Viking's airfare- is the "premium economy" worth the extra money?

[Gourmet Gal]

Good advice when dealing with agents like that  HUACA.

[HSBC]

On 2/12/2024 at 4:31 AM, CDNPolar said:

While I appreciate your frustrations, please don't take offence to this response.

 

When you are booking through the cruise line, you are booking into contracted rates that they have negotiated and they do not include every airline and every route and every time slot.

 

The contracted rates are also based on flying in and landing the day the cruise begins, and leaving the day the cruise ends.  If you want to come in early, do a stopover, then these are outside of the contracted dates and rates and that is why there is an additional fee per person per deviation.

 

Contracted rates may not allow upgrades and they may not pay full air miles.  This is no different than if you were booking on AC, you would see that the lowest fare only includes 25% or something like that of the air miles.  It is not just Viking - this is what the airline offers too.

 

We have flown in and out from 10 Viking Cruises now from Toronto and have always gotten what we wanted in flights, when using Viking Air Plus.  Sometimes we could book upgrades and sometimes we could not.  Perhaps we were lucky.

 

We always call with our top three selected routes and airlines, but when we have booked with Air Canada, or Lufthansa we have gotten what we wanted.

 

I completely hear your frustration with the agent.  The best advice is if that happens again, politely end your call and call back.  You will get someone new that knows, or the other strategy is to ask politely for a supervisor and have the conversation with that person.

 

Sorry that you experienced this frustration.

 

We also can and do book on our own.  We have two pending cruises with Viking and we are watching the air... when we call - generally 300 days out - we ask for what we want, and if that is not available, then we book ourselves.

CDNPolar,

As you have so many experience with Viking Air, have you fly from Toronto to Regensburg (Germany)?  Which airport did you arrive in Germany?  Which airline?

Have you fly from Toronto to Passau (Germany)?  Which airport did you arrive in Germany?  Which airline?

Thanks!

[2ndcruise53]

We booked economy air with Viking and were assigned United Airlines . When I logged in to Ua, there’s an option for us to choose the seats under economy class,  then I could choose seats with extra leg room snd paid a bit more and we are fine with that. Viking had not the option of choosing this extra leg room when we booked with them , so I’m glad I could choose this on my own . 
On another topic , when Viking offers free air , I noticed that it often comes with an elevated trip cost. We have to do our own research and comparison. 

[CDNPolar]

8 hours ago, HSBC said:

CDNPolar,

As you have so many experience with Viking Air, have you fly from Toronto to Regensburg (Germany)?  Which airport did you arrive in Germany?  Which airline?

Have you fly from Toronto to Passau (Germany)?  Which airport did you arrive in Germany?  Which airline?

Thanks!

 

Both of these destinations you could fly to Munich on Air Canada, Lufthansa, or United from Toronto.  Regensburg is almost certainly only Munich.

 

Munich is a bit far from Passau, so I would suggest that you could consider flying into or out from Linz.  Not sure if Viking would bus you from Munich or not as this distance is about 125 KM.

 

We have not done Passau to/from Toronto, but if you check Google Flights I would suspect that the flights I am seeing would qualify on Viking's Air Plus.

 

We always first find our flight options on Google Flights and then call Viking Air Plus.

 

For Europe destinations with Viking we have almost always been on Air Canada or Lufthansa, and on the occasion British Air.

 

 

[ural guy]

For people who are booking their own flights, keep checking back with google flights, or whoever you use, even if you've set up alerts for price changes.  I do still book with the airline, not 3rd party.

 

Latest experience, we have a RT cruise out of Budapest leaving in late September.  I was comparing Syracuse (2 connections) to NYC and Montreal departures.  It's my wife's retirement trip, so was looking Economy Plus and Business.  Prices were all over the place, abrupt $2-3K USD changes per ticket from morning to evening.  Tried different IP log in spots, cleared cookies, no help.  

 

Finally grabbed an Air France Business flight over, KLM Business back, $2200 p/p, one connection, out of Montreal.  Trade off is a late arrival and 4 hour Paris layover, but lounge access will be nice.  Those tickets are usually in $5-6k range, and jumped back to that the next day.

 

Still expensive, but spouse's eyes lite up at mention of lay flat seats.  Showed her Youtube Air France reviews for Valentines.

[greydog]

4 hours ago, 2ndcruise53 said:

On another topic , when Viking offers free air , I noticed that it often comes with an elevated trip cost. We have to do our own research and comparison. 

Agree.  Regular pattern of V offsetting cabin price changes with air charge add-on every 2-3 months.  BTW, we're signed up for V email notifications (and/or past customers) and we get last minute specials.  E.g webprice shows +$599 air (March) but V offering free, while cabin price matching.

 

We regularly use V custom air and find their upcharge for Comfort+ competitive but Delta won't let you combine V economy fare class with later upgrading on your own.  Good Luck

[ural guy]

1 hour ago, greydog said:

 

 

We regularly use V custom air and find their upcharge for Comfort+ competitive but Delta won't let you combine V economy fare class with later upgrading on your own.  Good Luck

Our one experience with Viking Air is that we could upgrade directly with United heading over, but not with American/British Air on our return.

[CDNPolar]

4 hours ago, ural guy said:

Our one experience with Viking Air is that we could upgrade directly with United heading over, but not with American/British Air on our return.

 

Mixed bag...  We have many times with Viking Air paid for and got an upgrade, but on the most recent with Air Canada from Toronto to Amsterdam and home from Basel, there was no upgrade available through Viking but Air Canada would sell it to us at the gate.

 

We have also had no option with Viking Air and the airline refusing at the airport too because of the booking class.

 

 

[greydog]

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Mixed bag...  We have many times with Viking Air paid for and got an upgrade, but on the most recent with Air Canada from Toronto to Amsterdam and home from Basel, there was no upgrade available through Viking but Air Canada would sell it to us at the gate.

 

We have also had no option with Viking Air and the airline refusing at the airport too because of the booking class.

 

 

My current V air+ res for Danube shows at Delta “not eligible for upgrade “

[SoonipiLady]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:49 AM, CielBleu said:

If you give us a little more info, we might be able to help more. Where are you flying from? What are Aon and Leon, so we know what country you're flying to? What airline is Viking planning to put you on? Have you checked on what your airfare would be to just do it on your own instead using Viking? If you can use Delta, I would check on Premium Select to see how the price compares to your PE quote. If you book Delta on your own, you can choose one class going over and a different class coming back, when sleeping isn't as much of an issue. We did that last year. Also, I don't know whether Viking does this (we don't sail with them), but the cruise line we use will give the customer a credit if you don't use their airfare deal, and then that credit can be used to make the flight arrangements on your own. It might be worth asking.

Sorry, no idea what airline until 180 days out....flying from JFK to Lyon(talk yo text errors 🤪) we are 18 months out so we won't know for a long time.  

[CDNPolar]

22 hours ago, SoonipiLady said:

Sorry, no idea what airline until 180 days out....flying from JFK to Lyon(talk yo text errors 🤪) we are 18 months out so we won't know for a long time.  

 

Back to your original question - is Premium Economy worth the extra?  

 

You stated in your OP that Viking was charging $1,200.00 for PE over Economy.  Yep, that is about the cost now of PE on most airlines.  PE is generally about $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 more than Economy.

 

If you are 18 months out now, you can start to play with "like dates" in Google Flights to see what your flight itinerary looks like.

 

You can book the flights at about 300-310 days out.  We generally book about 280 days from the actual dates.

 

We used to spend much more on Canada to Europe flights than we do now.  We used to book PE all the time, but if a flight is 7 hours or less now we just do Economy.  We have been disappointed in the PE product of so many airlines recently that we have just backed away from it.  We don't feel the cost is justified.

[greydog]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Back to your original question - is Premium Economy worth the extra?  

You stated in your OP that Viking was charging $1,200.00 for PE over Economy.  Yep, that is about the cost now of PE on most airlines.  PE is generally about $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 more than Economy.

 

If you are 18 months out now, you can start to play with "like dates" in Google Flights to see what your flight itinerary looks like.You can book the flights at about 300-310 days out.  We generally book about 280 days from the actual dates.

 

My experience, earlier reserving is better seat choice, pricing.  Also try 1-2 days earlier (and at end) dates - price diff can offset hotel and arriving early reduces risk missing departure. 

RE PE, we find much better compromise value, some seat experience upgrade, with offers like Delta Comfort+ or Virgin Economy Delight (BA Economy Plus?)  BTW, the Comfort+ upcharge thru V Air+ has never been more than price on web search.  BON VOYAGE