Air Plus Question

[Oca]

My husband and I are on a cruise embarking in Rome in May 2023.  We purchased Air Plus with our booking. Per MVJ, we can select our flights through Air Plus from 310 days to 65 days prior to departure.  We are within those parameters.

However, when I called Viking Air, their messaging says, ‘reservations can only be made within 60 days of the cruise’.  Thinking this did not apply to Air Plus passengers, I used Live Chat on the site to clarify.  The Chat responder confirmed that Air Plus passengers now must wait until 60 days from departure to initiate flight reservations, adding that this is due to increased airline changes and cancellations.  When I repeated that Air Plus passengers are supposed to be able to book 310 days from departure, the response was:  

"Normally they can book at that time, and that was before the airlines started having major issues”

In addition to having more input in the process of selecting our flights, a primary reason we opted for Air Plus was the ability to book further in advance of the cruise. This enables a greater choice of flights, seating, types of planes, etc., all of which are important to us.  

Note that the airlines continue to allow flight reservations hundreds of days in advance, so limiting Air Plus passengers to no more than 60 days to book flights is a Viking decision.

Is anyone else having difficulty getting Air Plus to make flight reservations 310 days to 65 days from departure?  Does anyone have any suggestions re what we can do about this?
 

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

I understand your frustration, but this is not Viking's fault.  Viking has no control over what is going on with Airlines at this time. There is nothing they can do about the constant changes.  If you could book out that far, there would be changes, several changes! 

[ro156542]

I would call the Air+ phone # and wait to talk to an agent (ignoring the recording).  Our TA got our Air+ flights about 8 months ahead.  When I called Air+ to upgrade the seats the agent at Viking said the flights are reserved, but not actually ticketed until 90 days before, (unless you choose Delta, because they have a different contract with Delta) and seats cannot be upgraded until ticketed (?)

[FlyerTalker]

19 minutes ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

I understand your frustration, but this is not Viking's fault.  Viking has no control over what is going on with Airlines at this time. There is nothing they can do about the constant changes.  If you could book out that far, there would be changes, several changes! 

 

Granted that Viking has no control over airline schedules.

 

What IS within Viking's control is the decision on when to commence actual flight selections.  That is NOT an airline choice, but it is what Viking has decided themselves.  I can understand that by doing so, they are reducing the need to change reservations as flight changes occur.  Which reduces the work load of their staff.  OTOH, they are taking away a major selling point for their program.

 

Apparently, someone at Viking HQ has determined that the benefits to their staff time outweighs the loss of good will and attractiveness to customers.  Because the flights can start to be booked whenever they are loaded into the GDS systems.

 

Probably the same person who determined that requiring payment to be made decades before your cruise is a net positive to the cruiseline.

[Azulann]

If you book your own air, you can get a refund for your air plus fee. One can also  do a search for air now for your schedule in May. See what the price is and then compare it to the price you  paid for Viking Air plus. 

We are doing a Cruise in June of 2023 starting in Stockholm. We  are looking at our own airfare. Viking  wants $1200. for Air, without Air+ or deviations.  

I want to fly Delta  thru AMS . I live 5 minutes from MSP and want a direct flight to Europe, so I do not think we will use Viking air plus. Our final payment is Dec. 

[TayanaLorna]

I ignored the 60 days message and was connected to an agent.  I am about 6 months from our cruise.  I had 2 itineraries picked out but neither of the flights were under their contract.  She spent about a half hour working with me and could not come up with a Viking contracted itinerary that did not involve an extremely long layover or a too short layover.  She suggested I call back in 2 or 3 weeks as more flights are added.  Air Plus passengers can book anytime.  Just know that flights may change.  The 60 day message was playing already in July 2021 when I was trying to book flights for our Fall TA.  

[CDNPolar]

For our next two cruises, we have opted to book on our own and not book with Viking.  We either book premium economy or business, and now with the airlines, we see that when you are booking these classes, you can make changes for the change in fare, or you can cancel and retain the full value of the fare and rebook for a future date.  Because we fully intend to travel the dates we choose we don't see major issue in going on our own.

 

Yes, you have to pay up front when you book, but you have full control of the booking too.

 

We have found also, that unless Viking are offering free air, the prices they are quoting are only within a couple hundred of what we pay on our own and they are not always on the side of the price advantage.

 

In fact, we have opted on one cruise recently to book our own business class seats because we got them over $1800.00 per person cheaper than we were given in price from Air Plus.

 

Oh, and for the record, we have always ignored the 60 day recording and booked and no agent has ever tried to discourage us.  We generally will book 250-300 days out.

 

Now, also to be fair - we booked first class tickets for a non Viking cruise about 5 months ago and we have 4 months to go.  This itinerary has had about 5 or 6 schedule changes to date, but all are still acceptable changes to us and each time the change happened, the airline (Delta) gave us the opportunity to cancel or change with no fee because of the schedule change.

 

If there is no price advantage, then I will always choose to book my own flights.

[mhb1757]

I just ignore the message and wait to talk to a live agent. The hold time the past few weeks when I have called has been at most 2 or 3 minutes, usually less. The agent never mentions anything about it being over 60 days and they have been happy to help. I have booked flights for a late March early April, 2023 cruise already. 
just call back and talk to an agent. 

[oskidunker]

Am looking at sfo to London Heathrow. Then Bergen back to sfo. Probably want to go a day early. 
 

1. any chance of getting a direct non stop flight? To lhr.

2. If I go a day early will they still provide transportation to the port?

would book Premium plus, hopefully United. 
 

tried on Oceania on  a different cruise and ended up booking my own as it was cheaper and I got non stop flights and avoided Turkish air.

[The Other Tom]

30 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Am looking at sfo to London Heathrow. Then Bergen back to sfo. Probably want to go a day early. 
 

1. any chance of getting a direct non stop flight? To lhr.

2. If I go a day early will they still provide transportation to the port?

would book Premium plus, hopefully United. 
 

tried on Oceania on  a different cruise and ended up booking my own as it was cheaper and I got non stop flights and avoided Turkish air.

1.  If you have air+, look at the flights that are acceptable to you (pick two or three and rank them), then ask for your first choice, then the second, etc.  I'd say you have a good chance of getting a non stop, assuming there are several choices.

2.  I think you have to pay extra for a Viking transfer if you go a day early.  Or just take a cab or Uber.

[mariavii]

I was given the same info re waiting to book but as folks here have said, talk to a real person and you should be able to book.  My TA got the flights I  wanted for my Jan 2023 cruise. Then yesterday she got email notice that they changed my return to a 2 stop via Montréal on air Canada. Viking told her that my original return flight was canceled. It was not. Another call later and it was fixed but I feel like this will be an ongoing battle for the next 4 months. 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

 I got non stop flights and avoided Turkish air.

 

Not quite sure why you want to avoid Turkish.  Especially if you are in business.  A couple of points to consider:

 

A)  The business lounge at IST is rated as one of the top 10 lounges worldwide and is noted for their food.

 

B)  If you have a longer connect at IST, even in coach, TK will provide a free tour of Istanbul.

 

C)  If you take advantage of the TK free stopover program, TK will put you up in a hotel at no charge.  Coach passengers with a stopover get a free night in a 4 star hotel, while business class passengers get two nights in a 5 star hotel.

 

You can get some nice benefits and stretch your vacation with some time in Istanbul, where the dollar goes a LOT farther than many other places.

[oskidunker]

Safety record. 

[Oca]

Hi again --  I'm the original poster.  Just want to say thank you to everyone for your helpful responses.  I have researched the flights that we are interested in and shall follow your advice to call Air Plus and book without regard to their message saying it has to be within 60 days.  I shall let you know how it all works out for me.

[FlyerTalker]

11 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Safety record. 

 

If you say so. 

 

I would have no qualms about flying TK from a safety standpoint - there is no cultural problem at the airline, nor any ongoing maintenance or operational issues.  If you are focusing on incidents in the past, be sure to get the relevant specifics on any crash, as well as putting those crashes into proper perspective.

 

TK is definitely a first-world airline, with all of the positive reputation that goes with that.

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

If you say so. 

 

I would have no qualms about flying TK from a safety standpoint - there is no cultural problem at the airline, nor any ongoing maintenance or operational issues.  If you are focusing on incidents in the past, be sure to get the relevant specifics on any crash, as well as putting those crashes into proper perspective.

 

TK is definitely a first-world airline, with all of the positive reputation that goes with that.

Neither do I.  I have flown Turkish Air and find it is almost on par with Emirates.  

[Heidi13]

18 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Safety record. 

 

I read an article about a month ago that Turkish Airlines have now attain the highest 7-star rating for safety.

[FlaGirl13]

I chose not to get Air + and take my chances waiting till Dec to book flights for an April BIE cruise. This morning I got an email saying my flight schedule was changed slightly.  To my surprise a PDF was attached with my flight itinerary (but never having seen an original one I have no idea what they changed).   My TA was surprised as well and said Viking told her they were so busy and were trying to keep up with bookings ahead of time.  Glad to have a schedule I’m actually happy with but know it will likely change 3-4 times before April.  Any opinions on Air Canada and SAS?

[Findingmywings]

I thought SAS had declared bankruptcy after their pilot strike, but perhaps they have gotten things sorted out already.

[FlyerTalker]

56 minutes ago, Findingmywings said:

I thought SAS had declared bankruptcy after their pilot strike, but perhaps they have gotten things sorted out already.

 

Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean that the company has either stopped operations or is ceasing to exist as a corporate entity.  But hey, it's a nice scary word to most folks.

[FetaCheese]

Sorry if this question has already been answered before, but cannot find it now.

 

Can anyone, or perhaps FlyerTalker give a response ?

 

On MVJ -- Air: After ticketing, where does 15 digit ticket # appear ?

 

Thanks

[mhb1757]

1 hour ago, FetaCheese said:

Sorry if this question has already been answered before, but cannot find it now.

 

Can anyone, or perhaps FlyerTalker give a response ?

 

On MVJ -- Air: After ticketing, where does 15 digit ticket # appear ?

 

Thanks

Use the airline confirmation/booking code that is on MVJ and go to the airline website to view your reservation and see the ticket number. Just out of curiosity….what do you use the ticket number for?  

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

On MVJ -- Air: After ticketing, where does 15 digit ticket # appear ?

 

Just FYI - the ticket number is 13 digits

 

 

42 minutes ago, mhb1757 said:

Just out of curiosity….what do you use the ticket number for?  

 

Four things come to mind quickly:

 

1) It confirms that you are actually ticketed, as opposed to just having an unticketed reservation.

2) It can be used as a direct link for airline personnel to find your booking.

3) It is "universal", as opposed to six character locators that may be specific to particular airlines and.or reservation systems.

4) Some airlines require the actual ticket number for some activities on their website.

 

I have been saved a few times in irregular operations because I had the actual ticket number -- usually because of a code share where the systems used differing locators.

 

 

[FetaCheese]

17 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Just FYI - the ticket number is 13 digits

 

 

 

Four things come to mind quickly:

 

1) It confirms that you are actually ticketed, as opposed to just having an unticketed reservation.

2) It can be used as a direct link for airline personnel to find your booking.

3) It is "universal", as opposed to six character locators that may be specific to particular airlines and.or reservation systems.

4) Some airlines require the actual ticket number for some activities on their website.

 

I have been saved a few times in irregular operations because I had the actual ticket number -- usually because of a code share where the systems used differing locators.

 

 

Thanks for correction and for sharing all your knowledge and experience.