SBI Club Vistara Prime Credit Card Review

SBI Club Vistara Prime is a premium travel credit card from SBI but earlier this was available only on the MasterCard platform and due to the ban SBI wasn’t able to issue this card. But now since it’s available on the VISA Signature platform this card is becoming popular again among Vistara loyalists. Read on to know the benefits and how to maximize them.

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.

With a premium economy ticket voucher being given on every renewal I would say this card is absolutely free even if you don’t use it since you will be getting a renewal benefit which is at least 2X-3X of the fee that you are paying. The perks offered on this card are too good at the given fee range.

Reward Accrual

• Spends include all retail spend categories including fuel.

Milestone Benefit

I guess the above table must have not given you that excitement. But the real value of this card lies in its milestone benefits.

TechnoFino Maximum

So if you hit that ₹8L milestone then you will get

• 19,000 CV points
• 4 Premium Economy tickets
• Hotel voucher worth 10K from Yatra
• 1 One-Class Upgrade Voucher

With 16K CV points, you can fly from Delhi to Male or Mumbai to Dubai which approximately costs ₹13,000 for a revenue ticket, and with the remaining 3K CV points, you can get a short route domestic ticket worth approx ₹2-3K. The 4 domestic flight vouchers are worth ₹10K each even if we are taken a conservative value like for the Delhi-Bengaluru flight.

With the ₹10K Yatra voucher and One-class upgrade voucher the total benefits are worth around ₹70K and the equivalent reward rate come out to be a whopping 8.5%! even if you factor in the taxes you will be paying for booking redemption tickets.

I hope now you can imagine the value that it gives to you. And 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.

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 for every ₹200 that you spend on Vistara flights.

Lounge Access

• 2 Complimentary Visits/Quarter to Domestic Airport lounges.
• No shared access for add-on cardholders.

Priority Pass

• Enjoy complimentary priority pass membership worth USD 99 for the entire duration of the product & 2 complimentary visits/quarter(4 complimentary visits/year).
• Priority Pass can be applied by calling SBI Customer Care.
• Priority Pass Standard Membership is valid for lifetime but after 2 years the complimentary benefit will be discontinued even if you continue holding this card.
• Usage of USD 27 plus applicable taxes will be charged on your credit card for all visits post the complimentary visits.
  
  So better close the card and reapply after 2 years 😉

Air Accident & Fraud Liability Cover

It’s the only travel credit card in India that gives you cancellation insurance in which you can cancel 6 Vistara flight tickets per year each limited to ₹3500 for free. This concept is very interesting.

• Get a complimentary Air Accident Liability Cover of ₹1 Cr.
• Get complimentary credit card Fraud Liability Cover of ₹1 lakh.
• Flight Cancellation Insurance: Up to 6 cancellations per year, each limited to ₹3,500.
• Loss of check-in baggage up to ₹72,000
• Delay of check-in baggage ₹7,500
• Loss of travel documents up to ₹12,500
• Baggage Damage- Cover up to ₹5000

Fuel Surcharge Waiver

• 1% surcharge waiver for a single transaction spends between ₹500 and ₹4,000.
• Maximum surcharge waiver of ₹250 per statement cycle per credit card.

Forex Markup Charges

• Forex Markup charges are standard 3.50% + GST

TechnoFino Recommends

Since India has limited full-service carriers, I highly recommend this card to anyone who is living in a city serviced by Vistara and is a frequent flier. An 8.5% reward rate is exceptionally good and other perks of holding a Vistara Silver Tier membership are extra. I rate this card a notch above Axis Vistara Signature due to the last milestone which requires 1 lakh lesser as compared to Axis and you get a Yatra voucher extra. The interesting part is, that you get points even on fuel spending.

SBI generally does not have cards catering to HNIs but after the launch of SBI Aurum, I guess they can launch a card that gives business class vouchers just like Axis Vistara Infinite.

I am holding this card in my family but also planning to close my SBI Octane (since I already have another Octane in my family) and apply for this card. But since the process is not direct and I would have to go for a new application, so I haven’t taken the move yet. So if you are already holding three SBI cards like me then the process is a bit difficult to acquire this card but if your count is two then simply go ahead and apply for this card directly.

What are your thoughts on the SBI Vistara credit cards? Feel free to share your 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.