Vistara Diwali Sale is offering flight tickets in India for Rs 1,999. Scam or real? We checked

Diwali season is here, and a lot of companies are giving out mind-boggling offers to gain consumers' attention. This time it's Vistara, India's top airline. 

What

Tata SIA Airlines Limited AKA Vistara is an Indian full-service airline service, and it recently found itself in the thick of criticism after it announced a special offer on flight tickets. 

According to its website and ads on multiple platforms, any flight tickets that you book in between November 7-9, for travel between November 7, 2023 and April 10, 2024, tickets will be priced at

• Rs 1,999 for Economy Class,
• Rs 2,799 for Premium Economy, and
• Rs 10,999 for Business Class. 

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, according to a lot of consumers, who tried to avail this offer, they were not able get the discounts.

So, we decided to check if we could actually get flight tickets at the given rates. 

We tried booking tickets on 7 routes 

1. Delhi to Goa

Let's begin by considering the national capital and choosing one of the go-to vacation destinations, Goa. When we tried to book one-way tickets for it, the price was Rs 4,000; which, by the way, is the average cost for these flights.

So, clearly, there was no 'special offer' in place.

2. Mumbai to Ahmedabad 

Now, we decided to shift our location to the financial capital of our country, Mumbai, for a flight to Ahmedabad.

Where the tickets of these are generally already at around Rs 2,500, when we tried booking, we saw no discounts, but rather tickets which were already priced low due to its distance. The ticket prices went as high as Rs 19,159 for a flight on November 19.

3. Now, let us try Kolkata to Ahmedabad 

The Kolkata to Ahmedabad tickets were no way close to cheap. In fact, the tickets go as high as Rs 54,000! An Economy Standard ticket was priced at Rs 27,966, for example. 

Take a look: 

4. Chennai to Hyderabad 

Let us try some places the South. We tried booking a flight ticket from Chennai to Hyderabad. The flight tickets were available with one stop, and priced at Rs 10,108 on a Monday.

Which is nowhere close to the discounted price advertised. 

READ MORE: How two Vistara planes came close to a disastrous accident at Delhi airport

5. Chennai to Lucknow

Next stop, let's try South to North. Chennai in Tamil Nadu to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, tickets show a price of Rs 8,000 for almost the entire month of December. 

6. Delhi to Dibrugarh 

Next, let us try booking somewhere in the Northeast. For Delhi to Dibrugarh, Assam, the tickets for December 18 and the entire week was around Rs 10,000. 

7. Kolkata to Pune

From Kolkata to Pune, the ticket prices were as high as Rs 15,000 for the Christmas weekend, for an Economy Lite option. 

Social media backlash

Vistara's offer was tried out by many of its consumers and when they, like us, did not get any special discounts, they took to their X accounts to complain. Take a look at some reactions: 

Vistara reacts

So, looking at the backlash, Vistara clarified that, "This is a promotional one-way Economy Class fare priced at INR 1999 for domestic flights. This fare is part of a limited-inventory sale and is offered on a first-come, first-served basis."

BUT HERE'S THE THING. 

The offer does not specify any particular routes or dates from which customers can avail of the offer. The entire promotion appears to be primarily a method for consumer engagement and attracting customers to the website, who then leave with a bad taste in the mouth.

READ MORE: Air India and Vistara crew merger prep in process, confirms Vistara CEO