Viking Air Questions

We have booked our first river cruise for December, 2015 and opted to use Viking air since it was substantially cheaper than booking on our own was likely to be. I have always booked our own air and transfers for past cruises. I am a bit curious how they decide what flights to book you on. Fares are substantially cheaper on terrible connections (flights over 20 hours vs. 12 - 14 hours for more direct connections) I have a fear they are going to route me from Chicago to Basel via Istanbul with a 10 hour layover or something. Guess I am just looking for some reassurance from others that have used Viking Air. The web site says they will book you 75 days in advance of the cruise date...does that sound about right? Will they have us fly into Basel or provide the transfer from a larger airport like Zurich or Lucerne?

All info on Viking Air appreciated. Thanks

We did the Viking Grand European in Aug. and used Viking Air. We flew Chicago to Zurich, Zurich to Budapest. Coming home was Amsterdam to Chicago. I don't think there are any direct flights from Chicago to Budapest.

We have done three Viking River Cruises and we have always used their standard air arrangements. Each time the flights and connections were very agreeable to us. Also, as soon as we received the flight information from Viking we went on-line to that airline and chose our seats without any problem at all. Have a great trip!

Recently when we used Viking for air the connection through Frankfurt seemed dangerously short to me so I called and asked for a different flight with a longer layover and they accomodated me with no problem, no charge. I think you have some flexibility if you call them right after you get the itinerary (hopefully that's always true and it wasn't just an anomaly that one time).

We have booked our first river cruise for December, 2015 and opted to use Viking air since it was substantially cheaper than booking on our own was likely to be. I have always booked our own air and transfers for past cruises. I am a bit curious how they decide what flights to book you on. Fares are substantially cheaper on terrible connections (flights over 20 hours vs. 12 - 14 hours for more direct connections) I have a fear they are going to route me from Chicago to Basel via Istanbul with a 10 hour layover or something. Guess I am just looking for some reassurance from others that have used Viking Air. The web site says they will book you 75 days in advance of the cruise date...does that sound about right? Will they have us fly into Basel or provide the transfer from a larger airport like Zurich or Lucerne?

 

All info on Viking Air appreciated. Thanks

We shared your concerns about the quality of the flights and opted to pay the $50pp charge to use Vikings custom air service. Before I called them I had researched my flights thoroughly. I had 2 options and Viking accepted my #1 choice. Once you agree they go ahead and make the booking and provide you with an airline confirmation #. In my case we chose the seats during our conversation. We still saved a considerable amount compared to the list price of the flights I chose.

I think most airlines publish schedules 8/9 months prior to flights so you probably need to wait a bit.

Best of luck in your planning.

Frank

Be sure and continue to verify that the seats you have chosen are assigned to you. Have read more than a couple of reports where seats are changed (on Viking arranged flts) and the traveler does not find out about the change until day of travel.

It would be a good idea to check on those seat assignments every so often but especially on the weeks and days leading up to your flights.

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We are doing the Tulips and Windmills cruise and we just got our flight information. We have non-stop flights from Chicago to Amsterdam on Delta. I went onto Delta's website to check the seats and they were as quoted to us. Hopefully your flights are satisfactory but, if not, you can pay the $50 custom air charge when you get your flights and have them changed.

As OP stated, check your seat assignments often. Ours were changed after we choose the seats we wanted. We did purchase the $50.00pp option and was able to get a non stop from Dallas to Paris. However, AA changed the type of plane flown and reassigned seats. It took several phone calls and purchasing better seats to work everything out. Still saved a lot of money than if we had arranged our own flight.

We leave the end of March on our first river cruise.

As OP stated, check your seat assignments often. Ours were changed after we choose the seats we wanted. We did purchase the $50.00pp option and was able to get a non stop from Dallas to Paris. However, AA changed the type of plane flown and reassigned seats. It took several phone calls and purchasing better seats to work everything out. Still saved a lot of money than if we had arranged our own flight.

We leave the end of March on our first river cruise.

That's a valuable point. No matter how you book your flights, you need to check you seat assignment regularly because airlines do change timing and aircraft frequently.

We did a last minute Viking cruise in June, Budapest to Amsterdam that included air and transfers. We had decent flights on Delta, the trip to Budapest will almost always involve transfers in Europe and they flew us through Amsterdam. After we received our air info I went to the Delta website to choose our seats.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I will relate the short version of a very long story. DW and I took a Viking Christmas Market cruise this past December. It was our first river cruise. The TA suggested we pay the $50 upcharge to have some choice in our flights and seat assignments. I checked the seat assignments monthly and then weekly when we got within 2 months as they kept changing. DW is tall and we were making sure we had an aisle seat for her. We had to drive to the closest Viking designated departure airport which was about 4 hours away. I checked our seat assignments the morning of our departure. Everything was okay. We boarded our flight in Raleigh, NC and had a layover at JFK and than direct to Amsterdam. There was a 4 hour layover at JFK. At JFK is where things started to fall apart with Viking custom air. Our seats on our 8 hour flight were the 2 middle seats in a row of 4 in the center of the plane. Our return flights were even worse. We flew from Basel to Amsterdam to ATL and back to Raleigh so that is 3 legs. Not one seat assignment was honored and again we were cramped up into seats. So, 4 out of 5 legs were seats not chosen by us. Not sure what custom air is for but it sure didn't do anything for us!

The cruise and Viking were great. I will never use Viking air again. We are looking forward to our next river cruise. But, as I said, I will never book flights through Viking.

Sorry to be so negative but that was our experience.

Rothbury it must have been your sorry told on another thread that I remember :(

Thanks for the input. I am feeling better about using Viking Air.

Sorry for your seat issues Rothbury But I suspect that may have been more of an airline issue than a Viking issue. Not sure what airlines you flew but some of them are notorious for completely disregarding seat assignments (think some of the US legacy carriers and Star Alliance lines). My main concerns were a ridiculous number of connections or super long layovers and it sounds like those have not happened often.

If I am understanding you all correctly I could wait until they send me flight info and if I am not happy with their choices I can pay the Custom Air fee and work with them to find something that works better?

Thanks for the input. I am feeling better about using Viking Air.

 

If I am understanding you all correctly I could wait until they send me flight info and if I am not happy with their choices I can pay the Custom Air fee and work with them to find something that works better?

If you wait until they send you flight info then in many cases you have waited too long because the affordable seats on the better flights will have been gone for months. Don't wait and find yourself with just the "left overs" because Viking actually books so late it's the leftover seats they have to work with. The earlier you get involved the better your flights and seats will be.

we used Viking Air, paid the extra $50 , all flights were on Delta and no issues.My daughter flew in from Cleveland and no issues

Thanks for the input. I am feeling better about using Viking Air.

Sorry for your seat issues Rothbury But I suspect that may have been more of an airline issue than a Viking issue. Not sure what airlines you flew but some of them are notorious for completely disregarding seat assignments (think some of the US legacy carriers and Star Alliance lines). My main concerns were a ridiculous number of connections or super long layovers and it sounds like those have not happened often.

 

If I am understanding you all correctly I could wait until they send me flight info and if I am not happy with their choices I can pay the Custom Air fee and work with them to find something that works better?

We booked last Jan. for a late Aug. cruise. We got our flight info in April. At that point, if we did not like the flights, we could choose to use the Custom air with extra fee. I believe we had a week to decide. We liked the flights and when I went to the airline web sites to pick seats, almost all of the seats were still available.

We purchased the custom air add on, and the first flights we were offered were exactly what you feared..a 20 hour flight though Istanbul! The agent was clueless, even when I said we would be arriving in Amsterdam after the ship departed! There are restrictions as to the type of economy seat you are puchasing through Viking. I asked for a supervisor, who called back later with suitable flights for both couples. Hope you have gotten good flight, already!

We just booked our first Viking cruise...enticed by the offer of included air. Fearing the worst, we were thrilled to be booked on nonstop flights from PHL to CDG. We got on the airline website and were able to change our seat assignments without difficulty. Hope you will be equally fortunate.

Thanks for all the input. I did decide to just go ahead and use the custom air option since we really wanted to get to Basel early in the day. I had selected first and second choice flights before I called. They were very nice. We were able to book our first choice flights in both directions. Then I was able to upgrade to economy comfort and select seats on Deltas website. Well worth the $50/pp fee. I felt a little silly booking >200 days out but the Viking air agent said if we wanted to be sure the economy comfort seats were available it was not too early. Now I'll just keep my fingers crossed that Delta doesn't change the schedule too much.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I will relate the short version of a very long story. DW and I took a Viking Christmas Market cruise this past December. It was our first river cruise. The TA suggested we pay the $50 upcharge to have some choice in our flights and seat assignments. I checked the seat assignments monthly and then weekly when we got within 2 months as they kept changing. DW is tall and we were making sure we had an aisle seat for her. We had to drive to the closest Viking designated departure airport which was about 4 hours away. I checked our seat assignments the morning of our departure. Everything was okay. We boarded our flight in Raleigh, NC and had a layover at JFK and than direct to Amsterdam. There was a 4 hour layover at JFK. At JFK is where things started to fall apart with Viking custom air. Our seats on our 8 hour flight were the 2 middle seats in a row of 4 in the center of the plane. Our return flights were even worse. We flew from Basel to Amsterdam to ATL and back to Raleigh so that is 3 legs. Not one seat assignment was honored and again we were cramped up into seats. So, 4 out of 5 legs were seats not chosen by us. Not sure what custom air is for but it sure didn't do anything for us!

 

The cruise and Viking were great. I will never use Viking air again. We are looking forward to our next river cruise. But, as I said, I will never book flights through Viking.

 

Sorry to be so negative but that was our experience.

I'm having the same sort of problem. Booked through Viking Air. Went to Lufthansa's web site and paid for seats and now they are not honoring my selections and they may not be changed even after paying the $200 fee!!

This message is now on our flight page on their site:

"Seat reservations are not allowed on this flight."

I am mad as heck!

Did you pay Lufthansa for the seats or Viking? If Lufthansa then you should be able to get that money back. When do you fly ?

I'm having the same sort of problem. Booked through Viking Air. Went to Lufthansa's web site and paid for seats and now they are not honoring my selections and they may not be changed even after paying the $200 fee!!

 

This message is now on our flight page on their site:

 

"Seat reservations are not allowed on this flight."

 

I am mad as heck!

You need to talk to Lufthansa.

Did you just pay for the advance seat selection service or was there a seat upgrade involved?

If it was an upgrade and you are still in an upgraded seat then there is probably nothing you can do, but if it was just a payment for seat selection then they should be refunding you that cost.

Sorry TravelinTexasGal. Hope you get your $200 back from Lufthansa. We opted to use Delta because we could upgrade to economy comfort for less than Lufthansa was charging to select regular economy seats. Seemed pretty steep to me just to select seats... Especially since they then didn't honor your requests!!

Keep us posted.

I'm having the same sort of problem. Booked through Viking Air. Went to Lufthansa's web site and paid for seats and now they are not honoring my selections and they may not be changed even after paying the $200 fee!!

 

This message is now on our flight page on their site:

 

"Seat reservations are not allowed on this flight."

 

I am mad as heck!

Well, after trying to call Lufthansa's customer service with no luck (lines were busy) we got to the airport and the lady who checked us in for our flight took care of everything. It so happened to be the morning that their budget flight side of their companie plane crashed and they had an overwhelming amount of traffic to their website and call system. Understandable. They were very apologetic and invited us to their club lounge. Very nice. All their employees were very kind. I feel so badly for their loss.