios at the rate of 1.6 MR = 1 Avios, which translates, with this bonus, to 1.23 MR  = 1 Avios. While British Airways is one of the more expensive airlines due to their fuel surcharges to use Avios on, you could use them with so many of the oneworld airlines.
• Transfer your Amex MR to Etihad Guest Miles, and you could earn 20% bonus on these transfers. Amex MR transfer to Etihad Guest Miles at the rate of 1.6 MR = 1 Avios, and with this bonus, to 1.33 MR = 1 Etihad Guest Mile. Not a great program to be in, but if you do fly Etihad regularly, this could be used to top off your account.

Both the offers are on only till 30 November 2012, and some cards, such as the Gold Charge Card, will attract a Rs. 250 fee to process the transfer request. So, if you’re thinking of converting MR to miles, this is the most lucrative opportunity this year (whatever is left of it )

On the other hand, if you are still looking to get an American Express Gold Charge Card for free or Platinum Reserve at 20% off annual fee, allow me to send you a LinkedIn referral, I still have some left! Drop me a line at aj@livefromalounge.com  if you want one.

Related Posts:

• American Express offering 30% bonus on transfer to Avios (British Airways!)
• Amex offering 20% bonus on MR conversion to Etihad Guest Miles
• Sunday Plastic: The American Express Gold Charge Card

Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.