I 'haven't enough posts to post a link' so apologies for copying the whole lot...My Viking story - as also told under 'Goldtrail'


Hello all, hope this is the place to post this - apologies if it isn't! It wasn't

My husband and I traveled to Kos from EMA with Viking (nice flight times...cheapish...the usual from what I can gather) we traveled out on 14/7 and all was well apart from the obligatory 2.5 hour delay (+1hour on the plane at the stand). We had booked return flights directly with Viking and used Alpharooms for the accommodation so we weren't at all worried, when, 2 days later Goldtrail went kaput.

No calls or emails from Viking.

Eating breakfast at the hotel before we booked a taxi to the airport for our return leg (remember - nice flight times!) one of the other hotel guests, who had been affected by Goldtrail, thought he'd seen our EMA flight on the ABTA website. The hotel manager let us use his pc and sure enough, there was our flight on the ABTA - Goldtrail information page! Our 14.15 flight to EMA was now replaced with a Monarch flight at 02.50 the next day.....to LGW!!!!! with a 4-5 hour bus journey back to EMA. Not happy is putting it mildly and the replacement flight was certainly not acceptable to us so as we both had to go to work the next day, we paid £120 each to book an earlier flight to BHX with Thomson (which was then delayed)

It now appears our flight never actually existed anyway! Viking, for some bizarre reason, do not fly back from Kos to EMA - only from EMA to Kos.

Things going around in my head are -
How did this happen when we weren't with Goldtrail.
How could we be allowed to book a flight that didn't exist
NO COMMUNICATION!!!!

Any Ideas??

I had a good flight with Viking, excellent service, comfy leg room, nice crew, no delays. Sad that Viking will be laying off many staff off now that Kiss Flights have ceased trading - as Kiss used to take a large number of seat allocation for their charter routes to Greece and Turkey etc.

I would use them again in the future, I did have concerns, but even through all the Goldtrail and Kiss problems the flight with Viking was actually great.

While some of the comments are naturally understandable, we need to remember that Viking operated charters on behalf of tour /flight consolidators and companies.

It is the tour companies who have the responsibility of notifying passengers of delays, change of schedules and arrange for any assistance requirements at airports not the charter operator.

Care also needs to be taken on potentially libious comments such as Viking "fitness" for operations. Indeed it would have been because of crew hours elapsing and crew and aircraft change requirements for the SAFETY of passengers and in accordance with the airline standard operating procedures.

In a nutshell -Viking Airlines has nothing to do with the collapse of the companies responsible for arranging holidays and the safety of their passengers on their aircraft is no less than any other European registered company.

Nivsy

svayro has posted something which raises some odd issues.

We know Viking operate bulk charters on behalf of others and can understand that if the "other" goes bust then that flight won't run. But they also sell direct to the public via their website and it would be reasonable to assume that these bookings will be honoured whatever happens to other companies. This sounds like what svayro did. If Goldtrail had block booked a large number of seats on a scheduled flight and Viking decided to cancel it then they have a liablity to the direct passengers - it's covered by EC261/2004, this was a flight within the EU by an EU airline.

In the meantime, people with tickets not issued by Goldtrail seem to have been brought home at the expense of the CAA. Do they have any audit controls? Or was some deal done between the CAA and Viking in which some flights were completely cancelled and the CAA sorted everyone out and some flights were run and Viking took the loss. Very odd way to run an airline.

As to the Kos-EMA service, that may have been part of a triangular service with the outward flight as Gatwick to Kos via EMA, so the boards at Kos won't show EMA (and explains the stopover at Gatwick previously refered to). Their website timetable seems to be in the process of being changed but some Gatwick - Kos flights are shown with flight times well over 5 hours!

Steve8482, the triangular approach you mention makes sense. There was a couple arriving as we (finally) left the hotel who had flown out from EMA with Viking but had managed to find out a couple of days before they left that there was -in effect- no return flight and they had opted to go back via another carrier.

Had it not been for the return leg fiasco I would have recommended Viking to everyone as the the cost was comparable to something like a Ryanair flight but the service was much more pleasant!

Viking 'reaffirms commitment' to the trade

Viking Airlines has issued a statement ‘reaffirming' its commitment to the trade.

Failed operator Kiss Flights was one of the airline's key UK customers.

Immediately following the operator's collapse Viking announced plans to cut three aircraft from its fleet. It also stressed its financial stability.

In a statement to ‘tour operator customers and suppliers' the Swedish charter carrier said it was working closely with the CAA to help repatriate Kiss Flights customers and that its day to day operations were continuing to operate as normal.

It said: "Viking would like to re-confirm its ongoing dedication to its UK and European tour operator customers and suppliers.

"As mentioned on Tuesday evening, Viking has taken immediate action and has made positive progress in downsizing its fleet by 25% immediately post the repatriation programme.

"Viking will continue to maintain London Gatwick as an operational base in the UK and will also continue operating to and from various regional airports.

"Viking would like to re-emphasise that its operations outside the UK are not affected."

The majority of the airline's operations are based in central and eastern Europe and the Middle East.

In the UK it currently operates out of Gatwick, Manchester, East Midlands and Bristol with flights to destinations including Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife and the Greek Islands.

With permission from Travelmole

We booked Viking flights from flightline; had no idea it was through Kiss until we got a letter from flightline - 3 days after kiss went bust, so not impressed - why couldn't they have emailed us the same day, to improve our chances of getting replacement flights?
We tried to book new flights direct with Viking, because it was a convenient flight for us, only to be told that Viking has cancelled that flight completely. WHY? I understand that we would have to pay viking for the new flights and try to claim the Kiss money back, but they must be lots of people who would have liked to go on that flight anyway. Viking claims it is "set to continue its normal UK operations" but it does not seem to want to carry passengers.

I can see why people might be thinking this but take it from a business point of view, if that was you and you had just lost a quarter of your business, i think you would do everything possible to save your own company from being too exposed.

Kiss had some flights whereby it was all kiss customers and i think these are the flights which have been wiped out.
There were alot of other flights though whereby kiss only had a few seats with the rest taken up by other tour operators, these flights i believe are still continuing and i think viking are selling the left over kiss seats themselves, kinda make sense.
I think we will see viking returning to a smaller controlled programme here in the uk with a gradual expanison if any.

If I'd just lost a quarter of my customers, because of an intermediary that a lot of the customers probably didn't even know about, I'd be trying to regain those customers, by asking them directly or through the original agent, if they'd still like to go on the same flight (and pay viking direct). I wasn't given this option, so I am now a Monarch customer, not a Viking customer. Viking appears to have said that it is not interested in those customers.
If there was a really good reason for the cancellation, why can't they explain and people might by more sympathetic.

Problem is that as kiss were largely using viking, the collapse of kiss has left customers and agents wondering how secure viking is.

Whilst i am sure they are ok, many people are not taking the risk as booking direct with the airline offers no financial security or repatriation if they fail.

I would have loved to of kept my customers with viking directly but with soo many routes affected, viking which is wise to do, have reduced their risk and obligation.

Imagine a route whereby only a handfull of customers had rebooked directly with them, it would just be cancelled as financially it would not be viable.

In times of uncertainty customers look towards the bigger operators as they know they are more secure and are not prepared to loose again.

With their relationship soo close, the industry were worried about booking directly with viking, unless they are able to protect the customer.

Recently flown viking on the vkh 267 from manchester to preveza for a 2 week holiday in sivota. flight delayed 20 mins which was never a problem, inbound was spot on time !! aircraft was clean, comfy, and the cabin crew were excellent. one passenger was rather ill onboard and the girls couldnt do enough to help her and make her comfortable.
so no compaints from us ! would not hesitate to use viking again, and we wish them, and their super crew all the best for the future.

Just read this small article about Viking. Are any passengers affected or had their flying programme basically gone down to nothing due to it being the end of the season?

http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/groups/fleet_and_orders_gossip_shop/blog/archive/2010/10/15/airlines-suspending-operations-viking-airlines-temporaily-ceases-operations.aspx

Viking Airlines have suspended operations although they do state that all their contracted flying has finished for the season and no one is stranded. They vow to be back for Summer 2011.

Thought it was worth posting this infomation so people can make an informed choice as to whether they would book a flight with Viking. Not sure if their reservation system will shut down?

Personally, I'm not sure an airline can operate just for the summer season, shut down and then just start up again? What do the staff do, just sit around waiting for it to get up and running again?

I would be very dubious about their future.

http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=3208370&CMPI_SHARED_articleId=4361327&CMPI_SHARED_ImageArticleId=4361327&CMPI_SHARED_articleIdRelated=4361327&CMPI_SHARED_ToolsArticleId=4361327&CMPI_SHARED_CommentArticleId=4361327&articleTitle=Viking%20Airlines%20%27suspends%20operations%27%20but%20vows%20to%20return%20next%20summer

All a bit complicated.

Firstly there are more than one Viking Airline, using codes VIK and VKH, the latter being Viking Hellas which operates out of Greece although both are owned by the same Swedish company. Only VIK seem to be affected. Looking at the various combinations of their websites it seems they share some facilities.

VIK operations do seem to have been planned to wind down for the winter, there's virtually nothing left on the timetables and reservations site and I suspect what is there is operated by VKH.

More intriguing is that some of the flights offered seem to be on a code share basis with Monarch. So are they buying and selling seats on Monarch flights or are Monarch using VKH to operate some of their's?

Just checked Gatwick live arrivals, they still show a flight due 2255 last night from Banjul (although VIKs timetable suggest that should be Hurghada) expected 1700 today and other flights due this afternoon, I'll have a look on the radar sites closer to time.

VKH seem to have cornered a market in flights from Athens to various points in Iraq but do operate to Gatwick.

As for a planned suspension for the winter, why not? Most of the holiday airlines do something like it, many of the staff are seasonal and aircraft often move around the world on new leases (yes, they do fly south for our winter!!).

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Update 13:30
VKH368 Kalamata - Gatwick has appeared on radar more or less on time, currently over central Switzerland

Viking Hellas takes over flights from UK

Viking Airlines AB has confirmed that its flights from the UK will be taken over by Greek associate airline Viking Hellas Airlines, giving it time to restructure.

Swedish-based Viking AB has temporarily ceased flying and it has returned all four of its leased aircraft to their lessors.

Although some UK-based Viking AB staff may lose their jobs, the airline said passengers would not be affected as Viking Hellas will take over its flying from the UK.

In a statement released this afternoon the airline said: "Viking Airlines AB will continue its restructuring plan with the aim of completing such in the next three months."

With permission from Travelmole

Viking aircraft impounded at Gatwick

An aircraft operated by the Greek airline Viking Hellas was impounded at Gatwick airport on Monday for non-payment of fees.

The aircraft was later released after Viking Group settled the payment.

In a statement, Gatwick Airport said: "We can confirm that a Viking aircraft was detained by Gatwick Airport as a result of an unpaid, long-standing debt owed by Viking Group.

"Gatwick did not take this action lightly, but after months of chasing payment without success it became apparent that this was, regrettably, the only option left to recover the monies owed. The aircraft was released on Monday evening following the receipt of payment made by Viking Group."

It was announced earlier this week that Viking Hellas would take over flights from the UK that were due to have been operated by its associate airline, Swedish Viking Airlines AB.

Viking AB has suspended its flying until March next year, claiming that it needs time to restructure.

With permission from Travelmole

Well we have just booked our August holiday to a Mark Warner resort at San Agostino, Greece, and the invoice quotes the flights as being with Viking Hellas out of Gatwick. That makes me a bit nervous but lets hope the airline has learnt some lessons from the 2010 season!

The flight times have been confirmed but not the flight numbers yet, so it looks like they are still working that bit

Greek airline pulls out of Gatwick

Privately-owned Athens-based airline Viking Hellas has announced that it is closing its base at Gatwick airport and rebranding to Fly Hellas from May 1.

The airline said the name change had come about in a bid to disassociate itself from Swedish airline Viking AB.

The base at Gatwick will close this month but flights will still be operated from the airport using crew stationed elsewhere. It now plans to have bases only in Greece and Cyprus.

Gatwick flights for the rest of the winter programme and the summer programme have been covered using other airlines.

A statement from the airline said: "Viking Hellas has experienced unfortunate media coverage in the UK due to incorrect association with Viking AB, the Swedish airline currently in creditor protection under Swedish law."

Following the collapse of Kiss Flights and Goldtrail Holidays, it had been hoped that the carrier would start operating more flights out of the UK in the summer to fill the gap.

But the statement added: "It should be noted that, under the new brand name, only a small percentage of the company's total capacity will be sold in the UK. The majority of seats will be sold in the Russian and strong EU markets, where revenues are currently much higher than in the UK."

With permission from Travelmole

due to incorrect association with Viking AB

- excuse me but last year when this all started to go wrong the holding company's website showed both airlines as belonging to them and the Swedish airline's day to day operations management address was in Greece! In fact one page of the Swedish airlines site is still running and shows contact email addresses on the domain now used by the Greeks. http://www.vikingairlines.net

If they spin this story any more it will get it's own gravity field!!