Viking River Cruise with Free Airfare

[HSBC]

Would Viking enter your  Aeroplan number to your Air Canada ticket if booking Viking river cruise with Free airfare?  Would you earn any Aeroplan points?

 

Thanks!

[LHT28]

I have not earned points when booking with other cruise lines  so doubt  Viking would count

 If I upgrade  before the flight with A/C  we get points just on the  upgrade portion of the fare

[Keata]

On NCL I got points from Air Canada.  I would add the number as it would at least provide you whatever status level benefits you may have with them.

 

[Heidi13]

On 1/2/2023 at 1:13 AM, HSBC said:

Would Viking enter your  Aeroplan number to your Air Canada ticket if booking Viking river cruise with Free airfare?  Would you earn any Aeroplan points?

 

Thanks!

 

When you book a cruise with included airfare, go to the Viking website and select "My Viking Journey", which is under "My Trip".

 

In the flights section enter your preferred airline and your Aeroplan number. Whether you receive points depends on the fare class they book. If you have a preference for Air Canada, I'll suggest requesting "Air Plus" at a cost of $50 - 100 pp, as this gives you greater options when they book your flights and on the routing/airline. If you don't pay for air plus, you'll get flights about 75 days prior to departure and have no say in the airline or routing.

 

We alway pay for Air Plus and submit our preferred flights once final payment is made and flights are published. Always got our preferred airline and flights. Note - that is not everyone's experience, as it depends on what contracts they have with the airlines.

[HSBC]

Heidi13,

Thanks for your detailed information.

[Middleager]

The airfare is paid fare, so you'd get points with the airline (Air Canada in this case). 

 

The airline doesn't care who it was booked with, to them it's paid fare. 

So you just provide the aeroplan number, to cruiseline if they take it, or directly to the airline.

 

We've got points when flying on Star Alliance airlines, when booking airfare from cruiseline.

[gnome12]

5 hours ago, Middleager said:

The airfare is paid fare, so you'd get points with the airline (Air Canada in this case). 

 

The airline doesn't care who it was booked with, to them it's paid fare. 

So you just provide the aeroplan number, to cruiseline if they take it, or directly to the airline.

 

We've got points when flying on Star Alliance airlines, when booking airfare from cruiseline.

It has nothing to do with cruising, but on my last trip to Europe, on an Air Canada ticket, I flew Air Canada outbound and Lufthansa return. I was sure that I had the same fare class, but I got points only for the Air Canada flight; I discovered that the Lufthansa fare code did not qualify for points. The problem is that you generally don't see the fare code when you book the ticket. (I had a choice of 2 Air Canada flights as well as the Lufthansa; I chose the Lufthansa because it was the easiest time for me.)

[LHT28]

16 hours ago, Middleager said:

The airfare is paid fare, so you'd get points with the airline (Air Canada in this case). 

 

 

In some cases  the airfare is paid via the cruiseline  so not attributed to you

this is when we did not get points  only for the upgrade we did at check in

YMMV

[Heidi13]

20 hours ago, Middleager said:

The airfare is paid fare, so you'd get points with the airline (Air Canada in this case). 

 

The airline doesn't care who it was booked with, to them it's paid fare. 

So you just provide the aeroplan number, to cruiseline if they take it, or directly to the airline.

 

We've got points when flying on Star Alliance airlines, when booking airfare from cruiseline.

 

You must also check what fare class the cruise line booked, as some do not have reward eligibility. Some fare class are also not eligible for upgrade.

[Middleager]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

In some cases  the airfare is paid via the cruiseline  so not attributed to you

this is when we did not get points  only for the upgrade we did at check in

YMMV

Point redemption fares don't get points.  But paid fares are supposed to get points, regardless who paid, because the name is the person flying, and the person flying if providing FF number should get the points.  But there are changes to how points are earned, including some low fares less than 500 miles don't get points.

 

Or did the airlines now come up with paid fares that just don't earn points.

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Middleager said:

Point redemption fares don't get points.  But paid fares are supposed to get points, regardless who paid, because the name is the person flying, and the person flying if providing FF number should get the points.  But there are changes to how points are earned, including some low fares less than 500 miles don't get points.

 

Or did the airlines now come up with paid fares that just don't earn points.

we probably did not get point because the cruise line has contracts for low /bulk fares

All I know  is we did not get points  on a couple of flights via the cruise line

 

[gnome12]

23 minutes ago, Middleager said:

Or did the airlines now come up with paid fares that just don't earn points

Yes, there are fare classes that don’t earn any points, at least on partner airlines. 

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, Middleager said:

Or did the airlines now come up with paid fares that just don't earn points.

 

Affirmative, the airlines have fare classes that earn reduced, or even no points, especially when using cruise line air, which contract for the cheapest flights in bulk.

[broberts]

21 hours ago, Middleager said:

 

Or did the airlines now come up with paid fares that just don't earn points.

 

Yes. For example AC Basic offers no Aeroplan points, Standard 50%, and Flex fare 100%.

[Ontario/AZ]

On 1/2/2023 at 4:13 AM, HSBC said:

Would Viking enter your  Aeroplan number to your Air Canada ticket if booking Viking river cruise with Free airfare?  Would you earn any Aeroplan points?

 

Thanks!

I have rec'd them for Viking flights

[millybess]

On 1/3/2023 at 7:35 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

When you book a cruise with included airfare, go to the Viking website and select "My Viking Journey", which is under "My Trip".

 

In the flights section enter your preferred airline and your Aeroplan number. Whether you receive points depends on the fare class they book. If you have a preference for Air Canada, I'll suggest requesting "Air Plus" at a cost of $50 - 100 pp, as this gives you greater options when they book your flights and on the routing/airline. If you don't pay for air plus, you'll get flights about 75 days prior to departure and have no say in the airline or routing.

 

We alway pay for Air Plus and submit our preferred flights once final payment is made and flights are published. Always got our preferred airline and flights. Note - that is not everyone's experience, as it depends on what contracts they have with the airlines.

Thanks much for this information Andy.  We are using Air Plus for the West Indies with Viking next January and I wouldn't have know to do this if I hadn't read your post.