Viking Air Plus

[Islandbc]

I phoned "air plus" yesterday morning and had the agent reserve our seats for the cruise that starts in 60 days.  I also requested her to check on the cost of "premium" seats.  She was not able to do this, but did tell me the cost for business, which I declined.  Apparently, I need to contact the airline for upgrade to premium.

Just wondering how long it takes for the seat assignments show up on MVJ.  I also checked the airline flights and the seats assigned still show up as available on the Air Canada site.

[dwlmg]

Our past experience with Viking Air Plus is that at 310 days out from your RETURN flight, they will make reservations for you. We are inside this window for our July 2022 Alaska trip. When our travel agent tried to book our flights, she was told that the airlines had not released the bulk contract fare classes yet and Viking cannot make the reservations for us until they do. Anyone else experienced this? Flights for our dates are available on the airline web sites for booking.

Edited September 20, 2021 by dwlmg

[FlyerTalker]

45 minutes ago, dwlmg said:

Our past experience with Viking Air Plus is that at 310 days out from your RETURN flight, they will make reservations for you. We are inside this window for our July 2022 Alaska trip. When our travel agent tried to book our flights, she was told that the airlines had not released the bulk contract fare classes yet and Viking cannot make the reservations for us until they do. Anyone else experienced this? Flights for our dates are available on the airline web sites for booking.

 

And there you have it.

 

Bulk/consolidator tickets are a completely different animal than "published fare" tickets you can buy directly from the carrier.

 

In addition to availability restrictions, you may also find that some flights/connections are not included in the bulk inventory made available to the cruiseline.

 

And also remember...until the tickets are paid for, you have at best a "reservation".  Which can be changed and/or cancelled at any time.

[mauimacho]

I called Viking this morning for flights for next year and got a recording that they are only booking flights for cruises within the next 60 days.

[JeriGail]

4 minutes ago, mauimacho said:

I called Viking this morning for flights for next year and got a recording that they are only booking flights for cruises within the next 60 days.

You can ignore that message and go ahead and speak to them.  Almost everyone on our roll call has done that and been successful in getting their flights.  I got my flights for an end of November cruise in February - 9 months early.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

And there you have it.

 

Bulk/consolidator tickets are a completely different animal than "published fare" tickets you can buy directly from the carrier.

 

In addition to availability restrictions, you may also find that some flights/connections are not included in the bulk inventory made available to the cruiseline.

 

And also remember...until the tickets are paid for, you have at best a "reservation".  Which can be changed and/or cancelled at any time.

 

Just thought I'd try to confirm what dwlmg said above and asked about getting flights on our July 2022 cruise.  Same response, which I expected.

 

I do think that COVID times have shown people that the Viking Air may sound good, but comes with a lot of strings attached now (not Viking's fault), as airlines are in a total state of flux.   Even with "free air" fare to Europe on our November cruise, we bowed out and got our own flights, mostly in order to do Economy Comfort/Plus AND to control the situation.  Sometimes it is worth it.  So far, have not had any airline changes or issues, but we have a couple months to go. 

[Eggtuary]

We don’t pay in full until the end of the month. Should we cancel our Viking Air Plus?  We didn’t get free airfare, anyway. Plus, I think I now want to upgrade to business class. I know I can do that through Viking, but it sounds limited. We’ve never flown business class before, and I hear there is benefit to picking your own flights, not only to get ideal times, but also to take advantage of the lounges in certain airports. 
 

Or am I overthinking this?

[CCWineLover]

23 minutes ago, Eggtuary said:

We don’t pay in full until the end of the month. Should we cancel our Viking Air Plus?  We didn’t get free airfare, anyway. Plus, I think I now want to upgrade to business class. I know I can do that through Viking, but it sounds limited. We’ve never flown business class before, and I hear there is benefit to picking your own flights, not only to get ideal times, but also to take advantage of the lounges in certain airports. 
 

Or am I overthinking this?

What is your itinerary and what time frame?  Everything depends on that pretty much.

Most of the time lately, the airlines have not been giving decent contracts to Viking to do Bus.Class or Prem. Economy - just economy.  That is also why we did our own on upcoming Nov cruise.  And even if you booked coach on Viking Air Plus, the airlines might well change the contract and then Viking has to inform you your flights have changed, not always for the best.  Heard from many of this happening.  Don't blame Viking.  The Airlines control the bulk contracting.  If you book on your own, you have a better chance of control and stable schedules.  Again - this is specifically during these COVID times!

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

We don’t pay in full until the end of the month. Should we cancel our Viking Air Plus?  

 

Well, it comes down to two main questions you need to ask yourself and then answer:

 

1) What do I want as far as air travel arrangements for my cruise?

2) Why do I think that cruiseline air will or will not meet my own particular needs?

 

Since you don't say what you want, or what you don't want, and give us no details of what you have experienced so far with Air Plus, it's hard to make any kind of recommendation.

 

The one hard and fast rule:  You can never get a greater range of flight options, classes and ticketing options outside of buying from the carrier direct.  Now you might get better pricing elsewhere, but know that you are most always getting tickets that have greater restrictions than what you would find buying direct.

 

So...details please.  Otherwise GIGO.

[molemaui]

Excited to get back to cruising, (and not willing or able depending on the situation, go back to Europe) I planned on booking a 14 day Caribbean cruise with Viking for October. This cruise included free air. I was told that if I wanted to choose my flights, I would need Air Plus at $50p/p.  OK, not an issue. I never arrive for a cruise the day of departure so I was also told that I would need to buy a deviation at $100p/p. Still no problem.

 

I try and book and am toldI can't use Air Plus or deviations since I'm within the 60 day window. If it matters, Viking reservations told me about the need to Air Plus and deviations when we were discussing this particular cruise-didn't hear this second hand or from any other source. As I was unable to pay for and use these features, I booked with another cruise line. 

 

This is aggravating in that Viking is so totally inflexible. I feel the 60 day rule is arbitrary and a mere keystroke from the computer could have solved this issue. I could have also bought my own airfare but that didn't make sense either. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Squawkman]

Molemaui- who told you Air+ and deviations couldn’t be used? Your TA? If it was a Viking agent, ask for a supervisor. This isn’t right.

[Eggtuary]

6 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Well, it comes down to two main questions you need to ask yourself and then answer:

 

1) What do I want as far as air travel arrangements for my cruise?

2) Why do I think that cruiseline air will or will not meet my own particular needs?

 

Since you don't say what you want, or what you don't want, and give us no details of what you have experienced so far with Air Plus, it's hard to make any kind of recommendation.

 

The one hard and fast rule:  You can never get a greater range of flight options, classes and ticketing options outside of buying from the carrier direct.  Now you might get better pricing elsewhere, but know that you are most always getting tickets that have greater restrictions than what you would find buying direct.

 

So...details please.  Otherwise GIGO.

1)  I am on the March 2022 Mediterranean Odyssey cruise, starting in Venice on March 28th.  I would like to fly business class, arriving two days early to check out Venice on our own ahead of the cruise.  I would also like to take advantage of airport lounges on our way there, as that is something we've never done before. We're not frequent travelers, so I don't have many miles with any airline, and thus I'm open to any of them. We fly back (to Louisville, KY) from Barcelona on April 9th.

 

2) I'm concerned that Air Plus won't meet our needs because I'm reading comments here that Viking is so limited (especially lately) in what flights they can offer.  We aren't early risers, so we'd prefer not to be up at the crack of dawn on departure.  My wife's knees aren't great, so I'd prefer to make sure we have adequate layovers at each of our connections.

 

My experience with Air Plus to date is nothing but paying for the service and the deviation fee.

 

Let me know if I'm still leaving out important details.  Thanks for the help!

Edited September 21, 2021 by Eggtuary

[molemaui]

4 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Molemaui- who told you Air+ and deviations couldn’t be used? Your TA? If it was a Viking agent, ask for a supervisor. This isn’t right.

The agent. I did ask for a supervisor but did not get one. The agent claimed she checked and could not accommodate my request. By that time, I just figured I had enough of Viking. I am accustomed to booking cruises which leave within 45-60 days and haver never had this issue with any of the other "premium" lines. In fact, we are also sailing Silversea in December-cruisefare included air. When I said I didn't want it, we got a $500@ credit. I booked my own air. So easy to work with. 

[molemaui]

4 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

1)  I am on the March 2022 Mediterranean Odyssey cruise, starting in Venice on March 28th.  I would like to fly business class, arriving two days early to check out Venice on our own ahead of the cruise.  I would also like to take advantage of airport lounges on our way there, as that is something we've never done before. We're not frequent travelers, so I don't have many miles with any airline, and thus I'm open to any of them. We fly back (to Louisville, KY) from Barcelona on April 9th.

 

2) I'm concerned that Air Plus won't meet our needs because I'm reading comments here that Viking is so limited (especially lately) in what flights they can offer.  We aren't early risers, so we'd prefer not to be up at the crack of dawn on departure.  My wife's knees aren't great, so I'd prefer to make sure we have adequate layovers at each of our connections.

 

My experience with Air Plus to date is nothing but paying for the service and the deviation fee.

 

Let me know if I'm still leaving out important details.  Thanks for the help!

We did a crossing on Viking a couple of years ago. We also tried to fly business class and it was far, far less expensive booking on our own. We also had the "freedom" to choose our own dates. (This cruise did not include free air so I was fine booking on my own

[CCWineLover]

6 hours ago, molemaui said:

We did a crossing on Viking a couple of years ago. We also tried to fly business class and it was far, far less expensive booking on our own. We also had the "freedom" to choose our own dates. (This cruise did not include free air so I was fine booking on my own

Sadly, with COVID, times have completely changed. 

Now the airlines hold all the cards.  I'm so tired of everyone blaming Viking for their issues with getting air flights using Viking and Air Plus.  

We nearly always now will book our own flights - never had an issue!  We like bus. class and often with Viking Air plus, the airlines are not even giving Viking that option, and when they do the price is now way more than on your own.

You get so much more flexibility on your own as well.

Until COVID issues die down, I truly think it is best to not do Viking Air - too many restrictions and unreliability for us.

[Eggtuary]

30 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Eggtuary

[JeriGail]

We are flying to Barcelona for a TA cruise on the Sea and are using Viking's free air, plus we've purchased Air Plus and paid the deviation fee (actually the Air Plus and deviation fee came from our voucher).  This is my first trip to Europe and I don't have tons of FF miles, so I was happy to have Viking arrange my flights.  I received my first choice for our flights, but have had several changes because the airlines changed or cancelled flights.  In each case I was able to get the flight I wanted.  For us, having Viking arrange our flights worked.

[CCWineLover]

11 hours ago, JeriGail said:

We are flying to Barcelona for a TA cruise on the Sea and are using Viking's free air, plus we've purchased Air Plus and paid the deviation fee (actually the Air Plus and deviation fee came from our voucher).  This is my first trip to Europe and I don't have tons of FF miles, so I was happy to have Viking arrange my flights.  I received my first choice for our flights, but have had several changes because the airlines changed or cancelled flights.  In each case I was able to get the flight I wanted.  For us, having Viking arrange our flights worked.

No doubt I believe Viking Air works as long as you don't want to upgrade to Economy Comfort or Business Class (either by miles or by dollars).   That seems to be where the rub is - and again, not Viking's fault.  The airlines are scrambling.   

I didn't know this was your first trip to Europe!  That's great!  No wonder you've been so excited the past year!  And then to have had to wait a year from the first cruise you booked. 

 

Note - there is one large risk these days in NOT doing Viking Air.  If something happens, Viking (theoretically) will take care of you.    We look at each trip individually and evaluate whether to use Viking Air or not.  There is no telling which is best ahead of time.  It seems to depend on the Airline Routes, contracts, and dates.  Sometimes they can get us great itineraries and sometimes horrible - and then we'll go direct.   Keep that in mind for your future trips!

[JeriGail]

35 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

No doubt I believe Viking Air works as long as you don't want to upgrade to Economy Comfort or Business Class (either by miles or by dollars).   That seems to be where the rub is - and again, not Viking's fault.  The airlines are scrambling.   

I didn't know this was your first trip to Europe!  That's great!  No wonder you've been so excited the past year!  And then to have had to wait a year from the first cruise you booked. 

Our flight to Barcelona is on United and only has economy plus (extra legroom only) plus business.  Even though I'm not ticketed, I was able to upgrade to economy plus for $125/person.  I did check to see if I could upgrade our cabin class, but United said that wasn't possible on our ticket.

Yep - I'm like a kid anticipating the best Christmas ever!  😄

Our biggest problem with flying is that the Cedar Rapids airport is fairly small, so we always have multiple hops.  We could have driven 2 hours to Des Moines, which has much better connections, but I didn't want to worry about driving and chancing hitting a winter storm.

Edited September 22, 2021 by JeriGail
Forgot some info

[Eggtuary]

I called Viking Air. The best rate they could get me on business class was $4,350 pp. And that’s after my $400 pp credit. I can do much better on my own, as some of you have warned.  Not blaming Viking, as it sounds like the airlines are driving this. 
 

So how does an inexperienced traveler figure out the best airlines?  I’m getting decent at using ITA Matrix and finding decent layovers. But the options are still dizzying, especially when I try to factor in quality of lounges, speed of getting around specific airports, etc. 

[Azulann]

2 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I called Viking Air. The best rate they could get me on business class was $4,350 pp. And that’s after my $400 pp credit. I can do much better on my own, as some of you have warned.  Not blaming Viking, as it sounds like the airlines are driving this. 
 

So how does an inexperienced traveler figure out the best airlines?  I’m getting decent at using ITA Matrix and finding decent layovers. But the options are still dizzying, especially when I try to factor in quality of lounges, speed of getting around specific airports, etc. 

I would birth you question to Cruise Air forum 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/

 

Ask these expert who fly through all the airport and on different airline that you  are looking to book. They are very helpful, but be specific  not vague !

I have gotten lots of help from them over the years. 

Good luck. 

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I called Viking Air. The best rate they could get me on business class was $4,350 pp. And that’s after my $400 pp credit. I can do much better on my own, as some of you have warned.  Not blaming Viking, as it sounds like the airlines are driving this. 
 

So how does an inexperienced traveler figure out the best airlines?  I’m getting decent at using ITA Matrix and finding decent layovers. But the options are still dizzying, especially when I try to factor in quality of lounges, speed of getting around specific airports, etc. 

 

Another option for Business upgrades is to wait until you check-in/arrive at the airport. Our son flies between Germany & Vancouver every couple of months and for all his flights this year has been able to pay a reasonable fee for the upgrade, at check-in.

 

Note- they are not always available.

 

For our flights to LAX in December, the Viking price was $2,000 pp, while online it was initially $500 pp. Prices have since doubled. All Business seats are currently showing available, so we will wait until check-in and see what they want for the upgrade.

[FlyerTalker]

Gate upgrades are dependent on combinations of underlying fare basis of the original ticket and any elite status the customer may have with the carrier.  Top level elites will have better chances for an upgrade than a non-elite.  Regular published fares will usually trump any kind of bulk/consolidator fares, many of which have fare rules that prohibit any kind of upgrade.

 

In addition, many carriers do not offer any kind of discounted gate upgrade.  This is on the concept that they do not want to dilute the paid value of their business class product.  If people want the business class product, the carriers feel they should just pay for it up front.

 

As always, YMMV.

 

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Gate upgrades are dependent on combinations of underlying fare basis of the original ticket and any elite status the customer may have with the carrier.  Top level elites will have better chances for an upgrade than a non-elite.  Regular published fares will usually trump any kind of bulk/consolidator fares, many of which have fare rules that prohibit any kind of upgrade.

 

In addition, many carriers do not offer any kind of discounted gate upgrade.  This is on the concept that they do not want to dilute the paid value of their business class product.  If people want the business class product, the carriers feel they should just pay for it up front.

 

As always, YMMV.

 

 

That was our experience pre-COVID.

 

Our son flies on seafarer fares, which are normally one of the lowest fare classes and he has no status with Lufthansa or any of the Star Alliance airlines.

 

However, when Business Class is empty, they are happy to accept his money. His latest upgrades in July & August were more expensive (believe it cost him CAN $700 for the return upgrade) . His earlier flights this year, when adding the seafarer economy ticket and the upgrade, were comparable to what most of us would pay for an economy ticket. 

[dwlmg]

On 9/20/2021 at 2:10 PM, dwlmg said:

Our past experience with Viking Air Plus is that at 310 days out from your RETURN flight, they will make reservations for you. We are inside this window for our July 2022 Alaska trip. When our travel agent tried to book our flights, she was told that the airlines had not released the bulk contract fare classes yet and Viking cannot make the reservations for us until they do. Anyone else experienced this? Flights for our dates are available on the airline web sites for booking.

Our travel agent was able to book our Viking Air Plus flights for a return flight on July 22, 2021 today, September 23, 2021.