Vistara and Axis Bank had launched their co-branded credit card back in 2016. The credit card has not seen any changes over the years. The prominent features of the cards are as follows:

• Complimentary tickets on payment of an annual fee of the card every year (Economy, Premium Economy and Business) for all three variants of the card.
• Earning Club Vistara points on every swipe of the card.
• On onboarding of the card, there is a welcome bonus on a specific minimum spend.

Now, Axis Bank and Vistara have made some important changes to the card with effect from November 1, 2019. First and foremost, in an effort to push the usage of the card beyond the milestones, there has been another milestone ticket added to the benefits.

• Axis Vistara Card: Cardmembers receiving the base variant of the card, used to receive an economy class ticket on sign-up, and up to two more tickets on annual spends of INR 1.25 Lakhs and INR 2.5 Lakhs. Now, a third milestone ticket has been added on achieving an annual spend of INR 6 Lakhs as well.
• Axis Vistara Signature Card: Cardmembers receiving the mid- variant of the card, used to receive a premium-economy class ticket on sign-up, and up to three more tickets on annual spends of INR 1.5 Lakhs, INR 3 Lakhs and INR 4.5 Lakhs. Now, a fourth milestone ticket has been added on achieving a yearly spend of INR 9 Lakhs as well.
• Axis Vistara Infinite Card: Cardmembers receiving the top-variant of the card, used to secure a business class ticket on sign-up, and up to three more tickets on annual spends of INR 2.5 Lakhs, INR 5 Lakhs and INR 7.5 Lakhs. Now, a fourth milestone ticket has been added on achieving a yearly spend of INR 12 Lakhs as well.

This change has been implemented with effect from November 1, 2019, so it will be valid for those who have a new card issued after November 1, 2019, or pay a renewal fee after November 1, 2019.

I predict that people who use the card will continue to use the card as earlier, given the first three milestones are easier to achieve than the fourth one. However, if there is a big spend happening in someone’s life, like buying a car, paying for a wedding or a large expense at work, then it would be easier to make the jump to the new milestone and would be worth the ticket.

In addition, there is another change in the way Axis Bank and Club Vistara will be changing the way they credit points to your Club Vistara Account. Till so far, the transfer to your account was made on an almost realtime basis, every day as transactions posted. Now, this process has moved to a monthly credit, within ten days of your statement generation date. Here is an excerpt from the website.

Bottomline

The Club Vistara partnership with Axis Bank continues to be one of the better ones in the market, but the Bank really needs to up its game on customer service. Also, beats me, why do Vistara purchases don’t get extra points on this card even after so many years.

What do you make of the new additions to the Club Vistara Axis Bank partnership?