What is the general consensus these days on having the cruise line book your flights?

[franski]

We look at flights and see what we can get them for.  And then have our TA contact the cruise line.  Often the cruise line has a better price. 

 

We always get options when booking through the cruise line.  And, we usually extend our trip so we look at arriving before/staying after the tour.  Our recent cruise with Scenic include free air. But - they have us a dollar figure to work within.  So, as long as we stayed within that amount, we could come and go on any date - and from any airport.  Trip was Bucharest to Budapest.  We went into Bucharest 3 days early, and flew home from Warsaw Poland a week after the cruise ended.  No issues at all.

 

The biggest challenge was the fact that  2 of our flights were cancelled (we were rebooked on the next available flight....) so we ended up with long layovers in Frankfurt (way over) and Munich (way back...). We discovered this on our own - no notice came from the airline!!

 

We just booked our air for Vietnam/Cambodia through Emerald --> much better price than we could get on our own, and we booked premium economy.  We always get our own insurance... and it covers all part of the trip.

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

We always fly in advance and often stay after the cruise.  Our TA (recently retired) advised that this doesn't work well with most cruise air, so we have always booked our own.  I also like the control of booking on the very day the return flight becomes available, getting non-stop flights, and choosing exactly the seats that I want based on seatguru and prior experience.  And our preferred class is Premium Economy, which cruise lines don't seem to recognize...

[Roz]

@Host Jazzbeau, I'm taking a Tauck cruise next month and spending 3 days pre-cruise in Amsterdam.  Wasn't a problem for their cruise air dept. and was able to book Premium Economy.  

[Coral]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:57 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

We always fly in advance and often stay after the cruise.  Our TA (recently retired) advised that this doesn't work well with most cruise air, so we have always booked our own.  

I actually have never had an issue with this.

[d9704011]

We've done it in the past and had no problem.  For now though, with the air transportation system still a bit unstable, we're doing our own and that's usually my preference at any rate.

[loriva]

Not on a river cruise, but we had our first experience booking air through a cruise line (Regent) on a British Isles cruise in September.  We did it because we had credits with the line from cancelled cruises we had to use up in 2022.  (I also did not see flights for less than the air credit we would have received from the line--but spending the credit was the primary reason.)

 

Our return flight from London was cancelled when our home airport of Orlando was closed due to the passage of Hurricane Ian.  The earliest the cruise line could rebook us was three days later (the airport opened one day later--so, a net of two days later than we could have returned.)  I found earlier flights in an internet search and asked the line to book one of those, but the cruise line told me they could not book anything other than what they offered as they did not have contract seats on the flights I found (both ones where they had never had seats and ones they had already used their allotment.)

 

As a result, we had to spend three nights in London on our own expense--Regent would not cover the cost and the airline would not as the delay was due to weather.  (It is certainly not a hardship to spend time in London, but an unexpected expense as I had failed to realize the credit card we had used to book the trip had dropped travel delay coverage--completely my fault.)

 

I did not like the loss of control over our return.  We had paid the fee for flight deviation to fly to London a couple of days before the departure of the cruise, but we had no flexibility on our return even so.  Going forward, our default will probably be to book our own air--but we'll consider air from a cruise line if the price is significantly lower.  As always, your mileage may vary and it is always an individual call on what works best for each person.

[bebtwice]

We have used the cruise line to book our flights and for the last two cruises booked our own.

 

On our first cruise our first flight was going to arrive at IAD late and we would miss our connection. Even though we booked thru the cruise line, we were able to get new flights thru UA ourselves, so all we did was call the cruise lines contact number to let them know we would be arriving in Munich later than planned. Someone was still there to meet us. We didn't have to worry about finding the hotel in Munich on our own. 

 

For the last two cruises we booked on our own because we wanted to fly Premium Select and we could book cheaper on our own then thru the cruise line. Since we had been to AMS before, we knew where to find the ship and the ship provided us with the dock 2 days before we arrived. On both we were also staying a few days extra after the cruise, so we didn't have to pay for the deviation fee.

 

Even when the flights were booked thru the cruise lines we had no problem changing the seats we were assigned as soon as the cruise line told us what the flights were. Guess it all depends on what cruise line you are working with. It might be something to ask about before booking your cruise as to what control you have over your seats.

 

Regardless of how your flights are booked, you need to be proactive and check your flights regularly so you catch any  problems. Our recent flight from Athens to JFK had 4 aircraft changes, including one from the time we did OLCI  24 hours ahead to the time we got to the airport. We ended with a downgrade in fare so will now be waiting for the airline to reimburse us the fare difference.

[TriMomma]

I am such a control freak that it is hard for me to give up the flight portion.... I also like to upgrade wherever possible.   Am booking for the Danube next year and the flight option expires tomorrow so this is a timely decision for me.   Am probably going to decline the flight and roll the dice.   Their prices are extremely good, but I really love the flexibility to plan my own adventure!

[Haqdeluxe]

59 minutes ago, TriMomma said:

I am such a control freak that it is hard for me to give up the flight portion.... I also like to upgrade wherever possible.   Am booking for the Danube next year and the flight option expires tomorrow so this is a timely decision for me.   Am probably going to decline the flight and roll the dice.   Their prices are extremely good, but I really love the flexibility to plan my own adventure!

For us and using Viking Air in this example, transfers to and from the airport are included. These transfers also include meeting you in the airport upon arrival and more importantly (YMMV) getting you to your check-in and seeing you do get checked in upon upon departure.

Now you mention the Danube. One end of your cruise is then likely to be Regensburg. This means you will fly either in or out of Munich. That is a hour plus bus ride away. There are trains that run directly from the Munich airport to Regensburg train station... but how much luggage you have will impact how easy that path will be.

Short answer... Don't forget about your transfers that are included with the cruise line's air service.  Cheers 

[taramichel]

I have done many ocean cruises, but am very new to river cruising. Almost always book my own air because I'm one of those who likes to have control. I feel I understand Viking's included/free air process, however I have one question I don't see addressed here.

 

My husband and I have Gold status with United and usually have to work hard (haha...travel more!) to keep that status which is based on a specific points and flights system. Does anyone know if there is any possibility that our Viking flights will accrue United's "points" and "flights" or do we give that up as the cost of "free" air. My gut tells me that the fare class booked by Viking will preclude the flights from counting toward our status.

 

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can share and yes, I know this is a first world problem 🙂 

 

Patti

[Got2Cruise]

18 minutes ago, taramichel said:

I have done many ocean cruises, but am very new to river cruising. Almost always book my own air because I'm one of those who likes to have control. I feel I understand Viking's included/free air process, however I have one question I don't see addressed here.

 

My husband and I have Gold status with United and usually have to work hard (haha...travel more!) to keep that status which is based on a specific points and flights system. Does anyone know if there is any possibility that our Viking flights will accrue United's "points" and "flights" or do we give that up as the cost of "free" air. My gut tells me that the fare class booked by Viking will preclude the flights from counting toward our status.

 

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can share and yes, I know this is a first world problem 🙂 

 

Patti

When you check in, you’ll put in your FF#. But nothing says Viking is going to put you on United. 

[Canal archive]

Phew! So glad we’re this side of the pond we’re European river cruising is concerned yes we do have to ponder if our airline will be in existence by the time our holiday is due but for many cruising routes rail is the way to go.

[sharkster77]

With free air, are you still allowed to pay for Viking Air to pick your own flights?  It was $100 pp I believe when we cruised in 2019.

[Squawkman]

10 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

When you check in, you’ll put in your FF#. But nothing says Viking is going to put you on United. 

We always use Viking air with our United FF#. We get some points when flying United, Lufthansa or SAS.

[bundtkate]

15 hours ago, taramichel said:

Does anyone know if there is any possibility that our Viking flights will accrue United's "points" and "flights" or do we give that up as the cost of "free" air. My gut tells me that the fare class booked by Viking will preclude the flights from counting toward our status.

The short answer here is maybe. Not only do you have to contend with fare class, Viking also seems to book mixed airline itineraries a fair bit. Our current flights are United + Lufthansa to Europe and Delta back so we'll only get United miles going one way, but our flights are a fare class that's eligible for points so I'm hoping to find we both earn points and can use points for an upgrade once our flights are ticketed.

As @sharkster77 noted, you can still pay for Air Plus with the free air promos (we had the option anyway), but you don't need it in order to pick your own flights and I personally wouldn't recommend it unless you prefer to talk to someone on the phone about flights. It allows you to call Viking for help and may open up other options for itineraries (I don't know since we didn't bother with it), but you have a fair bit of flexibility to change flights (with an upcharge for the fare difference) on My Viking Journey even without it. I wrote a little primer on that for someone else here:

It's worth mentioning, too, that Viking sells flights as a package. When booking on MVJ you can't individually pick outbound and inbound flights. Each option includes both and most of mine are still mixed airlines for the most part. YMMV based on departure city, I'm sure, but my experience shows you may have some trouble getting United both ways if that's what you want.

[taramichel]

5 hours ago, bundtkate said:

The short answer here is maybe. Not only do you have to contend with fare class, Viking also seems to book mixed airline itineraries a fair bit. Our current flights are United + Lufthansa to Europe and Delta back so we'll only get United miles going one way, but our flights are a fare class that's eligible for points so I'm hoping to find we both earn points and can use points for an upgrade once our flights are ticketed.

As @sharkster77 noted, you can still pay for Air Plus with the free air promos (we had the option anyway), but you don't need it in order to pick your own flights and I personally wouldn't recommend it unless you prefer to talk to someone on the phone about flights. It allows you to call Viking for help and may open up other options for itineraries (I don't know since we didn't bother with it), but you have a fair bit of flexibility to change flights (with an upcharge for the fare difference) on My Viking Journey even without it. I wrote a little primer on that for someone else here:

It's worth mentioning, too, that Viking sells flights as a package. When booking on MVJ you can't individually pick outbound and inbound flights. Each option includes both and most of mine are still mixed airlines for the most part. YMMV based on departure city, I'm sure, but my experience shows you may have some trouble getting United both ways if that's what you want.

 

ALL great information, MUCH APPRECIATED!