Changes in Viking air fare

[Squawkman]

I noticed that several cruises - mostly ocean but at least one river (Douro) no longer show air fare on the website. Anyone have any idea what’s going on? There doesn’t seem to be a pattern by itinerary nor season of travel.

[shadowlover]

I can see airfare listed for most of them.  It also says to call for promotion.  

[Squawkman]

16 minutes ago, shadowlover said:

I can see airfare listed for most of them.  It also says to call for promotion.  

Less than a week ago, 4 of my 6 booked cruises had airfare listed without having to call. Now some others do and some others don’t. Some have airfare listed for one year but not for other years. Something changed which is why I asked here if anyone knows anything.

[rbslos18]

My Air Plus information is now gone. In its place there is a notice my itinerary will be released November 25th for a December 24th cruise. The reservation still exists on Delta’s website, which is good news. My guess a website glitch is at play.

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

My Air Plus information is now gone. In its place there is a notice my itinerary will be released November 25th for a December 24th cruise. The reservation still exists on Delta’s website, which is good news. My guess a website glitch is at play.

I heard today in fact from agent that Viking Air Plus is now not going to release ticketing until 30 days ahead - apparently the airlines are changing the flights, planes, and fares so rapidly these days and the contracts with Viking have gotten tighter.  We were trying to get flight home in December Puerto Rico to San Francisco - and Viking Air Plus said their contract only allowed 1 horrible set of flights on UA - that was it.  Take it or leave it.  I think during the COVID wind down, using AirPlus is NOT worthwhile.  I went onto American's site and see several flights available.  So it is just Viking Air contracts with the airlines that is causing these issues.   Hopefully some day in 2022 it will resolve itself.

[Twitchly]

When we looked at booking our air through Viking for our cruise next winter, their rates were nearly double what we could get directly from Delta. No idea why. Something goofy must be going on with their contracts with the airlines.

[Squawkman]

Checked again this morning and it appears airfare amounts have been restored.

[rbslos18]

My flight info is still gone. I also noticed our flight preferences such as FF# and Global Entry were also missing.

[Squawkman]

12 minutes ago, rbslos18 said:

My flight info is still gone. I also noticed our flight preferences such as FF# and Global Entry were also missing.

Do you have more than one booking in MVJ? If so, did you check the other bookings? Flight preferences must be manually entered for each booking even though most (if not all) of the entries will not change from cruise to cruise.

[rbslos18]

2 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Do you have more than one booking in MVJ? If so, did you check the other bookings? Flight preferences must be manually entered for each booking even though most (if not all) of the entries will not change from cruise to cruise.

We have two bookings and the Flight Preferences which we entered are gone with the Air Plus flights for our next cruise (December).

[CILCIANRQTS]

Our TA was on hold with Viking Air today for 75 minutes and then was disconnected.  They told her to call back in July.

Sounds like chaos in the Viking Air department...

Glad I’m not trying to do this myself!!

[CILCIANRQTS]

On 6/16/2021 at 11:21 PM, CCWineLover said:

I heard today in fact from agent that Viking Air Plus is now not going to release ticketing until 30 days ahead - apparently the airlines are changing the flights, planes, and fares so rapidly these days and the contracts with Viking have gotten tighter.  We were trying to get flight home in December Puerto Rico to San Francisco - and Viking Air Plus said their contract only allowed 1 horrible set of flights on UA - that was it.  Take it or leave it.  I think during the COVID wind down, using AirPlus is NOT worthwhile.  I went onto American's site and see several flights available.  So it is just Viking Air contracts with the airlines that is causing these issues.   Hopefully some day in 2022 it will resolve itself.

 

Got this email from Viking today - 60 days.

 

Dear Viking Guest,

Thank you for your patience as we restart operations. Our Air Operations Team is currently experiencing unusually high call volume. If you plan to travel more than 60 days in the future, they will not be able to address your questions or finalize your travel arrangements.

We ask that you not call our Air Operations Team until you are within 60 days of departure. Rest assured, our goal—always—is to ensure the best itinerary for your voyage.

Our airline partners are working to accommodate their own overwhelming demand under fluid conditions. Air schedules have become unpredictable, changing several times if booked too early and resulting in unwanted, yet unavoidable, poor routes and fees. Until airline travel stabilizes, our Air Operations team is focused on guests traveling in the near future.

We have provided additional frequently asked questions to avoid long wait times and address some immediate questions you may have.

Thank you for your patience. We look forward to welcoming you on board and appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Viking
 

[Squawkman]

I got the same email for a cruise in November. MVJ has indicated July 22 for a while. We are using Viking Air without Air Plus. Always worked for us as we live close to Newark airport.

[philw1776]

As always, IF you're ticketed keep checking with the airline itself on your flight status. You'll typically know before Viking knows and Viking is not that thorough informing folks of air changes.

[CCWineLover]

5 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

As always, IF you're ticketed keep checking with the airline itself on your flight status. You'll typically know before Viking knows and Viking is not that thorough informing folks of air changes.

Good advice Phil.  I have also experienced this and now always look at the airline site.

All this mess with Viking Air and Air Plus - a lot of it is due to the airlines and the current COVID re-opening supply and demand.  In addition the airlines changing flights, they do not want to be tied into price contracts with Viking until close to flight time, since the prices go up and the airlines can get more for their contracts the closer to flying.  The airlines hold all the cards right now (like the rental car companies and hotels!) since Americans are so anxious to travel, and go anywhere at any price.

 

We think we will not use Viking Air for quite some time due to this - at least until pricing stabilizes - which I'm thinking might not be until mid-2022.  Just my opinion.

[CILCIANRQTS]

1 hour ago, Squawkman said:

I got the same email for a cruise in November. MVJ has indicated July 22 for a while. We are using Viking Air without Air Plus. Always worked for us as we live close to Newark airport.

 

We fly out of Boston, but last trip they routed us through Toronto to get to Zurich!

Apparently Air Canada was the low bidder. ☹️

[Squawkman]

8 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

 

We fly out of Boston, but last trip they routed us through Toronto to get to Zurich!

Apparently Air Canada was the low bidder. ☹️

Luckily, anytime we needed to switch planes it was never in North America. We’ve only done Europe so I couldn’t imagine what arrangements would be if we did a cruise embarking in Asia.