Viking River Cruise to China - air schedules

[bisabella]

We are scheduled for the Viking River Cruise, Imperial Jewels to China, on July 22, 2011. I have booked the trip with air included. We are leaving from the Newark / New York area and I asked for custom air but so far there are no flights which meet our wishes, i.e., direct or night flights. Has anyone had a similar request and gotten it through custom air. If not, what kind of flights are assigned by Viking without the custom option? Are there long layovers? Also, are the international economy flights any more comfortable than domestic flights or are they the same? This is the first Viking trip we are going on - I am so looking forward to the trip, but not the long flight!

[NanciEA]

I was on the phone with Viking Custom Air for 45 minutes yesterday concerning our flights, and we're not going until the fall, so maybe I can help. I assume that you want to fly to Shanghai? There is one direct flight daily from Newark on United/Continental which departs at 11:00am. I would take the direct flight and not necessarily worry about the nighttime issue. Just be warned Viking (well actually the airlines) will charge more for the direct flight. Viking contracts for the cheapest which usually means multiple stops. Viking had us scheduled for 2 stops. When I switched to one stop, I had to pay $113 per person extra. To me it was worth it. If you can afford it, I would suggest economy plus, because you will have slightly more room (5 inches). The long haul flights are usually slightly nicer in that they generally have seat back entertainment units.

[bisabella]

Our Viking tour is from Bejing to Shanghai - therefore we will (hopefully) go directly to Beijing. Did you have to pay the custom charge ($100.00) in addition to the extra fare? What were the flights they offered you? Thanks.

[H2Otstr]

We did not pay for custom air. We are leaving Raleigh at 7:30 am and fly to Chicago. Leave Chicago at 10:30 am and fly to Shanghai. The flights are on UA and I did pay the extra to UA to upgrade to E+.

Coming back we fly from Beijing at 6:30 pm to Dulles and from Dulles to Raleigh.

 

I thought th flights that Viking secured for us were good.

[mommas]

We were assigned air without being asked and we did not like what was scheduled. I had done my homework and knew we could fly non stop LAX to Bejiing and home non stop Shanghia to LAX. I called and requested the flights I wanted, at the time I wanted and the carrier I use. I was told that if the seats were available we would be switched. This was done for us within 48 hours. Our decision to go April 23rd was last minute-ish and I wondered if the flights could be secured... but our wishes were met...no complaints from us regarding Viking Custom air.

[bisabella]

To HTOtstr: What did it cost to upgrade to E+?

[H2Otstr]

To HTOtstr: What did it cost to upgrade to E+?

 

Each leg was a different price but total it was around $600 (for 2 people). When I went to UA website to look at my seats a message popped up asking if I wanted to upgrade, so I jumped on the deal since there are only so many of the E+ seats available.

[whp]

We are scheduled for the Viking River Cruise, Imperial Jewels to China, on July 22, 2011. I have booked the trip with air included. We are leaving from the Newark / New York area and I asked for custom air but so far there are no flights which meet our wishes, i.e., direct or night flights. Has anyone had a similar request and gotten it through custom air. If not, what kind of flights are assigned by Viking without the custom option? Are there long layovers? Also, are the international economy flights any more comfortable than domestic flights or are they the same? This is the first Viking trip we are going on - I am so looking forward to the trip, but not the long flight!

Here is how it works. At the prices advertised by Viking they contract with some airlines for air as early as they can. If you don't do custom air you get whatever is left over at the end which for China can be not that good. Sometimes if you are early they do not yet have a contract with some airlines. We booked air with them to China in November for a May cruise. We asked for United but they did not yet have a United Contract so rather than take a chance we accepted Air Canada which is not that bad. They issue the tickets about one month before your tour and if United became available we could request a switch. They seem to use Air Canada, United and American but could have some others. Keep trying and definitely take the custom air since if you wait you may get flights you are not happy with and then it will cost a lot to change.

[CDNBears]

:confused: We had our travel agent deal with Viking as we had an option of flying from Detroit to Beijing. Originally Viking quoted a palletable flight via Dulles (Washington DC) arriving early in the afternoon but then they changed the flight to via Ohare (Chicago) with a god awful flight arrival of 11:30 pm in Beijing (add baggage claim, customs & 1.5hr travel from airport to hotel). We opted for air cusotmization after doing some searching ourselves and are now flying direct non-stop from Toronto Pearson International arriving the day earlier in the afternoon (3pm) to help us get adjusted to the jet lag and then have the full extra day for ourselves before the touring so that we can see the things that aren't on the itinerary.

 

It worked out well but it took a lot of research on our own to get it. If it weren't for the benefit of the transfers that are offered with booking through Viking, we might have just booked the flights ourselves.

[buckeye82]

My husband and I recently booked our trip to China for June. We opted for custom air and wished to use American Airlines as we had frequent flier miles and hoped to upgrade. I called custom air and was told that I could not use American because we were flying home from Hong Kong and American does not serve Hong Kong. I was not satisfied with this answer and told them I would get back to them. My husband and I began to do the research and found flights that we would be satisfied with if we could not use American. After several calls to custom air discussing possible flights I reached a helpful young man who told me that of course we could take American Airlines and he booked us! Then we worked with the upgrade department which went smoothly and now we are very happy and looking forward to our trip in June! Maybe the squeaky wheel does get the grease!!

[bisabella]

I just used custom air for my 7/22/11 departure and booked an Air Canada flight from Newark to Toronto and Toronto to Beijing, then Shanghai to Toronto and Toronto to Newark. I was hoping to get a direct flight from Newark, or even JFK, but I couldn't. I was also hoping to get a flight that had a 2-4-2 seat configuration, thinking two seats for my husband and me, but the flight I got is a 3-3-3 configuration. The only plus is that armrest to armrest is 18.5 inches instead of 18 inches on most other planes. Has anyone flown Air Canada with this seat configuration? If so, how comfortable (or uncomfortable) was it?

 

I was dealing with Viking for the custom air through my TA and I am not so sure I got the best deal. However, I figured a "bird in the hand..."

[Viking Cruises]

:confused: We had our travel agent deal with Viking as we had an option of flying from Detroit to Beijing. Originally Viking quoted a palletable flight via Dulles (Washington DC) arriving early in the afternoon but then they changed the flight to via Ohare (Chicago) with a god awful flight arrival of 11:30 pm in Beijing (add baggage claim, customs & 1.5hr travel from airport to hotel). We opted for air cusotmization after doing some searching ourselves and are now flying direct non-stop from Toronto Pearson International arriving the day earlier in the afternoon (3pm) to help us get adjusted to the jet lag and then have the full extra day for ourselves before the touring so that we can see the things that aren't on the itinerary.

 

It worked out well but it took a lot of research on our own to get it. If it weren't for the benefit of the transfers that are offered with booking through Viking, we might have just booked the flights ourselves.

 

Dear CDNBears,

 

We are very sorry to hear about your frustration with the planning process of your trip. We know this process can be a bit overwhelming and we want to help make your journey, from start to finish, as enjoyable as possible. Please contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com so we can offer you the support you need so you can start to look forward to your trip with excited anticipation!

 

Sincerely,

 

Viking River Cruises

[mommas]

Thanks for being so responsive Viking--good job.

[CDNBears]

Thank-you Viking for hearing my frustration --- And returning a call to me as well.

[suspaul]

We're going on the Imperial Jewels to China 5.5.2011, we begin in Beijing so will have the extra forced overnight, we booked this trip last September. Our flights were not very good, Houston - Minneapolis - Tokyo - Bejing, arriving at 10:30 pm on 5.4.2011. I called Viking Custom Air about 2 weeks ago after investigating flights myself, asked if these would be available and we were booked. Now we arrive in Beijing around 3:00 pm and they were able to get us Houston - San Francisco - Beijing and returning flights Shanghai - SF - Houston, we did pay the custom air upcharge but it was well worth it. I have to say we're very impressed with Viking and their air department.

 

This will be our first trip with them but yesterday I booked a Rhine river cruise for the Christmas markets this coming December. Again, we did use the custom air, I found flights to our liking and they were able to book without any problem.

[brennag]

We just booked Imperial Jewels May 25th. Flight - assigned by Viking at time of booking - was Cathay Pacific leaving LAX 1:35a, 2 hour layover in Hong Kong to Beijing arriving 12:15p. Shanghai 7p back to Hong Kong then arrives LAX 9:45p

 

I was super pleased with these esp having the late leave out of Shanghai hopefully allowing some time on our own departure day in Shanghai

 

until.....

 

I researched availability of ecomony + on Cathay and learned that they replaced all coach seats with a "hard shell" seat that is a seat that doesn't recline into the space behind your but shifts forward. I'm sure a fantastic idea on paper. Apparently they have gotten so many complaints that they are replacing all economy seats on every airplane.....in 2012.

 

Now, I realize people tend to be more vocal about complaints than happiness but does anyone out there have experience with these seats and/or ask Viking to reconsider the flight arrangement based on a bad seat reputation?

 

(I was told by Viking that I was inelegible for custom air as air was included our special offer for free).

 

Brenna

[ninegrand]

We booked on The May Rhine Getaway cruise, Viking is handling our air, we decided not to get custom air, I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on what to expect, we are going from Amsterdam to Basel, and flying out of Detroit.

[Turtles06]

We booked on The May Rhine Getaway cruise, Viking is handling our air, we decided not to get custom air, I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on what to expect, we are going from Amsterdam to Basel, and flying out of Detroit.

 

Since you've posted this on a thread about Viking China, you might get better info if you post your question as a new thread or ask over in the River and Canal Cruises forum under Special Interest Cruising.

 

We did not use Viking for our air travel to and from China, but what I have gleaned from reading many posts is that if you don't use their custom air, you will have a computer spit out your flights and they may have connections you might have avoided or are otherwise not to your liking. That's re China. No idea about Europe.

[roothy123]

We used custom air, which they did not charge us for, since it will be our 4th cruise with Viking. The flights weren't bad. Of course, we booked in late May and the trip is in early October, so I wasn't expecting fantastic flights. We decided to fly on our own to San Francisco to break up the long flying time, and then use Viking air to go to Shanghai. Originally Viking suggested a flight that connected in Beijing to get to Shanghai. I prefered a non-stop, so they said they could get us on United non-stops both ways for an extra fee. I think Nanci told me about economy plus, and about a week later, I purchased it from UA. UA offers a year's e-plus travel for yourself and a companion for a set price, and the set price was lower than if we had bought each flight individually. I doubt I'll use the e-Plus again during the year, but at least I'll have a little more room to China, which is good.

 

One other thing you could try is flying from another nearby city that has non-stops or better connections, especially if UA or American flies non-stop from that city. Most of the non-stops are from Chicago, SF, LAX, and the Newark Continental one.

 

You may want to check the Viking China thread toward the top of this section, as it has some info on flights that people got last year or this spring.

 

Flying is such a hassle these days.....the choices are fewer, and the planes are more crowded. Ugh!