Viking did not pay airline for our ticket

[PedroPedro]

We booked with Viking River Cruises in March, 2011. Paid in full. Recently got our air itinerary to Italy. Tried to select seats but Delta (very kind and polite agent) said that although they have our reservation VIKING HAS NOT PAID DELTA yet. So we are not allowed to reserve seats while some good ones are still available.

 

Questions:

>>-> Is is it normal for a cruise line to hold back paying the airline?

>>->Possible that the delay means Viking River Cruises has a cash flow problem so is unable to pay out to airlines promptly?

We have enjoyed Viking's amazing shipboard hospitality on two prior cruises and rate it five star. On both prior trips, however, we found the air travel arrangements to be care and thoughtless. We are hoping this current problem is simply a matter of lack of timely attention, however we have some concern.

[LHT28]

When are you going ?

some cruiselines buy bulk tickets & will ticket them 30 to 45 days prior to departure

 

Contact your TA or Viking and ask for your current seat numbers

 

We were able to change our seats with Air Canada even though they were booked by the cruise lines

 

You might also ask on the river cruise forum

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=191

[CruiserBruce]

Very common not to ticket until 30 days prior to sailing.

 

Just another good reason not to buy airfares thru cruise lines.

[euro cruiser]

Maybe cruise lines have different arrangements with the airlines, but typically when I book large groups (40+ people) we have to pay the airlines 90 days prior to travel or lose the low negotiated fare.

 

Also, with this type of booking, many airlines refuse to allow group fare customers to choose seats until they are at the airport, which allows customers paying higher fares to have the best choice of seats.

[sail7seas]

We never book air through any cruise line.

Hope you work it out.

[dissappointed2]

We just returned from what was to be a 15 day cruise with Viking on the Rhine River in Europe and it turned out to be a 7 day cruise and 8 days of packing, unpacking, on and off buses and in and out of hotels across Europe. My advise is to find another cruise line as Viking is not honest with their clients and treat them even worse. Yes we are very dissappointed in our treatment as they knew in advance there was going to be an interruption in our cruise and elected not to tell us or give us the option to reschedule.

 

Good luck on whatever cruise line you use.

 

Dissappointed2

[Krazy Kruizers]

We just returned from what was to be a 15 day cruise with Viking on the Rhine River in Europe and it turned out to be a 7 day cruise and 8 days of packing, unpacking, on and off buses and in and out of hotels across Europe. My advise is to find another cruise line as Viking is not honest with their clients and treat them even worse. Yes we are very dissappointed in our treatment as they knew in advance there was going to be an interruption in our cruise and elected not to tell us or give us the option to reschedule.

 

Good luck on whatever cruise line you use.

 

Dissappointed2

 

So sorry to read this. That certainly was not a good trip.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We booked with Viking River Cruises in March, 2011. Paid in full. Recently got our air itinerary to Italy. Tried to select seats but Delta (very kind and polite agent) said that although they have our reservation VIKING HAS NOT PAID DELTA yet. So we are not allowed to reserve seats while some good ones are still available.

 

Questions:

>>-> Is is it normal for a cruise line to hold back paying the airline?

>>->Possible that the delay means Viking River Cruises has a cash flow problem so is unable to pay out to airlines promptly?

 

We have enjoyed Viking's amazing shipboard hospitality on two prior cruises and rate it five star. On both prior trips, however, we found the air travel arrangements to be care and thoughtless. We are hoping this current problem is simply a matter of lack of timely attention, however we have some concern.

 

As a rule the cruise lines do not book the flights until about 30 days before the cruise. Then they select flights that are the cheapest for their budget but may not be the nicest schedule for you.

You didn't mention when your cruise is.

Is it possible for you to cancel the airline portion and book your own flights without a penality from the cruise line?

[sail7seas]

We just returned from what was to be a 15 day cruise with Viking on the Rhine River in Europe and it turned out to be a 7 day cruise and 8 days of packing, unpacking, on and off buses and in and out of hotels across Europe. My advise is to find another cruise line as Viking is not honest with their clients and treat them even worse. Yes we are very dissappointed in our treatment as they knew in advance there was going to be an interruption in our cruise and elected not to tell us or give us the option to reschedule.

 

Good luck on whatever cruise line you use.

 

Dissappointed2

 

 

Wow...... that is terrible.

Sorry this happened to you.

[6rugrats]

We just returned from what was to be a 15 day cruise with Viking on the Rhine River in Europe and it turned out to be a 7 day cruise and 8 days of packing, unpacking, on and off buses and in and out of hotels across Europe. My advise is to find another cruise line as Viking is not honest with their clients and treat them even worse. Yes we are very dissappointed in our treatment as they knew in advance there was going to be an interruption in our cruise and elected not to tell us or give us the option to reschedule.

 

Yes, this was discussed all over CC. This is something you need to be aware of when booking a river cruise; the water is not always high enough. The cruise line always seems to have all the rights. Read your contract; I don't believe they have to give you an option to reschedule. From your cruise contract:

 

Itineraries are subject to change and may need to be altered or cancelled specifically because of water levels or wind factors

[6rugrats]

We booked with Viking River Cruises in March, 2011. Paid in full. Recently got our air itinerary to Italy. Tried to select seats but Delta (very kind and polite agent) said that although they have our reservation VIKING HAS NOT PAID DELTA yet. So we are not allowed to reserve seats while some good ones are still available.

 

 

You don't state when your cruise is. Viking's webpage says this about cruise air:

 

Flight schedules will be released 75 days prior to departure. Contact your airline directly to confirm seat assignments, request special meals and reconfirm your flights, check-in procedures and carry-on limitations

 

If it's 75 days or less before your cruise, I would call Viking and find out what's going on.

[Viking Cruises]

We booked with Viking River Cruises in March, 2011. Paid in full. Recently got our air itinerary to Italy. Tried to select seats but Delta (very kind and polite agent) said that although they have our reservation VIKING HAS NOT PAID DELTA yet. So we are not allowed to reserve seats while some good ones are still available.

 

Questions:

>>-> Is is it normal for a cruise line to hold back paying the airline?

>>->Possible that the delay means Viking River Cruises has a cash flow problem so is unable to pay out to airlines promptly?

We have enjoyed Viking's amazing shipboard hospitality on two prior cruises and rate it five star. On both prior trips, however, we found the air travel arrangements to be care and thoughtless. We are hoping this current problem is simply a matter of lack of timely attention, however we have some concern.

 

Dear PedroPedro,

 

Thank you for choosing Viking River Cruises. We are sorry to hear Delta wouldn’t confirm your seats and would be happy to review with you. Please send us your contact information at tellus@vikingrivercruises.com and we will call you.

 

Regards,

Viking River Cruises

[Viking Cruises]

We just returned from what was to be a 15 day cruise with Viking on the Rhine River in Europe and it turned out to be a 7 day cruise and 8 days of packing, unpacking, on and off buses and in and out of hotels across Europe. My advise is to find another cruise line as Viking is not honest with their clients and treat them even worse. Yes we are very dissappointed in our treatment as they knew in advance there was going to be an interruption in our cruise and elected not to tell us or give us the option to reschedule.

 

Good luck on whatever cruise line you use.

 

Dissappointed2

 

Dear dissappointed2,

 

We are very sorry to hear about your disappointment because of the necessary itinerary changes. If you would like to discuss your concerns in more detail, please email your contact information to us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

[Hlitner]

One of the downsides of allowing a cruise company to book your air is that they often do not even know the flights until the last couple of months. And even if you do know your flights it is also common that the line will not actually purchase the tickets until late in the process. The bummer is that by the time you are able to get seat assignments most of the best seats are long gone. Its just one more reason why we often do our own air. But you should have no worries about Viking. In our experience they are an excellent company who has their act together.

 

Hank

[sjcruiser]

I think that is the first post I've seen of the cruise line responding directly on CC to a complaint!!!

 

I guess they are listening/monitoring the site.

[greatam]

One of the downsides of allowing a cruise company to book your air is that they often do not even know the flights until the last couple of months. And even if you do know your flights it is also common that the line will not actually purchase the tickets until late in the process. The bummer is that by the time you are able to get seat assignments most of the best seats are long gone.

 

Hank

 

This is not exactly correct for the majority of cruise line purchased tickets.

 

Almost all cruise lines sign contracts a year or more in advance that states 'we will purchase XXXX tickets from JFK to LHR, XXX tickets from LAX to LHR, XXX ticket from ORD to BCN, etc., etc., etc., etc. (MANY, MANY ticket pair combinations). Now give us your best price and we will pay for XXX seats. The airlines set a low price and could care less what the cruise line sells the tickets for (generally VERY close to market rate if you purchase individually early and often MORE expensive then what you could buy on the open market). These are also consolidator class tickets with all kinds of restrictions.

 

This goes on with all airlines that the cruise lines deal with based on expected passenger numbers and where the cruise ships are sailing to and from. Money is put up at that time the contract is signed.

 

Then about 60-90 days out, the airlines tell the cruise line what flights have seats and what flights the airline has held seats for the cruise line. As in the OP's example, the short connection time was one of the flights that was not selling well and that is EXACTLY what the cruise line got. The highly discounted fares cruise lines receive from the airlines are more like "advance" seat sales but you take what is leftover (the most undesirable flights generally) as a result. The airlines allocate the seats and flights-they just usually are NOT what you would picked for yourself (and most likely, you didn't save much money if any).

 

There are VERY few cruise lines that book flights INDIVIDUALLY for a passenger. Some of the luxury lines do it for their business class passengers but as a general rule, almost all cruise line air tickets are bulk booked a year or more in advance (long before the airline even has the schedules out).

[marco]

This is not uncommon when doing "cruise air" on any line. I wouldn't even bet money that the airline you"probably will be going on is for sure, the airline you will be flying on. A few years ago 6 of us did the same cruise with "cruise air" from the same airport. Let alone not being on the same flights, we were NOT even all on the same airline!!!!!!!!!!!! I think once they are 45 or so days out, they just buy "whatever" is left at a discount price, and buying up seats so frequently, they probably get a pretty good deal on what ever is left and don't even pay anywhere near the price they charge for air. And because they get such firesale prices, lots of times you are not even eligible for "frequent flier miles" on the airline they put you on.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We prefer to have control over our travel arrangements. Especially after the one time we used a cruise air arrangement, we were given a red eye flight to arrive the day of the cruise. Nope, not what we want.