Viking "Custom Air"-what would you do?

[imisseurope]

Hi,

Need some advice from seasoned river cruisers. I have put down a deposit, purchased travel insurance (from AAA) and paid Viking's "Custom Air" fee. The fee guarantees you will have the flights you want before you make the final payment as long as you have made the deposit and submitted your PIF's (which I have). We are well within the 330 days that air schedules are released. Our departure date is July 18, 2012.

They have secured the outbound flight we requested, but the return is still not confirmed on the flight we requested. They are holding a connecting flight Paris to Los Angeles, but we had requested a non-stop. The Viking Custom Air department, says they probably will not get the non-stop flight released to them until after the 1st of the year. Why they could get the outbound non-stop, but not the return is apparently a mystery. Anyhow, my dilemma is that my final payment due date is coming up on Dec. 16 and they want me to 'have faith' that I will get the flight I really wanted for my return sometime after the 1st of the year. If I don't get it, my option would be to take what they have booked me on, or cancel the air portion (but then I would be on my own and prices of the airfare have gone up and my preferred flights may not be available by then and I would have to purchase my transfers). Big price difference. We started all this at the beginning of Sept.

I think I should be given the courtesy of extending my final payment date until I get the flights I requested. Most other cruise lines only require final payment 90 days in advance anyway, so it doesn't sound like it should be a big deal. I just don't want to pay in full for something based on faith.

What would you do?

[floatinrocks]

Unfortunately River Cruise companies want payment in full well ahead of sailing. We are booked on Viking June 2012 and had to pay in full in August. We have no idea what our air schedule will be. If you can "pressure" them into waiting for final payment, all the more power to you. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.

[franski]

Actually, not all companies ask for full-payment up front - although some will give you a better deal if you do. I haven't travelled with Viking - so can't speak to their practices - but asking for final payment 7 months out when it isn't a really good sale seems a bit extreme.

 

Not sure who you are flying with - but can you find your own non-stop flight with that air line on-line? If so, note the flight number and then ask Viking to book that one for you. My guess is that Viking is holding out for the reduced seat prices - although they will (most likely) not pass those savings on to you.

 

Not sure how much they are charging you for air - but do you know if you can get it cheaper on your own - even if you have to purchase transfers??

 

That is one benefit with travelling Uniworld or Scenic --> transfers are included even if you book your own air. Still can't believe that the others don't include this.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Let us know how this turns out.

 

Fran

[Turtles06]

Hi,

Need some advice from seasoned river cruisers. I have put down a deposit, purchased travel insurance (from AAA) and paid Viking's "Custom Air" fee. The fee guarantees you will have the flights you want before you make the final payment as long as you have made the deposit and submitted your PIF's (which I have).

 

Respectfully, I think it's possible that you may have misunderstood what the fee you pay Viking for Custom Air gets you. Back in 2010, when we booked a trip to China with Viking for this year (2011), I explored Custom Air with them as I wanted to understand all our options. It was my understanding from what they explained to me that by paying the fee for Custom Air I would be able to work with a human being at Viking to TRY to get the flights I wanted, not that those flights would be guaranteed. If you don't pay the Custom Air fee and you book your air through Viking, a computer will spit out your flights and you may wind up with several connections, very inconvenient flight times, etc.

 

Custom Air gets you a human who will work with you the best he or she can to get what you what, but I don't think they make a guarantee that they can always get you what you want. (In fact, given that they have contracts from the airlines for low priced seats, I don't even see how they could.) That's how it was explained to me in 2010.

 

I hope you get the flight you want. And certainly, have a great trip however you have to fly home! At least you have the non-stop on the way out, when you want to arrive as fresh as you can.

 

PS: Viking DOES ask for final payment well in advance. I loved our trip; it was the most extraordinary trip we've ever taken, and Viking did an amazing job. But in terms of the timing of final payment, I do think they could be better.

[suspaul]

We have only booked 2 trips with Viking but I can lend my experience if you're interested.

 

We did Imperial Jewels of China this past May and will leave in less than 2 weeks for the Rhine Getaway, our flights for each trip were booked by Viking Custom air. I went online and found the flights we were interested in, for China it was Houston to San Francisco then on to Beijing, home was Shanghai to San Francisco and home to Houston, on our upcoming trip we fly Houston to Frankfurt then on to Basel, home is Amsterdam to Houston non-stop, I then contacted the Custom Air department and gave them the flight info. Each time we were able to get the flights we requested.

 

We too paid the entire trip cost many, many months away from our trip date and having done several river cruises with different companies this has also been the case. We've only done 2 big cruise line trips from the US, one to Mexico and one to Alaska and while we didn't have to pay the entire amount so far from our said date we also made all travel arrangements on our own so maybe that's the difference with all inclusive river cruises.

 

I hope you resolve this and enjoy your trip with Viking. We feel they did an outstanding job on our China visit and we're looking forward to the upcoming Rhine cruise, which may turn out to be a partial bus tour due to low water levels on the Rhine :confused: However it turns out we're looking forward to the trip.

Susan

[imisseurope]

Franski-I did research the air flights before hand and gave them the exact flight #s that I wanted. The airfare in Sept. that I could get on my own was about $300 per person higher than that of Viking. It is now $600 more per person (and I'm sure will keep climbing). That's why I had initially agreed to do the air with Viking, but paid the custom air fee to get the flights I wanted.

Turtles06-

After I paid the deposit and custom air fee, they sent me documentation which read

Viking Air Plus Program services include:

"Confirmation of flight schedules at time of reservation-no waiting once deposit and PIFs are received"

I took that as meaning I could get the flights I requested. I was wrong?

Still, you are right. It's better than not doing custom air and flying all over the place. I did get my requested flight outbound (the nonstop), but they are telling me Air France will not release the return nonstops to them at this time. Just seems strange. Why one way, but not the other?

Thanks to everyone for your replys. Sounds like I won't be disappointed once I get there. :>

[franski]

So - it seems that Viking hasn't quite lived up to what they said they would do. My guess is that Air France will not release the non-stops because they are going to try to sell them off at full-price, and will only release them when/if they aren't sold out.

 

I still think there is a chance that you could get the flights cheaper on your own - but it is a gamble. And, you then have to do your own transfers.

 

Don't know that there is much you can do at this time - except pay the entire amount (if you agreed upon booking that you would pay this far out...) and trust them.

 

One suggestion is to tell them that you don't want your flights ticketed really early (if you end up being booked with one connection) and keep at Viking to see if they can amend the flight closer to the date. Once you are ticketed, they usually won't do that.

 

Fran

[honumaui]

we booked a last minute cruise with viking a few years ago w/o air...had a great time but chose Avalon over Viking for next year...price was very comparable. Avalon does not play the 2 for one game & requires final pmt 120 days before cruise....we paid an extra dep ( not extra cost) to get their air package.. for less than our TA could...picked our flights at time of booking ...months ago...(for May 2012) and got seat assignments. We were able to get BA flight home direct London to San Diego.

[floatinrocks]

I have herniated discs and was thinking of customizing air so we'd have non stop flights also. However, perhaps a stop and a good walk or two would be better for me. The aisles are getting so narrow it's hard to walk up and down them w/o bumping peoples shoulders or arms. I've been on Lufthansa, Air Canada, Delta, Spirit, but am not familiar with any others. Suggestions?

[Turtles06]

Turtles06-

After I paid the deposit and custom air fee, they sent me documentation which read

Viking Air Plus Program services include:

"Confirmation of flight schedules at time of reservation-no waiting once deposit and PIFs are received"

I took that as meaning I could get the flights I requested. I was wrong?

Still, you are right. It's better than not doing custom air and flying all over the place. I did get my requested flight outbound (the nonstop), but they are telling me Air France will not release the return nonstops to them at this time. Just seems strange. Why one way, but not the other?

Thanks to everyone for your replys. Sounds like I won't be disappointed once I get there. :>

 

Yes, sadly, I think you misread the info from Viking. All it says is that they will confirm your "flight schedule" at a certain time, not that they will or can guarantee your choice of flights.

 

As to why Air France released the outbound nonstop but won't yet release the return? Probably because the airline is trying to make more money... The airlines look at booking data and what they expect to be able to sell to whom, and when. It may be that your outbound flight is not one that gets heavy booking, and so Air France was willing to release the seats to Viking. That might not be the case with the return.

 

When we went to China, we booked our own air using FFM. The first day that we could book (which was 330 days out from our trip), we easily secured business class seats for our outbound, non-stop flight to Beijing. But for the return from Shanghai, even though we had booked 330 days out and the flight was wide open, United would not release biz class seats to us; they put us on a waiting list; the entire year went by and they never released the seats to us. That's because they figured that on that route, they could sell those seats to pax paying with money, not miles. Yes, it made me crazy knowing how early we had booked, and checking the wait list repeatedly, and even having wonderful reservations supervisors at United try to get "inventory control" to release the seats to us. It never happened.

 

You know what? What I remember of the trip is the fantastic time we had with Viking in China, not the plane rides home. (Well, okay, I do remember them, but you know what I mean.;))

[franski]

We travelled KLM/Air France last year - and were quite pleased.

 

Our first choice to Europe is usually Lufthansa - but only KLM and Delta fly non-stop to Amsterdam from Toronto --> and I always pick non-stop if I have a choice.

 

We have travelled British Airways as well - and had no issues with them.

 

Fran

[floatinrocks]

We travelled KLM/Air France last year - and were quite pleased.

 

Our first choice to Europe is usually Lufthansa - but only KLM and Delta fly non-stop to Amsterdam from Toronto --> and I always pick non-stop if I have a choice.

 

We have travelled British Airways as well - and had no issues with them.

 

Fran

Because we're in a border city all cruiselines fly us out of DTW. Thanks for the information though.

[huntersyaya]

We are going on a Viking Danube River cruise next May and I, too, have already paid 100% of the cost. We opted to do our own air and I booked Voyageur Premier class on AirFrance round trip from Atlanta to Paris with additional one ways to Budapest and from Nuremberg. Viking actually would have done this for me but to get Voyageur Premier, it was much higher going through Viking. Economy class was actually cheaper than i could do on my own. Anyhow, I have just rechecked my reservation at Air France. I am on a different flight from Atl to Paris (leaves two hours sooner which is no problem for us) BUT they have not been able to get us back from Nuremberg....There is a 6:30 AM flight and an 11:00 AM flight from Nuremberg to Paris but they have cancelled our 4:30 PM flight from Paris to Atlanta....the other one is at 1:30 PM and I am thinking they think we don't have enough time between our 12:20 arrival and the 1:30 departure. Point being....all airlines are changing schedules constantly and they maybe working on your return right now but don't know which flight they will ultimately have available. I was going to get myself into a "stew" over all this because I LOVED the flights I had selected but my husband said to chill and if we have to stay an extra day in Paris....so be it! Hope it all works out. I would let Viking do the air because I am finding out the hard way that if you do it yourself, you still may not end up with what you want! Bon Voyage!!!!

[franski]

floatinrocks - sorry, not sure what/where DTW is...

 

huntersyaya - I agree with your husband... wait and see. When we went to Amsterdam earlier this year, our return flight changed at least 4 times before we were ticketed. And - it was our TA who discovered that the original flight (that we were on, and was cancelled) was back on just before we left. So - she was able to get us back on that one before we were ticketed - which gave us another part day in Amsterdam.

 

Sometimes it is better to book on your own - and sometimes it is better to have the cruise line do it for you. It often depends on where you are travelling to/from. Nuremberg isn't a major hub - so I guess that it could be a bit of a challenge to get out from there.

 

Fran

[Turtles06]

I LOVED the flights I had selected but my husband said to chill and if we have to stay an extra day in Paris....so be it!

 

Yes, there are certainly worse things that could happen! :)

[floatinrocks]

Sorry, it's Detroit! We once cruised Princess and bought their air. We had to be up and out of our room by 2:30 am to catch a flight from Venice to Amsterdam. We sat in the Venice terminal on the floor for hours until they opened the airline window. We were told we could not get our seats for the next leg until we arrived in Amsterdam. The flight was so overbooked they were offering 600 Euros per person if you would give up your seat. Also, they couldn't tell anyone when they would get on a flight if they gave up their seat. We ended up on the flight, me in 12 and DH in 28, so we begged people to switch with us so we could at least sit together on the 9 hour flight back. I'm sure Viking will do much better for us. :D

[franski]

We flew once with Princess - to Alaska - and actually had better connections than most others on our trip. Guess it is the luck of the draw.

 

I have been on flights where they were offering big bucks to give up your seat - but always needed to get home, so haven't been able to "cash in" on that deal. Last time we were on an overbooked flight was coming back from Amsterdam. We had seats that were given away - but we actually ended up being bumped into the "premium" seats (better than what we booked, but not as good as Business class...). Not much complaining there... :D

 

Fran

[desert gal]

On Viking Odin, Sept 25, 2012, from Nuremburg to Budapest, with three days prior in Prague, two days after in Budapest. Booked own flights on CO/United, using FFM. Question: do we buy Viking transfers from Prague airport to hotel and from Budapest Hotel to airport? Thoughts anyone? Other issue. Have ONE hour in Frankfurt to conncect from CO to Luftansa flight to Prague. Our Frankfurt experience last year was confusing at best. Signage non existant. I'm concerned the hour is cutting it way too short. Anyone had issues making tight connections in Frankfurt?

[desert gal]

We are going on a Viking Danube River cruise next May and I, too, have already paid 100% of the cost. We opted to do our own air and I booked Voyageur Premier class on AirFrance round trip from Atlanta to Paris with additional one ways to Budapest and from Nuremberg. Viking actually would have done this for me but to get Voyageur Premier, it was much higher going through Viking. Economy class was actually cheaper than i could do on my own. Anyhow, I have just rechecked my reservation at Air France. I am on a different flight from Atl to Paris (leaves two hours sooner which is no problem for us) BUT they have not been able to get us back from Nuremberg....There is a 6:30 AM flight and an 11:00 AM flight from Nuremberg to Paris but they have cancelled our 4:30 PM flight from Paris to Atlanta....the other one is at 1:30 PM and I am thinking they think we don't have enough time between our 12:20 arrival and the 1:30 departure. Point being....all airlines are changing schedules constantly and they maybe working on your return right now but don't know which flight they will ultimately have available. I was going to get myself into a "stew" over all this because I LOVED the flights I had selected but my husband said to chill and if we have to stay an extra day in Paris....so be it! Hope it all works out. I would let Viking do the air because I am finding out the hard way that if you do it yourself, you still may not end up with what you want! Bon Voyage!!!!

Any one taken taxis from Prague airport to hotels or Budapest hotel to airport? If so, did you make arrangements prior to your trip? Cost???? Is it worth it or are Viking transfers the best answer? If you have transfers from Viking, do they wait for a bus load of passengers to come off multiple flights before taking clients to their hotels?

Viking booked us into the Corinthia Grand Hotel in Budapest. According to our phone Maps App page, the place is permanently closed! Opps Viking!!

[huntersyaya]

I think your phone app may be incorrect. It looks like the Corinthia is operating and getting wonderful reviews.

[desert gal]

I think your phone app may be incorrect. It looks like the Corinthia is operating and getting wonderful reviews.

Thanks hungersyaya. I checked on line late last night and there was no clue it was closed. You must be correct,,,boo to the Maps App!

[imisseurope]

Hi,

Need some advice from seasoned river cruisers. I have put down a deposit, purchased travel insurance (from AAA) and paid Viking's "Custom Air" fee. The fee guarantees you will have the flights you want before you make the final payment as long as you have made the deposit and submitted your PIF's (which I have). We are well within the 330 days that air schedules are released. Our departure date is July 18, 2012.

They have secured the outbound flight we requested, but the return is still not confirmed on the flight we requested. They are holding a connecting flight Paris to Los Angeles, but we had requested a non-stop. The Viking Custom Air department, says they probably will not get the non-stop flight released to them until after the 1st of the year. Why they could get the outbound non-stop, but not the return is apparently a mystery. Anyhow, my dilemma is that my final payment due date is coming up on Dec. 16 and they want me to 'have faith' that I will get the flight I really wanted for my return sometime after the 1st of the year. If I don't get it, my option would be to take what they have booked me on, or cancel the air portion (but then I would be on my own and prices of the airfare have gone up and my preferred flights may not be available by then and I would have to purchase my transfers). Big price difference. We started all this at the beginning of Sept.

I think I should be given the courtesy of extending my final payment date until I get the flights I requested. Most other cruise lines only require final payment 90 days in advance anyway, so it doesn't sound like it should be a big deal. I just don't want to pay in full for something based on faith.

What would you do?

 

Ok, well, the way I left it with my TA, was that she was going to contact her manager and Viking's management to ask for the extension of final payment to at least 90days prior or until they get the flights I've requested, whichever comes first. Have not heard anything from anyone (crickets :>). I think my TA is on vacation and coming back soon.

Anyhow, with all the bad mojo on these boards about Viking and how they handled the low water level situation, I did some thinking about maybe switching to Tauck (which everyone seems to love). Well, they can't get the air I want either, and they are much higher in price!! The only huge thing is their final payment date is 60 days prior to departure!

That would make me feel so much more secure. Much better than paying so far in advance with Viking (still don't understand why they are the only ones that do that).

Anyway, any comments, thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated. I'll post when I get an answer from my TA.

Thank you!!!

[Viking Cruises]

Ok, well, the way I left it with my TA, was that she was going to contact her manager and Viking's management to ask for the extension of final payment to at least 90days prior or until they get the flights I've requested, whichever comes first. Have not heard anything from anyone (crickets :>). I think my TA is on vacation and coming back soon.

Anyhow, with all the bad mojo on these boards about Viking and how they handled the low water level situation, I did some thinking about maybe switching to Tauck (which everyone seems to love). Well, they can't get the air I want either, and they are much higher in price!! The only huge thing is their final payment date is 60 days prior to departure!

That would make me feel so much more secure. Much better than paying so far in advance with Viking (still don't understand why they are the only ones that do that).

Anyway, any comments, thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated. I'll post when I get an answer from my TA.

Thank you!!!

 

Dear imisseurope,

 

We are sorry to hear that you are contemplating canceling your cruise. We would like to discuss options with your travel agent, so please contact us at Tellus@vikingrivercruises.com with your contact information.

 

Kind regards,

Viking River Cruises

[at_nyc]

Yeah, right!

 

Had Viking treated their past customers with more respect, they wouldn't have had these "bad mojo on these boards about Viking and how they handled the low water level situation" which they're now wanted to "discuss" about, IN PRIVATE!

 

Contrast that, Avalon was frank enough to lay out their compensation on this board! Because they're not ashamed of their offer!!!

 

30% "Viking cruise credit" for a cruise that only delivered less than 50%.

 

Fool me once, shame on me.... welcome to other fools who wish to join me. ;)

[nordski]

Ok, well, the way I left it with my TA, was that she was going to contact her manager and Viking's management to ask for the extension of final payment to at least 90days prior or until they get the flights I've requested, whichever comes first. Have not heard anything from anyone (crickets :>). I think my TA is on vacation and coming back soon.

Anyhow, with all the bad mojo on these boards about Viking and how they handled the low water level situation, I did some thinking about maybe switching to Tauck (which everyone seems to love). Well, they can't get the air I want either, and they are much higher in price!! The only huge thing is their final payment date is 60 days prior to departure!

That would make me feel so much more secure. Much better than paying so far in advance with Viking (still don't understand why they are the only ones that do that).

Anyway, any comments, thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated. I'll post when I get an answer from my TA.

Thank you!!!

Not certain about the offer you are getting, but other river cruise lines, such as Uniworld, also require an early full payment on certain deals that include the cruise and air. This is unlike many ocean cruise lines.

 

Let us know how it works out.