Air Plus - can I book business one direction and premium economy the other direction?

[2blueyam]

The title more or less says it all. We want to fly business class going over so we can get some sleep on the overnight flight to Rome, but don't want to spend the money to fly back business class from Athens. We are currently booked through Viking Air on a premium economy ticket for the flights overseas. The only options on the myvikingjourney site are for us are to do both ways in the same class. If we pay the $150 pp to go with Air Plus, will that allow us to book Business to Rome and Premium Economy back?

 

I would ask Viking, but I think I would have to pay the $150 pp to find out.

 

I think I could cancel the air and do it myself, but then we would have to do the transfers on our own, which isn't a big deal, but does add to that side of the cost. The Business class tickets back from Athens are currently very expensive.

 

Thanks for the input from anyone that has experience with this.

[OneSixtyToOne]

From the MVJ Air FAQ

Viking typically handles flight itineraries as a package; therefore, choice of class usually applies for entire flight itinerary. However, a single flight upgrade may be possible with a customized itinerary; please call 1-877-523-0580 to speak with a Viking Air Expert. Please note: Business Class and Premium Economy are guaranteed only for transoceanic flights.

[CCWineLover]

27 minutes ago, 2blueyam said:

The Business class tickets back from Athens are currently very expensive.

 

Thanks for the input from anyone that has experience with this.

Agree with OneSixtytoOne.  Worth a try.

 

However, if you take a look on your own, Biz class may appear high, but definitely investigate TAP Portugal airlines.  We've flown them business class both to and from Europe.  Great service, nice planes, and best of all, they are quite a bit cheaper than the standard KLM, Lufthansa, British Air, American, United fares for Business.  - like about 50 % or so.  (at least they were last spring when we flew back from Athens).  The only catch is you have to connect in Lisbon, which isn't a bad city or airport at all.  At least take a look.

[SantaFe1]

44 minutes ago, 2blueyam said:

I think I could cancel the air and do it myself,

From past experience I would say the only way you can do this is book it as two one way tickets, one in business and one in Prem. Econ. Even with a multi city flight you can’t mix.  The airlines seem strick about this and in Milan Delta would not even let us downgrade to PE from Business when our flight was canceled and we had to rebook.  We had business class tickets and we could only rebook as business class, and since there were no Business class seats available on the flight we wanted,  we had to take a less desirable flight.  Really made me mad!

[2blueyam]

Looks like TAP doesn’t fly from Athens to Dulles. I will give the Viking custom air a call and see what happens. 

[travelguy19]

I have done this twice using my travel agent. For the same reasons you mentioned, it’s a good way to save some money. Also, on some airlines, premium economy gets you expedited check in, and the baggage allowance is 2 bags.

[2blueyam]

6 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

From past experience I would say the only way you can do this is book it as two one way tickets, one in business and one in Prem. Econ. Even with a multi city flight you can’t mix.  The airlines seem strick about this and in Milan Delta would not even let us downgrade to PE from Business when our flight was canceled and we had to rebook.  We had business class tickets and we could only rebook as business class, and since there were no Business class seats available on the flight we wanted,  we had to take a less desirable flight.  Really made me mad!

You can do it on United, no problem as a multi city or even a round trip.

[SantaFe1]

5 minutes ago, 2blueyam said:

You can do it on United, no problem as a multi city or even a round trip.

Really glad to hear this.  We we had been on United!

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

The only catch is you have to connect in Lisbon, which isn't a bad city or airport at all.  At least take a look.

 

TAP has a free stopover program, so you can spend a couple days in either Lisbon or Porto and not "break" the through fare from Europe to the USA. 

 

Great value.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

From past experience I would say the only way you can do this is book it as two one way tickets, one in business and one in Prem. Econ. Even with a multi city flight you can’t mix.  The airlines seem strick about this

 

Incorrect.  It is quite possible when buying a ticket directly from the airline to mix classes for the separate directions.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, 2blueyam said:

Looks like TAP doesn’t fly from Athens to Dulles. I will give the Viking custom air a call and see what happens. 

 

TAP most assuredly flies into IAD.  From Lisbon.  And they do not serve ATH.

 

So, you could take a positioning flight to a city that TAP does service, such as Rome, and then fly TAP to IAD from there.

 

 

[SantaFe1]

5 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Incorrect.  It is quite possible when buying a ticket directly from the airline to mix classes for the separate directions.

 

 

Yes, thank you, I thought you might chime in.  This isn’t apples to apples.  We had already bought the business class tix.  But Delta would not rebook us on another class.  So, I withdraw my comment.  Not apples to apples.  But still frustrating!

[CCWineLover]

26 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

TAP has a free stopover program, so you can spend a couple days in either Lisbon or Porto and not "break" the through fare from Europe to the USA. 

 

Great value.

 

 

Yes!  That's what we've done several times!  It is really a great deal.  And Lisbon is a wonderful city to explore - culture, food, drink, history, etc.!!

[CCWineLover]

24 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

TAP most assuredly flies into IAD.  From Lisbon.  And they do not serve ATH.

 

So, you could take a positioning flight to a city that TAP does service, such as Rome, and then fly TAP to IAD from there.

 

 

When we flew from Athens to the USA (SFO) last March, we flew TAP's partner, Aegian Air, from Athens to Lisbon, had the layover, and then flew TAP from Lisbon to SFO.  All booked under TAP on one ticket with the free layover in Lisbon.  Aegian was actually a great flight! 

Edited Tuesday at 03:03 AM by CCWineLover

[Australia08]

6 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Really glad to hear this.  We we had been on United!

Were your tickets booked originally by Viking?  

 

We fly Delta all the time and I’ve booked my own multi city tickets in two different classes of service. And just recently, we had a flight cancelled and we chose to downgrade our first class service to economy comfort in order to preserve a flight time with Delta One seats for our continuing flight. They were fine with that.
 

If Viking booked it maybe the bulk ticket prevented change. 

[Australia08]

1 minute ago, Australia08 said:

Were your tickets booked originally by Viking?  

 

We fly Delta all the time and I’ve booked my own multi city tickets in two different classes of service. And just recently, we had a flight cancelled and we chose to downgrade our first class service to economy comfort in order to preserve a flight time with Delta One seats for our continuing flight. They were fine with that.
 

If Viking booked it maybe the bulk ticket prevented change. 

By the way, Delta quickly refunded our money on the downgrade to our original form of payment. It worked out well for us. 

[shipboy]

Viking in the UK will quote a mixed class when requested, e.g. they quoted us business for LHR-GIG and economy for BCN-LHR

[duquephart]

14 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Agree with OneSixtytoOne.  Worth a try.

 

However, if you take a look on your own, Biz class may appear high, but definitely investigate TAP Portugal airlines.  We've flown them business class both to and from Europe.  Great service, nice planes, and best of all, they are quite a bit cheaper than the standard KLM, Lufthansa, British Air, American, United fares for Business.  - like about 50 % or so.  (at least they were last spring when we flew back from Athens).  The only catch is you have to connect in Lisbon, which isn't a bad city or airport at all.  At least take a look.

 

If Lisbon "isn't a bad city or airport at all" why is it a catch?

[2blueyam]

9 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

TAP has a free stopover program, so you can spend a couple days in either Lisbon or Porto and not "break" the through fare from Europe to the USA. 

 

Great value.

 

 

We are still working and unfortunately don't really have enough vacation time for a layover on the way back. The two-week cruise is about all we can fit in with our other commitments.

[FlyerTalker]

6 minutes ago, duquephart said:

If Lisbon "isn't a bad city or airport at all" why is it a catch?

 

Because many people tend to see connections as a bad thing.  Some even get obsessive about having a non-stop, failing to recognize that connections often create great opportunities.

 

 

[scotchbonnet]

Different rules may apply to UK based passengers. Last year on the Eastern Seaboard cruise we flew from London Heathrow to New York in business class and from Montreal  back to London in Economy arranged by Viking Air no problem at all.

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Because many people tend to see connections as a bad thing.  Some even get obsessive about having a non-stop, failing to recognize that connections often create great opportunities.

 

 

Well put!   As well, many don't recognize that getting back to the USA from eastern Mediterranean cities can be difficult and/or expensive to do without connections.

[Southern latitudes]

At check in, I was able to pay to upgrade our tickets to Paris to business class.  This was through the airline check in process.   Our flights home remained premium economy.  Of course, this depends on seat availability but it worked for us.   On another trip, I went into My Viking and looked at change my flights.  I was able to find an upgrade to business class for a lot less than the Viking agent quoted me-still through Viking Air