Viking airlines

[Cruisedreamer1]

We are going on a Viking cruise which starts in Budapest. Does anyone know which airlines are used from California? I know we are not given this information until 75 days out and we leave in October.

[sharkster77]

If you pay for Viking Air Plus, you get to choose the flights and airlines.  We are also sailing in October and were able to choose our flights in mid-January.  All we have to do now is periodically check and make sure the airline hasn't changed the departure times.  We chose Swiss Air so we could get a non-stop home from Zurich to Boston.  Viking seems to have agreements with most airlines--you can check the list on the Viking website.

 

Though others have said differently on other threads, we were told by Viking (TA was on the line with us) that we had to use the same airline both coming and going.  Again, others were told different info.

[Moonlion]

We also did Viking Air Plus.  You have to stay within the same airline partners for all flights (for example, United Airlines or Lufthansa or Swiss Airlines which are all part of Star Alliance; American Airlines/British Airways; Delta/Air France, and so on). 

[mskaufman]

We did Air Plus so we could fly American non stop from Philly

[3rdCoastFan]

We also felt that the extra fee for Air Plus was worth it. I had United miles I wanted to use to upgrade our seats so I wanted to be sure that we were on United. Similar to @Moonlion, we had to stick with Star Alliance for the return flight and flew via Lufthansa. 

 

I would look at flights with Google flights and pick the itinerary that works best for you. Then, call Viking Air and have airlines and flight numbers ready. 

 

If you're interested in selecting a specific seat, or even paying for an extra legroom type seat, you will have to pay for Air Plus and request early ticketing. Once you have an eticket, you can log into the airline's website with the record locator and/or eticket number and make selections. 

 

There could be a further possibility of upgrading your seats to another class, such as Premium Economy, Business or maybe even First. That will depend on what airline you get booked on and the fare class of the ticket. The fare classes Viking typically uses are cheap - but the lower the price, the more restrictions there are that come with it. United, for example, allows the option to upgrade any ticket, other than Basic Economy, but the cash or miles needed to do so increase as the ticket price goes down. Other airlines may not permit these kinds of upgrades at all. 

[Moonlion]

In our situation, we did not need early ticketing in order to select seats in basic economy.  We are flying out on Delta and returning on Air France.  However, it's possible that early ticketing is required if requesting an upgrade.  

[bekkio]

We're doing the pre-cruise Prague extension before boarding in Budapest, so it may be different than your options, but we were able to get LAX-AMS-PRG there, and then AMS-LAX back home.

[I like vacation]

I just reviewed the flight information I received yesterday and found one leg without seat asignments.  I went directly to the Delta website which referred me to the Air France website.  At the Air France website the flight from Marseille to CDG shows "seat selection at check-in".  Is Viking going to provide me with seat assignments or are we flying standby on the first leg back to JFK? 

[Moonlion]

4 hours ago, I like vacation said:

I just reviewed the flight information I received yesterday and found one leg without seat asignments.  I went directly to the Delta website which referred me to the Air France website.  At the Air France website the flight from Marseille to CDG shows "seat selection at check-in".  Is Viking going to provide me with seat assignments or are we flying standby on the first leg back to JFK? 

In my experience with European flights, it's almost always been the case that seat assignments are made at check-in for the intra-European legs of the flight (in your case, Marseille to CDG).  I don't know why this is the case but we've always gotten decent seats on these short flights.  

[I like vacation]

1 hour ago, Moonlion said:

In my experience with European flights, it's almost always been the case that seat assignments are made at check-in for the intra-European legs of the flight (in your case, Marseille to CDG).  I don't know why this is the case but we've always gotten decent seats on these short flights.  

I hope you are right.  Not looking forward to any problems at the end of the cruise like sitting in a different row from DW, although that might work out. 😉 Hopefully Viking will straighten this out and get our seat assignments.

[PrettyParrot]

1 hour ago, Moonlion said:

In my experience with European flights, it's almost always been the case that seat assignments are made at check-in for the intra-European legs of the flight (in your case, Marseille to CDG).  I don't know why this is the case but we've always gotten decent seats on these short flights.  

Same here.   And that has been our experience whether on a cruise or just booking on our own for a trip.  As an example, I paid for seats, chose them, and then a month later, they did not show up on my booking.   I re-chose seats, and all was well, until three days before the flight.  The aircraft had changed and we had no seats.   Ugh!!  But... we were able to get good seats at check-in.  Like @Moonlion , everything did work out.  And even if it hadn't, most are short flights, so not a big deal.

[I like vacation]

42 minutes ago, PrettyParrot said:

Same here.   And that has been our experience whether on a cruise or just booking on our own for a trip.  As an example, I paid for seats, chose them, and then a month later, they did not show up on my booking.   I re-chose seats, and all was well, until three days before the flight.  The aircraft had changed and we had no seats.   Ugh!!  But... we were able to get good seats at check-in.  Like @Moonlion , everything did work out.  And even if it hadn't, most are short flights, so not a big deal.

We experienced a change of aircraft at Schipol once and were denied boarding on a KLM flight.  They had to put us up for the night in Amsterdam with dinner and compensate us for the denied boarding under the EU rules.  

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

[PrettyParrot]

28 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

We experienced a change of aircraft at Schipol once and were denied boarding on a KLM flight.  They had to put us up for the night in Amsterdam with dinner and compensate us for the denied boarding under the EU rules.  

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

@I like vacation thank you for sharing the link. This is very good information to know.     Thank goodness my experience was lucky! 

Edited May 4, 2019 by PrettyParrot

[I like vacation]

8 minutes ago, PrettyParrot said:

@I like vacation thank you for sharing the link. This is very good information to know.     Clearly my experience was lucky! 

I am pretty sure that in 2011 we received $800 each as compensation instead of the 600 Euro shown in the link.  That was in addition to the overnight stay with transfers, meals, new flights on a different airline the next day and reimbursement for the cost of car service from Newark Airport to home.  The best part was the care package with socks, t shirt and tooth brush. 😄  

Another lesson learned in this situation is make sure you get your luggage back.  When we returned to Schipol the following morning KLM had misplaced one suitcase.  It finally made it home 4 days later.  Also advise carrying a change of clothing in a carry on for the return flight in case your checked baggage isn't accessible.

Edited May 4, 2019 by I like vacation
add info

[lodimom]

We paid for the Air Plus and Viking booked us on the exact flights we wanted. We flew SFO-FRA on Lufthansa. We went through immigration in FRA and then transferred to another Lufthansa flight to BUD.  We were lucky on both trans-Atlantic flights to get seats in the exit rows in the small upstairs economy section at the back of the big A380. No extra charge and plenty of legroom on the 11 hour flight.