Club Vistara had moved the goalpost on status assessment back in the day due to CoVid-19, informing members that they are going to have a status freeze till September 30, 2020. Vistara had postponed status assessment for everyone whose status was going to change between March 18 to September 30, 2020. Subsequently, Vistara extended status and points for one year, and vouchers for six months for everyone.
This morning, I woke up wanting to write a post on how airlines and hospitality chains in India now need to start looking forward and planning to keep their members in their fold for the long term. Singapore Airlines and Emirates are some of the airlines globally which have already announced extensions.
Things were going fine till early March 2021 I believe, but with the explosive growth of the Pandemic, flight operations are down to minimal and customers are not heading out to the airport as much as they used to. For instance, from a high of over 350,000 passengers a day, on May 5, 2021, only 81,098 passengers travelled domestically across 1,125 flights operated.
However, always being the good samaritan, Vistara sort of read my mind, and that of its other patrons, and already is ready with the new policy to deal with another downturn in Indian aviation.
There are now updates available from Vistara on how will Club Vistara members be taken care of for the next year or so as a part of a new Club Vistara CoVid 19 update.
Extension of Tier Status: Upgrade & Renewals
For all the elite tier members, Vistara is offering a 12-month extension, even if they received a 12-month extension last year as well. This tier extension is being provided to all members who have successfully achieved their tier upgrade or renewed their tier based on Vistara’s Tier Evaluation Criteria.
The last four words are important there, only for those who qualified by flying Vistara. Those who got the status with their Axis Bank Credit Cards or SBI Cards, continue to keep the status in line with their card policy.
As per Vistara,
In addition to the 12-month extension provided last year, our CV Platinum, Gold, and Silver tier members will be offered an additional 12-month tier extension. This extension is eligible for all members who have successfully achieved tier upgrade or renewed their tier, basis our Tier Evaluation Criteria and will have an effective extension on their Tier Status for a total of two years.
Please note: Platinum, Gold and Silver tiers of Club Vistara members achieved through associations with our partners will continue to be evaluated as per partnerships terms or tier evaluation criteria.
This means my own status, which will expire in October 2021, will be extended till October 2022, and Shipra’s status, which already downgraded at the end of February 2021, should perhaps be re-upped.
Extension of Validity of Club Vistara points
Vistara had credited points with four months validity after they took to the skies again for those points which expired between March 25 and May 24, 2020. Subsequently, Vistara extended points expiring between March and December 2020 by an effective validity of 12 months. Now, Vistara will extend the validity of any points that expire between January 1 and October 31, 2021. Vistara will again re-credit points with an additional 12-month validity for this, like they did last year.
For example, for a member, if 100 Club Vistara Points expire in June 2021, equivalent CV Points will be credited with the validity up to June 2022. These points will be re-credited at the beginning of the following month and can be viewed by logging in through the Vistara website.
Extension of Validity of Club Vistara 1-class upgrade vouchers
Last year, a 6-month extension was granted on One-Class Upgrade vouchers that expired between March and December 2020. Now, any unutilised voucher that expires between January to October 2021 will be replaced with a fresh voucher, extending the validity by another 12-months from the credit date of the new voucher. A fresh voucher will be credited towards the end of each month or the first week of the following month.
Club Vistara CoVid 19 impact: move to the new tier-evaluation criteria postponed by 12 months
In January 2020, Vistara had announced new Tier Evaluation Criteria for all tier evaluations on January 2021. Subsequently, Vistara had committed to not switch to the new tier assessment till June 1, 2022. Now, Vistara has decided to postpone this move till January 2023. This means the current membership tiers criteria will continue to exist till December 31, 2022. And from January 1, 2023, the following criteria will be used to assess member tiers. Just ignore the date on top.
Bottomline
Vistara has come through again and made the changes for the benefit of Club Vistara members who have been loyal to the airline for a very long time now and given them a status extension as well as a better timeline to use their points and vouchers. It may or may not work out for everyone, but I think this is a solid move from Vistara.
It is also a compromise for Vistara because they really can’t get people to fly outside the country with the Virus and border closures, which was a crucial part of their strategy for international expansion. However, there is no further extension granted anymore on the free tickets that Vistara partners issue at least for now, and that might be a bummer for some people. But then, the good thing is you now anyways get 9 months to use a free ticket voucher.
What do you think of the Club Vistara CoVid 19 extensions?
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It’s a shame they wouldn’t extend the Axis and SBI complimentary ticket vouchers already issued, before their new 9 month rules came in. It would be a good opportunity for Vistara to make some money, if they charge a small fee and extend these vouchers.
Air India had done the same thing albeit quietly. This April I received an email mentioning downgrade from Flying Returns Gold to Base tier, and within a day got a fresh welcome email to Gold tier for another year – am assuming their IT systems could not just extend the status – so the 2 step process – downgrade and then upgrade. Haven’t received any news/updates on their upgrade vouchers though 🙂 So the Vistara platinum extension and voucher carry forward is a good news – did undertake some 8 flights with them in feb-march.
Unfortunately – don’t see myself travelling to retain either of these status in the near term. So for now, this is all feeling good about extension but no real value of the points or vouchers as of now.
What about Complimentary Business class voucher issued against Axis Card spending
@Nirmal, they were not extended the last time, neither this time. Rather Vistara has now made a 9-month validity policy for them. Read prior posts for updates.