Viking Air, how much is too much?

[PasadenaDave]

1 hour ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

150% of the base fare EXTRA for a bigger seat sure doesn’t seem like a good deal to me. Maybe if I did a careful cost analysis from the airline’s perspective…

I fail to understand this premium economy frenzy. Of course, I’ve never paid $1800 for a cabana on a private island either. 

I note that you are in New Hampshire.  A flight from Logan to a major European airport is doable for most in economy.  A flight from the west coast to Europe or Asia is a different story.

 

Like other things in life. Mileage may vary

[oskidunker]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:46 AM, PasadenaDave said:

I note that you are in New Hampshire.  A flight from Logan to a major European airport is doable for most in economy.  A flight from the west coast to Europe or Asia is a different story.

 

Like other things in life. Mileage may vary

Home is San Fran bay area. Coach not doable anymore at age 75. I go business or I dont go. Miami is ok in coach.Have a 14 hour trip to Australia planned. Used miles and booked business but that uses up all our miles

[JTor]

On 3/27/2024 at 10:15 PM, Peregrina651 said:

I have always taken the stance that each trip is different and each trip calls for a different decision. I have both booked flights thru Viking Air and booked my own, depending on prices and where we are headed. When I do use Viking Air, I pay for "custom air" so that I can have a say in which flights are booked and so that I can have the job done closer to when the airlines opens the travel dates for sale.

 

Since you don't currently have the information you need to make the decision (because it is not available), it will cost you nothing to include Viking Air on your initial booking as it can be removed (and refund if you have already made final payment) once flight information becomes available and you can make an informed decision. You can cancel the air portion anytime up to 70 days prior (??, so ask Viking the exact cut off); funds already paid will be refunded.

 

Sometimes Viking Air is a significant savings and sometimes it isn't, and you don't know until you can compare actual prices.

Hi there I'm taking my first Viking Cruise so forgive me for not understanding.  Normally I book my flights almost a year in advance for best chance of booking on points, best selection, etc.  This Viking Air so far has been super frustrating because despite paying for both Air Plus and a Deviation fee (extra $500 for the 2 of us, so far), we are now 5 months from our cruise and we still don't have flights booked.  I'm almost ready to give up and ask my travel agent to see if the airfare, Air Plus and Deviation fees can all be refunded and I'll just have to take what is left "booking late" by myself.  Is there more I can do to try to make this process work? I have called Viking 6 times now.....

[Cienfuegos]

Viking buys its blocks of air travel in wholesale quantities, and I'm sure it negotiates with the various major providers from different US etc gateways to European and Asian embarkation venues. That said, I doubt that many airlines would be interested in selling deeply discounted business class seats in markets where they can command a premium price on an individual sale.

[Mitina]

43 minutes ago, JTor said:

Is there more I can do to try to make this process work?

Have you called Viking Air Plus and asked for options?  Or better, call after you've researched flights and you have your list of preferred ones. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, JTor said:

Hi there I'm taking my first Viking Cruise so forgive me for not understanding.  Normally I book my flights almost a year in advance for best chance of booking on points, best selection, etc.  This Viking Air so far has been super frustrating because despite paying for both Air Plus and a Deviation fee (extra $500 for the 2 of us, so far), we are now 5 months from our cruise and we still don't have flights booked.  I'm almost ready to give up and ask my travel agent to see if the airfare, Air Plus and Deviation fees can all be refunded and I'll just have to take what is left "booking late" by myself.  Is there more I can do to try to make this process work? I have called Viking 6 times now.....

This has been covered extensively on this forum by @FlyerTalker and others.

Airlines use placeholders for what they “think” their scheduled flights will be. Everything is subject to change. At 5 months out nothing is in stone. I am 100 days out from our next trip and just had an equipment change that altered our seat assignments. We also have had 2 schedule changes. On our last trip back from Europe, Lufthansa stop flying into our destination city on Sundays. This occurred while we were in the middle of a cruise about 10 days out from our return. It required an insane return route to get us home. Instead of a non-stop from Munich we had to go through Frankfurt and make connections in the U.S. This added 9 more hours to our travel.

 

Viking doesn’t actually ticket and lock down your trip until about 100 days out. You and Viking are operating at the mercy of the airlines.

 

 

Edited April 26 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mike07]

1 hour ago, JTor said:

Hi there I'm taking my first Viking Cruise so forgive me for not understanding.  Normally I book my flights almost a year in advance for best chance of booking on points, best selection, etc.  This Viking Air so far has been super frustrating because despite paying for both Air Plus and a Deviation fee (extra $500 for the 2 of us, so far), we are now 5 months from our cruise and we still don't have flights booked.  I'm almost ready to give up and ask my travel agent to see if the airfare, Air Plus and Deviation fees can all be refunded and I'll just have to take what is left "booking late" by myself.  Is there more I can do to try to make this process work? I have called Viking 6 times now.....

 

 

Absent of the Olympics, I wouldn't consider 5 months out to be "booking late" on airfare. I think most carrier schedules go up about 330 days out.

[OneSixtyToOne]

One more point. If you read your invoice, Viking states the air itinerary is selected about 150 days out. They ticket about 100 days out. You have between those two milestones to use MVJ to change your flights, cities, etc. After ticketing you can change things like seat assignments.

As stated in another post, Viking is using contracted seats. These may not correlate to seat availability that you see when searching an airline’s website. They are essentially a different inventory of seats. Even if you pay Air Plus, if you want a different flight, there may be an up change because Viking may be purchasing those seats on the open market.

Edited April 26 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mike07]

2 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

As stated in another post, Viking is using contracted seats. These may not correlate to seat availability that you see when searching an airline’s website. They are essentially a different inventory of seats.

 

 

And they're not necessarily the best possible flights in terms of time and layovers.

 

[JTor]

Thanks to those who responded to me. Yes, I researched my flights and knew exactly what I wanted before my first call; they told me a bunch of options were NOT allowed (eg. no flights via Turkey), so then I made new choices "within those constraints".  We're not asking for business class.  I've now called Air Plus 6 times.  My problem is that the representative from Viking Air who took my money and promised he would take care of my booking within a few days does not appear to have done anything in 1 month and does not return my calls.  Is this unusual? As to "5 months out isn't late".... for us that is very late as we have many work and personal responsibilities and constraints and life will not go well if Viking tells us "100 days out" that we need to leave a different day or fly some unusual itinerary etc.  I am already booking hotels, other flights, visits etc. Also.... I am sorry some of you have problems with airlines changing flights etc, but this has not been my experience - when I book personally on my preferred carriers for long-haul flights, they normally happen as scheduled or very close to as scheduled.  We are not in the US and we are flying from a major hub which may make a difference to that issue.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

If you are flying from Toronto, myself and others have horror stories about that airport and Air Canada. I avoid both.

[Mike07]

12 minutes ago, JTor said:

Thanks to those who responded to me. Yes, I researched my flights and knew exactly what I wanted before my first call; they told me a bunch of options were NOT allowed (eg. no flights via Turkey), so then I made new choices "within those constraints".  We're not asking for business class.  I've now called Air Plus 6 times.  My problem is that the representative from Viking Air who took my money and promised he would take care of my booking within a few days does not appear to have done anything in 1 month and does not return my calls.  Is this unusual? As to "5 months out isn't late".... for us that is very late as we have many work and personal responsibilities and constraints and life will not go well if Viking tells us "100 days out" that we need to leave a different day or fly some unusual itinerary etc.  I am already booking hotels, other flights, visits etc. Also.... I am sorry some of you have problems with airlines changing flights etc, but this has not been my experience - when I book personally on my preferred carriers for long-haul flights, they normally happen as scheduled or very close to as scheduled.  We are not in the US and we are flying from a major hub which may make a difference to that issue.  

 

 

 

Yeah, so to sum hundreds of hours of Fighting on this board.... Viking Air is not for you.

[JTor]

7 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

If you are flying from Toronto, myself and others have horror stories about that airport and Air Canada. I avoid both.

I avoid people whose first instinct is to greet new acquaintances with "horror stories" about their homes.  I hope your life becomes less embittering in future.  I will ask elsewhere for help with my issue, and bear in mind that unlike other boards on CC, the Viking one seems pretty unwelcoming.  I do thank the others who tried to be helpful.  Over and out.

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Viking buys its blocks of air travel in wholesale quantities, and I'm sure it negotiates with the various major providers from different US etc gateways to European and Asian embarkation venues. That said, I doubt that many airlines would be interested in selling deeply discounted business class seats in markets where they can command a premium price on an individual sale.

 

Absolutely correct.  Airlines are flying at over 80% load factors systemwide, with some markets running at almost 100%.

 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, JTor said:

I will ask elsewhere for help with my issue, and bear in mind that unlike other boards on CC, the Viking one seems pretty unwelcoming.  I do thank the others who tried to be helpful.  Over and out.

 

So much for posting some assistance. 

 

 

[Mike07]

4 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

So much for posting some assistance. 

 

 

 

Patient Zero that then led to this bump

 

 

 

[mariners]

JTor, I only have only taken one Viking Ocean cruise, and did not use Viking Air for that cruise.  However, please don't give up on asking for assistance on the Viking board as the majority of posters are very helpful. 

 

I have been reading threads on Viking Air because it is an included "bonus" on some of the cruises we are considering booking.  I've now stopped reading what has been written as, for us, I don't think Viking Air works well.  Similar to you, we book most of our travel well ahead of time.  When using points, we book air as soon as flights open because of the "dynamic pricing", and our desire to follow our own schedule.  We have not used cruise air since COVID, and much has changed for airlines (and cruise lines) since then.

 

FYI, we are booked on AC through Toronto on points for our next Viking Ocean cruise.  On our previous cruise, we were booked on TAP with a code share with AC.  AC is definitely not EVA air, Singapore airlines, etc., but nor did we/do we expect it to be the same.

 

Wishing you a fabulous cruise, and hope that you will post either when you are onboard or once you return home. 

 

 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

3 minutes ago, mariners said:

When using points, we book air as soon as flights open because of the "dynamic pricing", and our desire to follow our own schedule. 

 

You do realize that with dynamic inventory allocation, the old "get the seats when the schedule opens" paradigm is out the window?  In many cases, very little award inventory is released at schedule open - that it is held back for yield management to determine what is likely to be the demand for revenue tickets and what's left over for awards.

 

 

[JTor]

Thank you and thanks to others who tried to be helpful.  I will not give up on Viking cruisers.  I don't need insults or negativity though, and it took me very much by surprise as I've never encountered it before on Cruise Critic (using boards for other lines).  

 

I am going to look into the charge on my CC for the "deviation fees" and probably involve my travel agent at this point but I suspect this may be my last time taking a booking with included air.  Live and learn.

[FlyerTalker]

10 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

Patient Zero that then led to this bump

 

Where the "scam" word has surfaced.

 

I don't think that cold, hard reality would be appreciated.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

1 minute ago, JTor said:

I am going to look into the charge on my CC for the "deviation fees" and probably involve my travel agent at this point

 

Where has your travel agent been through all of this?  What are they doing to earn their commission?  Or do we have more of an "order taker"?

 

And this is not "insults or negativity".  It's cold hard reality.

 

 

[JTor]

Just now, FlyerTalker said:

 

Where has your travel agent been through all of this?  What are they doing to earn their commission?  Or do we have more of an "order taker"?

 

And this is not "insults or negativity".  It's cold hard reality.

 

 

I really don't understand all the replies I'm getting.  I've never cruised with Viking before, never been on this Board before, asked what I thought was a reasonable question with honest intentions.  Several people have made replies that are helpful.  Two or three people keep quoting me and saying weird things I don't understand and being insulting.  I wasn't going to reply at all, but it's hurtful so it's hard to ignore.  Yes, I have a travel agent, she is helping me with the booking but she told me that I need to work directly with Viking since it is their air programme (I could have booked air through TA but this was an included "cruise and air" package).  I'm sure she will assist if something is actually wrong but I don't see this as an issue with her.  I just wanted to understand if the challenges I am experiencing are "normal for Viking" or not.  After all the posts I still don't know that.  As for "cold hard reality", I do not think I live in a candy-coated world and I travel internationally 5-10x per year so neither do I think I am uninformed about the industry.  Everyone has different experiences. Now, I really am not going to reply again and I hope I can figure out how to stop getting emails from CC so that those who wish to slam me can do so without me needing to be present for the slaughter.  To the helpful people here, thank you and have a nice weekend.

[Mike07]

Viking Air is a contentious topic that has been debated ad nauseum in dozens of threads at many different angles. It doesn't work for everybody.