Yesterday we wrote about Vistara Lite fares. Starting today, you can buy these tickets directly on their website or through any OTA. Travel on these fares is only available after August 29. We went looking for tickets earlier today and discovered a few more things about this new fare category.

First, these fares are not available across their entire network. We were able to find seats on sectors such as Delhi-Mumbai and Kolkata-Chennai, but could only find seats on the Chennai-Kochi sector when looking on shorter flights. No luck on Delhi – Amritsar or Delhi – Lucknow.

One thing, clearly visible on these fares is that the difference between Economy Lite and Economy Standard fares are consistently in the INR 200-300 range. On most sectors, it is INR 210, and on some segments such as Chennai – Kolkata, it is INR 315. We are not sure about whether the difference is worth giving up the onboard meal and Club Vistara qualification points, apart from the ability to upgrade, cancel or reschedule altogether.

Also, we found that these fares were only available for travel through September 2018. They probably are in the process of uploading these new fares on their system, and maybe you’ll be able to book tickets for later dates after the update.

On the OTA front, most OTAs either don’t have the fares present at the moment or are showing it as the lowest fare. But we do have some second-tier OTAs which are putting out the tag to state that these fares do not have meals included. The airline expects that all OTAs should be able to show the new fare inclusions soon.

However, there is no option to buy a different fare when the lite fare is available on an OTA at this moment. Which means, you really can’t opt-in, as the airline states, but are stuck with the lowest fare at the moment if you buy from a third party.

Bottomline

I am still wondering how this will all come together. The difference in price is small but perhaps comes with significant penalties in the vast scheme of things. If you are a frequent flier or a fan of their food onboard, booking an Economy Standard should still get you the frills without burning a hole in your pocket.

Do you think Visatara Lite fares are worth the difference? Let us know.