Viking Air plus not very persuasive

[pavementends]

Talked to the Air plus rep today. This is for a river cruise but (1) there doesn't seem to be another place to discuss this and (2) the air travel issues seem to be the same as ocean cruises.

 

I checked pricing if I book myself compared to the cost of air plus. The difference (in business) amounted to about $900 per person. The only thing they said to persuade me was to say that transfers were included with the Viking air. I was surprised they didn't try harder.

 

I'm having a hard time seeing why I shouldn't book myself. Thoughts?

Edited March 7, 2023 by pavementends

[OneSixtyToOne]

IMO it depends on the ports you embark/disembark from. In Venice, the new docking location makes getting to the ship an expensive challenge and the included ground transportation as well as portage is worth it.

Edited March 7, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[CDNPolar]

Book yourself!  

 

We add Viking Air, call and price, and if we can do it cheaper ourselves we do.  Simple.  Then we remove Air Plus from our invoice.

 

The Air Plus folks are not really sales people.  I would not expect them to convince you.

 

Yes, the only other thing you must consider is the cost of the transfer, but if you are arriving the same day as typical Viking guests and departing the same day, then you can purchase your transfers through Viking.  That is done on MVJ when you decline Air Plus.

Edited March 7, 2023 by CDNPolar

[jebbs]

While I think each of us needs to determine our own appetite for inconvenience, or worse, I’d like to give a brief example of why I prefer my cruise line to book air….we took a Mediterranean cruise October, 2018, on a different cruise line. The sea was quite rough, and we missed a port.  The captain brought us to a more sheltered port slightly further North in Italy.  As I recall, they allowed the shore excursion to Florence to go from the new port, and as the weather deteriorated, we remained in place, the ship broke free, the gangway pulled from dock…..a mess. We needed to wait for the Florence excursion to return, which they did. As this was the last night of the cruise, luggage was in the hall and people turned in early due to flights to US the following day. 
About 10 pm the captain announces it is still too rough to proceed to Civitavecchia and all those wanting to take a bus report to Guest services!  Yes, that right, if you stay with the ship, you’ll most likely miss your flights!!!  Lots of commotion, lots of buses to take you in a rainstorm over winding curves and cliffs, single lane roads to pull an all-nighter to the Rome airport.

As someone with air included, we stayed with ship, were rescheduled and provided a hotel room when we disembarked…..

It’s cruise line air for me!

[Peregrina651]

 

Some people are DIY air all the way. They never book through the cruiseline.  Some people always book through the cruiseline; they want the comfort and security of the cruise line handling the unfamilar logistics for them. In between, are the "depends," the folk who decide on a case by case basis. And, in the end, where you fall rests on how comfortable YOU feel with doing things on you own.

 

I admit to being somewhere in the middle. I always include Viking Air on my booking. Sometimes I know from the get-go that I will be using Viking Air because of where we are headed or because it is a really good deal.  Other times, I don't decide until I've done the research who will be booking my flights. As long as I cancel the air portion of the booking before the flights are ticketed, I have plenty of time to do the research and make my decision. 

 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, jebbs said:

While I think each of us needs to determine our own appetite for inconvenience, or worse, I’d like to give a brief example of why I prefer my cruise line to book air….we took a Mediterranean cruise October, 2018, on a different cruise line. The sea was quite rough, and we missed a port.  The captain brought us to a more sheltered port slightly further North in Italy.  As I recall, they allowed the shore excursion to Florence to go from the new port, and as the weather deteriorated, we remained in place, the ship broke free, the gangway pulled from dock…..a mess. We needed to wait for the Florence excursion to return, which they did. As this was the last night of the cruise, luggage was in the hall and people turned in early due to flights to US the following day. 
About 10 pm the captain announces it is still too rough to proceed to Civitavecchia and all those wanting to take a bus report to Guest services!  Yes, that right, if you stay with the ship, you’ll most likely miss your flights!!!  Lots of commotion, lots of buses to take you in a rainstorm over winding curves and cliffs, single lane roads to pull an all-nighter to the Rome airport.

As someone with air included, we stayed with ship, were rescheduled and provided a hotel room when we disembarked…..

It’s cruise line air for me!

 

Yes, in a situation like this there is advantage to having air booked with the cruise line.  We were on a Viking Ocean cruise when there was a major strike or something with the airline that many were leaving on.  Viking reworked the departures and in some cases it was a day or two later and Viking also put them into a hotel and covered the cost until the guest got home.

 

Our airline was not this one so we were not impacted, but the reality is that "stuff" happens sometimes.  If you purchase the air on your own then you are responsible to get yourself home at your own cost...  But then, that is what cancelation and interruption insurance is for.  You may be out of pocket initially, but you would have a claim after.  Hopefully.

[mhb1757]

I totally agree with Peregrina651 on this. I have done it both ways and there isn’t a single right answer. If booking air yourself is $900/pp cheaper, you have a good cushion in case “stuff” happens. Although you would have the aggravation of making new arrangements yourself.
I would also throw into the mix that since covid Viking has out sourced their Air Plus service to some company that uses agents based in the Philippines that are very poorly trained for the most part and know very little about air travel  and virtually nothing about Viking. Dealing with them has become a MAJOR pain in the neck (and elsewhere🤪). The good news is you can now select from several flight options on MVJ without paying the Air Plus fee or bursting a blood vessel in your brain from trying to work with their Air Plus “agents” that can’t figure out how to book flights. 
But you can always leave it on your reservation until you find something you want to book yourself or see what’s available thru Viking and then drop it as long as the flights have not been ticketed (which is usually just 60-75 days in advance). 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Yes, in a situation like this there is advantage to having air booked with the cruise line.  We were on a Viking Ocean cruise when there was a major strike or something with the airline that many were leaving on.  Viking reworked the departures and in some cases it was a day or two later and Viking also put them into a hotel and covered the cost until the guest got home.

 

Our airline was not this one so we were not impacted, but the reality is that "stuff" happens sometimes.  If you purchase the air on your own then you are responsible to get yourself home at your own cost...  But then, that is what cancelation and interruption insurance is for.  You may be out of pocket initially, but you would have a claim after.  Hopefully.

 

However, I have heard a number of stories where in emergency situations Viking has handled rebooting flights for everyone flights for everyone on board regardless of who booked the original flights. Some of the stories are Covid related and others are not. 

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

However, I have heard a number of stories where in emergency situations Viking has handled rebooting flights for everyone flights for everyone on board regardless of who booked the original flights. Some of the stories are Covid related and others are not. 

 

I am not saying that this is no possible as I think that Viking go above and beyond in some cases, BUT, when we have booked our flights independently, Viking don't know our flight itinerary, so how would they do that? 

 

Also, there would be change fees associated with changes to our airfare that may not be part of air that Viking books under contract.

[CDNPolar]

5 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

I would also throw into the mix that since covid Viking has out sourced their Air Plus service to some company that uses agents based in the Philippines that are very poorly trained for the most part and know very little about air travel  and virtually nothing about Viking. 

 

Really?  Is this true?  Is this why recently our experience with Viking Air was so frustrating?  It was not the booking part, our frustration was over Viking policy and air contracts.  We had literally booked air for the same cruise one week earlier and then decided to move the date of the cruise by 3 weeks, and when redoing the air we were told the airline we wanted was not under contract.  We reasoned with the agent for 10+ minutes explaining that just hours ago we revised our itinerary and that the airline was in fact under contract...  Finally after many holds they came back and apologized and agreed that the airline was in fact under contract.

[OneSixtyToOne]

6 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

I would also throw into the mix that since covid Viking has out sourced their Air Plus service to some company that uses agents based in the Philippines that are very poorly trained for the most part and know very little about air travel  and virtually nothing about Viking.

 

This was my recent experience. It was obvious I was talking to a help desk in the Philippines. Lufthansa cancelled one of our return flights this week and I could hear someone talking to the "Viking" service rep in the background. Sounds like they were all trainees and were no help at all with changing my new itinerary. It added an additional stop and six more hours.to our trip.

Edited March 8, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[janetcbl]

Interesting. This morning I called Viking Air and got someone in the US who knew what he was doing and took care of my requests. The number I used was 877-523-0580. I called about 8:30 CST. Maybe I was just lucky?

[lackcreativity]

2 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Interesting. This morning I called Viking Air and got someone in the US who knew what he was doing and took care of my requests. The number I used was 877-523-0580. I called about 8:30 CST. Maybe I was just lucky?

My two post covid experiences in booking air have been the same as yours. Granted, I was calling with specific itineraries on an airline I know Viking contracts with, so perhaps I was just lucky.

[Mich3554]

3 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

My two post covid experiences in booking air have been the same as yours. Granted, I was calling with specific itineraries on an airline I know Viking contracts with, so perhaps I was just lucky.

This I was lucky too.  I booked our flights for our river cruise last spring and the WC without issue.  
In both cases, I went online and found the flights I wanted to be on, and had a first, second and third choice written down.  I have always gotten my first or second choice.  We fly business class, so I always check to see which way benefits us best.  

[SM77]

We always had good luck and experiences booking our flights through Viking Air and just prefer to have Viking handle everything.  For us, the costs have either been less w/ Viking or about the same.  Back in early 2019, due to the Boeing 737 Max problem, American Airlines just canceled our flight from Hong Kong back to the US and just emailed us that we needed to work w/ our travel agency.  We were in Bali(two days before going home) and between my travel agent & Viking Air (with a 15 hour time difference) worked out a much better flight arrangement back to the US from Hong Kong.   We have booked our own air for non-Viking cruises and it has worked out OK - I just prefer all the transfer arrangements that Viking does, especially at the start of the trip.  When we had to cancel or were canceled due to Covid, four cruises, we really had to wait until United canceled our flight that we booked ourselves for an Oceania cruise that we had canceled early on in the pandemic to be able to ask for a refund.  We will be flying in late April going to Prague to do the Cities of Lights river cruise and I hope we do not have connection issues in Brussels.  Not a lot of flights from Brussels to Prague so I hope things go smoothly - I did have very good service in working w/ Viking Air - going through Brussels was my decision, I hate traveling through Frankfurt.  This will be our first overseas trip in almost four years so I need to go with the flow with how things have changed the past few years.