Question for flying with Viking air in five days to Athens.

[angela miller]

Leaving in five days for Viking round-trip Athens with Air l.We  have been excited for this trip on the beautiful Viking Venus. We were on a river Normandy cruise in August and several Viking Cruises in the past…enjoyed!  Multiple flight changes  on his trip , which I understand. But in the last few days have not been able to access my account for this trip. A few days ago I found out through  my designated  airlines that was scheduled and  paid air thru Viking that I needed more documentation for London which is my lay over for the beginning of my trip. I contacted Viking and  they had no idea about it. I will take care of it. This was not the service from Viking air I expected as they are doing air travel. Is this normal when you get air with Viking?

[FlyerTalker]

The simple rule:  the passenger is the one ultimately responsible for knowing, and complying with, the specific entry requirements for any country.  And just because someone else booked your ticket doesn't make them the one responsible for telling you.

 

The current international travel situation is in flux.  Anyone who is expecting everything to be neatly tied up with a pretty bow is being unrealistic at best.  IMO, you have unrealistic expectations for Viking Air.  They, and other cruiselines, do not have the ability to do 24/7 checks of every air booking to compare them with immigration and health requirements.  They can try to provide information as they have it, but ultimately the responsibility is the passenger's.

 

Go back and look at the actual terms and conditions of Viking provided air.  If you can find anyplace where it says that Viking is responsible for providing full information on health requirements, I will be completely surprised.

 

 

[KBs mum]

Best source of info for UK regulations is www.gov.uk which is our government's website. It can be far from clear but the info should be there somewhere. 

The list of test providers on there is not vetted or recommended, it's just a list of firms who have said they do the tests

 

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, angela miller said:

Leaving in five days for Viking round-trip Athens with Air l.We  have been excited for this trip on the beautiful Viking Venus. We were on a river Normandy cruise in August and several Viking Cruises in the past…enjoyed!  Multiple flight changes  on his trip , which I understand. But in the last few days have not been able to access my account for this trip. A few days ago I found out through  my designated  airlines that was scheduled and  paid air thru Viking that I needed more documentation for London which is my lay over for the beginning of my trip. I contacted Viking and  they had no idea about it. I will take care of it. This was not the service from Viking air I expected as they are doing air travel. Is this normal when you get air with Viking?

 

At approximately 1 week before the cruise, we are locked out of MVJ, as the information is sent to the ship.

 

As Flyer Talker noted, the Terms & Conditions clearly state it is the passenger's responsibility to ensure all pre-travel requirements are known and completed. As requirements are changing frequently and vary by country and nationality, I'll suggest it is unreasonable to expect Viking to maintain an updated list of the specific requirements for every nationality, in every country you visit.

 

Personally, I use the Canadian & UK foreign affairs websites for most of my research, but also check the website of the countries I am visiting for any latest changes. I expect the US foreign affairs department provides a similar online service.

[azdrydock]

31 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

Best source of info for UK regulations is www.gov.uk which is our government's website. It can be far from clear but the info should be there somewhere. 

The list of test providers on there is not vetted or recommended, it's just a list of firms who have said they do the tests

 

The  ultimate source of information is your airline. They must be compliant with the national regulations plus airport restrictions and their own policies. They are the ones who will determine if you can board their aircraft. An example is on the early Iceland cruise's Iceland required a QR code for entry and depending on your airline or service counter they wanted to see the QR code plus the E_Mail from the Iceland approving your entry.  The US defined the type of anti gen test for reentry from Mexico. Some, nor all, airlines added it must be from a certified list of labs provided by the Mexican government.

 Call your airline, most have dedicated agents to deal with Covid issues.

[azdrydock]

8 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

At approximately 1 week before the cruise, we are locked out of MVJ, as the information is sent to the ship.

 

As Flyer Talker noted, the Terms & Conditions clearly state it is the passenger's responsibility to ensure all pre-travel requirements are known and completed. As requirements are changing frequently and vary by country and nationality, I'll suggest it is unreasonable to expect Viking to maintain an updated list of the specific requirements for every nationality, in every country you visit.

 

Personally, I use the Canadian & UK foreign affairs websites for most of my research, but also check the website of the countries I am visiting for any latest changes. I expect the US foreign affairs department provides a similar online service.

We also check with the National sites and a few weeks ago and since we were passing through the airport 2 days prior to departure we would get the test there. Checked on the US state department site and found a warning stating that there was a abnormally number of positive tests at the airport resulting in immediate quarantine. Checked at the hotel desk and found out that testing concessions at the airport were privately run and may be getting kickbacks from the quarantine centers. This was specific and is not the norm at airports.

[broker1217]

All good advice above.

Also take a look at this guide from Heathrow for transiting passengers, it might help as well:

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-air-travel-guidance-for-passengers#transiting-through-england

 

 

 

[KBs mum]

55 minutes ago, azdrydock said:

The  ultimate source of information is your airline. They must be compliant with the national regulations plus airport restrictions and their own policies. They are the ones who will determine if you can board their aircraft. An example is on the early Iceland cruise's Iceland required a QR code for entry and depending on your airline or service counter they wanted to see the QR code plus the E_Mail from the Iceland approving your entry.  The US defined the type of anti gen test for reentry from Mexico. Some, nor all, airlines added it must be from a certified list of labs provided by the Mexican government.

 Call your airline, most have dedicated agents to deal with Covid issues.

The airlines are no more reliable than travel agents or cruise lines. They are only interested in avoiding having to fly deported passengers without payment. If you fail covid requirements and have to quarantine somewhere, or onward travel is prevented they don't care. 

Ask them for their advice, but verify with government sites for the country in question 

[PasadenaDave]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

The simple rule:  the passenger is the one ultimately responsible for knowing, and complying with, the specific entry requirements for any country.  And just because someone else booked your ticket doesn't make them the one responsible for telling you.

 

The current international travel situation is in flux.  Anyone who is expecting everything to be neatly tied up with a pretty bow is being unrealistic at best.  IMO, you have unrealistic expectations for Viking Air.  They, and other cruiselines, do not have the ability to do 24/7 checks of every air booking to compare them with immigration and health requirements.  They can try to provide information as they have it, but ultimately the responsibility is the passenger's.

 

Go back and look at the actual terms and conditions of Viking provided air.  If you can find anyplace where it says that Viking is responsible for providing full information on health requirements, I will be completely surprised.

 

 

Flyer Talker,  you are right up there on the list of wonderful experts on this forum.  Thanks for your sage advice to others which I have found of interest and at some point I will benefit from

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Flyer Talker,  you are right up there on the list of wonderful experts on this forum.  Thanks for your sage advice to others which I have found of interest and at some point I will benefit from

 

Thanks much.  I try to be as factual as possible and avoid both the gloom & doom as well as the cheerleading.   And I figure that decades of heavy air travel experience should be shared to help folks deal with the realities of air travel -- and to avoid the numerous misconceptions that are out there.

 

Feel free to ask away with any questions or curious interests.  And remember that there is also a "Cruise Air" forum here at CC.

[PasadenaDave]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Thanks much.  I try to be as factual as possible and avoid both the gloom & doom as well as the cheerleading.   And I figure that decades of heavy air travel experience should be shared to help folks deal with the realities of air travel -- and to avoid the numerous misconceptions that are out there.

 

Feel free to ask away with any questions or curious interests.  And remember that there is also a "Cruise Air" forum here at CC.

I was a very experienced flyer but my 100,000 annual miles stopped 29 years ago.  One time in 1990 in order to make a connecting flight in Boston for London, the two of us whom they held the plane for stood at the door while taxiing, were taken down the exterior stairs, driven across the tarmac to the waiting aircraft, up the stairs, they closed the door as we took our seats and took off.  That is how they valued full fare customers.  I have to add that flights regularly had many open seats in that era.

[angela miller]

Thanks everyone for  great advice! I think we are good to go! 

[Mich3554]

One suggestions…..

 

When you fly back to the US, the US requires you to file a covid declaration form with the airline.  We discovered this flying back from the Maldives in Sept.  Thinking back, I had to also file one with Delta when we came back from Belize too, but Delta provided the form.  Anyway, as I didn’t have the form, Emirates charged us $4 each for one.  
 

This trip, I went online and printed out a couple of the forms to file with the airlines in case the same thing happens again to us.  We paid the $8 (which was another mess as Emirates didn’t like the condition of my $$ bills) but would prefer to avoid this again.