Viking Air deviation destinations

[Reaniel]

Is there an easier way to find out which cities are available for Viking Air deviation?  Or do we just have to call Viking to find out?

Here are the two itineraries that I've gotten answers thus far:

 

Cities of Antiquity & the Holy Land

Athens: Santorini, Istanbul

Rome: Venice, Florence, Milan

 

Capitals of Eastern Europe

Vienna/Bucharest: Amsterdam, Stockholm, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Basel, Budapest, Paris, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Marseille, Munich, Milan, Nice, Nuremberg, Porto, Oslo, Bucharest, Prague, Venice, Warsaw, Zurich.

(The Viking Rep I spoke to said that the list is the same for both ends on this itinerary).

 

Oh, and the weird thing is that while the live chat agents can find out about this information, the dedicated booking agents can't.

[CDR2001]

I’m pretty sure that this is a question for Viking Air.  I’ve always dealt with Viking AirPlus for flight deviations in the past. 877 523 0580

I book my own flights if the price is right instead of using VA. 

[minka34]

@CDR2001 or anyone else, when you forgo the free VA, do you receive any discount off the cost of the cruise (credit for the unused free air)?

[OneSixtyToOne]

20 minutes ago, minka34 said:

@CDR2001 or anyone else, when you forgo the free VA, do you receive any discount off the cost of the cruise (credit for the unused free air)?

No. 

[Peregrina651]

9 hours ago, minka34 said:

@CDR2001 or anyone else, when you forgo the free VA, do you receive any discount off the cost of the cruise (credit for the unused free air)?

 

9 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

No. 

 

Because Viking very clearly quotes cruise fare and airfare  separately.

 

If a guest chooses not to use Viking Air, it does not effect the price of the cruise fare, whether the price of the airfare is $1000 or $0. 

[Reaniel]

19 hours ago, CDR2001 said:

I’m pretty sure that this is a question for Viking Air.  I’ve always dealt with Viking AirPlus for flight deviations in the past. 877 523 0580

I book my own flights if the price is right instead of using VA. 

 

In my experience, when you call Viking Air, they'd immediately assume that you want to do Air Plus (as opposed to simple deviation).  I find it actually less complicated to do stopovers and deviations directly with the live chat department.

 

Of course, if you want more customization and more available destinations, you'd go with Air Plus, but if you just want to do a simple deviation or stopover (and save that $150 for Air Plus), just do it via live chat.

[biggerbearmom]

After most Viking trips in Europe/Scandinavia we will extend for two weeks to a month to visit family in Gothenburg, Sweden. The first time we did it, the Viking rep told me my options were either Copenhagen or Stockholm. So when we are using Viking Air, we buy our own air for the flight from where the cruise ends to Gothenburg, and then do the same or take the train to get the Viking flight home from Copenhagen. It works well for us, most of the time we are able to use points to purchase the inter Europe flights. We pay a deviation fee but not Air Plus.

[Reaniel]

Just booked a new river itinerary, Cities of Light.

 

For this one, I was told that air deviation is still $100, but you can only change the date(s), not the gate way.

 

What a shame, but oh well!

[CILCIANRQTS]

Air Plus offers very generous flexibility.

We ended our last cruise in Oslo (extension), and they flew us back from Düsseldorf.

[Reaniel]

25 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Air Plus offers very generous flexibility.

We ended our last cruise in Oslo (extension), and they flew us back from Düsseldorf.

 

We're cheapskates who don't want to fork out that extra $$$ for Air Plus!!! 😛

Kidding aside, we're actually just using this opportunity to pay the extra $100 pp and do our own extension of the trip at our own pace.  It's not really THAT urgently needed for us to use Air Plus and design some elaborate travel scheme.

 

BTW, how do they calculate the airfare to see if you need to pay extra due to customization via Air Plus?  And what if you've already gotten free airfare for your booking?

[CILCIANRQTS]

18 minutes ago, Reaniel said:

 

We're cheapskates who don't want to fork out that extra $$$ for Air Plus!!! 😛

Kidding aside, we're actually just using this opportunity to pay the extra $100 pp and do our own extension of the trip at our own pace.  It's not really THAT urgently needed for us to use Air Plus and design some elaborate travel scheme.

 

BTW, how do they calculate the airfare to see if you need to pay extra due to customization via Air Plus?  And what if you've already gotten free airfare for your booking?

Can’t answer your last two questions.

I wanted to be an accountant, but I failed the test.

It was a personality test that showed that I have a personality, so they said I couldn’t be an accountant! 😳

Just kidding!! 😎

[LindaS272]

Customization of your airfare in and out of different cities will depend on Viking’s contracts with airlines, or lack thereof. You don’t have the “free” airfare until it’s ticketed close to your cruise, even if MVJ is showing a reservation. The free airfare may also apply with deviations into/out of different cities, but will depend on Viking’s contracts.

[The Other Tom]

1 minute ago, LindaS272 said:

You don’t have the “free” airfare until it’s ticketed close to your cruise, even if MVJ is showing a reservation

You are correct in that you don't have the free airfare until your flight is ticketed.  But we asked the Air Plus person to go ahead and ticket our flight when they made the reservation, many months before the cruise.  We wanted the earlier ticketing so we would have a lot of choices for seats, as opposed to waiting and being stuck next to a restroom.  The downside is you have to pay a deviation if you want to change your flights later. 

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Reaniel said:

BTW, how do they calculate the airfare to see if you need to pay extra due to customization via Air Plus?  And what if you've already gotten free airfare for your booking?

 

33 minutes ago, The Other Tom said:

You are correct in that you don't have the free airfare until your flight is ticketed.  But we asked the Air Plus person to go ahead and ticket our flight when they made the reservation, many months before the cruise.  We wanted the earlier ticketing so we would have a lot of choices for seats, as opposed to waiting and being stuck next to a restroom.  The downside is you have to pay a deviation if you want to change your flights later. 

I was responding to “what if you’ve already gotten your free airfare.” Just trying to explain that that doesn’t limit you if you want to add air plus and make gateway or arrival/departure changes. Yes, a nice advantage to Air Plus is you can finagle earlier ticketing, although I’ve heard of others doing this without Air Plus, too.

[The Other Tom]

2 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Just trying to explain that that doesn’t limit you if you want to add air plus and make gateway or arrival/departure changes

gotcha, thanks!

[PasadenaDave]

I have been on the phone with Viking for 25 minutes now trying to book LAX-London, London-Lisbon, and Barcelona-LAX.  I have provided the legs and dates four times already.  They came back saying that they don't have any flights London-Lisbon.  I asked if they could provide pricing without the London-Lisbon and she put me back on hold.

 

This is to see if Viking can beat independent travel pricing...I am doubting it.

 

I understand why Andy aka Heidi has left Viking due to poor stateside customer service.

 

I love the Viking product and have two and soon three trips booked, but unless you are going from major airport to major airport with no deviations, their flight department is challenged.

[OneSixtyToOne]

46 minutes ago, PasadenaDave said:

I love the Viking product and have two and soon three trips booked, but unless you are going from major airport to major airport with no deviations, their flight department is challenged.

It’s also obvious that it’s been outsourced to the Philippines.  

[PasadenaDave]

3 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

It’s also obvious that it’s been outsourced to the Philippines.  

I don't know where the first customer service person was located but the air person to whom i was transferred after more than 35 minutes was located in South Africa.

 

I was attempting to book LAX-LHR, layover a few days, then LHR-Lisbon and then Barcelona-LAX.  I don't like to fly say Coast to Coast and then over ocean as you don't get business class on domestic.  The call lasted one hour and 3 minutes and they could not help with the London-Lisbon leg and the flights were not our preference otherwise.

 

I took time to calm down and later booked our preferred routing on British Air  for an amount $500 more than what Viking would charge if we flew to and from the Viking portion of the journey.  The actual cost was $1200 more due to giving up the $700 discount for air from booking on ship.  But remember that we would have needed to book the air London to Lisbon and pay for Air Plus.

 

The time spent booking online which included comparison shopping on American for the same flights only $900 more than BA was 10 minutes.

 

I spent another 10 minutes to cancel Viking Air which I could not do via email or chat.  Has chat gone away?

 

Again, we love the on ship service.

[KarNog]

On 8/3/2024 at 2:56 PM, LindaS272 said:

Customization of your airfare in and out of different cities will depend on Viking’s contracts with airlines, or lack thereof. You don’t have the “free” airfare until it’s ticketed close to your cruise, even if MVJ is showing a reservation. The free airfare may also apply with deviations into/out of different cities, but will depend on Viking’s contracts.

I am taking advantage of free airfare and requested a deviation to arrive a day early for $100 per person when my flight info was published on MVJ at about 140 days out. My new arrival date was booked within 3 hours. 

 

I did not use air plus.

[OneSixtyToOne]

6 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Has chat gone away?

Chat is only available during California business hours.