Disney+ Hotstar VIP plan bought via Airtel and Jio can now be upgraded to Premium plan by paying balance

Disney+ Hotstar has silently started allowing its subscribers who bought Disney+ Hotstar VIP plan via Jio recharge or Airtel recharge to upgrade to Disney+ Hotstar Premium by paying the remaining balance amount. While the OTT platform hasn’t officially made any announcement or updated its Help Desk documentation, Disney+ Hotstar app is allowing those having VIP plan via Airtel and Jio recharge to upgrade to Premium plan by paying the difference in VIP and Premium.

One can simply press the ‘Upgrade‘ option after logging in to their Disney+ Hotstar account which will show them an option to upgrade to Premium by paying the balance amount. OnlyTech independently verified the ability to upgrade to Premium plan on two separate Disney+ Hotsar VIP accounts bought via separate Airtel and Jio recharge plans.

The amount payable would depend upon the remaining time period of the VIP subscription. The remaining balance amount of your VIP subscription will be deducted from the Disney+ Hotstar VIP annual subscription fee.

For the unversed, when Disney+ Hotstar entered into a strategic alliance with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for bundling its Disney+ Hotstar VIP into prepaid plans, it didn’t allow those subscriptions to be upgraded to Premium meaning one would have to go afresh for a Disney+ Hotstar Premium subscription.

“Coupons and promotional offers are not counted as direct purchases and therefore an upgrade is not possible. You will need to purchase Disney+ Hotstar Premium Plan afresh,” reads a Disney+ Hotstar Help Desk documentation on whether one having a Disney+ Hotstar VIP plan bought via Jio recharge can upgrade to Disney+ Hotstar Premium.

“Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscription purchased through Airtel is not eligible for upgrade currently. However, you can purchase Disney+ Hotstar Premium subscription directly on Disney+ Hotstar by paying the full amount of Rs. 1499,” reads a Prepaid Hotstar Pack FAQs listing on Airtel’s website on whether one can upgrade to Disney+ Hotstar Premium by having the balance validity adjusted.

The listing of course refers to the stance from Disney+ Hotstar and its telecom partners back when the prepaid Hotstar packs were initially launched. Although there isn’t any official confirmation, things seem to have changed given one can upgrade to Premium by having the balance validity adjusted for those who bought VIP plans through Airtel and Jio recharge packs.

Notably, the move comes crucially at the same time Disney+ Hotstar VIP is headed for a price hike. The company is in the process of rolling out the price hikes which will be in place soon. Disney+ Hotstar users have already started seeing increased pricing within the app.

Credits – Mr.Bhat, OnlyTech Community Forums