Problems with Hurtigruten Air and SAS

We are booked on two Hurtigruten 2016 sailings and have tried to work with the air team to get us good connections at a competitive price.

While the cruise reps we have dealt with have been satisfactory, the air team made several mistakes with our reservations which we found troubling. Specifically we were booked on flight itineraries that no longer exist and other flights that had inadequate transit times between flights. At no time were we advised by the air team of an updated itinerary for the non-existent flights. For example, our ETA in Copenhagen from Dulles was at 7:15 AM with the onward flight (from a different terminal) scheduled to depart at 8:00 AM.

Trying to get seat assignments on SAS for the transatlantic portions of the itinerary was not possible without paying extra. We feel that $1500 per person qualifies us for more than discount treatment and declined the offer. SAS was the most difficult and uncooperative airline we have dealt with. Their passenger service, upon checking with various flyer blogs, is notorious for its poor service. We had flown with them a few years ago, on the same route, and had been very pleased with their service, so we were disappointed that it seems to have deteriorated.

Unfortunately it seems that, at least for the Nordic routes, Hurtigruten favors SAS over other airlines, and most likely has an agreement with them. As such Hurtigruten air should have been knowledgeable about the charge for seat assignments and should have informed us at the outset.

In sum, our experience made it an easy decision to make our own arrangements. Not only were we able to obtain excellent, alternative connections, but we saved several hundred dollars - even getting upgraded for the trans-Atlantic legs.

We would like to be able to inform management at Hurtigruten about our recent experience with their air team and their usage of SAS because we feel that it could reflect negatively on their company. An email sent to one of the reps is unlikely to reach anyone in management. Welcome suggestions.

Did not book my flights through Hurtigruten. I did my own, and saved significant amount off money as well as taking the flights on days/times I wanted by flying Norwegian Air. They have limited flights from the USA, from only a few airports, but it was inexpensive, good seats, fine service, and on-time. I flew from LAX direct to Oslo, then took the train from Oslo to Bergen, and the reverse on my return. Spent 2 days in Bergen and 3 days in Oslo on each end of my cruise.

It's (almost) always cheaper to book your own flights rather than take Hurtigruten's. We have done this on every Hurtigruten trip we have taken (seven to date) and have usually saved around 40% as well as been able to choose exactly when we want to fly and the route we want to take.

Charging for seat selection on booking is becoming more and more common but the option to select at check-in remains on most airlines.

We have always had good flights with SAS when we have chosen them and I think you will find that Hurtigruten use them because they may well be the only airline to fly to the destinations Hurtigruten use.

We have used SAS in the past, but prefer Icelandair. Convenient departure points from the US and for a little more than SAS charges for economy, we can fly Saga Class. We love spending time in Iceland (no charge for stopovers up to 7 days), arrival times in Bergen are convenient and service is great. SAS isn't the great airline of years past, poorer service and higher costs, IMO.

It's (almost) always cheaper to book your own flights rather than take Hurtigruten's. We have done this on every Hurtigruten trip we have taken (seven to date) and have usually saved around 40% as well as been able to choose exactly when we want to fly and the route we want to take.

 

Charging for seat selection on booking is becoming more and more common but the option to select at check-in remains on most airlines.

 

We have always had good flights with SAS when we have chosen them and I think you will find that Hurtigruten use them because they may well be the only airline to fly to the destinations Hurtigruten use.

For other cruise lines, we have found it more advantageous to use their air programs, especially one-ways when doing trans-Atlantics. But this was our first experience with Hurtigruten and clearly that is not the case with them.

Like you, we saved at least 40% by doing our own air reservations.

We were able to reserve our seat assignments and get upgraded on both United and Norwegian without having to pay extra.

Luckily, as we discovered, SAS is not the only airline serving Hurtigruten destinations such as Oslo or Copenhagen.

We have never found it less expensive to do anything other than book our own flights to any of the seven continents (six actually, we sailed to Antarctica!).

I think, of all of Hurtigruten's destinations/ports of call, SAS may be the airline that will most often offer a flight. Other airlines will, of course, fly to some of them.

The only time we found it advantageous to book through a cruise line is for the back-end of a trans-ocean cruise. The have access to "one-way" pricing airlines don't like to provide.

Several years ago we river cruised with Viking and inquired about US-Europe flight arrangements and costs. Viking wanted to charge $500 each for the exact same flights available directly from the airlines and listed on their websites. On another occasion through ChoiceAir I was surprised they didn't even list all the flight options. Shopping around is important.