Dubai: Indian expat Ajit Zachariah Joseph had a busy schedule on Tuesday morning and missed something which he should have seen while he browsed through his favourite newspaper Gulf News before rushing to the office.
However, the HR manager with a multinational company soon got to know what he had missed as many people started calling him to congratulate him.
“I didn’t know Gulf News had put out an ad congratulating me on winning the Eithad Guest Miles,” said the Keralite who was surprised to know the happy news through his friends and colleagues.
Ajit is the second weekly winner of the 100,000 Etihad Guest Miles, one of the major promotional offers that come along with the annual subscription of the newspaper for just Dh500.
The guest miles offer travel benefits including lounge access, excess baggage allowance and much more.
The weekly draw for the 100,000 Etihad Guest Miles happens every Monday during the 11 week-campaign.
The grand prizes will see one lucky subscriber winning 500,000 Etihad Guest Miles and two others winning 250,000 Guest Miles. The dates of the grand draws would be announced later.
The promotion also offers multiple vouchers for food, entertainment, discount deals and much more to new and renewing subscribers giving them more value for their newspaper subscription under the campaign “Reading just got more rewarding.”
“I didn’t renew the subscription because of the offer. I always prefer Gulf News to other newspapers because of the news content and how it is presented,” said Ajit who has been a loyal subscriber since 2003.
“I didn’t even think of winning anything. So, it was totally a big surprise to me.”
The Dubai resident said his mornings are incomplete without skimming through the main newspaper.
“I am more into [reading the] main [news] section and sports. When I come back from office, I check the other sections also. But, mostly my kids would have taken the paper and I have to hunt for it,” said Ajit, who plays Sudoku in tabloid! when he gets free time.
The father of three school-going children said he had not made up his mind about how to use the Guest Miles.
“Probably, I will make use of them towards tickets. In fact, I didn’t have an Etihad Guest card. I registered myself after this news came. I usually travel from Dubai or Sharjah. But, now I will have to fly from Abu Dhabi for making use of this gift,” he added.
