From March this year members of the frequent flyer clubs of Singapore Airlines and the newly launched domestic airline Vistara will be able to accrue miles and points that they earn on flights taken on either of the two airlines. Singapore Airlines’ FF programme is more popularly called KrisFlyer while Vistara’s is called Club Vistara. Flyers will be able to redeem their miles for free tickets on either of the two airlines from May this year.
The frequent flyer programme partnership between Singapore Airlines and Vistara, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, was announced in a joint statement on Thursday.
Frequent flyer programmes are loyalty programmes that many airlines have to reward passengers for choosing them instead of the competition. A FFP member earns miles or points every time he or she flies. The number of points earned depends on the distance flown, price at which the ticket has been purchased, and whether the passenger is flying in economy, business or first class.
Air India, which is the only airline from India to be part of a global airline alliance, Star Alliance has tied up with many of the 26 airlines which are Star members. This enables AI FFP members to earn and redeem points or miles on any of the Star Alliance member airlines that it has tied up with thus helping in expanding the reach of the airline as it does not have to physically fly to a destination but can help passengers redeem their points for a flight to a particular destination on any of the other 26 airlines that might connect there.
In the case of the tie-up between Vistara Club and KrisFlyer, a Vistara Club member based say in Ahmedabad could technically earn enough points flying Vistara to get a free ticket from Ahmedabad to Australia. What will happen in such a case is that Vistara will fly the passenger from Ahmedabad to Mumbai from where he can do the onward journey on a Singapore Airlines flight with the ticket purchased from the points earned while flying Vistara rather than paying for the ticket.