Vistara, India’s last full-service carrier to launch operations and in line to merge with Air India, will see its operations merge with Air India on November 12, 2024. In May 2024, preliminary information was released about the merger of the loyalty programmes, followed by advice to link accounts of loyalty accounts in both programmes. Now, let us see more details about the merger of the programmes.
Club Vistara and Flying Returns combined to be called Maharaja Club
On November 12, 2024, Club Vistara will merge with Air India’s Flying Returns. All CV Points, Tier Points, subsequent Tier Status and available Vouchers (if any) will be transferred to the linked Flying Returns account. With this merger, Flying Returns will evolve into an all-new avatar, Maharaja Club.
Milestones of Merger of Accounts
Effective October 15, 2024, the members’ Club Vistara account profile details will be frozen for a seamless transfer. After this date, no changes can be made to the profile details in Club Vistara accounts.
CV Points and Complimentary Ticket Vouchers
The validity for CV Points that were or will expire in September and October 2024 will be extended. All CV Points, including the ‘Extended CV Points,’ will be transferred to Flying Returns accounts upon migration and will remain valid for at least one year from the migration date, regardless of their original expiration date. Points will be redeemable on Air India’s more comprehensive network.
Complimentary Ticket Vouchers issued by the member or auto-generated under “On-demand Voucher Generation” with validity beyond November 11, 2024, will be further extended for three months.
Vouchers available under the “On-demand Voucher Generation” feature that is not issued by November 11, 2024, will automatically be issued to the Flying Returns account with a nine-month fixed validity.
Until October 25, 2024, there will still be an option to Buy CV Points and Extend Voucher Validity. After this date, these features will no longer be available in Club Vistara accounts.
Tier Extension
Starting from November 1, 2024, Tier Status for the members will be extended until November 30, 2025, with no downgrades or renewals during this period. When the member’s Club Vistara account merges with their Flying Returns account, the final Tier Status will be based on the combined Tier Points and flights from both accounts. The system will automatically check if members are eligible for a higher tier, and the final status will either be the higher of the two or upgraded based on the combined points and flights.
Vistara Flight Benefits
After November 11, 2024, members cannot earn or redeem points on Vistara. However, once transferred to the member’s Flying Returns account post-migration, points can be redeemed on Air India.
I would imagine many more changes coming to “Maharaja Club” in the coming days, with Club Vistara management moving into the driver’s seat at Maharaja Club.
Bottomline
We are about three weeks out from Vistara’s merger into Air India. Club Vistara will be merged into Air India Flying Returns, and the programme will be renamed the Maharaja Club. A number of changes will occur, including an extension of the member tier until November 30, 2025.
What do you make of the transition from Flying Returns to Maharaja Club?
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Ajay, i have my parents as nominees on CV.
Have couple of one class upgrade & Free tickets from axis vouchers
Any idea if i can will be able to redeem the vouchers for my parents (nominees) post the merger with AI?
@aakash, at the moment, the Upgrade Vouchers at AI state that you need to be travelling with them to use the upgrade vouchers. The other part, free tickets no one knows since it is not an AI system at present. We will see!
I am unable to link club vistara to flying returns on 17th Oct. Called customer care and they said last date was 15th oct. Is there a way to link now..
Asked customer care as to what will happen if I cannot link ..he said that points will be transferred to air india…but no thoughts on to whom and how do I get the credit for it… This transition period of almost 3 weeks…is quite long…
The question arises . Is there a way to link…or just loose the points….
If you’ve not linked the account despite multiple reminders since May, they will just open a new Air India account for you and transfer Vistara points there. You can then request them to merge the accounts and close one.
You can refer to this page: https://www.airvistara.com/in/en/club-vistara/about-cv/important-update-about-migration
for all your Club Vistara merger related queries, it’s quite comprehensive and most of your questions will be answered here, like mine were.
Here’s the excerpt which is relevant to your question:
If your Club Vistara account isn’t linked to a Flying Returns account by the time of merger, here’s what happens:
1. In case the details in the five fields in your existing Flying Returns account match with the details in your Club Vistara account, we’ll merge the two accounts for a unified experience. Accounts created by parents/guardians for their children/ward will also be merged as per the process described.
2. For accounts where the details in one or more of the fields do not match, a new Flying Returns account will be created transferring your CV Points, Tier Points and Vouchers (if any) to this new account. Similarly, new accounts will be created for children/wards and their parents/guardians will be able to access the accounts as per program policy.
Managing duplicate accounts:
The Flying Returns programme necessitates that each account has a unique phone number and email address. If duplicate contact details are detected across multiple accounts at the time of migration, or if you have ended up with multiple accounts, you will have the option to merge these redundant accounts into your primary account.
Thank you for the clarification
I want to buy ticket agains points of Vistara, to fly on 15th November in a sector presently run by Vistara.
How is it possible?
@Subhash, it is not possible to do that till 12 November 2024 (assuming everything works out correctly and the transition completes in time)
ok