Viking Air Questions

[mhb1757]

So glad things worked out for you.

[Sixtynifty]

After reading this thread I am concerned. I am cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest on August 14, 2015. Booked with Viking Air. Does anyone have any idea the flight plan from St. Louis? Had a terrible experience last year flying into London and return flight to Miami! Any idea the airline they use? I realize St. Louis does not have an international airport so will have to fly to and from another airport. Please help if you know anything!

Thanks,

Stevie

[pacmom]

Dear Sixty, you really need to talk to Viking about your flights ot your TA. They should be able to give you your flight itinerary. Ten years ago St. Louis was an international airport. If it is no longer, then you would probably fly out of Chicago, Atlanta or New York. Just make sure they allow you 2 hours between flights. Good luck. Pat

[Sixtynifty]

Thank you for your reply! I wish St. Louis was an international airport again. I have not called Viking yet because did not know if they will know the flight arrangements for August now.

[Francis M]

After reading this thread I am concerned. I am cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest on August 14, 2015. Booked with Viking Air. Does anyone have any idea the flight plan from St. Louis? Had a terrible experience last year flying into London and return flight to Miami! Any idea the airline they use? I realize St. Louis does not have an international airport so will have to fly to and from another airport. Please help if you know anything!

Thanks,

Stevie

Hi Stevie,

If you just booked the air and cruise with Viking you won't get a confirmation of the flight itinerary until Viking actually processes your tickets. Usually 45-60 days ahead of your cruise based on what I've read here. I have read here on CC that if, at that time, you don't like your flights you can pay the $50pp charge to deal with Viking's Custom Air. You could also pay that surcharge now and pick the flights you want right away. I would recommend that if you go that route you spend some time picking out the flights that you want before you call them.

We all get a little nervous about these things but my reading of the feedback here on CC is that most folks have no trouble at all.

Have a great trip,

Frank

[Sixtynifty]

Thanks for the information. Yes, I did book air through Viking! Last year through to Chicago from St. Louis and had no idea I had to go to a different terminal for flying to Europe. Yes, should have done my homework! I almost missed my plane and had a two hour layover!

Travel is always an adventure! However missing a plane is not good.

Stevie

[Ozjohnno]

Hi Stevie,

If you just booked the air and cruise with Viking you won't get a confirmation of the flight itinerary until Viking actually processes your tickets. Usually 45-60 days ahead of your cruise based on what I've read here. I have read here on CC that if, at that time, you don't like your flights you can pay the $50pp charge to deal with Viking's Custom Air. You could also pay that surcharge now and pick the flights you want right away. I would recommend that if you go that route you spend some time picking out the flights that you want before you call them.

We all get a little nervous about these things but my reading of the feedback here on CC is that most folks have no trouble at all.

Have a great trip,

Frank

 

I am very wary of a company that gives "better" customer service for a fee.

[mhb1757]

Thanks for the information. Yes, I did book air through Viking! Last year through to Chicago from St. Louis and had no idea I had to go to a different terminal for flying to Europe. Yes, should have done my homework! I almost missed my plane and had a two hour layover!

Travel is always an adventure! However missing a plane is not good.

Stevie

 

Stevie

I would suggest that you spend some time looking at flights, connections, arrival and departure times etc and see what looks best to you. If you have an airline preference or a connecting city you prefer or want to avoid then you might want to consider the custom air option.

In my case I wanted to arrive in Basel early in the day, avoid connecting at Heathrow or Frankfort and all on an airline that allowed an upgrade to economy comfort/premium economy at a reasonable price and not have to leave the ship for a return flight at some ungodly early hour. So it was well worth $50 to get all those things. I picked out flights that did all of those things made 1 quick call to a helpful CSA and it was done.

It is just a personal decision whether it is worth the $50/pp fee. We might well have wound up with those same flights without paying the fee or been perfectly happy with the flights they gave us (I think most people are) but I'm not much of a gambler and decided to wimp out and pick what I wanted!

[Sixtynifty]

I certainly don't mind paying the $50 fee. The cruise is already expensive so what is a few more dollars! Do you contact Viking and ask for the custom air option? Should I do it now? The friend I am going with can't decide if she wants to do a pre-cruise or post cruise extension! Can I just talk to them about options? Thank you to everyone who has replied!

Stevie

[JVilleGal]

Do not fly in the day of the cruise.... To much can go wrong and you will spend 2 days of your expensive cruise recovering. If you just accept whatever Viking gives you, you WILL arrive the day of the cruise and Viking is notorious from cutting connections to close and not being very helpful if things go wrong.

 

Pay the $50 and pick your flights ASAP. Have plan A & plan B. Viking does not have contracts with every airline and every flight so if your first choice is not available be prepared with a back up choice. Be very careful of connection times.... In Europe 2 hrs is ideal.

Be aware that when you do custom air and arrive or leave on other than the date of embarkation or debarkation you will lose your "Transfer". In most cases a cab will be affordable or other easy transfer.

[Sixtynifty]

Thank you! I am certainly new at this and have no idea what I am doing! Hopefully my friend will decide what she wants! We hate having jet lag so maybe she will decide on the pre cruise! Of course I want to do pre and post cruise! However my new grandchild is arriving in July and my daughter wants her Mommy not to be gone too long!

Stevie

[JVilleGal]

At the very least you need to fly in one day early or risk something going wrong with your flights and missing the boat...

[TravelinTexasGal]

So glad things worked out for you.

 

Thank you! I can't tell you how stressed and worried I was!

[Francis M]

I certainly don't mind paying the $50 fee. The cruise is already expensive so what is a few more dollars! Do you contact Viking and ask for the custom air option? Should I do it now? The friend I am going with can't decide if she wants to do a pre-cruise or post cruise extension! Can I just talk to them about options? Thank you to everyone who has replied!

Stevie

 

Hi Stevie,

You should decide fairly quickly if you want to do a pre or post cruise. They actually have limited space and do sell out. You can find out by calling Viking and giving them your Booking #. You would also add Custom Air the same way.

 

The only people who will talk to you about flight options are Custom Air. Once you've paid for it, Viking will send you a revised receipt with the Custom Air phone number. I found them very helpful and customer focused. They even warned me off a flight I had chosen because the lay over was less than 2 hours. If you don't feel like researching your own flights, just give Viking Air a list of your requirements. For instance, you might say: 2 seats together; no middle seats; the fewest possible connections.

 

Don't worry about stuff. I think most folks just book the trip like you did and don't have any problems at all.

Frank

[Sixtynifty]

Thank you for the information! I need to tell my friend that the trips may not be there!

[mhb1757]

Just another FYI... If you do Vikings pre and/or post cruise extensions they will still provide transfers to ship etc. if you just have them book your air arriving a day or more early then in addition to the $50 custom air fee you will pay a $100 air deviation fee plus any added flight costs and you lose the transfers to the ship. Although several others have suggested here that you not fly in on day of cruise departure we have never had a problem. I did use the custom air option to insure an early day arrival so we have plenty of leeway should a delay occur but jet lag is not a huge problem for us as a rule and this time our schedule is tight so we opted to fly in day of cruise.