Viking Air suggestions needed - any gurus out there?

[farmecologist]

Hi all,

 

We booked a Viking river cruise from Basel to Amsterdam (  July 28 – August 4, 2023 ).  The airfare is 'free'.  We have also paid the deviation fee and currently have three days in Amsterdam at the end of the cruise. 

 

However, after reading around here, we are thinking it might be good to attempt a deviation at the beginning of the cruise as well.

 

Here is our current air itinerary :  

 

- Outbound - July 27 : 

   Rochester, MN (RST)  ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP)    :  1:34 PM  - 2:30PM   (Delta Air)

   Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Paris, France (CDG)      :  4:45 PM - 7:55 AM+1 (Delta Air)

   Paris, France (CDG)  ->Basel, Switzerland (BSL) :  9:35 AM - 10:40 AM  (HOP Air)

- Return - Aug 7th : 

   Amsterdam (AMS)      ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP)    :  3:25 PM - 5:35 PM   (Delta Air)

   Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Rochester, MN (RST)      : 10:55 PM - 11:38 PM  (Delta Air)

 

Now for some questions.

 

I'm a bit concerned about the flight from Paris to Basel.  Will there be enough time to make the connection?  Also, what is 'HOP'?  I also can't select seats for this flight...which is a bit problematic for us.

 

The flights back seem ok, except for the long layover in Minneapolis.   We will have 3 days in Amsterdam after the cruise.

 

I was thinking it might be worth looking into a day or two somewhere before the cruise as well...not necessarily in Basel.  As anyone done this?  How easy is it to get to Basel via train...etc?  Is Viking air willing to work with you on this type of deviation?

 

Another odd thing is that I tried looking at alternatives via Viking air "change flights" and nothing whatsoever shows up.  Is the site supposed to work for this?  If so, any 'tricks' to get alternatives to show up?  Note that we *did* pay the $100 pp deviation fee.  Can I look for flights on the Delta site and then call Viking and have them make the changes?

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by farmecologist

[Gourmet Gal]

Just an observation but you could drive from Minneapolis to Rochester faster than your layover outbound and inbound.

 

Looks like you have 1hr 45 min. at CDG. That’s a little tight but if flights are on time should be fine.  You may be able to look up which terminals are likely to be your flights’ incoming and departing.  Otherwise, be prepared to walk as fast as you can.  
 

As for Basel, it’s a lovely town but there are lots of beautiful places to go in Switzerland by train or car.  Switzerland is very easy to drive - the roads and tunnels are marvels.  We ended a cruise in Basel and drove to Lausanne, stayed a couple nights then on to Interlaken and Lucerne for several more days.  
 

I never sailed on Viking so not sure how their air works.  If they haven’t yet actually purchased and issued the tickets yet I would think you could make changes if they operate as other cruise lines do.  I would also definitely look at all the routing independently to see if there are better flight or routing options with an eye towards that CDG layover.

 

HOP is a regional owned by Air France.  If you are in business class you should be able to select your seats.  It’s a short flight so perhaps it may not matter?
 

 

[paul21]

CDG connection:

Technically it's an allowed timing with a minimum of 1h20m. Practically I wouldn't want less than 2 hours to make a HOP connection as that requires a bus ride as well (2E to 2G). The problem is the next CDG-BSL flight isn't until 5:50 PM. At any rate if you misconnect that early in the day you'll have several options including waiting until 5 (space available) or a 4hr train or car/bus ride. Delta may not be able to print your boarding pass either so you may want to try the Air France app if they can't. 2E to 2G is published as taking 40 minutes, but if you add walking time, deplaning, and any delay at security (you need to do passport control and re-screening) it goes closer to 1hr. 

 

 

I would recommend taking the AMS route over CDG if you can. You can take DL160 and KL1987 for example with a 4 hour layover in AMS. If you are in business you can access the Crown 25 lounge which has showers to kill some time. AMS has no buses so it's a bit more reliable, and their I-D connection time is only 1hr so 20-30 minutes faster than the HOP connection in CDG.

 

 

 

HOP seats:

Take your 6 character PNR from Delta and go to airfrance.us and go to manage my trip. You can pick seats from there for that flight only.

[farmecologist]

4 hours ago, paul21 said:

CDG connection:

Technically it's an allowed timing with a minimum of 1h20m. Practically I wouldn't want less than 2 hours to make a HOP connection as that requires a bus ride as well (2E to 2G). The problem is the next CDG-BSL flight isn't until 5:50 PM. At any rate if you misconnect that early in the day you'll have several options including waiting until 5 (space available) or a 4hr train or car/bus ride. Delta may not be able to print your boarding pass either so you may want to try the Air France app if they can't. 2E to 2G is published as taking 40 minutes, but if you add walking time, deplaning, and any delay at security (you need to do passport control and re-screening) it goes closer to 1hr. 

 

 

I would recommend taking the AMS route over CDG if you can. You can take DL160 and KL1987 for example with a 4 hour layover in AMS. If you are in business you can access the Crown 25 lounge which has showers to kill some time. AMS has no buses so it's a bit more reliable, and their I-D connection time is only 1hr so 20-30 minutes faster than the HOP connection in CDG.

 

 

 

HOP seats:

Take your 6 character PNR from Delta and go to airfrance.us and go to manage my trip. You can pick seats from there for that flight only.

 

@paul21 Great info!  Thanks.  Yep, it is the CDG->BSL connection that worries me a bit..especially with the bus ride.  However, I looked on the Delta site for other dates with the same itinerary and all of them seem to have exactly the same schedule.  So I'm assuming it will be 'ok'. 

 

Thanks for the HOP seat info.  Delta has very little info on what to do...except to "visit HOP to select seats".  Looking into it a bit more, the HOP planes look decent as well ( 2 by 2 seating arrangement, etc...).

 

 

@Gourmet Gal  As for Rochester, we live in Rochester, MN so we wanted to fly out of Rochester ( plus, we live near the airport ).  Flights out of Rochester are usually quite a bit more expensive than Minneapolis, but these flights are 'free', so it will be a treat to fly out of Rochester for once, even with the longish layover in Minneapolis on the way back.  👍

 

 

 

[sharkster77]

We used Viking Air Plus in 2019 (before the world changed, lol).   My suggestion is do your homework and have flights you're OK with to suggest.  We asked for what we wanted and got it.

 

We have used this approach when buying air from land tour companies as well and have always gotten what we wanted.  Example, we always ask for nonstops (easy from Boston) if they are available and have always gotten them (we've been to Europe 3 times and have gotten nonstops for our 4th trip there next month).

 

If flying out of Basel is limiting your choices have you thought of Zurich instead?  It's an easy train ride from Basel.

Edited April 21, 2023 by sharkster77

[farmecologist]

1 hour ago, sharkster77 said:

We used Viking Air Plus in 2019 (before the world changed, lol).   My suggestion is do your homework and have flights you're OK with to suggest.  We asked for what we wanted and got it.

 

We have used this approach when buying air from land tour companies as well and have always gotten what we wanted.  Example, we always ask for nonstops (easy from Boston) if they are available and have always gotten them (we've been to Europe 3 times and have gotten nonstops for our 4th trip there next month).

 

If flying out of Basel is limiting your choices have you thought of Zurich instead?  It's an easy train ride from Basel.

 

@sharkster77 @paul21 @Gourmet Gal

 

Update: Just got off the phone with Viking air and ended up getting "Viking Air Plus" for a small fee.  Their agents are pretty good.  After looking at a LOT of options, we decided to just fly into Basel a couple days early to shake off jet lag, etc... This is our first international travel trip in quite a while, and didn't want to get too crazy with the itinerary.  👍

 

Here is the revised air schedule ( Cruise dates are : Basel to Amsterdam : July 28 – August 4, 2023 ).

 

- Outbound - July 25 : 

   Rochester, MN (RST)  ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP)    :  1:34 PM  - 2:30PM   (Delta Air)

   Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Paris, France (CDG)      :  4:45 PM - 7:55 AM+1 (Delta Air)

   Paris, France (CDG)  ->Basel, Switzerland (BSL) :  9:35 AM - 10:40 AM  (HOP Air)

- Return - Aug 7th : 

   Amsterdam (AMS)      ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP)    :  3:25 PM - 5:35 PM   (Delta Air)

   Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Rochester, MN (RST)      : 10:55 PM - 11:38 PM  (Delta Air)

 

 

So we will get into Basel at 10:40 AM on July 26th.  They told me the ship doesn't' leave Basel until the evening of July 28th, so that gives us quite a bit of time in Basel to explore and shake off jet lag.

 

We left the return flight as-is for now...which give is 3 days post-cruise in Amsterdam from our previous deviation.  Still contemplating extending another day in Amsterdam at the end though...and air plus should allow us to easily do that if we wish. 

 

BTW - this seems like a pretty decent itinerary for free flights.  I looked this itinerary up on the Delta site and it is quite expensive ( to us anyway ).  Viking has contracted rates though, of course.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by farmecologist

[bundtkate]

1 hour ago, farmecologist said:

BTW - this seems like a pretty decent itinerary for free flights.  I looked this itinerary up on the Delta site and it is quite expensive ( to us anyway ). 

We are doing Cities of Light Prague to Paris on July 5 and I just looked at the cost of our flights for funsies. The total cost of flights alone is a whopping $1,000 cheaper than what we paid for the cruise. As you say, I'm sure Viking doesn't pay that cost, but even at 50% off that's a chunk of change.

Did you end up trying to pick seats on your HOP flight online? I'm in a somewhat similar position where Viking booked our domestic flight on United through Lufthansa and I can't see info about it anywhere other than MVJ. According to MVJ we do have seats, but it doesn't show up on my United account, I can't change seats or manage it in any way on Lufthansa, and using the confirmation number from Lufthansa on United's site finds nothing. We're about 75 days out so I'm trying not to stress yet, but I'm wondering at what point I should ask my TA about it ...

[farmecologist]

13 minutes ago, bundtkate said:

We are doing Cities of Light Prague to Paris on July 5 and I just looked at the cost of our flights for funsies. The total cost of flights alone is a whopping $1,000 cheaper than what we paid for the cruise. As you say, I'm sure Viking doesn't pay that cost, but even at 50% off that's a chunk of change.

Did you end up trying to pick seats on your HOP flight online? I'm in a somewhat similar position where Viking booked our domestic flight on United through Lufthansa and I can't see info about it anywhere other than MVJ. According to MVJ we do have seats, but it doesn't show up on my United account, I can't change seats or manage it in any way on Lufthansa, and using the confirmation number from Lufthansa on United's site finds nothing. We're about 75 days out so I'm trying not to stress yet, but I'm wondering at what point I should ask my TA about it ...

 

Yep...same here.  The price of the flights alone is staggering compared to what we paid for the cruise ( we did take the cheap, lower level, rooms on our cruise though ).  👍  That free airfare deal was an exceptionally good deal, and they threw in the 'silver spirits' drink package for free as well.  However, we likely wouldn't have booked it if we didn't get a deal like that.  

 

Yes, I did book the seats on HOP.  Just go to Air France USA ( https://wwws.airfrance.us ) and use your main booking number ( Delta in our case ), it was as simple as that.  Credit goes to @paul21 for that tip! 

 

It has been a while since we have had an international itinerary.  So how will 'customs' and such work with our itinerary?  In other words, on which legs of the journey will we have to go through customs, etc...?  I'll have to do some research on it...but if anyone knows for sure, thanks in advance!

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by farmecologist

[paul21]

On your outbound you will clear immigration (passport control) in terminal 2G, as well as re-clearing security most likely. That means carry on liquids come out etc. Your outbound immigration for the US is handled electronically by the airline but you will need your passport in hand to board in MSP, though some flights use biometrics now.

 

 

Your luggage should be through checked to BSL. If you have something to declare you would do it in BSL, but it is an assertive process. You should be able to just grab your bag and leave if you have nothing to declare, via the Swiss side (BSL has exits to both France and Switzerland with customs officials for each country). 

 

 

On the return you will again clear immigration in AMS, but you can use the eGates for exit only. If you do, make sure your passport gets stamped by the officers nearby, or just go to the manned lines. When you land in MSP you and your bags will be kicked out into the immigration area. First you will do a passport check, then you will claim your bag and exit customs with it. Again customs requires you to declare as no one checks unless random. You will then recheck your bag to RST.

[farmecologist]

28 minutes ago, paul21 said:

On your outbound you will clear immigration (passport control) in terminal 2G, as well as re-clearing security most likely. That means carry on liquids come out etc. Your outbound immigration for the US is handled electronically by the airline but you will need your passport in hand to board in MSP, though some flights use biometrics now.

 

 

Your luggage should be through checked to BSL. If you have something to declare you would do it in BSL, but it is an assertive process. You should be able to just grab your bag and leave if you have nothing to declare, via the Swiss side (BSL has exits to both France and Switzerland with customs officials for each country). 

 

 

On the return you will again clear immigration in AMS, but you can use the eGates for exit only. If you do, make sure your passport gets stamped by the officers nearby, or just go to the manned lines. When you land in MSP you and your bags will be kicked out into the immigration area. First you will do a passport check, then you will claim your bag and exit customs with it. Again customs requires you to declare as no one checks unless random. You will then recheck your bag to RST.

 

Ok...attempting to paraphrase here based on previous responses as well as this one.

 

You are saying that in Paris (CDG), we will take a bus from terminal 2E to 2G, then we will clear immigrations (passport control) and security screening before boarding the flight to BSL.  Then in BSL we clear customs...and won't need to declare anything.  Any checked bags should be checked through to BSL because this is a delta-only flight.  There is a slight worry here about the connection to BSL because of the short layover.

 

On the way back, we clear immigrations in AMS (passport control), and then clear customs in MSP.  We will have to claim and recheck any checked bags for the flight to Rochester.  Not worried at all here as there is a longer layover before we board the flight to Rochester.

 

Is that about correct?  I guess I need to do some more research on it.  For instance, I'm not sure what "eGates for exit only" are at AMS.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by farmecologist

[paul21]

3 hours ago, farmecologist said:

 

Ok...attempting to paraphrase here based on previous responses as well as this one.

 

You are saying that in Paris (CDG), we will take a bus from terminal 2E to 2G, then we will clear immigrations (passport control) and security screening before boarding the flight to BSL.  Then in BSL we clear customs...and won't need to declare anything.  Any checked bags should be checked through to BSL because this is a delta-only flight.  There is a slight worry here about the connection to BSL because of the short layover.

 

On the way back, we clear immigrations in AMS (passport control), and then clear customs in MSP.  We will have to claim and recheck any checked bags for the flight to Rochester.  Not worried at all here as there is a longer layover before we board the flight to Rochester.

 

Is that about correct?  I guess I need to do some more research on it.  For instance, I'm not sure what "eGates for exit only" are at AMS.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 

Here's the full details:

 

RST: Passport check when checking your bag, "DOCS OK" on boarding pass; security screening

MSP: Passport or biometric check when boarding

CDG: security screening, 2E->2G transfer by bus; immigration into the Schengen zone at 2G (see https://easycdg.com/passenger-information/connecting-flight-connections-paris-cdg-airport/transfer-terminal-2e/ to 2G, your terminals may change before your flight)

 

BSL: Bag collection and customs, where you walk through the "green" zone if you have nothing to declare (there is not typically any line or person to talk to unless you need to declare something) or red if you do

 

AMS: Passport check when checking your bag, "DOCS OK", security check, immigration (eGates or at a manned booth)

MSP: Immigration check (you declare customs to this officer), then bag claim, then exit customs (could be inspected but not so likely); now you are basically in a check in area as if you just arrived at the airport; re-check bags to RST, clear security again

 

 

For the eGates at AMS, you can use them on departure only. They are automated turnstiles where you stick your passport in a reader and look into a camera. Since the Schengen still stamps passports, you will need an exit stamp to prove you didn't overstay your visa-free period. The eGate doesn't do any stamping, so if you choose to use them, you will need to ask an officer for an exit stamp. Alternatively you can just go to the manned booths, and since you will not be connecting, I would recommend doing that instead and arriving with enough time for any line there since it's easier. If you are connecting XXX-AMS-MSP then it may be useful.

 

 

For your boarding pass CDG-BSL, the Delta agents may not be able to print that boarding pass for you in RST, and they may or may not in MSP either. You may find you landed in CDG with no boarding pass to BSL, so you can do a few things: 

  1. Go to the transfer desk, service desk, or ask the agent at the arrival gate to print a BP for your flight

  2. Try to check in using the AirFrance app on your phone when you land--more complicated, but with a short connection it's worth a try

  3. Follow the signs to exit into baggage claim, clear immigration and customs (with your rollaboard only), go to the Air France check in desk and get your boarding pass, walk to 2F, take the bus from 2F to 2G, clear security, board; if this is required to happen because you can't get a BP inside of 2E then you will almost certainly miss your connection, but you shouldn't need to do this

 

Hope that helps!

[SM77]

5 hours ago, bundtkate said:

We are doing Cities of Light Prague to Paris on July 5 and I just looked at the cost of our flights for funsies. The total cost of flights alone is a whopping $1,000 cheaper than what we paid for the cruise. As you say, I'm sure Viking doesn't pay that cost, but even at 50% off that's a chunk of change.

Did you end up trying to pick seats on your HOP flight online? I'm in a somewhat similar position where Viking booked our domestic flight on United through Lufthansa and I can't see info about it anywhere other than MVJ. According to MVJ we do have seats, but it doesn't show up on my United account, I can't change seats or manage it in any way on Lufthansa, and using the confirmation number from Lufthansa on United's site finds nothing. We're about 75 days out so I'm trying not to stress yet, but I'm wondering at what point I should ask my TA about it ...

We are leaving next Tuesday for Prague for Cities of Light and will be flying through Brussels.  I wound up calling Brussels Air and booked our seats for a nominal fee.  When I did this three years ago for a United flight that I purchased that included a Lufthansa flight, I was able to select seats but paid at least $50 for each seat -  When the United flight was eventually canceled, I was able to request a refund from Lufthansa.  It seems that the connecting international airline will charge for advance seat selection.  Both the Lufthansa & Brussels Air flights had different confirmation numbers from the United confirmation numbers.  Brussels Air found our reservations by our names and gave us a different confirmation number to use on their website.  Hope this helps

[SM77]

Update: Just got off the phone with Viking air and ended up getting "Viking Air Plus" for a small fee.  Their agents are pretty good.  After looking at a LOT of options, we decided to just fly into Basel a couple days early to shake off jet lag, etc... This is our first international travel trip in quite a while, and didn't want to get too crazy with the itinerary.  👍

 

Farmecologist,

 

Just be aware that since you have deviated and will be coming in sooner(and not doing a pre-extension), transfers are not included to getting to the ship, you will be on your own.  Same for post cruise, if you are deviating and not doing a post-extension through Viking, you will not be able to taking advantage of the transfer to the airport.  

[paul21]

5 hours ago, bundtkate said:

 I'm in a somewhat similar position where Viking booked our domestic flight on United through Lufthansa and I can't see info about it anywhere other than MVJ. According to MVJ we do have seats, but it doesn't show up on my United account, I can't change seats or manage it in any way on Lufthansa, and using the confirmation number from Lufthansa on United's site finds nothing.

 

For this one, the PNR you have for Lufthansa is part of Amadeus which is not what United uses. Sometimes tickets purchased through United use the same PNR for Lufthansa. What you can try is:

 

1. Get your ticket number; this is a 16 digit or so number; you can get this by going to lh.com and entering that PNR you have and then printing details or viewing receipt somehow (don't have a reference right now). If it says reservation not found, combine your first and middle name into the first name box, like John David Smith Jr => First:JohnDavid  Last:SmithJr. Once you have that number, you can call United and provide them that and ask for your PNR (or just to assign seats on the phone). 

 

2. Try going to aircanada.com and looking up your reservation there under My bookings. If it pulls up, you might find the United PNR there. 

[bundtkate]

Thanks so much for the advice, @paul21! Alas, no dice on either front.
 

17 hours ago, paul21 said:

Get your ticket number

 

I've actually been waiting impatiently to get this because I want to try upgrading using points (may or may not be doable) and I can't even attempt until we're ticketed. Lufthansa doesn't make it super obvious, but I'm almost 100% sure we're not. When I attempt to manage my booking online, it won't pull it up and complains that payment for the booking is incomplete. It will show it to me in the app so I know it's there, but again tapping "manage my booking" yields the same error. I had kind of written this off as expected because I'm sure Viking holds off on paying for as long as possible so that they can easily switch us if a better deal crops up, but it's less than 75 days until our flight. I can't find where this was mentioned, but I understood that you can only make flight changes up until 75 days out and assumed that's because they pay for and ticket flights at that time. This, combined with being unable to see my United flight in my United account makes me wonder if maybe I should ask my TA to get in touch with Viking. There's always a fine line between being careful and being that crazy lady worrying about flights more than two months away.

 

17 hours ago, paul21 said:

Try going to aircanada.com and looking up your reservation there under My bookings.

No dice here either. It found nothing with my LH booking #. What I find odd is that our original flights were booked via LH with the domestic flight run by United, same as this one, and that one just showed up in my United account. We got our itinerary swapped around a few times between that first one and the current one, but I'm still not sure why this one is different. I'm not over-bothered because we have seats assigned and I can see the flight on LH so there's clearly some record of it, but I'm sure I'll need to start worrying at some point as I'll have to check in and won't have a way to do it. Hopefully LH gets us ticketed soon and your first suggestion will get things sorted.

[farmecologist]

@bundtkate Interesting.  I guess we lucked out on our flights.  I hope everything ends up working out!

 

@paul21  Thanks for the info in post #11 above.  It looks like we have all the air travel info we need for now.  Now to find hotels!

 

@SM77 Yes, we are aware that transfers are not included.  Not a big deal.  In Basel, you can take the bus for free from the airport to the train station ( provided you have a hotel reservation in town ).  I checked with Viking and they said the ship will almost certainly be docked at the "St Johann" terminal area.  I'll check again closer to the cruise date.  In Amsterdam, it is a super easy train ride from central station to the airport.

 

 

 

[paul21]

4 hours ago, bundtkate said:

I can't even attempt until we're ticketed. Lufthansa doesn't make it super obvious, but I'm almost 100% sure we're not.

Uh oh! I would expect ticketing to happen within 24-48 hours or so, and this is most likely the issue. I would just politely ask for your ticket numbers from the TA or Viking. I don't think they hold off on ticketing for accounting purposes. 

 

I don't know your particular fare rules, or the ones that Viking negotiated, but Lufthansa has text like this on a few I checked:

 

"WHEN RESERVATIONS ARE MADE AT LEAST 14 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED AT LEAST 10 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE."

 

or

 

"TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 3 DAYS AFTER RESERVATIONS ARE MADE OR AT LEAST 50 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE WHICHEVER IS EARLIER."

 

You'll certainly want ticket numbers within 72 hours of departure, else you won't be able to board. 

[dd57]

Viking does hold off on ticketing, sometimes until 60 days in advance.  If you have paid for Air Plus, you can (or better yet your TA can) ask that they be ticketed at any time.  If something were to go sideways, like if the airline drastically changes the schedule, you would be responsible for any cost differences if you have to change your flights.  That is at least one reason Viking holds off.  On some airlines you don't really have a seat until ticketed.

[bundtkate]

21 minutes ago, paul21 said:

I don't know your particular fare rules, or the ones that Viking negotiated

This is kind of the conundrum -- I don't either and it doesn't seem like this info is readily available. I can see the fare class for our Delta flights back home (T), but nothing for Lufthansa. I near always book my own flights so I'm majorly out of my element, but the truly free air was tough to pass up here. Taking a closer look, I am 100% sure we're not ticketed because I found where the ticket number should be and it isn't there. Since @dd57 said they sometimes wait until 60 days before, I think I'll set that as my arbitrary cut-off date for contacting my TA to bother Viking. Thanks to both of you for your insights. I may still be a bit clueless about what Viking and the airlines are up to, but at least I have some idea when it's reasonable to start asking questions.

 

2 hours ago, farmecologist said:

I guess we lucked out on our flights.  I hope everything ends up working out!

It sounds like AirPlus lets you get ticketed early so I guess that's an unsung benefit there. We're honestly pretty happy with our flights either way so hopefully things do sort themselves out. 🤞

[farmecologist]

10 minutes ago, bundtkate said:

 

It sounds like AirPlus lets you get ticketed early so I guess that's an unsung benefit there. We're honestly pretty happy with our flights either way so hopefully things do sort themselves out. 🤞

 

I was ticketed long before I added AirPlus ( which I just added recently ).   

[HSBC]

Viking offers Free air from Amsterdam to Budapest, normally how many days before boarding Viking  would provide any flight information?

Can I add AirPlus at that time if I don't like their flight itinerary?

Do I only pay AirPlus fee if Viking provides the flight itinerary as per my choice (e.g. airline, date and time)? 

Thanks!

[classy_cruiser]

On 4/23/2023 at 3:01 PM, HSBC said:

Viking offers Free air from Amsterdam to Budapest, normally how many days before boarding Viking  would provide any flight information?

Can I add AirPlus at that time if I don't like their flight itinerary?

Do I only pay AirPlus fee if Viking provides the flight itinerary as per my choice (e.g. airline, date and time)? 

Thanks!

I'm wondering this too. How much is the AirPlus fee? Do we have any level of control over the basic free airfare package? For example, will they actually fly you to the closest airport (Lyon) for the cruise embarkation or do you have to trek from a major airport (Paris)? Never sailed on Viking before. 

[farmecologist]

18 hours ago, classy_cruiser said:

I'm wondering this too. How much is the AirPlus fee? Do we have any level of control over the basic free airfare package? For example, will they actually fly you to the closest airport (Lyon) for the cruise embarkation or do you have to trek from a major airport (Paris)? Never sailed on Viking before. 

 

@HSBC @classy_cruiser

 

The AirPlus fee is $100 per person.  This allows you access their live staff, allows you to make as many changes as you want, have complicated itineraries, etc...  However, note that you MAY have to pay more if the changes result in the flights being more than their "contracted rate".   For us though, we just extended the original itinerary a few days before and a few days after the cruise, and didn't have to pay anything extra ( other than the $100 AirPlus fee ). 

 

[classy_cruiser]

Just now, farmecologist said:

 

@HSBC @classy_cruiser

 

The AirPlus fee is $100 per person.  This allows you access their live staff, allows you to make as many changes as you want, have complicated itineraries, etc...  However, note that you MAY have to pay more if the changes result in the flights being more than their "contracted rate".   For us though, we just extended the original itinerary a few days before and a few days after the cruise, and didn't have to pay anything extra ( other than the $100 AirPlus fee ). 

 

Thank you so much. I'm only familiar with the NCL flights where you should thank your lucky stars if you don't end up with 2+ connections and terrible flight times or almost impossible layovers 🙂 

 

It seems like there is some functionality to select flights in the My Viking webpage, are we actually allowed to give any input into the flight itinerary on the basic free flight level? Or is that only reserved for those who pay for the AirPlus? I did answer my own question about the airports I think, the documents in the email reservation seem to confirm we will be flown to Lyon and Marseilles airports. 

 

I guess I'm just wondering if I should expect the same kind of terrible flight itineraries on the basic free airfare as NCL or if they actually do make an effort to limit it to 1 layover with enough time to make the connection, etc. I checked Google Flights and there are a couple of options that would work well. 

[farmecologist]

20 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

Thank you so much. I'm only familiar with the NCL flights where you should thank your lucky stars if you don't end up with 2+ connections and terrible flight times or almost impossible layovers 🙂 

 

It seems like there is some functionality to select flights in the My Viking webpage, are we actually allowed to give any input into the flight itinerary on the basic free flight level? Or is that only reserved for those who pay for the AirPlus? I did answer my own question about the airports I think, the documents in the email reservation seem to confirm we will be flown to Lyon and Marseilles airports. 

 

I guess I'm just wondering if I should expect the same kind of terrible flight itineraries on the basic free airfare as NCL or if they actually do make an effort to limit it to 1 layover with enough time to make the connection, etc. I checked Google Flights and there are a couple of options that would work well. 

 

Haha yep, we flew NCL's BOGO air a while back and yeah...you get what you get.

 

Viking is waaaayyyy better than that.  They are a premium cruise line and it shows.  Our original itinerary was quite good ( see posts above ).  However, we decided to extend pre and post cruise if we could.  I was on the line with the Viking air agent for literally an hour and a half, checking different alternatives.  Originally, I was trying to fly us into Amsterdam, have a few days in Amsterdam pre-cruise, and *then* fly into Basel, Switzerland ( our original itinerary had us going straight to Basel ).  The problem was that the flight times didn't work out nearly as well if we would have done that ( very long layovers, etc... ).  So we just decided to fly into Basel a few days early, and then have a few days in Amsterdam after the cruise.     

 

Long story short, the point is that I was very impressed with Viking air Plus...Extremely good service.

 

Edit : I had the same question about the functionality on the Viking site.  The rep said it was fairly limited...and that is what I found as well.  It was much better talking to someone.  

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by farmecologist