Last year, Vistara made some changes to their frequent flier program. A couple of the important ones were related to the launch of a new Platinum Tier, as well as more perks added to all the existing tiers. Elite members started to get upgrade vouchers and lounge access vouchers in the mail towards last November.
By virtue of being a Gold member, I already do have Lounge access, so I passed on the Lounge Vouchers to my family in case anyone is travelling with Vistara (my dad loves them!) so that they could access the Delhi Vistara Lounge.
Vistara Upgrade Vouchers
Now, as a gold member on Club Vistara, I also received 3 upgrade vouchers per annum, which I did not have the opportunity to use so far. Vistara upgrade vouchers give you a one-cabin upgrade, which means, if you are booked in Economy, you get upgrades to Premium Economy, and if you are in Premium Economy, you get upgraded to Business Class. The vouchers are mailed to you physically if you are a Gold or a Platinum member, and electronically sent to you if you are Silver. The vouchers can only be used at the airport, on a first-come-first-serve space available basis.
Vistara Upgrade Vouchers (P.S., not my set of vouchers)
Utilizing Vistara Upgrade Vouchers
A couple of days ago, on my way back from Chandigarh, I booked Vistara to get to Mumbai, skipping the direct flight to Mumbai in favour of a 1-stop transfer from Delhi. I had been out of the country for a while to be able to catch a commercial flight on the Vistara A320Neo which I’d wanted to hop on for a while. Since I was flying on a holiday, I was hoping I’d have better chance to score an Upgrade today. I was booked in the Premium Economy cabin, so I’d be upgraded to Business Class if it happened.
Vistara Business Class Chandigarh to New Delhi
On arriving at Chandigarh Airport, I queued up in the Premium Check-in queue. I’d already web checked-in, but I asked the agent if it would be possible to use an upgrade voucher. He looked up my PNR and asked which segment did I want to Upgrade: Chandigarh – Delhi or Delhi – Mumbai. He told me he saw seats available on both.
Since one voucher could only be used on one flight, I needed two upgrade vouchers for both the flights flights. At Chandigarh, I confirmed that I wanted an upgrade on the Chandigarh – Delhi sector. It is a short flight at 35 minutes runway to runway, but life is too short to fly coach all the time! So the agent collected one upgrade voucher and proceeded to issue me a new boarding pass. Cool!
For the Delhi-Mumbai segment, I was asked to check with the Delhi team. So on arrival at Delhi, I walked up to the transfer counter and had a chat with the agent. At first she feigned ignorance of the subject, and wanted me to exit the airport and come back in through the front gate to talk to the ticketing office. But I requested her to talk to someone to see if it could be done here itself. After a couple of calls and callbacks, she passed on my PNR details to someone on the phone who confirmed me in Business Class, and she collected the voucher and proceeded to issue my new Boarding Pass.
I then proceeded to the Vistara Lounge, before heading up to board VT-TNC, which is Vistara’s second Neo. More about the flight later, but this seat was plush!
Vistara Business Class New Delhi to Mumbai
Bottom line
I found the process to redeem the vouchers to be pretty easy. The difficult part around here is to know where to go. As a rule of thumb, I always ask the check-in agents to process my upgrades, and it seems that works very well here as well.
Have you had success using your Vistara Upgrade Vouchers? Do share your experiences here.
Vistara upgrades are fairly simple. Instead of last minute enquires at the check-in counter , I prefer to call their customer care number to find if a business class seat is available on an upgrade basis on a particular day. If it is available on quite a few flights on that day, I book a Premium Economy dear and immediately call back and request for the upgrade which is confirmed immediately and Business Ticket is mailed to me almost immediately. Sometimes it’s not possible to upgrade on the day of the flight at the check-in counter, especially when you are upgrading to Business Class. I have used Upgrade vouchers on at least 10 flights without any issue at all. In 2017, there were many problems using your upgrade vouchers even on going through customer care but a lot if Feed back received by them have helped changed that completely. CV points can also be used to upgrade in a similar manner. Only thing I wish more is that Platinum and Gold Club Vistara members should also have Security Check-in Access through the Gate meant for Business & First Class travellers.
can I use upgrade vouchers to upgrade my parents seats?
I am vistara silver
If I book premium economy Class, later If I upgrade through voucher, Am I eligible for lounge access.
Yes
Which is cabin class seats
Hi
Quick question. Can you use 2 vouchers to be upgraded from economy to business class?
@Chiller, No.
Yes
Vistara upgrades miles redemption tickets too using vouchers!
Generally, I have found their processes smooth, except, whenever I have used the ‘no change fee’ benefit offered to Platinum tier. In that aspect, Jet is better as they offer ‘no cancellation fee’ for PLT that can be easily done online.
Hi Ajay,
How long did it take for the kit containing the UG vouchers to reach you – from the day you qualified for Vistara Gold?
The reason I’m asking this question is because I qualified for Vistara Gold on 22 Jul 2017 but I haven’t received the kit / card / UG vouchers yet
Should I be worried?
Thanks
@Udit you get a sms when your kit is dispatched.
Has anyone redeemed free tickets that are issued with axis vistara credit cards? How is the process? What are the charges payable?
That is easy, you just need to call Vistara Customer care and they will take a request based on availability. Only catch here is you need to contact them 7 days in advance and only 1 ticket can be redeemed in a flight. Yes, airport charges and tax is payable (varying from 600-1200/ticket based on class and sector) and CC will send a link to your mail to make a payment. After payment they will immediately issue a ticket. It is much easier to get an availability in any class/ any sector in Vistara compare to Jet for redeeming free tickets (Jet in my experience) is worst of all
Hi Devendra,
I have also redeemed my Axis Visatara free tickets and though you are right about the 7 day advance criteria, it is not a hard rule as I was able to book my flight which was 6 days ahead only and in fact the customer care person told me that it can be done.
I would disagree on the 1 ticket per flight rule, as I was able to book two tickets for the same flight for me and my son using two of my free ticket vouchers.
Hi AJ,
One more addition here. You can book economy, upgrade using miles to premium and upgrade using vouchers to business at the check in counter. I have been able to do this with all the three vouchers i had.
Thanks
@Ankit, thanks. That sure helps!
Good hack
Thank you
You are lucky I tried few times on BOM-DEL-BOM SECTOR & i got huge no… So stop flying Vistara… Jet Airways always great for upgrade and will be always… Keep aircraft configuration in mind.
Vistara needs to add more flights from Mumbai…at least start older BOM-BLR-BOM & BOM-GOI-BOM
Should follow Jet Airways process to call contact center and confirm upgrade
Very true…Vistara process seems to be confusing.
@Anoop it is not. you go to the counter, if there is space available you get an upgrade else you don’t. What’s confusing about it?
@Anoop, AJ is right, the process is very simple and I was also able to upgrade my seat without any issue.
Just inform the person at check-in counter and if seat is available provide the upgrade voucher.
@Ajay and @Prashant
I had two vistara upgrade vouchers. I’m not a frequent Vistara flyer since they do not serve any of my preferred routes. Most of my flights are with Jet Airways and I’m a Platinum JetPrivilege member. I booked a return premium economy flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi. I wanted to use both the upgraded vouchers in this trip, if seats are available. And also wanted to visit the Vistara lounge at Delhi T3 using the lounge access voucher.
I reached Ahmedabad airport 2.5 hours before the scheduled departure. Enquired at the premium economy counter about the availability of business class seats for upgrade. Yes. The process was smooth. They had vacant seats, I shared voucher number and I got upgrade. As you people said, upgrade process was smooth and I even acknowledged it in the twitter page of Vistara.
on my return trip, I had plans to use the second upgrade voucher and also to visit the Vistara lounge at delhi T3 using the lounge access voucher. I reached airport 2 hours before departure. At the premium economy counter, after a lot of confusion, they informed me that upgrades are allowed only 1 hour before departure and booking window was still open. Ohh… Ahmedabad team had no such issues and Delhi team got some restrictions… I’m asked to check with the lounge people about the upgrade 1 hour before departure. Exactly one hour before departure, I checked with them. The reply I got was great. They can upgrade me but they will not be able to provide me meal, since it is late… Wait… What??? Then what is the point in upgrading and wasting a voucher. They only told me to wait till one hour before departure and then they tells me that they cannot provide me meal since I’m late… Simply Stupid Vistara… I outrightly rejected the upgrade…
Hello,
I will be earning 4 Business Class ticket vouchers in the next month. The issue is that these vouchers might not reach me on time before my upcoming flights. I am wondering if there is anyone who has similar vouchers that might be expiring in the month of April 20 and would be willing to exchange them with me for my vouchers that will have an additional 6 months’ validity? I also check and this is very possible to transfer vouchers as long as you add the person’s name in the nominee list of your Club Vistara account. I can be contacted at 9971798593 to discuss this in detail.
Thanks!