We just returned from a Viking Rhine River cruise (which we loved). We booked Premium Economy through Viking Air. First, we were pleased with the transfers, and pleasantly shocked when a Viking representative met us as we got off the plane in Heathrow for a transfer. He led us through the terminal to the lounge where we were waiting for the connecting flight. Without his assistance, I am sure we would have mistakenly thought we had to deal with immigration. He was very helpful and pleasant.
Now the negatives:
1) We got frequent emails from Viking Air telling us there was a change to our itinerary, but without any explanation. So we had to parse through every line of the booking to find the change. It was usually insignificant, such as change of aircraft. But once it was a (favorable) change in the layover. Every airline seems to highlight the change with crossouts and/or underlining. I wish Viking Air would do the same.
2)When we got to the airport in Amsterdam for our return, we saw that they had put one of us in regular economy, claiming Premium Economy was overbooked. I wonder if that is becuase the airline is willing to bump disounted passengers, even though we booked this many months ago, in favor of their frequent fliers or full-fare customers. (I don't see why airlines are allowed to overbook these days, since everyone pays in advance and there is no need to protect against no-shows.).
3) We also found out at the airport (Viking Air did not notify us) that the flight was delayed for about 1 1/2 hours, making it impossible to make our connection in Toronto. We called the "emergency" number provided by Viking Air, and they told us they could not do anything because we had checked in. Which we had NOT done yet. They offered absolutely no help, and told us to deal with it at the check-in counter for Air Canada. Bottom line, the check-in person could not help with connecting flights, but told us to call Air Canada. After a 20 minute hold, the wonderful Air Canada representative cancelled our check-in (which we had done at the counter), put us on a later connecting flight (to DCA instead of BWI, but there were no later flights to BWI), AND got me restored to a Premium Economy seat on the flight from Amsterdam. AND--we were initially in regular economy for the short connecting flight from Toronto because the small aircraft did not have Premium Economy. The Air Canada rep put us in Business Class, not economy.
Other than the unexpected escort at Heahtrow, not much to recommend Viking Air. At these costs, I would expect more service than "go deal with the airline yourself."
