Viking China (Part 2)

[Peregrina651]

My wife and I are booked on the Imperial China tour, Sep 20, 2012, have just been talking to travel agent on flights, Detroit gateway, and Viking are trying to book us on an American Airlines filght to Beijing, one stop in Chicago.

 

 

If you are concerned about booking on AA, then pay the custom air fee of $50pp and ask them to book you on United 851. It leaves two hours later which would give you more time to get to Chicago in the morning.

 

Even better, arrange to stay overnight in Chicago before the flight. We did and it was a great way to start our journey. Not wanting to leave our house at 3 am to make a 6am flight out of Boston to connect with the non-stop to China, we opted to stay overnight in Chicago. We also did not want the tension of worrying about whether or not our first flight out would take off on time--and I was traveling with the worry-warts! We left Boston at a reasonable hour the day before our flight, stayed in the Hilton right at the airport (yes, it was expensive but it was convenient) AND had enough time to take the metro into downtown Chicago. As long as you depart Detroit, after noon, you should be able to do it without paying any extra airfare (although the hotel room will be on you). There are other hotels close to the airport that cost less.

 

Why pay the custom air fee? Because $100 is nothing compared to the thousand you have already spent on the trip and why not have the luxury of choosing your flight times and having a relaxing, stress-free journey.

 

And as caribill pointed out, you also want to avoid an early morning flight home --and the only way to ensure that is with custom air.

[beeza]

thanks for the advice have already paid for the custom air, was offered the AA flights as mentioned, asked the travel for other airlines, flights

[kbert92069]

Can you wait until they schedule your flights to switch to custom air? I gather from reading here that sometimes they just use good straight flights at good times anyway and no need to change.

 

We'll be leaving and returning to LAX so that should be non-stop flights, no?

 

(We're booked on the Imperials Jewels October 9 trip.)

 

Thanks,

 

Karl

Edited December 6, 2011 by kbert92069

[caribill]

Can you wait until they schedule your flights to switch to custom air?

 

Yes, you can wait, but if you do they may have limited availability of the good pricing left.

 

They contract for a number of seats on various airlines and when they are gone, you need to pay whatever the current airline pricing is if you switch.

 

In our case, when we did not like the return flight (leaving Beijing about 7 AM which means we left the hotel before 4 AM), we were told that any available better options would cost us $2900 per person to change. (Not surprisingly, we did not switch and left the hotel before 4 AM.)

[meddykay]

I spotted that carrier in one of your photos and wondered what kind it was. I have a Canon 40D and have been wondering how I will manage it with all the walking. The carrier looked comfortable and I'm glad you commented on it. I also have a Lumix p&s and have been toying with the idea of taking only that. I'd love to hear your comments. Going on Imperial Jewels next April. Can't wait.

Edited December 6, 2011 by meddykay

[meddykay]

I agree with those of you who recommend test driving and thinking long and hard about cameras before buying one. I also agree that many people, actually probably most people, don't need a million mega pixels.

 

One thing I used quite a bit in China that I loved was the "Cotton Carrier" - and no, I have no association with them! It's basically a holster that you wear on your chest and slide the camera into. It keeps the camera out for use all the time, and you can pull it up quite quickly if need be. There's also a tether in case something happens. The holster keeps the camera from bobbing around, which was especially helpful in China when we did a lot of walking. It looks a little funny, especially for a woman, but I love it. I think there's a picture of me in Tiananmen Square wearing it in my gallery. The thing wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outrageous, either, and it's really well made and lightweight, too. You can also attach a second body if you want, and maybe a second lens. I just carried my second lens separately, though.

 

I spotted that carrier in one of your photos and wondered what kind it was. I have a Canon 40D and have been wondering how I will manage it with all the walking. The carrier looked comfortable and I'm glad you commented on it. I also have a Lumix p&s and have been toying with the idea of taking only that. I'd love to hear your comments. Going on Imperial Jewels next April. Can't wait.

[Peregrina651]

 

I spotted that carrier in one of your photos and wondered what kind it was. I have a Canon 40D and have been wondering how I will manage it with all the walking. The carrier looked comfortable and I'm glad you commented on it. I also have a Lumix p&s and have been toying with the idea of taking only that. I'd love to hear your comments. Going on Imperial Jewels next April. Can't wait.

 

 

IMHO, take both. At least that way you can choose day by day which camera you want to carry. I got a little camera to travel with on my last trip to Spain because I realized that if I were to carry the DSLR with me all day long for 6 days I would be miserable. Still, I took the DSLR as well because I knew that this was the camera I wanted for taking pictures at the Alhambra.

[Peregrina651]

 

We'll be leaving and returning to LAX so that should be non-stop flights, no?

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Karl

 

No, you could be booked through Tokyo or Hong Kong. Viking doesn't always do direct hops to China. As caribill, said, it depends on what they contract.

[meddykay]

IMHO, take both. At least that way you can choose day by day which camera you want to carry. I got a little camera to travel with on my last trip to Spain because I realized that if I were to carry the DSLR with me all day long for 6 days I would be miserable. Still, I took the DSLR as well because I knew that this was the camera I wanted for taking pictures at the Alhambra.

 

Good advice. Thanks.

[kbert92069]

Thanks for the advice on flights. I guess I'll try opting for the custom air but I won't know for awhile how that works.

 

I called Viking and it turns out since I used a travel agent, only he's allowed to talk with them about this. I'll be meeting with him tomorrow to follow up. I don't remember why I switched to using a TA for my latest cruises from booking directly but it's time to evaluate switching back. :)

 

(Oh and it turns out I'm on Oct 19th Imperial Jewels rather than the 9th in case anyone following this thread wants to be on a mini rollcall.)

 

Karl

[tommui987]

I also have a Lumix p&s and have been toying with the idea of taking only that.

 

Been to various parts of China twice in addition to Viking. I did not relish the idea of lugging a big camera and relied on two Panasonics - the FZ100 and LX5. Actually the FZ100 was not used as much unless I really needed the large zoom range.

[Peregrina651]

This is a heads up. It looks like some of the airlines have changed the rules as to what class fares maybe upgraded. By class it does not mean economy, business, etc but rather the letter determining fare type such as Y, K etc. which have to more with how much was paid for a seat rather than its location.

 

The airlines are on to us! They know that we get cheap seats by booking through the cruise lines or consolidators and then upgrade to business or first using our points. The airlines are closing the loophole; they want their money. Star Alliance airlines for sure have changed their rules; I don't know about the others.

 

Whether we are booking through Viking or online, we are now going to have pay careful attention to what category fare we have if we are planning on using miles to upgrade the ticket.

[Turtles06]

This is a heads up. It looks like some of the airlines have changed the rules as to what class fares maybe upgraded. By class it does not mean economy, business, etc but rather the letter determining fare type such as Y, K etc. which have to more with how much was paid for a seat rather than its location.

 

The airlines are on to us! They know that we get cheap seats by booking through the cruise lines or consolidators and then upgrade to business or first using our points. The airlines are closing the loophole; they want their money. Star Alliance airlines for sure have changed their rules; I don't know about the others.

 

Whether we are booking through Viking or online, we are now going to have pay careful attention to what category fare we have if we are planning on using miles to upgrade the ticket.

 

This has actually been the case on United for a good long while now. Used to be, you could book the cheapest economy fare you could find, and use miles to upgrade. But for some time now, FFM upgrades from economy to first or business class have only been available when you pay full fare economy or some similarly high price for your ticket.

 

I know that in June 2010 when we were booking our flights for our May 2011 trip to China, we were told by United we could not use miles to upgrade to business class if we purchased their "cheap" economy tickets, only if we paid some crazy amount for those seats. We wound up using miles to get "free" business class tickets (not upgrades). Thankfully we had enough miles to do so....

 

But yes, this is important info for folks to have, especially for flights taking you halfway around the world!

[Peregrina651]

This has actually been the case on United for a good long while now. Used to be, you could book the cheapest economy fare you could find, and use miles to upgrade. But for some time now, FFM upgrades from economy to first or business class have only been available when you pay full fare economy or some similarly high price for your ticket.

 

I know that in June 2010 when we were booking our flights for our May 2011 trip to China, we were told by United we could not use miles to upgrade to business class if we purchased their "cheap" economy tickets, only if we paid some crazy amount for those seats. We wound up using miles to get "free" business class tickets (not upgrades). Thankfully we had enough miles to do so....

 

But yes, this is important info for folks to have, especially for flights taking you halfway around the world!

 

 

 

I've never used miles for upgrading a ticket before and was looking into it before booking a trip a few weeks ago. That is when I started reading the fine print and learned that only certain fare classes are eligible. (Ultimately, I decided not to use my miles on an upgrade for the trip.)

 

But, for those who are hoping to upgrade, you need to know this information before you start shopping for airfare and deciding whether or not to book through Viking. It is so frustrating when you start the process with certain assumptions and then find out that that's not how things work. (Read more about FF upgrades on Viking's website.)

 

It was after I read some comments about upgrading on Viking's FB pages, that I decided to post a heads-up here. Upgrading with miles is not as straightforward as we would like to think and I've done my job if one less person feels less confused or misused by the process.

[cltengman]

Thought I would chime in with my recent experience....my trip is planned for the summer of 2012. Even though the Viking pricing was competitive and the custom air service was available, when it comes to flights I'm picky and decided to make my own arrangements.... During October I booked flight -ref economy tickets on United.

This week I reviewed the flights, pricing is about the same and of course there are many seats (100's) still available. I called United to upgrade using miles.......not available! The fare basis didn’t allow it. A little disappointed I reviewed my reservation on line and discovered the option to purchase updgrades on some flights........although adding a fairly significant expense to the trip, the total cost of the flight legs I upgraded is still much less than buying a business class ticket up front.

Be aware not all flights I have (even this far out) are offering availability to upgrade to business at the discounted rate. I understand this may change as the travel dates get closer and I will continue to track my reservation.

Finally one other piece of advice, what ever class of service you travel research your seating before booking....that way when you are on line or working with the agent you can make an informed decision and avoid those less desirable seats ........ a helpful resource is seat guru

[Turtles06]

Be aware not all flights I have (even this far out) are offering availability to upgrade to business at the discounted rate. I understand this may change as the travel dates get closer and I will continue to track my reservation.

 

I wish you good luck with that. (Meant sincerely, not in a snarky way.)

 

We booked our flights in June 2010 for May 2011 travel on the day United opened the routes for booking (330 days in advance). At that time, we were able immediately to get business class seats using FFM on a nonstop to Beijing. But they would only wait-list us in business class on the flight back from Shanghai, although the huge 747 was wide open -- we were the only folks ticketed on it that far out.

 

For the next 11 months, I monitored this constantly, and called repeatedly. For months and months and months, business class on the Shanghai return flight continued to be wide open, and even though really helpful United reservations supervisors contacted United's "inventory control" on our behalf and begged them to release two seats to us, they never would, and they never did.

 

On that Shanghai flight, at least, I think United figured they could fill up business class with full-paying customers, whereas their algorithms told them something else for the flight to Beijing. Thankfully, since we were only able to fly business class one way, we got it on the way out, which is the way it mattered the most to us.

 

Good luck!

[meddykay]

Been to various parts of China twice in addition to Viking. I did not relish the idea of lugging a big camera and relied on two Panasonics - the FZ100 and LX5. Actually the FZ100 was not used as much unless I really needed the large zoom range.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. The Lumix has an 8X zoom which will be good to have. I would miss the versatility of the SLR, but don't think I'd miss carrying it around. Roothy's carrier looked pretty nifty, though. Still deciding.

[tommui987]

Our experience using United frequent flyer miles is a bit different. We were able to get on a couple of All Nipon Air flight - ANA being part of the UA Silver Alliance.

 

ANA flies frequent flights to/from Tokyo to Shanghai. We were on business class on ANA from Shanghai to Tokyo and from Tokyo back home on United.

 

Truth be told, I thought the ANA business class was better than the ones on UA.

 

See if you can juggle it around using a Silver Alliance partner.

[pacmom]

Just giving this a nudge so it doesn't go to archives. Can hardly believe that 2012 will be the year for us to travel to China. DH gets his new knee at the end of Jan. Looking forward to our trip on Oct 20th. Pat

[Peregrina651]

Just giving this a nudge so it doesn't go to archives. Can hardly believe that 2012 will be the year for us to travel to China. DH gets his new knee at the end of Jan. Looking forward to our trip on Oct 20th. Pat

 

:D:D I was just thinking of doing the same thing!

 

It looks like we are in the holiday doldrums--well doldrums here, not in the rest of our lives. But if we can just hang in there, the pace will pick up here after the first of the year as the first 2012 sailing gets closer.

 

Wishing your hubby a smooth surgery and a speedy recover.

[Lori Dobson]

Just giving this a nudge so it doesn't go to archives. Can hardly believe that 2012 will be the year for us to travel to China. DH gets his new knee at the end of Jan. Looking forward to our trip on Oct 20th. Pat

 

Pat,

 

Good luck to DH on his surgery... 2 words of advice, coming from long-term experience...physical therapy!

 

Happy sailing in 2012!

[recyclelady]

It is a long time until we are on our China trip. But I like to obsess early!

 

We are going to most likely take the $50 pp charge for custom air. We will be flying out of Chicago for Shanghai for the November 3 Cutural Delights itninerary.

 

Will we be flying out on November 1 or 2? I'm going through a travel agent, but I like to know what our options are.

 

Many of the nonstop flights appear to be pretty expensive. Will they allow us to pick one of those or are we restricted to only a few (we don't want to pay anything additional beyond the given Viking price).

 

Thank you to all of you who have "been there/done that"!

[caribill]

Many of the nonstop flights appear to be pretty expensive. Will they allow us to pick one of those or are we restricted to only a few (we don't want to pay anything additional beyond the given Viking price).

 

Thank you to all of you who have "been there/done that"!

 

Viking has reserved a limited number of special fares on certain flights. If the flight you want is one of those and still has Viking spaces available, you will pay the lower price.

 

If you pick a flight that Viking never had spaces reserved on or for which their spaces are all taken, you will pay the current airline pricing.

 

No way to know until your travel agent contacts Viking.

 

If possible have the TA have a three way call with you, the TA and Viking, so you can hear the opeions directly and make a decision without many back and forths between you and the agent and Viking.

[Turtles06]

It is a long time until we are on our China trip. But I like to obsess early!

 

We are going to most likely take the $50 pp charge for custom air. We will be flying out of Chicago for Shanghai for the November 3 Cutural Delights itninerary.

 

Will we be flying out on November 1 or 2? I'm going through a travel agent, but I like to know what our options are.

 

Many of the nonstop flights appear to be pretty expensive. Will they allow us to pick one of those or are we restricted to only a few (we don't want to pay anything additional beyond the given Viking price).

 

Thank you to all of you who have "been there/done that"!

 

Don't nickel and dime yourself here, pay for Custom Air so you can do whatever you can to get nonstop flights. You are lucky to have that option, flying from Chicago. (United, for example, flies nonstop from Chicago to Shanghai, but not from Dulles to Shanghai.)

 

In terms of your departure date, we didn't use Viking Air, but my understanding is that Viking tries to fly you out so that you arrive on "Viking Day 1," which you said above is Nov. 3. In that case, you'll likely fly out on Nov. 2 (arriving Nov. 3). However, this past season, Viking was not able to get a bunch of folks in early enough on "Viking Day 1," so they flew people in the day before and put them up in hotels at Viking's expense. You certainly shouldn't count on that happening.

 

The time will fly by --

 

Happy holidays to all!

[Peregrina651]

I just want to remind new readers that you are reading PART TWO of the Viking China thread. PART ONE was started in 2005 and became so popular/successful that the servers could not handle the size of it. The moderators closed part one and opened up part two where the conversation now continues.

 

However, part one still contains a lot of very helpful information. You don't need to start at the very beginning because 1) a lot of information is repeated from year to year and 2) Viking is constantly fine-tuning the product, making some information obsolete.

 

Here is a link that will bring you to posts from February, 2011.

 

If you have questions about what you read in part one, just ask it here.