Jet Airways v/s Air Vistara Business class!
Having been a long time frequent flyer of Jet Airways, I finally decided to give Vistara a shot. I took my first ever Vistara flight on 24th Sept, evening service from Delhi to Ahmedabad, in Business class.
The only question that I wanted to bring an end to was whether I should make Vistara my preferred airline over Jet as far as domestic travel is concerned.
After a nice time at the swanky new Lounge at T3, I couldn't help but wonder why the service at the lounge wasn't a WOW factor, or maybe it's just because I'm used to the Amex lounge at T3.
The boarding started pretty much on time and the first that I noticed was the separate queue with boards for Business class, Premium And economy and Economy class passengers, something I always wondered why Jet isn't able to regulate. Vistara 1 Jet 0. The boarding at the air plane was pretty much ordinary and here it's a tie between Jet and Vistara.
The selection of welcome drinks was the same as Jet ( maybe because both are serviced by TajSats, but considering the association of Taj and Vistara I was expecting a notch better selection). The cold towels and the offering of the menu and taking the food order was again similar to Jet and thus a tie again.
Once we were air bound, we had another round of beverages which was unusual and I was pleasantly surprised till I realized that they served me cold coconut water. Coconut water is the simplest beverage to serve, all you have to do is not do anything to it including refrigerate. Just open the can and serve- why would you wanna screw this up?
The food (picture below) was highly unimpressive and I had to return it and ask for some fruits and cup of Earl grey in exchange. Do notice the shabby presentation. The Idea of serving in Plastic tray in Business is something even Go Air wouldn't dare to execute. Jet is 1 up.
The inflight magazine of the airline goes by a highly unimaginative name, Vistara Magazine and is clearly not up to the mark of Jetwings but the selection of newspapers and other magazines was pretty much the same as Jet. I wouldn't mind this and thus declaring a tie here too.
There were no male stewards on the flight and the Air Hostess were courteous. Again a tie.
The seats, 42 inch and 7 degree recline- a clear winner over Jet. The seat leather feels more premium, the whole look is neater and newer, the trays don't jam and the pillows are a more comfortable size. Vistara wins here hands down.
The other difference is rather less substantial for most but I prefer the restrooms in Jet, which offer a shaving kit, a freshning spray and a lotion for business class travelers none of which is offered in Vistara.
Towards the end, I was pleasantly surprised when the crew bid me adieu with my last name but guess what recently Jet started the same thing and on my last flight the head purser came to my seat and thanked me for flying with them. I would have normally given a point to the carrier who brought about this feature but Jet notched it up a bit. A tie.
All in all I would say that the product offering of Vistara is more utilitarian than luxurious and as long as they master the art of regularizing the product across all routes (something that Jet hasn't) they will have a good fan following.
Will I give up JP for CV? No. There is no compelling reason offered by Vistara especially with its Loyalty Programme in its current state.