Air India and Vistara miles merger (2026) — what happened to your balance
By Vihaan Patel (Destination and itinerary writer with deep coverage of Southeast Asia, Europe and the Gulf from an Indian-traveller perspective.) · Published · 10 min read
The 2026 status of the Club Vistara to Flying Returns migration — tier match, balance conversion, expiry windows, partner earn, and how to actually use your migrated miles before they shrink.
Quick answer
Club Vistara (CV) was wound down and its members migrated into Air India Flying Returns (FR) through the back end of 2024 and into 2025. Migrated balances were credited at the official conversion ratio (verify your specific transfer amount); tier statuses were matched at the equivalent FR tier with an extension window. Earn rates and award charts in the merged programme moved closer to FR's traditional structure than to CV's more generous one. If you have leftover CV miles or status, log into your FR account, confirm the migration, check the expiry of migrated miles (which may be the date of migration plus a stated window) and redeem strategically before any further programme revisions.
How the merger actually happened
The Tata Group's acquisition of Air India in 2022, followed by the announced Vistara merger into Air India, culminated in operational integration through 2024–25. Loyalty integration ran on a separate timeline: CV continued to operate alongside FR for a transition period, and members were given guidance on how to migrate their balances (or had balances migrated automatically by a cut-off date).
If you are reading this in 2026, your CV account should either have been closed and migrated, or have a clear migration window in your FR profile. Log in to Flying Returns, confirm your migrated balance, and double-check the new expiry date on those migrated miles. If anything is missing, escalate through Flying Returns customer service with your CV member number for the record.
Tier matching — what carried over
CV's three tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum) and FR's three tiers (Silver, Golden Edge, Maharajah Club / current equivalent — naming has shifted post-merger; re-verify) were matched at roughly equivalent levels. The standard treatment was:
- CV Silver → FR Silver, with status retained for a defined window.
- CV Gold → FR Gold equivalent, with status retained for a defined window.
- CV Platinum → FR Platinum / highest equivalent, with status retained for a defined window.
Retention beyond the matched window requires hitting the FR programme's earn thresholds in the following year. CV members who held status purely on Vistara's domestic flying may find FR's tier thresholds higher because of FR's emphasis on international wide-body earn.
If your status carried over and you are likely to drop tier next cycle, plan your last few flights of the matched window on AI metal or Star Alliance partners to push earn into the next tier window.
The earn-rate trade-off
CV historically had a generous earn structure on domestic Y class (premium economy and J were exceptional). FR's traditional structure is more weighted to international long-haul and uses a different point currency. Post-merger, earn rates on Indian domestic Y in the combined programme are typically lower than CV's were, while earn rates on AI long-haul J and Star Alliance partner earn are better than FR's pre-merger.
If you were a heavy CV earner on the BLR-DEL or BOM-DEL domestic rotation, expect to earn fewer miles per flight in the merged programme than you did pre-merger. If you were a long-haul J earner via Vistara's BOM-LON / DEL-LON service, the AI replacement (now via AI metal as Vistara's wide-bodies merged into AI fleet) earns competitively.
Award redemption — where to actually burn
Three sweet-spot redemption types in the combined FR programme:
- Domestic Y on Air India and AIX Connect — straightforward use of FR miles for last-minute or peak-season fares where cash prices are high.
- AI long-haul Y or J on saver award space — AI's expanding long-haul fleet from BOM/DEL to JFK/EWR/SFO/LHR/CDG/FRA opens redemption windows; verify award space well in advance and lock in early.
- Star Alliance partner redemptions — post AI's Star membership, redeem FR miles on Lufthansa, SIA, ANA, Turkish, Thai and others. Award charts may differ from AI's own metal — verify partner-redemption rates.
What to avoid: redemptions where the cash-on-award component (YQ fuel surcharge + airport taxes) eats up most of the cash savings. Especially relevant on long-haul J redemptions where YQ can run into ₹50,000+. Always compare paid fare vs award + cash-on-award before committing miles.
Live fare context for your origin / destination is on FlightGPT — for example, the Mumbai to London or Delhi to New York route pages.
Expiry of migrated CV miles
CV historically had a 36-month rolling expiry. Migrated miles are typically credited with a fresh expiry window from the date of migration — verify in your FR profile. If your migration happened in mid-2025, expiry could be as soon as mid-2028 unless you have qualifying activity to reset it.
"Qualifying activity" usually means earning or redeeming at least once in the window. Even small earns (an Indian domestic Y ticket on AI, an FR-partnered credit card spend) can reset the expiry. Setting a calendar reminder for 24 months from migration to do a small activity is a low-cost insurance policy.
Credit-card partner earn — what changed
Pre-merger, several Indian credit cards offered FR-only or CV-only transfer paths. Post-merger, these consolidated to FR. If you held a card that converted to CV (some HDFC and SBI co-brands), the conversion now defaults to FR at the published ratio — verify your specific card.
Ongoing co-brand partnerships under the Air India / Tata umbrella are in flux. Watch for new Tata-AI co-branded credit card launches (the IDFC-Vistara co-brand was wound down; a new AI co-brand is likely in 2026). The earn-rate proposition on those cards will probably be the easiest way to grow FR balances for non-frequent flyers.
What to do today
If you were a CV member: confirm migration, verify balance and tier in FR, set a 24-month calendar reminder for expiry-reset activity, and plan one strategic award redemption on either AI long-haul or a Star Alliance partner to lock in good value before any further programme revisions.
If you were an FR member already: nothing urgent. Your account is unaffected. You may see new partner-redemption options open up as Star membership beds in.
If you never engaged with either: start now if you fly AI ≥ 4 times a year domestically or ≥ once internationally. The merger has made FR more strategically interesting than it used to be, and the bottom of the earn curve still pays back the small effort of signing up.
Frequently asked questions
When did my CV miles actually transfer to FR?
Migration ran in waves through late 2024 and into 2025. Your FR account should show a migration entry with the date and the converted balance. If anything is missing, file a ticket with FR customer service referencing your old CV member number.
Was the conversion ratio one-to-one?
Verify on your FR account — the official ratio published at migration time may not have been 1:1 across all tiers. Status-tier benefits were matched separately.
Can I still redeem CV miles directly?
No — CV is wound down. All redemption is via FR now. If you had pending CV award bookings, AI honoured those under the original terms; new bookings are FR-only.
Did my Club Vistara tier status really get extended?
CV tier holders were given matched FR status with a defined retention window. Whether you keep the status beyond that window depends on hitting FR's earn thresholds in the qualifying period.
Will Air India keep CV's domestic premium-Y earn rates?
No, the merged programme moved earn rates closer to FR's traditional structure. Domestic premium-Y is less generous post-merger than CV was.