Vistara Dreamliner B789 Business Class experience
 

Just saw the news that Vistara Dreamliner will have flatbed business class.. I really really hope like AI, they also have a few DEL-CCU-DEL positioning flights.. would love to try it.. their current business class is good, but a dreamliner flat bed would be so awesome !!

Anyone has any early news of sectors ?

I think LHR is going to be one of the first few sectors they fly. I think they’ve got their first 789 but probably need at least another or maybe two before they can start flying them on commercial mid-haul type routes.

I think the second plane will be delivered this month as well.

So they should be announcing routes soon.

Have they announced the London Route yet ? My only guess was using it for the SIN-DEL-DXB route. Don't really see any domestic sector where they can put this bird to use..

Which brings me back to a question I asked on another thread.. considering how terrible their award chart is, I have no expectation that I would ever be able to use Vistara miles for any overseas travel in business class. so how can one maximize the miles earning ? Credit it to United or Krisflyer ??

They haven’t announced anything yet. They have said that they will use these planes for “long haul” routes and the rumored routes (given the plane’s range I guess) is TYO, Australia & LHR.

My money is on LHR.

Flying SIN-DEL-DXB with a 789 makes very little sense. They can do that with their existing fleet.

Miles - credit to UA if you can i.e. if you feel you can build up a large enough pool there. SQ accruals are worse than UA. And neither is great on its own to give you any real returns. So it depends on your overall strategy.

Alternatively they have a very good redemption chart for domestic Y. That might be another way to you use the miles.

Good point.. i was also thinking of putting everything on UA for now..
Domestic - i am getting enough miles with Axis Credit card.. plus the free tickets Axis is throwing with the spend thresholds, got me covered for the year.. I fly Vistara or AI, so UA is a good common point..

It’s going to take an absurd amount of flying on UK to get you any meaningful J redemption through UA MP. So I would avoid UA unless I had a solid secondary source to earn miles - like flying a huge number of miles on *A, UA Mileageplus CC, Marriott points etc.

Also, read up on the UA’s new redemption system. Ever since they went into a variable rewards rates system, flights especially within and to/from the US I have seen have been much more expensive. I’m not sure how they’ve tackled the ROW. Redemption with them would still be competitive in many cases but it’s no longer as awesome as it was a few months ago.

That is true.. redemption with them doesn't hold the same value as before.. i have a good source of Marriott points to supplement any UA needs.. i am also planning to get one of the Chase credit cards to make some points there.. my issue is, my current miles with Vistara aren't of much use to me.. they still have limited places they fly to from CCU.. and with the card earning, i dont need more.. so im kinda of out of options on where I can credit those miles..

spoke to someone recently who is high up in vistara management....he was hinting lhr as the first long haul route they would be announcing....

I've heard rumours that LHR launch has been pushed to June/July and they will start deploying this plane on the BOM-DEL sector later this month.

If it is indeed LHR, then I wonder if UK was the one who stumped up $27M to pay NZ for their slot. But that slot is available only from the winter schedule.

That's where my thought was going.. they can't keep the birds just sitting in the garage.. till they fly on the long haul, they need to use it in Domestic.. you know, touch the first 1000 km, when the mileage is the least.. get the first servicing done before you decide to go on a long road trip..

Aircraft won't show any defects so quickly, that is what the customer flights before delivery are for. The short domestic hops are to get the pilots line checked and qualified before starting long haul flights.

so apparently, Vistara couldn't deploy them yet on the international routes due to the Corona situation, so they deployed the aircraft on the domestic route.. it flew as UK933 from Del-Bom on 19th April.. anyone had the honor of being on this inaugural flight ?

Vistara 787-9 business class: first full review
 

After waiting for months, I was finally able to fly the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Vistara, on a domestic flight from Mumbai to Delhi.

I have written a trip report for FlyerTalk, which you can find here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip...ss-review.html


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For the full review, and lots more photographs, check out my blog, Take Off With Guru.

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Source - my blog: https://takeoffwithguru.com/vistara-...-class-review/