In the past 18 months, I have travelled extensively both in India and abroad on various airlines and in different classes. I undertook ~90 flights, both domestic and international. Although there is a lot of information online on the effectiveness of various programs in the west, I could not find much with respect to programs in India. Having travelled on various airlines, I was able to learn a lot about how various reward programs operate. I redeemed miles for flights worth almost Rs 1,25,000.

There are various benefits of airline frequent flyer (FF) programs. I have often come across people who know about these programs but are not able to meaningfully use them. The purpose of this post is to provide information on these programs so that you have a better idea about which program is best suited for you without having to spend time researching it. I will publish a separate post on how best to use the miles accumulated and extract the maximum benefit out of them.

There are 3 programs in India: Flying Returns (Air India), Jet Privilege (Jet Airways) and Club Vistara (Vistara). Vistara’s offering is the newest in the market.

• Jet
  • Your spouse and children fly as well (not very frequently) and you want to be able to take benefit of their miles too. Their individual miles might be too less to reach meaningful levels. Use Family+ option in Jet’s program and pool all miles together.

• Air India
  • You are not a light traveller (AI offers higher baggage allowance)
  • You travel on other Star Alliance members frequently outside India (use Air India miles to book award tickets on other star alliance members)

• Vistara
  • You travel mostly on official work and thus end up making last minute bookings. In that case you will be able to earn more miles on Vistara as awards miles are based on price of the ticket (last minute tickets are usually more expensive)
  • You don’t think that you need/want to use your miles on international sector (Vistara does not have many international collaborations as of now)

Additional Information (For the more curious 🙂 )

• Jet
  • Pros
    • Covers almost the entire country. So easy to find flights as per need.
    • Customer care is comparatively more responsive
    • Ability to buy and transfer miles, also allows you to club family miles
    • Has 30 international airline partners to earn and redeem miles on
    • Multiple other ways to redeem miles (shopping, car rentals, etc).
  • Cons
    • Most used program in India, so availability of award flights might be difficult during holidays and festivals
    • International award bookings can’t be done on phone. It is a lengthy e-mail process (AI does it on phone)
• Air India
  • Pros
    • Last minute availability of award flights better than on jet airways
    • Part of Star Alliance, so points can be earned and awards redeemed on all star alliance members across the world
      • Air India’s tier membership benefits are recognized across all Star alliance members worldwide
    • Ability to buy and transfer miles, also club family miles (only spouse)
  • Cons
    • Customer service not as good as private airlines
    • Based on personal experience, the number of miles awarded are less as compared to others (it takes more flights on Air India to accrue enough miles for an award flight)
    • Not many other avenues to redeem miles
• Vistara
  • Pros
    • If you are a Platinum or Gold member with another airline, you can apply for the status match. You get the new Gold status for three months.
    • More miles accrue for higher fare tickets
    • As it is a new program, last minute award flights are easily available as compared to Jet and AI
  • Cons
    • Can’t buy, club or transfer miles
    • Only 2 international alliances, so miles can mostly be used in India for award tickets (soon Vistara plans to go international, so this might change soon)
    • Not many other avenues to redeem miles except flight redempt