Vistara now best bet for international travellers with baggage!

Vistara has recently rejigged their baggage allowance policy, to offer free excess baggage to those who are travelling into India on separate tickets, and then need another airline domestically to help them get to their final destination (s).

Why the need? Because international baggage allowance is usually to the tune of 30 kg or more per pax, and domestic baggage allowance is usually 15 kg per pax. People usually end up buying separate tickets for their international and intra-India travel, seeing there is some sort of an arbitrage in terms of prices when you add it on the same PNR. Nevertheless, they pay the same money to other carriers for the luggage.

image

Now, Vistara has taken the lead in bringing out a new luggage allowance when you connect from an International carrier. The time given for claiming an extra baggage allowance, as well as the amount of baggage allowance, depends on the class of travel on Vistara. Per their website

  • Passengers travelling Vistara in Business Class will be permitted two check-in bags of upto 32 kg each. This special allowance for Business Class will be available within 30 days of the passenger’s international inbound or outbound travel.
  • Passengers travelling Vistara in Premium Economy will be permitted two check-in bags of upto 23 kg each. This special allowance for Premium Economy Class will be available within 7 days of the passenger’s international inbound or outbound travel.
  • Passengers travelling Vistara in Economy Class will be permitted an enhanced check-in allowance of 23 kg total. This special allowance for Economy Class will be available within 24 hours of the passenger’s international inbound or outbound travel.

Of course, you need to bring your International ticket and/or boarding pass for getting your baggage allowance on Vistara. The allowance only allowed when you are on separate tickets as compared to your international ticket. When your International leg is on the same ticket, you get the allowance on your ticket.

It is of course, not co-incidence that a similar scheme was operated at SpiceJet when they had Sanjiv Kapoor as their COO. He is now at Vistara, and I’m sure he saw merit in bringing this idea to Vistara while SpiceJet had killed it.

I also think this is a smart move by Vistara. With Air India and many other airlines making Delhi their airport of choice in India, it makes a lot of traffic come to Delhi, from where Vistara can pick it up and take it inside India, because Delhi is also the hub for Vistara.

Bottomline

If you are arriving into India from another country and don’t have any sort of elite status or airline affiliations, you may want to look at Vistara for bringing you to your final destination in India.

Join over 5000 people who check-in daily to find out about the best in travel.
Free emails (once-a-day) | RSS Feeds | Facebook Updates | Twitter | Instagram

.

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

More articles by Ajay »

Comments

  1. I am flying from Chicago to Delhi then next day flying from Delhi to Bombay by business class (1) where can I keep my 4 bags on International airport
    (2) Do I have to clear custom in Delhi (3) Can I Checking my bags with Vitara air after passing through custom

  2. I am having international air astana flight at Delhi I am having 23 kgs 2 pieces ….. From hyd to del i want to book domestic flight which airticket is best for booking

  3. We would be flying in to India with International Baggage allowance of 23kg*2, Kindly confirm will it allow the same Baggage allowance if I buy economy class ticket?
    Kindly confirm me before i could book my domestic tickets (Vistara) from Delhi to Bengaluru

    ( I am vistara club member too)

  4. International flights from riyadh leaving the baggage of 46 kg. Y not domestic flights if it connecting within 24 hours

  5. Goair gives 46 kgs allowance plus 7 kgs hand baggage on routine economy tickets ; there is nothing special in Vistara unless one ends up coughing extra bucks for premium ticket

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *