Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card Review

Axis Vistara Signature credit card is the middle variant among the three credit cards that Axis is having in partnership with Vistara. Vistara for the first time in India had coined a new configuration that is Premium Economy. In this you get a Business class like experience on an economy-sized seat at almost 1.5-2X the economy prices.

This card gives you milestone benefits in the form of Premium Economy tickets. Read on to know the benefits, how you can maximize them, and also whether there are better alternatives available or not!

Charges and Welcome Benefits

• The e-Gift voucher will be sent via e-mail within 15 working days post payment of the Annual Fee. 
• You will have to claim the voucher within six months of issuance post which they will be auto-credited to your account.
• After claiming the voucher you get another 3 months to use them after which they will get expired.

This premium economy ticket voucher covers 2X-3X of the joining fees and even the renewal fees payment so I can clearly say that this card is better than an LTF credit card. Since even if you are flying economy the average ticket price is above 5K if booked a month ago but this card gives you a PEY ticket in just ₹3,000 + GST.

Reward Accrual

• Spends include all retail spend categories excluding wallet loads, rent payments and fuel spending.

This card has decent CV points earning rates among all the Vistara Cobrand credit cards on generic spending. Axis has excluded fuel spending from the reward structure but SBI Vistara Prime offers CV points even on fuel spending which makes it a lucrative fuel card also.

Milestone Benefit

Just like all other Vistara co-branded cards, the real value of this card lies in its milestone benefits.

Voucher usage conditions remain the same as that of the welcome voucher as I have mentioned above. I have done a value analysis of these vouchers later on in this article.

TechnoFino Maximum

Clearly going for the ₹9L milestone makes no sense so better aim for that ₹4.5L milestone to maximize your benefits. So if you hit that ₹4.5L milestone then you will get

• 12,000 CV points.
• 3 Premium Economy tickets.
• 1 one-class upgrade vouchers.

With 12K CV points, you can get an economy Delhi-Mumbai return flight worth ₹12K. The 3 premium economy flight vouchers are worth a minimum of ₹8K each even if we are taking a conservative value like for the Delhi-Bengaluru flight. One one-class upgrade voucher has a value of 5-10K depending which upgrade you take. Even if we factor in the taxes the equivalent reward comes out to be around ₹35K for ₹4.5L of spends and the equivalent reward rate is a good 7.5%!

The value gets enhanced more since you can also use these vouchers and points for your family and friends by adding them as a nominee in your Club Vistara Account. Also, you don’t pay any convenience fee for the booking from their official site.

But if you believe in traveling economy and getting the cheapest fare then you will value it very differently.

Vistara CV Silver Membership

One gets a complimentary Vistara CV Silver membership till you hold an active card which offers you a host of benefits like priority boarding, priority check-in, 5Kg extra baggage allowance, and likes.

It also gives you 9 Club Vistara Points/Tier Points for every ₹100 that you spend on Vistara flights.

Lounge Access

• 2 Complimentary Visits/Quarter to Domestic Airport lounges via Visa Lounge Access Program.
• No shared access for add-on cardholders.

Golf Access

• Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Cardholders enjoy 3 complimentary rounds of golf per year using Axis Bank Extraordinary Weekends.

Air Accident & Fraud Liability Cover

• Get a complimentary Air Accident Liability Cover of ₹2.5 Cr.
• Purchase Protection Cover of ₹1 lakh in case of fire or burglary.

Cover of 300$ for the following.

• Loss of check-in baggage.
• Delay of check-in baggage.
• Loss of travel documents.

Fuel Surcharges

• 1% surcharge applicable on fuel spends with no-waiver.

Forex Markup Charges

• Forex Markup charges are standard 3.50% + GST

TechnoFino Recommends

If you regularly travel via flights then you can consider shifting your loyalty to Vistara if your city is serviced by them. This switch will be very easy if you are living in Delhi and Mumbai or even Bengaluru since they are the hub of Vistara.

Now talking about this card, if you are looking for a Premium Economy experience then I would prefer SBI Vistara Prime since it gives a better value than this card as it gives you Yatra Voucher worth ₹10K and a Premium Economy voucher extra on crossing ₹8L milestone. If we compare only the ₹4.5L milestone still SBI variant is better since it rewards fuel transactions also. From the Axis stable, the only Vistara card I like is Axis Vistara Infinite for its unique feature of Business Class Vouchers as milestone benefits.

Do you hold this card and enjoy business class-like luxury? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below. If you would like to read more such articles then connect with us on Twitter.

Bhavye Goel

Chief Editor, TechnoFino.
Personal finance nerd! Physics enthusiast and trainer. When not into Physics, he is minting points and hunting for the next best credit card for himself.