Axisbank Vistara Credit Cards are one of best rewarding travel credit card in India when it comes to domestic award flights. Their Vistara Infinite Credit Card is probably the best airline credit card in the country with whooping reward rate of over 10% on spend. It has given me amazing business class flight experiences in Indian skies.
Now these Axis Vistara Credit cards are getting additional spend based milestone benefit, which means you get 1 extra award ticket on each of the cards (on additional spend). Here are more details,
New Benefits on Vistara cards
If you would like to check in detail, here’s the updated content on vistara website.
So basically the additional voucher demands you to spend 6L,9L & 12L (totally) or in other words the new ticket comes at additional 3.5L, 4.5L & 4.5L spends on platinum, signature & Infinite variants respectively.
Are they worth it?
Platinum & Signature – Nope, not worth it for most. For ex, instead of spending 4.5L on vistara signature, you may rather spend it on Diners Black and get 14K worth points which you could in turn redeem for even 2 Premium Economy Class tickets.
But if you’ve spotted any premium Economy ticket >14K, this milestone benefit may still be worth it. Similar case for Platinum (basic) variant too.
Infinite – Yes, its definitely worth it as you get more than 4% return on this additional 4.5L spend, but do note that your overall reward rate may go down on this card a bit.
When will this go LIVE?
- For card anniversary beginning on or after 1st Nov’19
I checked with Axis Bank over call and they’re clueless. It seems Axis may take a while to communicate this internally. But the Axis website is now reflecting the updated numbers.
Anyway Vistara had the information ready. Here’s what Vistara said when I asked:
“We wish to inform you that eligibility for the milestone benefit is considered only for card anniversary beginning on or after 1st Nov’19 for all the 3 card variants. The subsequent milestone based on spends will be credited automatically in the Club Vistara account.”
Bottomline
The new milestone addition to Infinite variant is a very good move. For others, it could be considered as an additional option if you can stretch your spends. Might work well for those who don’t have other premium/super-premium credit cards.
Its good to see Axis upgrading their existing cards. Looks like this season we’re seeing a couple of face-lifts on existing cards like the one on Diners black last week.
Let’s hope this happens to all other credit cards too based on the demand. And the demand is created only when you share feedback to the banks.
What’s your take on the new milestone benefit addition to Axis Vistara cards? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks to Nipun for sharing the info on new benefits.
Concur with your observation Sid , would not put additional 4.5 L spends on my Vistara Signature. Makes no sense . Also facing award redemption issues on the PE & Business class segment, thought it could be sector specific.
Hence go for revenue ticket thought points earned on DCB.
I would have given it a shot if this last award flight was offered in any of the international sectors they Operate with some limitations ofcourse.
I haven’t faced any redemption issues so far. May I know what was the issue you went through?
Delhi to Portblair sector , i tried through Dec 19, The best these milestone based award flights could buy within India , but PE award tickets are unavailable.
If you want to do these route through points , you need seperate points for Del to Kolkata / Chennai and then chennai / Kolkata to Portblair. So you spot the deal 😇 but unlucky for me could not land a date for redemption.
Nihar I went Delhi to Port Blair last month IN PE using the vistara signature award tickets. The booking was seemless via customer care over the call. In 20 mins I booked 2 tickets DEL-IXZ using milestone vouchers and 1 IXZ-DEL using milestone voucher and another DEL-IXZ using CV points. DEL-IXZ was via Chennai and IXZ-DEL was via Kolkata. The booking was considered as single sector and didn’t need to separate it and use double vouchers.
“The booking was considered as single sector” – Sure?
I think if it is same plane (and/or) same flight number it should be considered a single sector and should be redeemable with single voucher.
CV is different game. Single or multiple sectors, it would be based on distance anyway.
If i book Vistara ticket from either MMT or HDFC Smart buy, can I use upgrade voucher or upgrade to next class through CVV points?
Yes.
Dear Sudheer,
Yes, you can. I availed it. But, you can’t do it, if the ticket is booked in vistara lite.
Thank you
Also I don’t know if its relevant here, but I just got a birthday surprise one class upgrade voucher on my Vistara Infinite card, but sadly it was only valid for 1 month.
I got one and used it as well 🙂
I also got one this year and was able to upgrade my PE redemption ticket to Business Class 🙂
I got it too , but without the card , they probably sent it to all gold and silver members
The extra 4.5l spend for a business class ticket is way too steep IMO. That spend directed towards an Amex Plat travel or a DCB may make more sense esp if travelling with family, since no more than 2 business class tickets are available in a flight (redeemable by voucher).
I wish, they start introducing some similar benefits on their international routes. That should be fun
Sid,
I took the card on January 2019 and anniversary would be January 2020,so I think I am eligible for this ,rt?
Of-course.
I had the same doubt, when I called customer care on DEC 2019 to confirm the same they said yes, I am eligible because the card renewal is coming on FEB 2020. Based on their confirmation, I shifted all my spending to this card to get additional business class ticket.
In order to confirm whether I already crossed Rs.12L for this anniversary I called customer care, they confirmed yes, spending is crossed Rs.12L, but I won’t get additional voucher it’s applies to me from next renewal by saying valid only for customers anniversary starting after NOV 2019. I told them that, based on their confirmation only I made all spending on this card, else I wouldn’t used this card. They said, they’ll take action against the executive who gave wrong information, anyway that’s not going to solve the purpose maybe need to escalate to get the benefits.
Indeed, confusing TnCs for the additional benefit.
Here comes the bad news in posting the points
Effective 01-11-2019, eligible CV Points earned on your Axis Bank Vistara Infinite Credit Card spends in a month will be credited to your CV account within 10 working days of your statement generation date. T&C apply
How is this bad news?
As of now CV points are added within 3 days of transaction date and henceforth ,you need to wait 10 days after the statement is generated for the points to be credited
In case of the Signature variant, you’ve ignored the 9000 points you’ll get for spending 4.5 lakh rupees on the card as regular rewards. So the comparison with Diners Blank should take that into account. ~5000 additional points (which are also more liquid) on Diners vs Premium Economy ticket here.
Valid point. Will update the article accordingly.
Not all of them have diners black. What if one has regalia first or Citibank premier miles ?
Are the reward rates good enuf for them ?
HDFC is giving DCB to nearly everyone.. just try hard. If you have Regalia, you are DCB eligible 😉
Excellent
What about fuel and wallet spends do they count towards milestones…I know it doesn’t count for points but don’t know regarding milestones as I am planning to take this card and use for fuel and wallet loads as I send almost 1lakh on these combined
Yes would like to know if utilities, fuel and wallets are counted ?
What if I pay bill of 5 lacs in one go will I cover all milestones in one go? Is there any monthly cap?
Any one?
Hi this is Dr Venkat.I have four credit cards at present.HDFC Regalia 61800,SBI SimplyClick 225000,SBI BPCL 201000,AXIS My Zone 29500.
I am looking for premium cards.Which cards am I eligible for?
Dr Venkat
Try Standard Chartered Ultimate card or if you have other relationship with HDFC then you can try for dcb OR iNFINIA
Has anyone availed the newly added benefit,Checked with VIstara CC and they said they have raised complaint with Axis CC and not much happened after that status
Hi,
Do the addon cards of vistara infinite have the visa lounge access?
Sir, I couldn’t find any info about the international lounge benefit on Vistara infinite card.Neither on the website now on your blog.
Does it come with priority pass / card itself is usable at international lounge / no international lounge benefit? What is the case??
Thanks in advance
No priority pass and no international lounge access.
hi siddharth
do you retain cv gold status when you renew the card??
Yes.
and there was a small flaw at the time of first renewal which they have fixed last year itself (or got fixed automatically). My card annual fee due date and gold status validity was till March 2019. Card got renewed in March 2019, but the Gold status degraded to Silver as the condition mentioned was” realization of annual fee”. Once I paid the Annual fee, status was brought back to Gold. But this time they have extended till may 2020. So even though, my card Annual fee falls due in March 2020, I’ll be able to enjoy Gold status till May 2020 (which will be enough to cover the period of statement generation, Annual fee payment and reporting of status continuation by Axis bank to Vistara)
Hi,
Can I load my amazon pay wallet with Axis vistara infinite and get the points?
Cheers
Prashant,
Yes
No, the terms and conditions. specifically mention that no points for wallet transactions.
Hi Sid,
Can you confirm if add-on cards for Vistara Infinite also get lounge access (shared from the 4 per quarter)
Cheers!
Prashant Bushan,
Add on is not eligible for lounge access and havent tried it till now
Hopefully ppl who are using the card can help with this query.
Does Axis bank send spend based offers or anything of the sort to holders of the Axis Vistara cards?
Also, anyone using the card for paying rent through RedGirraffe?
Thanks!
George Mathews,
No for both the queries based on my experience
Thanks, Mouli.
RedGirraffe CC clarified that RedGirraffe accepts payments from Axis Vistara cards, but the payment has to be done via PayZapp (confusing).
Anyway, I am proceeding with Infinia + Smartpay from HDFC. Smartpay gives an additional Rs 100/- pm, apart from the ~3% (after RG charges).
Hi George,
You can pay RG via payzapp using any Visa/MC card. I did that with my SBI card without any problems.
Hope this helps. Also dont forget the Promoode “BILLPAY” which gives you 5% CB ( dont remember the max cap).
~Neo
Dear all,
I’ve been communicated by the Vistara saying that the lounge service in Delhi T3 will be closed w.e.f 01/04/20. Vistara Gold and platinum customers can access the Premium Plaza instead of Vistara Lounge. They aren’t going to issue any lounge vouchers from now onwards. The vouchers which were issued earlier will be accepted at the Premium Plaza.
Dear all,
We now can see the remaining lounge vouchers, one class upgrade vouchers and tickets in the app itself.
I have a slightly foolish doubt. Please help!
What are the upgrade requirements from vistara silver to gold for axis /SBI signature card holders. Does the pre-existing status help or not?
When do we get the one class upgrade voucher? Is it getting along with free flight tickets?
Received it on 29th May
my renew of this card is due this month and they charged me 11k + 18% gst to the card already and statement generated
now do i need to pay the annual fee or i can still cancel the card and get charge reverse?
You can cancel, if not used the card after renewal date.
I am in the process of closing this credit card. I want to know what will happen to my business class vouchers that expire in Jan next year? Will I be able to use them without Axis Card and gold tier membership?
Hi ,
I also have a similar query. If i close my card, do i still get to keep the Club vistara points and vouchers, and be able to use them.
Or they will become null.
If CV account opened along with Axis card, then it’ll be closed automatically when you close Axis credit card and you can’t used vouchers.
But if the CV account is opened before that’s and you have shared existing CV I’d during Axis card application then CV account will not be closed.
Bit Scary! Are you sure they close the a/c if opened via card?
Yes, this is what Axis customer care told me when I asked to close the Axis Vistara Infinite card. Since I had ~1L CV points and 3 business class vouchers, I renewed the card last month.
Hi Siddharth
Do we get 10000 cv points on spending 100000inr in the 2nd year?
No
Joining offer only
If I am flying from Bangalore to Port Blair via Vistara and if it’s a 1 Stop flight. How many milestone vouchers do I need to redeem? Is it 1 or 2?
Two.
If I need 2 milestone vouchers, I see less value in this card. First drawback is their network where direct flights are not available. Second, for every stop I need to spend an additional milestone voucher. Instead of buying additional ticket in Vistara due to these layover/Stop, I can reach my destination with less cost via Budget Airlines. I might be loosing some luxury which is Ok. I think I made a mistake choosing this card. But, I am optimistic that this scenario might change if Air India gets acquired by Tata. If they merge both Airindia and Vistara, we might see more direct flights.
It depends.
If there is a technical stop and the flight number is same through out the sector, then it is considered as a single leg.
Does Vistara operate such flights/routes with such short stop-overs?
I’ve only seen Indigo doing it.
Yes, BLR to Jammu has short stop in Delhi. And single voucher enough for this route.
I can see few flights originating from Delhi to port blair like UK747 and UK833 having short stopovers.
Even Air India does so like AI485.
Thank You Gautam.
What will happen to all vistara infinite and other categorie card holders when vistara brand closes on March 2024 and completes merger with india. The month and year i got the info from care team of Vistara.