It has been a long time coming, and it is finally here. Given that Vistara is on course for its merger with Air India, an activity we should see closed out, at least from a legal perspective, within 2024, some of its commercial partners have started to react. Japan Airlines initiated a partnership with Vistara back in 2019, as Vistara had begun operations to Tokyo Haneda, followed by a Club Vistara and JAL Mileage Bank partnership. Now, looking at the merger of Vistara, JAL has made a codeshare partnership with IndiGo in India.
JAL Mileage Bank to stop partnership with Club Vistara, effective October 1, 2024
For a long time, Japan Airlines’ loyalty programme, JAL Mileage Bank, was one of the better ways to book redemptions on Vistara, especially on international sectors, where the pricing was much lower. Also, given the largesse that Axis Bank Credit Card customers accumulated with Magnus and other related reward programmes, JAL Mileage Bank was a hot ticket for the past couple of years.
In a new update from Japan Airlines’ loyalty programme, JAL Mileage Bank has notified that it will terminate its partnership with Club Vistara at the end of this quarter.
If you are bound to fly Vistara and are a Japan Airlines Mileage Bank member, this is how you will be affected.
- Earning on JAL MB while flying Vistara: For flights flown until September 30, 2024, bearing a Vistara flight number, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank will allow credit on their programme. After that date, you won’t be able to credit your Vistara flights to Mileage Bank.
- Things will get tougher if you choose not to put the loyalty programme membership number before check-in and get a retro credit later. While you can apply for a retro credit up to six months out (March 31, 2025), the retro credit facility will be pulled from the website on September 15, 2024. After this date, you must write a letter to JAL Mileage Bank to get the retro credit.
- Mileage accrual on Vistara-operated codeshare flights (JL-marketed flights) will continue to be eligible on/after October 1, 2024.
- Burning for Vistara tickets using JAL MB: While burning JAL Miles was a great way to book Vistara, Japan Airlines will understandably stop issuing redemption tickets on Vistara. From now through September 20, 2024, you can issue award tickets on Vistara flights using JAL miles only for flights that will operate through September 30, 2024. Online changes and refunds for existing tickets have been pulled from the JAL website, and from now on, if you need a change or refund, you will need to contact the JAL Reservation Centre for any changes. Ticket Service Fees and Cancellation charges will not be applied.
What is shocking is that JAL will no longer honour tickets booked on Vistara for departure after September 30, 2024. JAL has communicated that all tickets booked for travel on October 1, 2024, or onwards, will be cancelled, and the miles refunded to your Mileage Bank account.
This sounds like an over-the-top reaction to me, honestly. Usually, airlines would make a prospective change, meaning tickets already booked and paid for are honoured. However, in this case, the airline is cancelling existing tickets and leaving the passengers in a lurch. In such cases, airlines usually rebook passengers on another partner carrier, and their standard of care kicks in. But JAL is stopping at cancelling these tickets and refunding their miles. Read it as washing their hands off the issue.
Trips planned are going to fall apart. For instance, many people now like to book tickets to Mauritius using JAL, which will no longer be possible. If their earlier tickets get cancelled, they must either cancel their trip or buy cash tickets. The effect will be outsized, given that October onwards is the festive season in India, and hence, there are a lot more holidays.
However, the message from JAL is,
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
From Club Vistara’s perspective, nothing has changed so far, and we don’t know how they will react to this termination.
Bottomline
Japan Airlines’ loyalty programme, JAL Mileage Bank, will end its partnership with Club Vistara on October 1, 2024. This will mean you can credit your Vistara tickets to JAL MB only through September 30, 2024. For redemptions as well, only redemptions through September 30, 2024, will be honoured, and all redemptions made for October 1, 2024, and onwards will be refunded to your Mileage Bank account.
What do you think of the termination of the relationship between JAL Mileage Bank and Club Vistara?
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Vistara will merge with AI. Air India and Air Canada are star alliance partners. Any bookings with made with Aeroplan for Vistara flights will be changed to AI and will use AI flight numbers. All future searches will use AI flights numbers post merger when award space are released.
I suspect if Aeroplan is also heading down the same fate – no Vistara award flights available on AP from Oct 01 onwards.
@R, I’ve heard, but not formal termination announced yet. Or, it could be that the merger date could be October 2024, so then you get all the flights as Air India anyways.