Air India has plans to rebrand its loyalty program, and I quite like the name change…
Air India Flying Returns will become Maharaja Club
In recent years, Air India has been privatized, and the company’s owners are trying to reinvent the airline, and bring back its former glory. While there are many changes happening at the airline, one significant milestone that’s coming up is Vistara being integrated into Air India.
Coinciding with this development, Air India has announced plans to rebrand its loyalty program. Currently Air India’s loyalty program is known as Flying Returns, while Vistara’s loyalty program is known as Club Vistara.
The plan is eventually for the combined loyalty program of the two airlines to be rebranded as Maharaja Club. The timeline for this rebranding remains to be seen.
The Air India Flying Returns program was overhauled several months back, so the transition to Maharaja Club might be more about branding rather than an overhaul of how the program works. Then again, some aspects of Vistara’s program may eventually be integrated as well.
I think this is a pretty cool rebranding
Purely from a marketing perspective, I think transiting from Flying Returns to Maharaja Club is quite positive. Flying Returns could be a loyalty program belonging to any airline, and there’s nothing Indian about it, really.
With Air India’s transformation, we know the airline is heavily trying to lean into its roots. For example, Air India recently released a new boarding track, which is fun and distinctive. It’s even called “India Takes Flight,” reflecting how the song is uniquely Indian.
Maharaja Club is also much more uniquely Indian, and I think that’s a good thing. Air India has used the maharaja as its mascot for decades, but even that has been modernized, in a very cool way.
Bottom line
Air India plans to rebrand its loyalty program, as it’ll transition from Flying Returns to Maharaja Club. While the exact timeline remains to be seen, this is intended to coincide with the Vistara brand being merged into the Air India brand. I wouldn’t expect much change in benefits, though, given the recent overhaul of the Flying Returns program.
Maharaja Club is a more distinctive loyalty program name, so I’m a fan!
What do you make of Air India rebranding its loyalty program?
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