Will Viking join JetBlue vacations program?

[Cienfuegos]

The airline JetBlue has announced an arrangement with several cruise companies that guarantees you will be on your ship if you select JBLU as your air and vacation provider and book your cruise there.  Carnival and Royal Caribbean are the first customers.  You will be on your cruise, or you will be transported to the next stop, or you get 150% back. Lots of conditions, I'm sure, but it seems like a game changer in an era of rampant air schedule changes.

 

JBLU has announced plans to launch service to the United Kingdom, but is otherwise a US and Caribbean / Mexico / Central American player.

[KBs mum]

How does that differ from booking flights via Viking. Not sure how Viking Air works exactly, in the UK flights are included, with the same get there on time or transport to next stop. Missing a day of holiday refunds are pro rata % of holiday cost

[Peregrina651]

9 hours ago, KBs mum said:

How does that differ from booking flights via Viking. Not sure how Viking Air works exactly, in the UK flights are included, with the same get there on time or transport to next stop. Missing a day of holiday refunds are pro rata % of holiday cost

 

Keep in mind that the rules/laws covering these things are country specific. What is standard operating procedure in the UK is not necessarily the same in the US -- and vice versa.

[Peregrina651]

10 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

The airline JetBlue has announced an arrangement with several cruise companies that guarantees you will be on your ship if you select JBLU as your air and vacation provider and book your cruise there.  Carnival and Royal Caribbean are the first customers.  You will be on your cruise, or you will be transported to the next stop, or you get 150% back. Lots of conditions, I'm sure, but it seems like a game changer in an era of rampant air schedule changes.

 

JBLU has announced plans to launch service to the United Kingdom, but is otherwise a US and Caribbean / Mexico / Central American player.

 

If we are trying to guess, I would say probably not. Viking is not looking to be a big player in the Caribbean, Mexico or Central America. We may see a short term uptick of Caribbean sailings to make up for loses in other markets but I don't see it as Viking's long term plan.

[FlyerTalker]

You are looking at the minor point of what B6 (JetBlue) is doing.

 

They are merely getting into the game of selling complete packages of air, cruise and hotel.  Only the cruise part is new.  They are not alone is selling these packages - you can buy vacation packages from DL, AA, UA, AS and more.

 

The "get you there" is a bit of a sales pitch, much like cruiseline "assurances".  The exact words are:

 

"We’ll do whatever we can to get you to your cruise on time". 

 

And when you try to go to the details, you will get a 404 error - not found.

 

Further, they are suggesting that you fly in the day before, add in a hotel, and buy your transfers from B6.  So the amount of "get you there" would be seriously reduced with that extra day in the mix.

 

I would take this with a huge dose of marketing salt.

 

 

 

 

[KBs mum]

6 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Keep in mind that the rules/laws covering these things are country specific. What is standard operating procedure in the UK is not necessarily the same in the US -- and vice versa.

True, I was under the impression that Viking Air provided similar assurances, and so a Jet Blue deal wouldn't add anything

 

[FlyerTalker]

6 hours ago, KBs mum said:

True, I was under the impression that Viking Air provided similar assurances, and so a Jet Blue deal wouldn't add anything

 

I always suggest that folks dig down into the actual terms and conditions of air programs to see what is actually provided.  And, more importantly, what is excluded.

 

You will find that there is a great deal of difference, especially when you contrast the marketing weasel words (do whatever we can) vs the black and white contractual terms of the T&C.

[Cienfuegos]

good thread, thanks for the details reveal