Hello again. Remember me? Turns out trying to keep a consistent writing schedule during business school is near impossible.

Also - It has been 159 days since my last post. So this isn’t going too well.

But 👏 WE 👏 WILL 👏 KEEP 👏 TRYING 👏 to write.

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I am currently writing this from an airplane, so it’s only appropriate that this is the topic for today.

Flying Sucks Now, Doesn’t It?

Remember the first few times you ever flew? Wasn’t it magical? It would be exciting. You would pack your bags and be ready to leave the night before. And the airport was part of the experience. It used to be this fun place. The destination before the destination.

Doesn’t it just suck now? Here is why I hate airports

The constant waiting. Waiting to check bags, waiting to clear security, waiting to board the plane. Arrive. Wait in the immigration line. Wait to collect bags. I hate waiting. It is unproductive. It is embarrassing. It is tiring. It’s draining. Especially when a lot of flights you take are in weird hours. The airport at 7 am is a weird place.

So how can you solve this problem? Fly private. Haha. Okay, next best option - fly business everywhere, all the time. And if those two things are your normal. I think you’re good. You can leave this post and go live your White Lotus life you.

But if those are not those options, I am here to help you sort this shit out for you, for us.

Some pre-requisites / disclaimers to start

1. I am focused on the Indian in USA experience (and with this your Indian in India experience will automatically enhance too), but some of these things apply to your nationality+residence combo as well and it’s worth looking into

2. Things take time and patience, but its worth it. Trust me.

3. The more frequently you fly, the quicker your can ear and the more you can leverage the benefits

So let’s start with the first thing you should get out of the way

Trusted Traveler Programs

Our governments are actually useful for something! Leverage this immediately.

Global Entry - This is life changing

The first time I came the the US, fresh (not really) off a 16 hour direct flight, I ended up having to spend 2.5 hours standing in the line for immigration. It was quite a horrible feeling. All the excitement of landing in this country faded away as I kept drudging along those queues. But no more. Global Entry is here to save us. I don’t understand why all Americans don’t have it already. I think it’s taking time to catch on. And we are lucky that this extends to Indians with a US visa. And that’s why its nice because sometimes I am even able to clear immigration quicker than them. Feel nice ngl.

In their words

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States.

In my words

The immense satisfaction you get walking past hundreds of people and immigrating within 2 minutes is actually priceless.

The process takes 6+ months, but the flow goes like this -

1. Fill out the application form,

2. Then ideally next time you visit India, book an appointment with the local Passport Office

3. This follows a police verification

4. Wait 6 months and forget about it

5. You’ll be notified you cleared it, and then next time you enter the US internationally, you do a quick interview and you are good to go

It costs $100 for 5 years, and can be renewed easily after that.

And with Global Entry comes a perk so good, it feels illegal.

TSA Pre-Check

And this is a hack. An unlock when flying domestic within the US or even international from the US.

1. You take a separate line during the security check which is usually empty

2. Your security check is smooth and unobtrusive - no need to take shoes off, no need to take your electronics out, and the lines are shorter and quicker

You are in and out of security within 2-5 minutes 95% of the time. When you are flying domestic and without a checked-in baggage, this means, in the worst case, you can reach the airport within 45 minutes of you flight and still make it easily. The amount of stress this takes off me when unexpected delays come through is so rewarding.

And it’s automatically added once you are approved for Global Entry, so you don’t have to jump through any extra hoops.

India’s Fast Track Immigration Program

We live in a golden age where India has also started the same program for immigration and emigration at their airports.

For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why as an Indian citizen, I have to spend hours waiting in line to go in and out of my own country. It seemed like foreigners could actually go through easily because of the ratios and the amount of desks staffed.

Finally this problem has also been solved. And it’s much much easier to get approved for this than Global Entry, and it’s quicker too (within a month)

So do it simultaneously while you’re locked in with the Global Entry process. Once you are approved, you can activate it the next time you enter India.

There, your immigration, emigration and security times have been optimized. I almost take these for granted now. But I believe this process it saves me atleast 50+ hours every year. But more than that, the experience is just so much smoother and empowering. I am less exhausted and have more leisure time at the airports now.

So now that you have gotten the bare minimum out of the way, your next goal is to enhance it. And acquire the next life changing experience

Airline Loyalty - Star Alliance Gold

This one is hard because it requires a few things

1. Flying often and spending money on flights. This is easy if you travel often for business, or are starting school in US, especially an MBA - we travel too much

2. You need to start repping Air India. Before you rage, hear me out ahead. Trust me. I wouldn’t suggest anything I wouldn’t do myself.

It is so so so worth it.

So what is Star Alliance? Well apparently a bunch of established airlines decided that sharing routes and customer loyalty will be beneficial for them and us. And I fully agree.

Star Alliance is the largest and most expansive one from the 3 alliances that exist.

Some of the big players in it are United, Air India, Turkish, Avianca, Lufthansa, ANA, Ethiopia. If you are a global traveler, you will end up using a bunch of these airlines throughout your life. In the US, United will become your airline of choice.

The goal is to get Star Alliance Gold. The way to achieve this is by attaining the gold equivalent status on the loyalty program of an airline of your choice. Once you get that, you can enjoy perks across all Star Alliance members. In your case if you’re an Indian in the US (who goes back to India at least once or twice a year), and flies domestic and elsewhere often, you should join Air India’s loyalty program. Once you get Gold, you can get amazing benefits on Air India, but also very sizable benefits on all the other Star Alliance partner airlines - This comes in clutch because

Air India Maharaja Club

Before anything, let me try to get the obvious out of the way. Air India does not have a good reputation. It’s been through some tough times. But I am extremely bullish on it. And this is the best time to jump onto the bandwagon. Since Tata took over, they are rebuilding, and they are doing really good.

1. New planes and routes are starting up, the in-plane experience is upgrading each time I travel on it

2. Their website, app and customer service is revamped, its responsive, up-to-date and the user experience is commendable

3. Their entire loyalty program rebranded and is very easy to move up the tiers right now - more on this later

Albeit their business class experience is not up to the mark at all, but I am sure once they unveil the full new experience, it will be nice. I don’t think it will be able to compete with the big bois like Emirates or Singapore, but they’ll be more acceptable.

Most importantly, Air India’s benefit lies in the fact that they have direct routes to most big cities in the US (and the world). And even if the experience is not the best, nothing beats flying direct over such a long haul.

Now - how to actually get Gold? Here is the tier composition

What i have heard is that this is the easiest loyalty program to max out for the same amount of money you spend. If you are in the USA, your other option to build a loyalty on is United, but it may take almost double the amount of money spent to get the same result.

My professor at Kellogg recently wrote a really good rant about leaving United and AA and becoming bullish on Air India and this and explains it really well.

For those who have been trying to hit status on United, this makes sense. For those new to this, this basically means to hit gold, you need to spend (in a rolling year)

• Around $2000 directly on Air India to hit the 9000 tier points requirement at the minimum (This can be done within 2 round trips, or if you do 1 business class round trip)

• 21000 points through Air India or any other Star Alliance - This means using United, Turkish, ANA, Lufthansa, Avianca, COPA, TAP etc as much as possible

In my case - I took 2 round trips to India (one of those 4 flights was business class - and before you call me entitled, I had never flown business before. I had a broken arm from a snowboarding accident and I needed a safe way to get back home for surgery), and most of my other domestic and international flights were coincidentally booked on Star Alliance partners.

One day I randomly was notified that I reached Gold. I didn’t really know what it meant, but once I did. I was blown away by how much it unlocked in your flying experience.

Miles and Family Pool

Every time you fly on Air India or Star Alliance, you will also accumulate miles (these are different from tier points). These miles can be redeemed for free flights and upgrades! And if you activate family pool, then your entire family can combine their miles into one account. This makes it really easy to rack up those miles and get free flights or upgrades. My recent flight to the US from India was free because I tapped into the Family Pool.

Credit Card Points Programs

Another way you can enhance your flying experience is by joining a good Credit Card Program like AMEX Gold/Platinum or Chase Sapphire. They have some really great welcome bonus deals on a minimum spend, and additionally you can get Priority Pass or Centurion lounge access as a free perk.

The points come in clutch when booking flights too. I am flying to South America this spring break and my entire trip was covered by AMEX points.

Global Entry + Star Alliance Gold: The Journey

So now if you acquire all of these together, this is what your flying experience could look like. I am listing down some of my favourite Gold Perks. There are a lot more if you are in flying Air India, but these are the ones applicable to the entirety of Star Alliance.

P.S - All of these Gold perks are also available to your travel partner if you book via your account on the same PNR

During Booking

Free Flights/Upgrades: This will happen via Air India Miles or your credit card program. The gratification of getting a free flight is unmatched.

Free baggage on Star Alliance flights: United flights are usually not that expensive, but they always earn from upselling check-in or carry on baggage. With Gold, you get a carry on and a check in bag free on Star Alliance partners. Sometimes you can even get 2 free check in bags per person. This is almost a $50-$100 saving every time.

Pre-Security Check

Priority Check In: No matter which class you book, you can check in for your flight on the Business Class / First Class counters. 🥳 

Priority Bag Collection: Your check in bags will be marked ‘Priority’. More on this in a later section

Priority Security Check: In the US, you already have TSA-pre so you are golden. But many airports around the world also have an exclusive fast-track security check line for Gold Members. Imagine getting the same benefits of TSA-pre, but at any global airport. I experienced this in London which was pretty smooth. In the US, if your travel partner doesn’t have TSA-pre, they can come along with you in the fast-track line.

In India, you can use the FTI TTP to breeze through the security checks!

Post-Security Check

Exclusive Lounges: Now that you have breezed past security check, guess what, you have access to exclusive lounges that are only available to those who fly Business or are other Star Gold members. These lounges are not even available through priority pass. The only other way to access them is to pay $50 per person for them.

These lounges are less crowded, cleaner, have great food, open bar and amazing service. This means you can visit the Encalm Prive Lounge in DEL, or United Club in any popular US airport. And soon, the Maharaja business lounges which are being renovated across the world. These lounges are super luxurious. If you have tried to get into the regular Encalm lounge in Delhi, you know how low the barrier is now. And most airports in the US don’t even have decent lounges on the Priority Pass anymore.

This is one of my favourite perks and makes the grind to Gold worth it. These lounges are usually very close to your gate as they are in a terminal which is majorly that flight. You save money on food and drinks. And you are comfortable and away from the craziness of the airports.

I mean, look at this, in Delhi airport? You gotta be kidding me!

And when there are no lounges via Star Gold, or you are not travelling on a Star Alliance partner, then you can use Priority Pass to still get other lounges at the airports. You are spoilt for choice.

Priority Boarding: You will be boarding group 1 by default. So no more waiting in line to get on. Get in first, have ample space to store your carry on and make yourself comfortable.

In-Flight

Upgrades: When you hit Star Gold, you get 2 business class upgrade coupons. Additionally if they are looking for someone to upgrade, you are first on their list. But this hasnt happened to me yet 🥹 

Better Service in Flight: I have heard that if you are Gold, the crew may come to specifically check in on you and give you special snacks and drinks. It’s just a nice little add-on.

Post-Flight

Fast Track Immigration: When flying in to the US, Global Entry comes in clutch here. You may even clear immigration faster than US citizens or those who are visa free. Some times you might save hours here, especially if you are flying in from India where majority of people need to immigrate in the security check in.

Priority Baggage Collection: Yes sir, this is also one of my favorite perks. How many times has this happened, that you come off a long and tiring flight and now you wait at the belt for what seems like hours. Remember that priority baggage tag that was attached to your bag during check in? That ensures that your bags are some of the first ones to come out on the belt. Pick them up and be on your way!

Post-Airport

If you took a paid flight, miles and tier points will be added to your account.

You saved time, you saved money, and you were comfortable. You are welcome.

Caveats

Hitting Gold may be easy, but retaining it is hard. It only lasts for a year unless you are able to complete retention requirements within a rolling year period. This means you have to consistently fly the same amount on a yearly basis. But even if you get to experience it for one year, it will make you a bit addicted to try and reach it again. I unfortunately will not be able to keep my status after September of this year because I don’t have any expensive flights booked back and forth from India until then. But now that I have done it once, I think I might be able to do it again in a later life. i.e - Once I actually have an income and a bit more freedom to travel.

If you are a trust fund baby or someone who travel very often for work you might be able to achieve this easily though and retain it.

Go Spread Your Wings

So now that you have all this knowledge, what are you going to do with it? I hope flying becomes a little bit more fun for you now!

Stay in touch!

My DMs are always open to discuss flight hacking or anything else that might be worth talking about!

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