The Vistara experience in Premium Economy - DEL-BOM

[SQueeze]

It’s been quite awhile since Vistara was launched in early 2015 and while I had done tonnes of flights with Jet Airways, I didn’t have any opportunity to fly it until yesterday evening.

There are a couple of reasons. One is that Vistara’s frequency excepting DEL-BOM routes is quite minimal. And Jet Airways has been super aggressive in their offers of triple miles on Vistara routes and heavy discounts to retain customer loyalty. I was also chasing requalification into Platinum status. And so it was Jet for me in recent months.

This Trip Report will be a showcase of this young airline, a joint-venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata, two of the best in airline and hospitality industry respectively. Unlike my usual full trip reports, I am keeping this one brief since the flight is quite straight forward. Also apologies for the poor quality of the pics because I didn’t bring my SLR on this trip.

Flight: UK981
Aircraft: A320
Seat: 6F (Premium Economy)
Load: 28/36

Post my requalification to Jet’s Platinum tier, I began shopping around for alternative flights. Vistara has always been in my radar on for the dates that I wanted to fly, the Premium Economy fares were lower than Economy so I felt justified giving it a go and my office is not going to complain that I am flying non-economy on non-chargeable trips such as this one.



Vistara’s website is quite nice and soothing with its signature purple colour tones dominating. Booking was relatively straight forward. I made a change once and this was quite a disappointment as the website does not allow online changes. It is quite a basic website where you can only book, select seats and meals with no capability for flight changes and reissuances. So to make a change, one has to make a call to the call centre. It’s not a big issue as they pick up calls almost instantaneously but they cannot reissue so I had to reach the airport a little earlier to settle the outstanding amount.

Delhi airport on this Friday evening flight was very strangely quiet.



Vistara counters were also relatively quiet.



Premium Economy has its own dedicated check-in desks with blue carpet.



Carry-on tags are also of its special colour (blue). Economy ones are purple, business class ones are gold.



Boarding passes have colours as per class of travel similar to what SQ is doing. The colours are very stylish I must say.



Behind the boarding pass is their slogan. I still don’t get it what it means with “flying the new feeling”.



Quickly through security, we soon found ourselves in a rather quiet airside hall.



Had a quick bite – bhelpuris.



And then proceeded to the gate 45 minutes prior to the flight scheduled departure time. As usual, DEL is forbiddingly large.



But our gate was quite near to the main transit hall. And by the time we reached at 35 minutes before the flight, everybody seems to have boarded. Looks like their aircraft rotation is quite loose and they will depart on time. Jet is very prone to delays due to their intensive operation. Each of the 3 classes have separate lanes.

[SQueeze]

Boarding the aircraft, first we passed through the business class cabin which was wow compared to Jet’s. Similar seats but they were all shining new and polished. Light load for a Friday night. Only 4 passengers occupied the 16 seats. On Jet, flights will always be full. I guess frequency is of utmost importance to business travellers. Jet has flights every half hourly even. Vistara – only once every 2 hours.



Then I settled into my Premium Economy seats and began noticing all the wonderful things on Vistara – classical music in the air, cold towels were soon distributed, then a bottle of water and buttermilk.



It was calming, and relaxing. The general feel is like being in a spa, which is very much welcome after a long day at work and I was flying in from HYD the same morning. I guess this is the new feeling they talk about. The plane is new, the seats are very polished, the crew was gorgeous. I can’t complain at all. This is miles ahead of the usual Jet flight.



Leg room was great – 34 inches.





But the recline seems quite poor to me. It feels no difference than say, SQ Economy.

We left the gate on time and after a long taxi, we were airborne.

I was tired and was woken up only at dinner time. The gorgeous crew which is so easy on the eyes addressed me by name SQ-style. And they were cheery and enthusiastic too, just like the best of SQ crew in business class. I guess I am in love with Vistara.

Just like on SQ, crew kneeled down to take orders.



The meal was more economy than business class for sure. Lots of plastics which I feel should have been taken out in the galley if the aim is to create a premium experience.



My main selection was chicken biryani. Quite spicy and addictive but the meat was a little on the dry side. Vistara so far has been perfect in all counts, but the catering I feel is a little weak.



Meal was ended with tea, which again didn’t look premium in these plastic cups.



The remaining of the flight was bumpy and I was so tired that I slipped in and out of slumber. At one point in time, the crew, noticing that I was tired, offered me blankets. Another thumbs up to the crew.



After a long hold patterns above BOM, we finally descended half an hour late and quickly disembarked at the new T2, the only domestic airline operating out of it.



The gate is immediately next to the baggage reclaim hall and is therefore very convenient for domestic business travellers in a rush. Baggage reclaim is also very fast and the bags were on the belt the moment I reached the baggage reclaim hall.



Verdict
Overall, I was very impressed with Vistara. The name sounds foreign and does sound like a spa / resort to me, and that is exactly the feeling that they offer onboard – very calming, soothing and is very much welcome after a long day at work. The crew is the star and they are just as good as SQ with very similar style of service – addressing by name, kneeling down, etc. The seats are average at best in Premium Economy but for the price it offers, fantastic. The meal is their weak point but even then if we compare it with Jet or Air India Economy, is still the better of the lot.

How far will Vistara go is yet to be known. Its poor load in the money-churning business cabin is probably due to its lack of frequency. As business traveller, I prefer to have the flexibility to change flights depending on how early or how late you reach.
Vistara is a great airline, and is 5-star to me. I hope they can sustain and build their network and loyalty base.

[yflyer]

Thanks for posting, SQueeze! A very informative report...

I used to travel to India very frequently in the past, but have not had the opportunity to go there much in recent years. I mainly used to fly Jet Airways, but the next time I am there, I am keen to fly Vistara if I have any domestic sectors that they operate.

I always used to enjoy the spiced buttermilk that Jet Airways served in Y on some flights, so I was quite happy to see that on Vistara as well.

For whatever reason, I've always been very happy with the catering on domestic flights in India, whether on Jet or on Air India (or Indian Airlines before the merger)...the strongly spiced curries and other preparations always seemed to work very well inflight. I was particularly happy with Jet Airways, where often, when asked whether I wanted "veg or non-veg", and if I chosed the non-veg, I would be handed the whole non-veg tray, plus an additional meat curry :-)

Agree that the new Delhi airport terminal is just huge. I used to gripe about the old Delhi Airport (both Domestic and International) being too small for the amount of traffic passing through, but nowadays, although the new airport is modern and grand, there is much more walking than there used to be.

I am not sure how well premium Y will do in the domestic market in India. Most domestic flights would be quite short...I wonder how airlines will differentiate premium Y from regular Y on such short sectors.