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Viking Air timing question


Bruin Steve
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Our Viking River cruise is set to start July 15, 2018 with the Prague pre-cruise extension. We booked the air through Viking. Did not do the deviation thing--figured we'd roll the dice with whatever they came up with. We did that last time we went with Viking--to China--and the air arrangements could not have worked out any better (non-stops at good times). But, I don't recall last time when we found out what those flights were.

 

The "My Viking Journey" web page says "Thank you for choosing Viking Air. Your flight details will be available no later than 75 days prior to departure"...We are currently 115 days out...So, theoretically, with that wording, those flight schedules may appear any time in the next 40 days, correct?

 

Question is, for those who have cruised (and flown) with Viking before, WHEN should we likely learn our flight schedule? Are they consistent at waiting until that 75th day prior? Or do they often post it some time earlier...and if so, how early? I'd love to be able to plan those last few days leading up to the trip (not so much as to be willing to pay an additional fee, of course, but interested enough). Would also like to be able to look into seat assignments and such...

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Our upcoming Bucharest--Budapest cruise the flights weren't listed until after I complained at 72 days and then they were released. Fair schedule and I was able to get decent seats. So at 75 days if yours aren't listed I'd call.

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For that same $50 we got our flights 7 months in advance, in time to see that Viking Air was $400/pp more than booking myself. I cancelled Viking Air and secured Premium Plus for the same rate thAt Viking was going to charge for economy.

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My air through Viking--LAX to Prague, Bucharest back to LAX--was $595 per person.

I could book it on Aeroflot with long layovers in Moscow (at inconvenient hours) for only around $1200 pp.

Or, there's a "hacker fare" that kayak came up with that makes two stops in each direction and takes almost 48 hours to get home for just over $1000 per person. For reasonably timed deals, Delta can get us back and forth with just a short stop in Paris (CDG) in each direction for just over $1900 pp. Same with KLM via Amsterdam. British Airways can get us there and back for just over $1300 pp--with two stops each way. So, I am NOT taking a $595 per person credit so I can spend double to triple times that.

 

I don't know which flights Viking will put us on, but I can't imagine it being too convoluted--like the two stops and 48 hour trip time. But there are LOTS of options on major airlines--Delta, KLM, American, BA, Air France, etc. with one stop each way (Alas, there are no nonstops between LAX and Prague or Bucharest and LAX)...so they don't have to get TOO original in routing us. And my understanding on most cruise air is that they make blanket deals with selected airlines--so they are not scouring kayak or CheapOAir or Expedia like most of us would to find the cheapest flights.

 

As to the deviation thing--I've done it before--where I want to fly in on a date other than the date of the cruise or fly out on a date other than disembarkation day. In this case, I'm not that concerned with choosing when we get to Prague--we are there for three nights anyway...and we'll be getting back from Alaska just days before this one will likely fly out. I am sure Viking will get us there on time (They got us to China a day early due to flight schedules and put us up an extra day at our Beijing hotel).

 

For me, I'm just curious, already, as to what the flights will be...

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I had Viking book our air for our cruise in late May, and was happy with what they came up with as far as departure/arrival times, connections, etc. We are adding days before and after our trip, not on the Viking extensions and all that was handled. And they sent me the flight info the same day we booked. Booking through Viking saved us about $800/person compared to the best flights I could find via kayak, expedia, etc.

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does anyone know what time you can board and disembark? never did a Viking River Cruise!

 

I would suppose it all depends on which cruise you are on. For ours (Rhone), boarding is 3pm the first day, but if you get there earlier you can have lunch, leave your bags and go into the city on your own. Our last day we'll already be in port from the night before, so they said we could leave really at any time in the morning.

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does anyone know what time you can board and disembark? never did a Viking River Cruise!

 

The answer would be "That depends." On arrival day people are coming from all over at all times. Generally you can board the ship after the departures have left (around mid day) but getting to your state room is a different matter. That is dependent on a variety of factors. They serve a buffet lunch all afternoon so as people arrive they can have a bite to eat. On some cruises they will announce an unpublished tour to entertain the early arrivals until their stateroom is ready. For example, in Paris they had a shuttle into the city at 10:00 AM. For later arrivals they had a late afternoon tour of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. BTW the best way to overcome jet lag is to not rest on arrival, but walk around and get some fresh air.

 

Departures are a whole different story. If transportation is included, you will be given a departure time the night before at the daily briefing. Some people need to leave in the very early morning hours so a breakfast buffet is available all morning, starting at something like 3:00 AM.

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  • 4 weeks later...
You are braver than I am. For $50 each we chose our flights. That way we could, at least, be scheduled to arrive in Prague in the morning and have the day there.

 

since you paid the $50 for the Air Plus when were you able to schedule your flights?

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Well...we didn't pay to choose our own flights...and just got them assigned--89 days out...

 

Saturday, July 14, 2018

KLM Flight 5809 Operated by DELTA AIR LINES INC

Departs Los Angeles, Ca (LAX) 11:10 AM

Arrives New York (JFK), NY 8:08 PM

Travel Time: 5h 58m

 

KLM Flight 6010 Operated by DELTA AIR LINES INC

Departs New York (JFK), NY 9:36 PM

Arrives Prague, Czech Republic (PRG) Sunday, July 15, 2018 11:55 AM

Travel Time: 8h 19m

 

Saturday, July 28, 2018

KLM Flight 1372

Departs Bucharest, Romania (OTP) 7:00 AM

Arrives Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) 9:00 AM

Travel Time: 3h

 

KLM Flight 603

Departs Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) 12:45 PM

Arrives Los Angeles, Ca (LAX) 2:50 PM

Travel Time: 11h 5m

 

Not terrible...The flight there leaves at 11:10, changes at JFK (one stop from LAX to Prague is about as good as one could hope for)...about an hour and a half to change planes there--same airline/no customs, so we should be okay. We arrive in Prague at 11:55 am, so not bad at all...

 

The flight home has one aspect I don't like--a 7:00 am take-off! We'll be getting up REALLY early...and we have a 3:45 layover in Amsterdam...a little long, but we can deal with it...and we'll be home mid-afternoon local California time...

 

I immediately jumped over to the KLM site and changed our seats (They had us window/middle and we prefer aisle/aisle across from each other). The Delta flights going there are okay since the plane is configured 2/3/2 and they have us in A&B--Window and aisle...

 

I am not sure we could have done that much better paying extra and picking our own seats--maybe a flight home a little later in the day, but we'll be okay with what we got...

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For that same $50 we got our flights 7 months in advance, in time to see that Viking Air was $400/pp more than booking myself. I cancelled Viking Air and secured Premium Plus for the same rate thAt Viking was going to charge for economy.

 

Pay $50 and pick your flights 300 days in advance. I can’t imagine not paying it and just hoping there might still be some good connections left a couple of months away.

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Pay $50 and pick your flights 300 days in advance. I can’t imagine not paying it and just hoping there might still be some good connections left a couple of months away.

 

Agreed!! The 7am flights always go to those who don't pay the $50 because that's all that is left.

 

Do keep in mind, that at the Viking price, you pick your flights from what Viking is offering, not from all available flights. You can fly any itinerary you want, however, but you may have to pay more to get it.

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Agreed!! The 7am flights always go to those who don't pay the $50 because that's all that is left.

 

Actually...searching with Kayak and filtering for only one stop and reasonable layover times, most flights one can find trying to get all the way from Bucharest to LA require an early morning departure...many...like the Lufthansa options...require leaving before 7:00 am. Air France has some later departures, but at a very high price. And, if I am not incorrect, you can5 just get ANY flight by paying $50...if there’s a difference in price, you pay that as well...

 

From the Viking website: “Based on the itinerary, $50 to $150 per guest non refundable fee applies, as well as any additional fees based on the difference between the selected air and the air price paid.”

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Actually...searching with Kayak and filtering for only one stop and reasonable layover times, most flights one can find trying to get all the way from Bucharest to LA require an early morning departure...many...like the Lufthansa options...require leaving before 7:00 am. Air France has some later departures, but at a very high price. And, if I am not incorrect, you can5 just get ANY flight by paying $50...if there’s a difference in price, you pay that as well...

 

From the Viking website: “Based on the itinerary, $50 to $150 per guest non refundable fee applies, as well as any additional fees based on the difference between the selected air and the air price paid.”

 

We have taken 9 Viking trips and have 5 more booked, including the air for two of those booked. We have always picked the exact routes we wanted and booked as close to 300 days in advance as we could, and, while it is possible there might be a small supplemental charge for some routes, we have never had to pay extra for our choices.

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.... And, if I am not incorrect, you can5 just get ANY flight by paying $50...if there’s a difference in price, you pay that as well...

 

From the Viking website: “Based on the itinerary, $50 to $150 per guest non refundable fee applies, as well as any additional fees based on the difference between the selected air and the air price paid.”

 

We paid the $50 each to choose (have input on, anyway) our flights from Houston for our Amsterdam to Basel cruise in July. We also paid to upgrade to Premium Economy (basic economy was "free" when we booked). We were offered flights through Paris on Air France at no additional charge as well as flights through Frankfurt on Lufthansa at $230 pp additional and a third routing through London at $290 pp. We chose to stay with Air France for budgetary reasons.

 

Of course, the Air France strikes :eek: were announced just after our tickets were issued, meaning to change to a different airline would mean $350 pp change fees in addition to the original cost differential. So now we're monitoring the situation closely (so is Viking Air) and hoping not to have our travel plans severely affected at the last minute.

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since you paid the $50 for the Air Plus when were you able to schedule your flights?

 

We were able to schedule our flights about three days after we booked, that being in January for our July trip. One reason we did this is to be able to get a flight that arrives in the morning instead of the afternoon.

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since you paid the $50 for the Air Plus when were you able to schedule your flights?

 

Here is THE rule. If you pay the trivial $50 for Viking Air Plus, you can call Viking Air to get your flights booked up to 300 days before the day the trip ends.

 

FYI -- Viking Air Plus can be a bit more for certain routes, but we've never been charged more than $50 and we have Viking cruises 10 through 14 coming up. First 9 were great. Looking forward to more.

 

You can see our pictures here: http://www.RhodesVacations.com

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