Hi Zonda ... have you booked these Viking Airlines seats on a flight only basis, or as part of a package holiday ? It's possible that the aircraft is chartered to a tour operator, in which case the Fuerteventura route and availability would show on the tour operator's website, rather than the airline's.

David

Oh, all I know is we've hired a villa so the flight will be a flight only, not part of a package. Don't know who it was booked through though.

Zonda ... whoever you have booked the seats with may have chartered the aircraft. For example, I notice earlier in the thread that Airtours/MyTravel used Viking last year. If you could post your dates and flight numbers, perhaps one of our experts may be able to tell you more.

David

Zonda,

If you can get me a flight number or your flight details, I'll check for you. If your flight number starts with VIK, then it will be Viking. They use MD83's.

Darren

Cheers, the tickets are at my mates house, I saw them last night and they definitely say Viking Airlines. We fly at 11.30am from East Midlands on the 20th

I've just booked some flights to Tenerife for Christmas and new year, booked through XL but are flying with viking our flight numbers are vik55.
Trouble is I've just read this and my husband is scared of flying and won't get on the plane when it comes to if he thinks it's not safe. I've paid £100 deposit but don't mind losing this if needed. Are the planes and service dire?

It was 50th birthday surprise...a trip to Lanzaroti with my two daughters. Travelled to East Birmingham Airport to check in at 7.45 am. On check in was tols this flight was already delayed by 2 hrs. It kept on being delayed with no explanation at all. When we did eventually board at 1.30pm there was even more disappointment. Comfy seats but very dirty, couldn't bear to look inside compartment where details kept as this was disgusting. Make me feel sick. Even the stewardess looked scruffy with unkept hair. The flight passed without any mishap but was very boring as no earphones etc... I have flown for many years and never have been scared at all. Different matter when it came to landing on this flight..thought we had had it. Very bad incoming to land. Felt like the pilot was a beginner. Never will go again by Viking.

Hi there,

We're flying out to Fuerteventura on Wedsnesday 4th April from East Midlands, the flight no is VIK532 - am i right in thinking that is with Viking Airlines? Also the flight times there and back at the moment are different to the ones we've got (we only have a print out as we have to collect the tickets at the airport). Does anyone know if this is because at the beginning of April the flight times change due to the holiday season starting, i don't want to miss the flight and equally we don't really want to end up arriving far too early for it!
Any info is much appreciated, thanks

Bec

Yes your flight is with Viking, all I can suggest is to ring your Your Operator to check your outbound flight time.

Becs .. the timings on your booking confirmation should be correct, but it does no harm to double check. The difference between March and April flight schedules could be for operational reasons or because of the change to British Summer Time this weekend.

David

Thanks alot,
I'll try giving them a call to confirm, just one other thing - does anyone happen to know if Viking Airlines are part of Excel, i have heard somewhere that they are, and looking on the East Midlands site there's no contact number for Viking.

Cheers

Bec .. to reconfirm your flight times, you would be best speaking to your travel agent, tour operator, or whoever it was who issued you with the booking confirmation. Are there contact details shown on the print out which you have ?

David

Hi
We booked it on line through Expedia.

Just returned from Lanzarote yesterday with Viking Airlines.

Flight out of EM was delayed an hour with no explanation or apology once on board. The crew were made up of English x 3 and 1 x Maltese, pretty indifferent staff to be honest. The plane was old as were the leatherette seats and there was no headrest covers either. Generally the whole plane looked like it had seen better days.

We booked through Freedom flights and the flight tickets were issued with XL airways, we didn't book a meal but were given one on the outbound and inbound flights. The expensive snack service came round once and there is no inflight entertainment on board. The worst thing about both journeys was the disgusting smell on the flights, it was a combination of dirty, blocked toilets at the rear of the plane and general dirt from within the cabin, everyone complained about it going out from the UK but what a treat coming back on the return flight which had obviously just done a turnaround flight.....the smell was pungent and we had to endure it for in excess of 6 hours

The flight home yesterday was arduous to say the least, check in didn't open until 90 minutes prior to departure which meant huge lines of people waiting to check in & left little or no time to do anything before being told to board the flight which still managed to take off 25 minutes late. Once we were all onboard the pilot advised that he had a choice, due to the flight being seriously overweight.....leave passengers, luggage or fuel behind he chose the latter and began laughing, so everyone assumed it was joke until he advised we would be stopping en route at Faro-Portugal to re-fuel as we didn't have enough to get back to the UK

The captain and the crew told us NOTHING, there was no communication when we landed at Faro, no update when we took off and nothing said on landing.....very poor all round really.

90 minutes in, we sharply descended into Faro and took fuel onboard which took over 40 minutes. We arrived back into the UK very late and then there was obviously a problem as we circled the Midlands for over half an hour before finally touching down. At this point we were advised there was only one bus in operation and therefore it would take 4 trips to disembark us all Our luggage was off and waiting for us by the time we got into the arrivals hall....that's got to be a first !

It was quite simply the most painstaking journey back, I do this trip from Lanzarote every year and it was my first and definitly last flight with Viking. I certainly wouldn't recommend them or use them through choice, if I see a flight code VIK no matter how cheap I shan't be booking it.

Hi there,

I have booked a holiday to sharm el sheikh for oct 09, at the time i did not think anything of it and the package was with viking airlines.

Since reading on here I am really worried, has any one used this airline more recetntly as they all seem to be old posts? Are the reliable? I notice they are part of XL who went bust?

Also I saw one post that said that they use a little old aircraft and they had to move all the customers about to balance the plane to get it off the ground. I am really worried now, can anyone who has used them recently put my mind at rst?

Thanks

Kellylee

kellylee,

Have you booked through Kiss Flights? Kiss Flights is a seat only merchant thats' flights are operated by Viking Air. The way in which they are "connected" to XL (NOT part of it) is that some ex-XL staff work there. Viking have recently taken delivery of some ex-XL Boeing 737-800's which are to be used to operate the flights sold by Kiss. The Boeing 737-800's are nothing like the MD-80's so you need not worry about balance issues. Kiss doesn't start it's flights until summer but people who have travelled with Viking in the past may be able to coment on what the crew is like.

Alasdair

EDIT: Pic of one of the new Viking 738's: Ex- C-FTAE (G-XLAE)

Kiss Website

hi roboa

I booked it through beat the brochure.com, they said the package was with thomas cook but the airline would be viking?

I feel a little bit better from your comment as long as i get there and back safely, i can live with bad service!!

If it has been booked through Thomas Cook then chances are it's "sub" booked through Kiss. For example I could go and search for a flight to Arrecife on the TCX website then I may well get a price from Monarch as TCX search multiple seat merchants (I have to find another word for that!) for the cheapest flight. I hope that makes sence for you I would presume that Viking crew will be operating the website so personally I would go by what others have said.

Alasdair

kellylee wrote:

I notice they are part of XL who went bust?

Kiss Flight / Viking Airlines have nothing to do with failed XL Airways. The former CEO and a couple of directors are now involved in Viking Airlines, but there is no link to XL Airways. You'll find more information on the situation here.

kellylee wrote:

they had to move all the customers about to balance the plane to get it off the ground. I am really worried now, can anyone who has used them recently put my mind at rest?

That is the standard procedure when an aircraft isn't full. Balance of an aircraft (it's centre of gravity) is critical to ensure the aircraft will fly within operational limits and reduce fuel burn (technical term is trimmed). If, for example, a flight is half full and everyone sits at the front, the aircraft will be nose heavy (trim down). To counteract this, the aircraft will need it's control surfaces to keep the nose of the aircraft up (pitch-up). This not only increase drag and hence fuel burn, the aircraft will always be fighting to stay in level flight. This happens on a minor basis all the time (that's what the tims are for), but there are operational limits hence passengers and luggage / cargo are moved to balance things. It's perfectly normal.

roboa wrote:

The Boeing 737-800's are nothing like the MD-80's so you need not worry about balance issues.

The above applies to any aircraft.

Darren