Do you often book flights on domestic routes that Vistara operates on? Then, Vistara co-branded credit cards can be a quicker way to earn miles and free tickets. The Axis Bank Vistara credit card is the base variant of the co-branded Vistara Axis cards and comes with a joining and annual fee of Rs 1500. We get an economy ticket in lieu of both the joining and annual fee. The card also offers milestone benefits to get three economy tickets on meeting the target spends.
Fees and Charges
| Joining Fee | Rs 1500+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 1 complimentary Economy ticket |
| Activation Benefit | 1000 CV points for Rs 50,000 spend in the first 90 days |
| Annual Fee | Rs 1500+GST |
| Annual Fee Waiver | None |
| Renewal Benefit | 1 complimentary Economy ticket |
| Club Vistara Status | Base |
The Axis Bank Vistara Credit Card rewards you for just holding the card. We get a premium economy ticket in lieu of the joining and annual fee. With soaring airfares, the price of the free economy ticket is definitely more than Rs 1500. The revenue price for that ticket would be at least Rs 4000 depending on the route. So, we get a benefit that is more than the fee we pay.
Rewards
| Spend Type | Rewards |
|---|---|
| Retail Spends | 2 CV points/Rs 200 ~0.8% Return |
| Fuel, Wallet, Rental, Insurance, Gold/Jewellery, Govt. Services, Utilities | No CV points |
| Vistara Spends (Base Status Benefit) | 8 CV points/Rs 100 |
We have valued each CV point at 80 paise. The actual value may be more or less than that depending on the availability of award tickets and corresponding revenue prices. The list of spends where the Axis Vistara credit card does not get CV points keeps growing with utilities and government payments being the latest exclusions.
Milestone Rewards
We can get up to three economy tickets as milestone benefits on achieving the target spends.
Spends Excluded from Milestone Benefits for Axis Bank Vistara Credit Card
The Axis Bank Vistara credit card does not count wallet, rental, government services, utilities, gold/jewellery and insurance as eligible spends for milestone benefits.
| Milestone | Target Spend | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rs 1.25 Lakh | 1 Economy Ticket |
| 2 | Rs 2.5 Lakh | 1 Economy Ticket |
| 3 | Rs 6 Lakh | 1 Economy Ticket |
Return on Spend
The price at which we can value the complimentary economy ticket depends on the route. We searched for two routes DEL-HYD and DEL-BOM and the cheapest economy tickets were priced at Rs 4801 and Rs 5536.
- Approximate Cost of Economy Ticket: Rs 5000
- Approximate Cost of Redemption for Taxes and Surcharges: Rs 1000
- Value of each complimentary economy ticket: Rs 4000
It is always possible to get a better value for the economy ticket. So we get CV points worth Rs 4800 and 3 Economy tickets worth Rs 12000, this is a return of Rs 16800 or 2.8%. This is pretty decent for an entry-level airline card.
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- Domestic Airport Lounge Access: 8 visits/year
- International Airport Lounge Access: Not Available
Axis Bank Vistara credit card offers 8 complimentary airport lounge visits in India per calendar year. So, if you are an occasional domestic traveller this card can help you with lounge access. The list of participating lounges is limited to a few cities – Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. The details are available over here.
We also have a minimum spends requirement to get complimentary airport lounge access. We now need spends of Rs 50,000 over a rolling period of last 3 calendar months to get complimentary airport lounge access. For example, if you need to access the airport lounge on 10th of March, then you should have spent Rs 50,000 in the period from 1st of December to 28th of February.
Axis Bank Dining Delights EazyDiner Offer
The Axis Bank Vistara credit card also gets access to the Dining Delights offers with EazyDiner.
- Get 25% off up to Rs 800 at EazyDiner partner restaurants
- Valid once per card per month
Other Benefits & Charges
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: None
- Foreign Currency Markup: 3.5%+GST ~4.13%
- Interest Charges: 3.6% per month or 52.86% annually
- Golf Benefits: None
Final Thoughts
Vistara flies very limited routes in India. So, the Axis Vistara co-branded cards make sense only if you reside in one of those cities. The 2.8% return on the card is ok but we can easily get cashback credit cards that offer a similar return in cash. Some of the cashback credit cards are Axis Bank Ace, AU Xcite Ace, and SBI Cashback. However, you can still get the Axis Bank Vistara credit card just for its welcome and renewal benefit. An economy ticket for just Rs 1500+GST is quite ‘economical’.
If you are looking to get a Vistara co-branded credit, our current recommendation is the Club Vistara IDFC First Bank credit card. It offers milestone tickets without any spend exclusions at the moment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Axis Bank Vistara Credit Card
2 thoughts on “Axis Bank Vistara Credit Card Review”
Hi ,
Do we get same rewards for Rent Payment by vistara cards? Also, does it gets counted for milestone benefit?
No, rent payments are not counted for milestone benefits for Axis Vistara credit cards.