A few days ago, I had put out the first glimpse of the Club Vistara program, the revenue-based frequent flyer program for the new airline Vistara, which is taking wings on 9 January 2015.

Now, here is a first look at the Club Vistara program and how it will operate.

Enrolment: Membership is open to members of all ages, except that if you are/you have kids below 18 years of age, the parents need to sign a consent form before enrolling the kids. Like I mentioned earlier, you get 500 points when you enrol for the program and take your first flight within a month.

Points Earning: It is widely known by now that Vistara will have a revenue-based frequent flyer program. Now we know earning will be at 5 points/INR 100 spent (non taxes & charges). Tier Points, which will be phantom non-redeemable currency earned to calculate upgrades to the next tier, will include all points (including tier bonuses) towards flying on a Vistara flight. Award Points, which can be redeemed for flights will include points earned from flying as well as partner earnings such as those from Singapore Airlines/Silk Air flights and Taj Group. Award points are valid for 36 months from date of earning.

Tiers & Benefits: I’ve earlier stated that Vistara will have 3 tiers: Base, Silver and Gold. I got the name of the base tier wrong, which is not called Club as I thought it would. Benefits for the various tiers are tabulated below:

Silver Benefits: Silver tier members get a 5 Kg excess baggage allowance over and above their ticketed baggage allowance. Additionally, they get an additional 1 point/INR 100 spent on their ticket.

Gold Benefits: Gold tier members get a 10 Kg excess baggage allownace over and above their ticketed baggage allowance. Additionally, they get to check-in at the Business Class Counter. Priority services for Gold Tier members will include priority baggage handling and priority boarding. Tier bonuses will be 2 point/INR 100 spent on their tickets. Gold tier members would be provided lounge access even when travelling on economy or premium economy tickets. However, the accompanying guests will not get lounge access unless they are Gold members as well.

Earning Tiers & Retaining Tiers: Members will earn and retain tiers, basis their tier points accumulation. Just accumulate 25,000 tier points within 12 months to get to Silver Tier, and 50,000 tier points within 12 months to get to Gold Tier. Tiers will be valid for 12 months from the date of attainment.

Redemptions: The redemptions for Vistara are still not clear. I don’t know yet if one will need a fixed number of points per segment or if this will be variable by the price of the flight, and every seat will be available. However, what is known is that you need 2500 points earned and at least 1 flight on Vistara recorded before you get eligible for redemptions.

Family Pooling: While full details of the family pooling offered by Vistara are not available yet, I do know that 6 members of a family can be linked into one account, and points would be transferable amongst them.

And before you ask, no status matches are being offered, just yet.

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