Club Vistara is the frequent flyer program of Air Vistara, India’s premium full-service airline and probably the only one in the country which is designed to reward loyal passengers. It comes with a range of benefits and privileges, enhancing their travel experience with the airline. The program offers various membership tiers, each with its own set of advantages, and allows members to earn and redeem points based on their flights and associated activities.
Starting 1st January 2023, the elite tier qualification criteria saw some overhaul making it harder for frequent fliers to retain and renew their status. As a result, the complementary elite tiers which come with Vistara’s co-branded cards get even more attractive. One could argue that this benefit alone makes them worth considering. The free tickets that come as milestone benefits on spending while using these cards are an added bonus and make them very lucrative in the mid-segment.
IDFC First Bank, Club Vistara, and Mastercard have collaboratively launched a new credit card with an aim to redefine travel experiences. With the launch of this new product, it is worth evaluating how it stands against the existing SBI Vistara Prime & Axis Vistara Signature cards. It might also make sense for a select few to maybe hold a combination of these. We take you through the benefits of each card in this article along with a tabular comparison and our thoughts on this new offering.
Club Vistara IDFC First Credit Card
The launch of Vistara’s co-branded credit card with IDFC First Bank amidst the announcement of its merger with Air India comes as a ray of hope for loyalists. While there has been speculation around the discontinuation of the program, they also recently unveiled newly designed membership cards for account holders.
Joining & Renewal Fee: INR 4999 + taxes
It is in the mid-range of Vistara co-branded credit cards and hence comes with a complimentary Silver Club Vistara Membership and a complimentary premium economy ticket.
There is also a unique activation benefit that earns you 2K CV points every month for the first 3 months on spending 30K in that calendar month.
This is the only card to have Flight & Hotel Cancellation Insurance cover up to INR 10,000. Many other benefits in comparison with other co-branded cards are available towards the end of this article so stay tuned.
SBI Vistara Prime Credit Card
SBI Vistara Prime credit card is one of the most popular options amongst the mid-range Vistara co-branded cards. With its complimentary Club Vistara Silver membership and a complimentary premium economy ticket as a welcome benefit, it is a card worth having. It also offers a one-of-a-kind free cancellation benefit for up to 6 Vistara flights a year.
Joining & Renewal Fee: 2999 + taxes
It also has multiple spend milestones which will earn you up to 5 complimentary premium economy tickets on spends of 1.5L to 8L in a year.
Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card
Axis has a range of Vistara co-branded credit cards – the one that compares to our discussion today is the Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card. This card also comes with a complimentary Club Vistara Silver membership and a complimentary premium economy ticket.
Joining & Renewal Fee: INR 3000 + taxes
Similar to the SBI Vistara Prime credit card – this card also has the same milestones with up to 5 complimentary premium economy tickets on yearly spending.
Head to Head Comparision
Since these 3 cards are all the rage right now, we thought of bringing you all the differences and similarities to you in a simple-to-understand format below:
Features and Benefits
| Feature / Benefit | Club Vistara IDFC First | SBI Vistara Prime | Axis Vistara Signature |
| Joining & Renewal Fee | INR 4999 + taxes | INR 2999 + taxes | INR 3000 + taxes |
| Welcome Benefit | 1. Club Vistara Silver Membership 2. Premium Economy Ticket | 1. Club Vistara Silver Membership 2. Premium Economy Ticket | 1. Club Vistara Silver Membership 2. Premium Economy Ticket |
| CV Points on Spends | 6 CV Points on every INR 200 spent up to INR 1 Lakh / Month 4 CV Points on every INR 200 spent above INR 1 Lakh / Month 1 CV Point for every INR 200 spent on Wallet, Rent, Fuel and Utility 10 CV Points on every INR 200 spent on dining on your birthday | Earn 4 CV Points for every INR 200 spent including fuel | Earn 4 Club Vistara Points for every INR 200 spent |
| Foreign Currency Markup | 2.99% | 3.5% | 3.5% |
| Other Benefits | Lounge & Spa Access, Travel Insurance & Golf | Lounge Access, Priority Pass, Dining | Lounge Access, Lifestyle Benefits, Dining, Travel insurance |
Milestone Benefits
| Milestone | Club Vistara IDFC First | SBI Vistara Prime | Axis Vistara Signature |
| Milestone 1 (First Year Only) | 6K CV points (2K each month) for 30K spends each month for the first 3 Months | 3K CV Points for 75K spends | 3K CV Points for 75K spends |
| Milestone 2 ₹1,50,000L | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket |
| Milestone 3 ₹3,00,000L | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket |
| Milestone 4 ₹4,50,000L | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket | 1 Premium Economy Ticket |
| Milestone 5 | 1 Premium Economy Ticket for 9,00,000 spent in a year. | 1 Premium Economy Ticket & 10K Hotel Gift Voucher for ₹8,00,000 spent in a year. | 1 Premium Economy Ticket for ₹8,00,000 spent in a year. |
| Milestone 6 ₹12,00,000L | 1 Premium Economy Ticket for 9,00,000 spent in a year | NA | NA |
Bottomline – Final Take!
While the IDFC Credit card is pricier in terms of fee, it also gives a return of 3% CV points on spends against 2% for the other 2 cards. The card is also more liberal in the eligible categories for earning points. It also offers a one-class upgrade voucher in addition to the one earned by virtue of the Silver status. This can come in particularly handy for those who already hold some sort of elite tier with Vistara. At the same time, the 5th milestone is at a spend of ₹9,00,000 vis-a-vis ₹8,00,000 for other cards.
Also, for people wanting to spend more than 1L on the IDFC card (which we highly discourage considering there are better options), the reward ratio is pretty much similar to the other offerings. Nonetheless for those of you who put high spends on these lines of cards, SBI does provide a 10K hotel gift voucher as an additional benefit not available on the other cards. The Hotel voucher will be a Yatra e-voucher.
All your complimentary vouchers received via welcome or milestone benefit of credit cards can be found under the on-demand voucher generation tab in your Club Vistara account. Generate the voucher only when you want to use it as post-generation the validity period will start.
The CV points earned can be used for redeeming award flights at a return of 0.6 to 0.8 Rs for every CV point on economy tickets. Booking highly-priced flights with points will give higher returns and that is when CV points usually come in handy!
Abhishek has been a miles aficionado since his early high school days, he did his first redemption when most of his peers were still discovering the world of loyalty programs. Since then, he’s managed to fund some of his outlandish escapades, all for pocket change. There are chances you’ll bump into him on a SIA flight, but when he’s not sipping a Singapore Sling he is busy planning his next getaway.
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