Viking air - Upgrade

[angelhelly]

We booked our Viking Cruise with a free air promotion.

 

We are in a situation we either need first class or a 3rd seat (person of size). Anybody has that experience?

 

My husband would rather be first class and pay for an upgrade charge, but Viking air tells us through our travel agent that is not possible since we've got free air? Makes no sense to us.

 

Anybody has experience with that? Viking as been less than helpful, and this being our first cruise with them, does not give me a warm fuzzy....

[Parsley Cruises]

Ok, we're heading out shortly on a cruise which also had 'free air', but we are in the UK, and booked direct with Viking Ocean. We gave them at the time of booking an outline of our preferred airline and preferred times of flights. As soon as the flight schedule were released (about 11 months before departure) we were allocated our flights - exactly the flights we wanted. We phoned Viking Ocean here in the UK and thanked them for the flight information and asked for upgrade to Business Class (which is all that is ever available on our flights) and within a very short space of time we had paid for the upgrade, selected our favourite seats and got the flight information through on the relevant app on our smart phones.

 

That was our booking experience, but as I said, we are in the UK and we booked direct with Viking Ocean. We're quite happy with everything so far.

 

Hope you get sorted out. Good luck.

[philw1776]

Contact TellUs@vikingcruises.com and ask why you can't pay for an upgrade

[angelhelly]

Contact TellUs@vikingcruises.com and ask why you can't pay for an upgrade

 

I'll try. My TA called them repetitively and they keep saying upgrade options are "Closed" for this sailing.

 

We can pick our flight and carrier, but can't upgrade. They say it's because of the promotion but I don't get it.

[philw1776]

I'll try. My TA called them repetitively and they keep saying upgrade options are "Closed" for this sailing.

 

We can pick our flight and carrier, but can't upgrade. They say it's because of the promotion but I don't get it.

 

Please keep us posted.

IF this is the case, I'll never book a Free Air "promotion" cruise from Viking. Good to know if so.

 

Would Viking care to clarify their promotional policy on this here?

[Peregrina651]

Please keep us posted.

IF this is the case, I'll never book a Free Air "promotion" cruise from Viking. Good to know if so.

 

Would Viking care to clarify their promotional policy on this here?

 

Phil, the response almost sounds like it applies to anyone attempting to upgrade for that sailing and has nothing to do with the free promotion. They are out of upgradeable seats. We are missing a lot of information from OP, such as if the flight has been ticketed already, how many days until they sail, the embarkation city, etc. etc. I guess will have to wait until we hear how OP makes with TellUs. They will take the time to explain the system and clear up any misconceptions.

In the meantime, don't jump to conclusions. I know that you will take them up on whatever air deal they are offering and choose to upgrade at the time of booking and you will do your homework before you finally decide who is offering the better air deal, Viking or booking on your own. I don't think you need to worry because you know the system and you know what questions to ask.

However, we did learn something important and that is the ability to upgrade on a promotion may be limited and that if are thinking about upgrading, we should ask our question at booking and lock in the upgrade at that time, if possible.

[philw1776]

(y)

[angelhelly]

Phil, the response almost sounds like it applies to anyone attempting to upgrade for that sailing and has nothing to do with the free promotion. They are out of upgradeable seats. We are missing a lot of information from OP, such as if the flight has been ticketed already, how many days until they sail, the embarkation city, etc. etc. I guess will have to wait until we hear how OP makes with TellUs. They will take the time to explain the system and clear up any misconceptions.

In the meantime, don't jump to conclusions. I know that you will take them up on whatever air deal they are offering and choose to upgrade at the time of booking and you will do your homework before you finally decide who is offering the better air deal, Viking or booking on your own. I don't think you need to worry because you know the system and you know what questions to ask.

However, we did learn something important and that is the ability to upgrade on a promotion may be limited and that if are thinking about upgrading, we should ask our question at booking and lock in the upgrade at that time, if possible.

 

The sailing is Alaska on 6/25/2019. So I hope to think I am early :-) Seward to Vancouver

 

After contacting them through email, Viking called my travel agent and made things right, which gives me a lot more confidence in the company.

 

The "not being able to upgrade a promotion" was the information that initially given to me, but happened not to be the issue.

 

The real reason is since it's new for Viking to over North America booking only (Alaska), they did not have in place the contracts with the airlines to do the upgrades. So it was not closed because it was sold out.

 

I am sure they will fix this soon enough. But it does help to have the reason why something is that way.

 

And thank you for the Viking contact and information. Been extremely valuable to the whole process.

Edited October 4, 2018 by angelhelly

[MRGACRUZR]

The sailing is Alaska on 6/25/2019. So I hope to think I am early :-) Seward to Vancouver

 

After contacting them through email, Viking called my travel agent and made things right, which gives me a lot more confidence in the company.

 

The "not being able to upgrade a promotion" was the information that initially given to me, but happened not to be the issue.

 

The real reason is since it's new for Viking to over North America booking only (Alaska), they did not have in place the contracts with the airlines to do the upgrades. So it was not closed because it was sold out.

 

I am sure they will fix this soon enough. But it does help to have the reason why something is that way.

 

And thank you for the Viking contact and information. Been extremely valuable to the whole process.

Although your immediate problem is solved, we have upgraded our flights on all 3 of our air included Viking cruises. Once we get the air arrangements, we make sure they are on the app for the specific airline (usually Delta, by choice) and upgrade ourselves to Comfort plus or business, once Viking pays the airline for the original ticket. Perhaps this only works on Delta.

 

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