Viking Hellas -whats going on? how to claim money back?

marthara · October 30, 2011

Has Anyone some information on Viking Hellas airline? whats going on?.

i booked a ticket on a flight Athens -Manchester on 20 /10 /11

Due to strike the ticket been exchainged for the flight on 27 /10/11

On the day of a flight ,when all passengeres come to airport they were told -there is not any flight today.

Why ? No any explanation.

Now 3 days later, still no any information.

All phone numbers in Greece do not reply, in the U.K. their representative have no information at all, keep sending as to headquoter in Greece where as we remmeber no replys at all.

For me these looks like beginnig of bankruptsy, but ....

the question what i suppose to do? The money for the ticket already have been paid...

Any chance to return?

thank you for all suggestions

honeybee13 · October 30, 2011

Hello there. I'm not sure if it's relevant, but did you book the tickets in the UK or Greece please?

My best, HB

marthara · October 30, 2011

I booked the ticket here, in England, through Flyvikinghellas.co.uk website, using Natwest debit card issued here in England as well.....

Today even e-mails wich i tryed to send them were failed to be delivered.......

sad..... £135 gone....,,,

rachelcharlesworth · November 21, 2011

I am in exactly the same position i was due to be on the cancelled flight from Athens on the 27th as well,I've sent viking 2 emails(to a email address i was given over the phone by a representative) to no avail.I have tried to contact the European consumer right commission as the caa couldn't help me because i was flying from europe not the UK and i'm still waiting for a response from them.I'm 500£ out of pocket due the this flight and 2 others i had to fork out for the following day to get back to Manchester.

anyone got any advice??this has been going on for nearly a month now

many thanks

Rachel

GeorgiaTsakiri · January 3, 2012

Dears Marthara and Rachel,

I am with you on this. I purchased two flights, MAN>ATH and ATH>MAN, and was due to fly out on the 23rd December with my sister and her partner (who are also chasing this up). Viking Hellas failed to inform us that the flights had been cancelled, and it was by pure chance that we found out two days before we were due to fly out. As a result, we purchased new flights at a dear cost - this is the most expensive Christmas I can remember.

Ladies, my first advice to you is to see whether you paid be credit card, as you may be able to claim the money back from yur bank. Secondly, legally, we are required to write a formal letter and send it to the HQ in Markopoulo. In this letter you must quote EC regulation 261/2004. This is the first step in initiating a legal procedure. Make sure you keep a copy of this letter.

I suggest we watch this space, and see if we can collectively pursue legal action - in these cases, it's best doing this collectively rather than as an individual.

Rachel, did you have any luck with the European consumer right commission?

All the best,

Georgia

dingledo · January 7, 2012

Hello,

I'll be watching this thread as I'm in the same position. I was due to fly out of Athens with Viking Hellas on 22nd December 2011 and back from Manchester on 6th January 2012. By chance I found out 10 days previously that the company had gone bankrupt. Since I live in Greece I contacted the passenger rigths people at tha Civil Aviation Authority here, but they were as much in the dark as me.

Anyway, I wrote to Viking at Markopoulou in Athens quoting the European regs but the letter has come back unopened and marked " They left" by the Greek post office. So, good luck to you all!!

Dingledo

LaughingGirl · January 7, 2012

I've just found this on their alternativeairlines.com. It's not much, but there is at least an address on there.

Update December 05th 2011
Viking Hellas has ceased to trade with its three aircraft being returned to the aircraft lessors. There is currently no information available as to what financial arrangements have been made to deal with outstanding creditors and it is unclear what legal status the company currently holds. It appears, however, that there is no likelihood of the airline restarting operations in the way described in their press release published on the 15th November 2011. Passengers seeking advice as to how to obtain refunds for unflown flights should deal directly with the travel agent though which they bought their flight tickets or write to the Head Office address in Athens: Viking Hellas K. Papadimitriou 33, 19003 Markopoulo, Athens, GREECE.

EDIT: Sorry, I've just seen the post above mine, he must have posted while I was searching. Doesn't look like the address is going to be much good.

GeorgiaTsakiri · January 7, 2012

Hello all,

Dingledo, thanks for the input. I also wrote to their Head Office in Markopoulo, and my letter had the same fate as yours. Have you had any further luck with the Greek Civil Aviation Authority? Is there another consumer protection agency / organisation we can contact here in Greece? Although I live abroad, I am Greek and am happy to call any Greek agencies that may help us.

As mentioned in my last post, the bigger the force, the better the result, so I urge everyone who's been affected to step forward and leave their comments on this thread.