Upgrading flights booked by Viking

[bundtkate]

2 hours ago, GoGAdawgsWin said:

Price for Premium economy of Lufthansa is fluctuating between 280 and 550 a person for the long haul portion

Is your long haul portion operated by United by chance? If that's the case, maybe I have hope, but the combination of Viking not offering fare class upgrades and the fact that I seemingly can't earn miles makes me think it's unlikely for my flight.

[GoGAdawgsWin]

 No it’s not on united.  I don’t have any upgrades showing on the Viking MVJ site either.  

[Steelers0854]

On 2/1/2023 at 5:17 PM, bundtkate said:

I reached out to my TA expressing some concern about that layover time in Chicago on the off chance Viking might take pity, but I don't have high hopes.

 

You are likely out of luck here unfortunately, Chicago’s minimum required connection time for domestic to international is 1 hour, anything 1 hour or longer is considered “legal” and they will not budge.  I’m with you on this being VERY close especially for Chicago but its allowed.

[bundtkate]

2 hours ago, Steelers0854 said:

You are likely out of luck here unfortunately, Chicago’s minimum required connection time for domestic to international is 1 hour, anything 1 hour or longer is considered “legal” and they will not budge.

I was, indeed, SOL but turns out I got lucky. They changed my flights to go through IAD instead and I now have a perfectly acceptable connection time. In exchange, my first flight now leaves at 7:30am and I arrive in Frankfurt at 5:30am only to have a 3 hour layover waiting on my 1 hour flight to Prague so still less than ideal, but hey, at least it's free. It also looks like these flights might be upgradeable. I did have the option to pay Viking an unreasonable amount for business class so maybe once we're ticketed I'll be able to spend points on it instead. Fingers crossed (and Go Steelers!)

[Steelers0854]

23 hours ago, bundtkate said:

I was, indeed, SOL but turns out I got lucky. They changed my flights to go through IAD instead and I now have a perfectly acceptable connection time. In exchange, my first flight now leaves at 7:30am and I arrive in Frankfurt at 5:30am only to have a 3 hour layover waiting on my 1 hour flight to Prague so still less than ideal, but hey, at least it's free. It also looks like these flights might be upgradeable. I did have the option to pay Viking an unreasonable amount for business class so maybe once we're ticketed I'll be able to spend points on it instead. Fingers crossed (and Go Steelers!)

 

Well thats good. It was one of my frustrations booking through the cruise line on our last trip, it seemed like the schedule changed often, even after ticketing.  But then again, i booked our next international trip on my own and at about 95 days out the airline just straight canceled 1 leg of my trip, so i guess there is no safe method these days.

 

Have a great time, we are doing a Christmas lights trip next December on Viking and doing a pre trip stay in Prague, so excited! 

[Cruiz'nBaers]

I have a question regarding Viking air.  We are on the Grand European this summer, we upgraded to economy plus.  My issue is on our flights home from Budapest our first flight home is at 7AM. To my that means leaving the ship at 4AM for our trip home.  To me this is absolutely ridiculous.  We under that getting off of a ship early is normal, but seriously, this early?  The last night of a cruise is special to us, we say goodbye to the ship, friends and crew.  This early leaving the ship time really puts a damper on the end of a very expensive cruise for us.  Is anyone on the ship even awake at that hour?  So far, this leaves me less than impressed with Viking.  Anyone else have this experience?

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

I have a question regarding Viking air.  We are on the Grand European this summer, we upgraded to economy plus.  My issue is on our flights home from Budapest our first flight home is at 7AM. To my that means leaving the ship at 4AM for our trip home.  To me this is absolutely ridiculous.  We under that getting off of a ship early is normal, but seriously, this early?  The last night of a cruise is special to us, we say goodbye to the ship, friends and crew.  This early leaving the ship time really puts a damper on the end of a very expensive cruise for us.  Is anyone on the ship even awake at that hour?  So far, this leaves me less than impressed with Viking.  Anyone else have this experience?

I like to have control over my travel.  I don't book guarantee cabins, and I don't take free air that leaves me at the whim of the cruise line.  I believe that Viking does allow you to pay a small fee and regain control of your flights [within the limits of their group-rate contracts] – I would do this and demand the flights I want.

[CPT Trips]

On 2/11/2023 at 4:56 PM, Steelers0854 said:

 

You are likely out of luck here unfortunately, Chicago’s minimum required connection time for domestic to international is 1 hour, anything 1 hour or longer is considered “legal” and they will not budge.  I’m with you on this being VERY close especially for Chicago but its allowed.

Do you happen to know the “legal” connection for Chicago going international to domestic?

Thanks

[Cruiz'nBaers]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I like to have control over my travel.  I don't book guarantee cabins, and I don't take free air that leaves me at the whim of the cruise line.  I believe that Viking does allow you to pay a small fee and regain control of your flights [within the limits of their group-rate contracts] – I would do this and demand the flights I want.

Thanks, we already paid $1598 total for premium economy. They have us flying United, use a United partner for a couple of the flights.  I looked up flights for our returning day, they are multiple flights that are better.  They want us to pay another $100 per person to upgrade to Viking select air (?) to take control of our flights.  This is in addition to having to pay for our cruise a year in advance.  It’s beginning to feel a lot like a money grab to me.  Not a great feeling to have before our first Viking cruise experience.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Cruiz'nBaers

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

Thanks, we already paid $1598 total for premium economy. They have us flying United, use a United partner for a couple of the flights.  I looked up flights for our returning day, they are multiple flights that are better.  They want us to pay another $100 per person to upgrade to Viking select air (?) to take control of our flights.  This is in addition to having to pay for our cruise a year in advance.  It’s beginning to feel a lot like a money grab to me.  Not a great feeling to have before our first Viking cruise experience.

If I were booked on Viking I would consider that $100 fee a basic cost of Viking air.  Compared to all the sunk costs of this cruise, it's peanuts.  [But then, I won't book with Viking specifically because of that year in advance rule and generally because they don't offer the level of service I want.]

[gnome12]

4 hours ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

I have a question regarding Viking air.  We are on the Grand European this summer, we upgraded to economy plus.  My issue is on our flights home from Budapest our first flight home is at 7AM. To my that means leaving the ship at 4AM for our trip home.  To me this is absolutely ridiculous.  We under that getting off of a ship early is normal, but seriously, this early?  The last night of a cruise is special to us, we say goodbye to the ship, friends and crew.  This early leaving the ship time really puts a damper on the end of a very expensive cruise for us.  Is anyone on the ship even awake at that hour?  So far, this leaves me less than impressed with Viking.  Anyone else have this experience?

The issue is that you can't get home directly from Budapest; that flight is a "domestic" Schengen zone flight to another airport to catch a trans-Atlantic flight. You need to leave early in order to give you enough connection time to go through passport control in the second airport. Lots of people are likely departing at that hour, if they are heading home on disembarkation day.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Thanks for the replies, I guess time will tell if Viking and river cruising is for us.  

[bundtkate]

FYI, you can make quite a few changes on your own on My Viking Journey now which I think might be a new enough thing that it isn't that well-known yet. You can do this without paying for Air Plus. I have not paid for Air Plus at all and I have tons of options on MVJ. Before you pay the $100 or spend the time on the phone, make sure you've set up your MVJ account and check the air section for alternatives. You will have to pay the cost difference, but the same is true if you go with Air Plus so might as well save the $100. So far as I can tell, the only thing Air Plus gets you these days is the option to talk to someone on the phone which is a downgrade according to my millennia brain so I'll never use it.

Edited February 14, 2023 by bundtkate

[bundtkate]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:03 PM, Steelers0854 said:

But then again, i booked our next international trip on my own and at about 95 days out the airline just straight canceled 1 leg of my trip, so i guess there is no safe method these days.

This feels very true to me. We did a Panama Canal ocean cruise with NCL in December. I not only booked our flights but played TA for my best friend and her husband who were joining us and I ended up spending I don't even know how long on the phone dealing with changes before we sailed. Her flight to ORD got swapped to a 30min connection (domestic only), my flight to Orlando changed from a non-stop and moved itself so I'd be arriving at 1am, my flight home from LA got changed to one that left at 7:30am and the ship wasn't even getting to port until 8:30am so that obviously wasn't going to work. And of course I got emails or notifications about exactly zero of these changes despite the airlines having my contact info so that was lovely. Viking's scheduling sucks, but at least I get told about the changes and dealing with unworkable nonsense isn't my problem. I'll take it!

[Steelers0854]

On 2/14/2023 at 1:13 PM, CPT Trips said:

Do you happen to know the “legal” connection for Chicago going international to domestic?

Thanks

 

Looks like: Domestic connection: 30 minutes. Domestic to international: 1 hour. International to domestic: 2 hours

[Knotagain68]

On 2/14/2023 at 3:40 PM, bundtkate said:

FYI, you can make quite a few changes on your own on My Viking Journey now which I think might be a new enough thing that it isn't that well-known yet. You can do this without paying for Air Plus.

I have air plus, but I have been nervous about using MVJ to explore upgrades from premium economy to business class. Is it easy to explore without jeopardizing my current flights? I'd hate to have to start over and lose what I already have. Do you see pricing and available seats on MVJ?

[bundtkate]

43 minutes ago, Knotagain68 said:

Is it easy to explore without jeopardizing my current flights?

That's always a tough question to answer. I think it's pretty easy, but I work in tech for a living and am well aware not everyone shares my comfort with navigating this stuff. Given you have Air Plus already, there actually isn't much reason for you to use MVJ, unless you prefer to avoid phone calls or want to come to the Air Plus agent with options already narrowed down. If you want to take a look, I'd stick to the below steps and use the Air Plus benefits to call and book if you decide you like an upgrade. After all, you've already paid for it and it will allow you to ask some of the questions MVJ can't answer. Here's how to look without risking booking:

1. Sign in.
2. Click "Manage My Air".

3. Click "Upgrade Class" button at the top, then click the "both" option to search for upgrades for both you and your travel companion (this may be different, of course, if you don't have a travel companion or are traveling with more people).
4. Wait forever because the search process is pretty darned slow.
5. Scroll to peruse various options. Don't click the fares themselves and you can't possibly even start booking an upgrade.

6. When you're done, click "previous" at the bottom of the list, then click cancel on the next screen. When prompted, click "Yes, leave" to confirm you'd like to go back to MVJ without making changes to your flight(s).

Keep in mind that your current flight will remain the whole time you're browsing. Viking doesn't make any changes until you book and pay. I've done this many times and my flights are still right there, both on MVJ and in my Lufthansa account. You should see your flight at the top if it has an upgrade available, but don't be alarmed if it's not there either. Upgrades for our flights sold out so I just see a note at the top that no upgrades are available for our current flight.
 

43 minutes ago, Knotagain68 said:

Do you see pricing and available seats on MVJ?

Prices are shown next to each flight in the list. When looking for upgrades you'll see two boxes with prices -- one for premium economy and one for business class. Here's what they look like (assuming screenshots work here on CC):



Unfortunately, none of the upgrades available for DH and I have premium economy available so I see unavailable across the board there, but if you have flights with availability you'll see the price just like for business class in my screenshot. Keep in mind that these costs are per person. Viking mentions this, but I managed to skim over it.

Each flight will have also a "flight details and baggage fees" section below it. You can click that to expand it and see the different segments, layover times, which legs are operated by which airline, and even the plane your flight is planning to take. Seat availability isn't shown so you would need to call Viking Air about that.

If you want to see the seat layout, though, you can Google the airline and plane model to get a seat map that will show the general layout of the seats. For example, "Lufthansa A330-300 seat map" will bring up the layout for a Lufthansa flight on an A330-300. Usually there are multiple possibilities but the site I've been using (comes up at the top of my Google searches) shows which is most common so that's what I look at.

With all of that said, be careful getting too attached to specific seats, even after your flights are booked. Equipment changes are really common, even last minute, so you may end up on something totally different. In general, the airlines will attempt to keep your seats as similar to your olds ones as possible when these changes are made, but there can be some bigger changes. For example, A330s have 2 seat groupings on the outside in economy while 787s have 3 seat groupings. If you had one of those 2 seat groups, one of your party would end up in the middle and you'd have an extra person join you.

This is probably more than you bargained for, but I really enjoy this stuff and trying to make the most of it so I go a bit overboard. 😅 Hopefully it helped and you're able to find an upgrade that works well for you.

Edited February 20, 2023 by bundtkate

[Knotagain68]

41 minutes ago, bundtkate said:

Here's how to look without risking booking:

Thank you so much for all that good information! 

[GoGAdawgsWin]

My ability to upgrade on MVJ went away when they ticketed. I can see it on the airline website and purchase there.  It does not allow me to use points to upgrade because of the fare type Viking purchased.  We’re Lufthansa to Budapest and Delta back.  It does allow me to request complimentary upgrade to Comfort+ on DL.  I am able to bid on Lufthansa upgrades as well.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, bundtkate said:

If you want to see the seat layout, though, you can Google the airline and plane model to get a seat map that will show the general layout of the seats. For example, "Lufthansa A330-300 seat map" will bring up the layout for a Lufthansa flight on an A330-300.

Many airlines have multiple seat layouts on different cohorts of the 'same' aircraft model.  I find it safer to use seatguru, which tries to match exact itineraries (date and flight no.) to the correct seat layout.

[Knotagain68]

18 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Many airlines have multiple seat layouts on different cohorts of the 'same' aircraft model.  I find it safer to use seatguru, which tries to match exact itineraries (date and flight no.) to the correct seat layout.

Just be aware that SeatGuru isn't always right. I traveled last November and for at least 2 of my flights the SeatGuru maps did not match the actual planes. I checked all possible layouts, but none of them included premium economy sections which were added a couple of months before one flight. The other flight was shorter, not a new plane, and not PE, but not accurate. The airlines' maps, when I could see them, were correct. 

[bundtkate]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I find it safer to use seatguru, which tries to match exact itineraries (date and flight no.) to the correct seat layout.

That's actually what I was looking at! I didn't know they did it based on flight number, though. I'll have to take a closer look. Our flights are far enough out we'll probably see an equipment change or even another flight change before we get ticketed, but nice to know that's an option.

[bundtkate]

Was just doing my rounds today and found a gotcha. When you're looking at upgrades on MVJ, definitely make sure you're looking at the flight details before booking. I saw a decent deal on premium economy, but when I opened the details I realized it's because one of the long hauls isn't upgraded.

 

It's common for the domestic segments to not be upgraded, but I thought the long hauls were always the chosen fare class. Apparently, that's not always the case.

[GoGAdawgsWin]

On 2/20/2023 at 9:52 PM, bundtkate said:

Was just doing my rounds today and found a gotcha. When you're looking at upgrades on MVJ, definitely make sure you're looking at the flight details before booking. I saw a decent deal on premium economy, but when I opened the details I realized it's because one of the long hauls isn't upgraded.

 

It's common for the domestic segments to not be upgraded, but I thought the long hauls were always the chosen fare class. Apparently, that's not always the case.

Did you find something better to book?  Our Lufthansa flight was replaced with their “low cost” subsidiary Eurowings.  They moved us to bulkhead.  The premium economy is showing more availability now than the other plane.  The plane is very empty right now so looks like we could “lay flat” in the 4 seat center section. 

[bundtkate]

6 hours ago, GoGAdawgsWin said:

Did you find something better to book?  

Nothing at a price that appeals, but we're currently booked into a fare class that should be upgradeable with points once ticketed so it would need to be a heck of a deal for me to pay cash. Objectively, I think  there have been some decent options that have popped up. I saw premium economy flights yesterday for $1.6k per person and all legs upgraded, which is on the lower end of what I've seen so that's probably an okay deal. There have been times when nearly nothing was available, but options always seem to come back if you wait a few days so if you're not seeing what you want, I'd keep checking. New options should crop up in time.