In an email last night, Air India and Vistara detailed the way forward for merger of their loyalty programs. Just like the rest of the airline, Vistara’s Club Vistara loyalty program will be folded into Air India’s Flying Returns program.

Club Vistara has been a wonderful program. However, lately, it has been plagued by issues like non-availability of award seats, who-cares attitude of customer care, and a lack of interest from the management. This is probably because the program was anyway meant to be merged with its Air India counterpart eventually.

Thankfully, things seem to be moving in a positive direction now.

Elite status post merger.

Your current status will be carried forward to Air India as it is, with the same validity. In case you are eligible for a higher status by combining your Vistara and Air India flight history, you will be upgraded accordingly.

There’s nothing to lose here. In fact, elite members of Club Vistara will now automatically get a status with Star Alliance as well. Thanks to Air India being a Star Alliance member.

1:1 CV points and tier points transfer with increased validity.

On the migration day, both your CV Points balance and Tier Points available will be shifted to the Flying Returns program on a 1:1 basis. Regardless of their expiration date in your Club Vistara account, these points will stay valid for a minimum of one year from the migration date.

Club Vistara members may be a little disappointed with the 1:1 transfer, as the point value offered by Vistara was a bit better than Air India. However, the points will become a lot more valuable as Air India has a lot more flights to pick from.

Existing award and voucher bookings.

If you have existing award or voucher bookings for flying date post migration, you will receive new tickets with revised flight details.

Complimentary upgrade and flight vouchers.

Thanks to various credit cards, flight and upgrade vouchers were an integral part of our Club Vistara experience. As expected, these vouchers will move to our Flying Returns account.

All existing One-Class Upgrade vouchers and Complimentary Flight Ticket vouchers will be transferred to Flying Returns with the existing validity.

What happens to Club Vistara credit cards post merger?

It’s not yet clear what plans Air India has for various Vistara co-branded credit cards post merger. An announcement is expected soon in this regard.

It goes without saying that ‘Vistara credit cards’ will no longer exist. What remains uncertain is whether they will be rebranded as Air India credit cards, or be discontinued altogether.

Option to opt out.

There is an option to opt-out of the merger. You need to exercise this option within 21 days of receiving the email from Club Vistara. In case you opt out, I would assume that your balance points, tier points, status, and vouchers will lapse on the day the programs are merged.

Is Vistara solving a business problem with this announcement?

Even though the details of the merger have been announced, the dates of merger are not yet clear. It’s not even clear whether the merger will finalize this year or not.

This early announcement could be because of an unrelated business concern.

I have spoken to a few people who have started moving their business to Air India from Vistara. This is primarily to make sure their flights are counted towards an elite status (tier points) for next year.

Before this announcement, it wasn’t clear what would happen to tier points earned on Vistara post merger. Plus, excessive delays and cancellation of Vistara fights made the decision easier.

With this announcement, Vistara has confirmed that your tier points won’t go waste and there is no need to avoid flying on Vistara.

Bottom-line.

Club Vistara is folding into Air India’s Flying Returns program. Your points, status, vouchers, and history remain intact and will carry forward to your Air India account. The future of Vistara co-branded credit cards is not yet clear.