Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card Review

The Axis Bank Vistara Signature credit card is one of the best airline focused credit cards today. When it comes to rewards for travel, we have three variants – reward points for ticket bookings, airmiles and ticket vouchers. The Axis Vistara Signature credit card offers the last two. We earn CV points for our spends while getting complimentary premium economy tickets for meeting milestone spends. Here is a detailed review of the Axis Vistara Signature credit card with its rewards and benefits

Overview

Fees and Charges

The complimentary premium economy ticket is worth more than the joining fee. We are valuing the complimentary premium economy ticket for at least Rs 5500. It can of course be even higher depending on the route and time of booking.

Considering the welcome and renewal benefit, the Axis Bank Vistara Signature credit card card pays us to hold it even if we do not make any spending on it. Effectively, we get more benefits than the fee we pay.

Rewards

• All Spends: 4 Club Vistara(CV) points per Rs 200 ~ 1.6% Return
• Wallet Spends: No CV Points
• 9 CV points per Rs 100 spent on Vistara flights (with the complimentary Club Vistara Silver membership)

We are valuing 1 CV point at 80 paise in this case. But in extreme cases, we can get a value higher than Rs 1 as well or a value of 60 paise too.

Exclude Rewards Points Transaction

x   Rent Payment

x   Wallet load

Milestone Rewards

The main feature of all Vistara co-branded cards is the milestone benefit. We get 4 premium economy tickets for spending Rs 9 Lakhs in a year. The value of these premium economy tickets increases when we are booking closer to the travel date.

Exclude Milestone Transaction

x   Rent Payment

x   Wallet load

Axis Vistara Signature offers a 4% return on spends

• Approximate value of one premium economy ticket: Rs 5500 as we need to pay approximately Rs 1000 as redemption charges towards fuel and surcharges.
• Total value of 4 premium economy tickets: Rs 22000
• CV Points on Rs 8 Lakhs spend: 18000 (excluding Vistara spends)
• Total Return: 18000 CV points ~Rs 14400 + Rs 22000 as Economy Tickets = Rs 36400 ~4% Return on Rs 9 Lakh spending

The 18000 CV points alone can get you a Bengaluru to New Delhi Premium Economy ticket. Check the Vistara award chart for many other options. The challenge here will be booking the award ticket as Vistara cards are a bit too popular.

Return on Spend

The price at which we can value the complimentary premium economy ticket depends on the route. I searched for two routes DEL-HYD and DEL-BOM to arrive at a value.

• Approximate Cost of Premium Economy Ticket: Rs 6500
• Approximate Cost of Redemption for Taxes and Surcharges: Rs 1000
• Value of each Complimentary Premium Economy ticket: Rs 5500

It is always possible to get a better value for the premium economy ticket. So we get CV points worth Rs 14,400 and 4 Premium Economy tickets worth Rs 24,000. This is a return of Rs 38400 or 4%.

Complimentary Airport Lounge Access

• Domestic Airport Lounge Access in India: 2 complimentary visits per quarter with Visa to this list of lounges.
• International Airport Lounge Access outside India: Not Available

Club Vistara Silver Privileges and Benefits

The Axis Bank Vistara Signature credit card offers Silver status for as long as we hold the card. This status comes with its own set of benefits that we can use when flying on Vistara.

• Earn 9 Club Vistara Points for every Rs 100 spent on Vistara flights base fare
• Extra 5 Kg baggage allowance
• 1 class upgrade voucher on Tier Renewal

Final Thoughts

Vistara flies very limited routes in India. So, the Vistara co-branded cards make sense only if you reside in one of those cities. If you reside in one of the hub cities like Delhi, this card can offer good value with all those milestone benefits. The 4.3% return that we calculated on this card will also increase depending on how effectively you can book the award tickets to get maximum value.

If you are interested in a Vistara credit card, the Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME and the Axis Bank Vistara Signature credit card are better if we consider the spending required for milestone tickets