Free Airfare

[jbethel11]

6 hours ago, JaysMom2 said:

 

I know, I'm biting my nails over this issue. It's totally ruining the anticipation I have for the cruise.

 

Goes to say, "nothing is ever really free in life". Either the cost of comfortability or the cost financially will overtake free.

[Nola26]

On 7/30/2019 at 5:17 PM, drstats said:

Alas, NCL is not "taking all the risks" when they book the airfare on this deal. I missed my connecting flight due to a 4 hour weather day, and missed embarking in Barcelona a few weeks ago. I met the ship in Naples, but NCL was absolutely no help (and they did nothing to get me to the next port), even though they did the flights. I "saved" by doing the cruise air, but not at all worth it from my opinion.  

Sorry for your experience. Did you call the in process NCL flight number?

We have the NCL travel insurance and are flying in a day early, so a similar delay would not impact our embarkation, just site seeing in Barcelona. 

[17cruisesnsl]

On 7/30/2019 at 3:29 PM, HerrTrigger said:

To make this even more interesting, when told there would be an additional charge of $600.00 to keep the perk, I requested to just drop the perk as it was not worth $600.00 to me. I could get there much cheaper than that. Perhaps there is a flaw in my logic but if I have to pay for a perk, I should be able to decline it. NCL response was, no cannot drop perk as it has already been booked and paid for. 

 This is concerning on many levels as this contradicts what I was told by premium air

I was told I could drop the air post ticketing if the times with no penalty .   I called so far out from our Jan cruise date that I didn't write down his name, date and time of call.    I'm traveling with DM age 91 so connection times and ability to chose seating matters

Lack of consistent information, when nothing is on the web site specific to a question, seemingly making up rules as they go alongis my biggest concern with NCL. 

Hope this works out for you 

[drstats]

10 hours ago, Nola26 said:

Sorry for your experience. Did you call the in process NCL flight number?

We have the NCL travel insurance and are flying in a day early, so a similar delay would not impact our embarkation, just site seeing in Barcelona. 

Yeah, and the "emergency" number they provided just put me on hold forever and then transfered me to a regular booking agent.  Frustrating all around.  If they would have let me fly in a day early, it would have been fine, so I'm glad you have that option!

[Jasonmom]

Just got flight information 52 days out - Charlotte to Miami.

 

Flight down is nonstop via American Air 9:20-11:25am.

Flight back via Delta leaves at 12:20 with layover in Atlanta for 1 1/2 hours, finally landing in Charlotte at 5:09pm.

 

Was able to move seats for American Air, but no seats showing for Delta. 

 

I have been sooo worried about our flights.  I've hated the wait.  But in our situation it worked out good. We would have rather flown down earlier (to give a bumper), but can't complain about anything at all.  

 

Here's hoping more people get good news.

[Pauser]

On 7/4/2019 at 1:22 PM, newmexicoNita said:

Our flights are already available and we are more than 3 months out. I am not very happy at all. Our TA is working on a better schedule for us. We leave here at 5am which means we have to be picked up by about 3:30am or no later than 3:45 or spend the night at the hotel near our airport. Coming home we are not scheduled to leave MIA until about 4pm and will get to our final destination about midnight I think. To add to all this, we are on a different airline than our friends who are traveling with us. They have great flight times as well 

This is what I would expect from "free" airfare. 

[newmexicoNita]

10 minutes ago, Pauser said:

This is what I would expect from "free" airfare. 

I totally agree and was disappointed but not surprised. As it turned out our TA was able to get us all on the same flight and better hours. If it hadn't have worked out we would have lived with the original flight because of the price. We all have to accept that free or massive discounts come with a price. 

[Pauser]

5 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

I totally agree and was disappointed but not surprised. As it turned out our TA was able to get us all on the same flight and better hours. If it hadn't have worked out we would have lived with the original flight because of the price. We all have to accept that free or massive discounts come with a price. 

I'm glad to hear that. Just go and have a great cruise!

[gemcrusier]

I have looked and cant beat NCL price my flights come up on the booking but dont know the time or airline yet this is for dec christmas time

[Alatraveler1]

JasonMom got great flights that, although who knows what NCLs price is, are quite expensive if you try to get them yourself.  They are by far not the worst times they could have been assigned.  There are much cheaper and much more inconvenient times NCL could have chosen for them.  This includes long layovers and flights with connections.  Maybe there is hope for the rest of us yet.  This certainly raises my expectations of what should be done.

 

[MasterCoach]

We have been receiving contradictory info from NCL  regarding our airfare thru the air promo program..  At first we were told our airfare would be ticketed within 60 days of the cruise. Then we got a message saying because of overwhelming demand it would be 45 days then a subsequent message saying 40 days. Two days ago our TA sent into about our flight schedule. Today I get an email that the flight info has changed.  Now the air promo department says they won't be booking the ticket until 30 days prior to the cruise.  The info we previously received regarding our flight schedule may or may not be correct. NCL says we should be happy because we are getting such a great deal on airfare.  There is a lack of customer service and customer communication.  

[WakeView4Us]

On 11/26/2018 at 4:36 PM, geneticfreak said:

Sounds like the transfer pricing is all over the place. Ours is just 32pp in Miami. 

 

There were 4 of us to get on the Breakaway a couple weeks ago...we booked an UberXL for about $40 total including tip and had a great driver. On the way back to the airport, we use MJS transportation for $15/pp...they always use Mercedes transportation buses. :)

[thepla]

TO me this was best perk ever. We were, my 11 year old son and I, were going on a 5 day cruise with Royal but airfare was almost 700. I tried Delta miles, AA miles, UA miles even British air and Amex and all were like 100,000 points for 2 of us combine. I happen to see NCL had this promo. We got an Oceanview (may do Balcony as this will be first cruise not in Balcony) for less money, all in, than airfare. NCL must be pre-buying a zillion tickets in advance. Seems we got free air, I chose internet and dining options. They did add 32 dollars to each of us and I was told I can take them off. I checked and uber or taxi is like 20 each way do 40 vs 64 isn't really a big deal. There is also at 15 dollar service charge for each of us for dining which relates to 79 at 20%. Not sure what we get for 79 but who cares. 

[NCruiser2012]

We booked the reduced air to Asia. I have never used a cruise line's air before, but we are flying to Tokyo during the Olympics and flights are very expensive. Since we have never been to Japan before, I am OK with using NCL's transfer to the cruise ship. We are staying in Tokyo 2 days after the cruise is over, so I am not so worried about the return trip. I am still months out, so I have not received any flight information.

 

I checked flights to Tokyo the day before the cruise (7/14) and they mostly arrive around 2:30 the day of the cruise (7/15). The cruise leaves at 5:00, so this won't work with the long ride from the airport. I called NCL's air number and the representative agreed that there are no scheduled flights that would get us to the port on time. I tried to change the flight so we could arrive 2 days ahead of time, but NCL says this is not possible. The representative said they might try to book the flight on 7/13 so we arrive on 7/14. I asked if they would cover hotel and, of course, the answer is no. Are they going to transfer us to the port 24 hours ahead of time?

 

So I am very confused on how this will be handled. Has anyone else used travel to Asia with NCL?

[Glitterbutton]

We have used the "Free Air Promo" before, in July of 2019, and had good flight times.  Very early departure on the way out, 5am but it was just my husband and I at that time and it was $198 total, plus $64 in transfer fees. Our travel agent told me these were a requirement from NCL and we didn't argue. All in we were $262 for round trip air. We were fine with that. Coming home, flight departure was around 11am, got home at 5pm, great.  So now we are taking our kids in March and we went with the "free air" again, $99 for my husband and I and $399 for each of my kids. $996 total round trip, plus $40 each for transfers. We could not have gotten this price on our own so we went for it. We recently received our air assignment from NCL. We are flying out of OKC to LAX the day before our cruise on the Joy. We paid extra for this option to go the day before. NCL said it was to pay for the hotel that they chose, a Hilton at the airport. That was around $200 for 4 people. With American Airlines we leave OKC at 4:55 and get to LA at 6:15pm, non-stop. Not great, we miss a day in LA but not a big deal. We are going for the cruise, afterall. Now...the return flight...we are scheduled to fly out of LAX on Sunday at 11:59pm! To arrive in Dallas at 5am. Leave Dallas at 7am to arrive home in OKC at 8:05am on a Monday morning. My daughter is supposed to be back in school after Spring Break off at 7:40am. My son at 9am. So needless to say, after a whole night of being on planes and in airports they are going to miss school that day. Thankfully, my husband and I have already requested that day from work or we would be missing work. This is a nightmare! It would be awful if it was just the adults but with my 6 and 13 year old, it borders on unacceptable. We have our travel agent trying to see what she can do for us right now. That expression of "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. To make matters worse, my kids and I were assigned seats and my husband was not. So now we are trying to get his seat assigned but of course all of the seats near us are taken, and the American Airlines website is malfunctioning so I can't even choose from the meager seats that are still available. So all in all, we have had a 50% success rate with getting acceptable flights with this promo.

 

[TMW67]

I also booked with the 2nd guest free airfare. The only flights available for our arrival day either get us to the port at 10:00 pm, or the next day. With this promotion, we were told we can't get there early, or stay later. So with that, will they end up booking us on an overnight flight a day earlier anyways, so we get to port early (5:15 am) on departure day, or does it HAVE to be ticketed out the DAY OF, and we're just screwed arriving late, and have to find a way to meet up with the ship at the next port on our own?

 

[hallux]

@TMW67 I posted a link to the promotion terms in this more recent thread on the topic - 

I'm not sure who told you that you can't go early but there's certainly an option to do so per those terms.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, TMW67 said:

I also booked with the 2nd guest free airfare. The only flights available for our arrival day either get us to the port at 10:00 pm, or the next day. With this promotion, we were told we can't get there early, or stay later. So with that, will they end up booking us on an overnight flight a day earlier anyways, so we get to port early (5:15 am) on departure day, or does it HAVE to be ticketed out the DAY OF, and we're just screwed arriving late, and have to find a way to meet up with the ship at the next port on our own?

 

Are you by any chance flying to Tahiti?  If so, they often do a charter, which is why you can't fly early or stay longer.  I never got the chance to go (thanks COVID) but we were scheduled to get in very early and were told we'd be able to leave our luggage and spend the time in the open-air market.

[paradiseawaitsme]

We fly out of Toronto and have taken the air promo each time in our last 4 cruises, and our next 3 booked (and hopefully sailing) cruises.  We always fly in 1 or 2 days prior and out 1 or 2 days after, depending on the Ports we are in and out of.  We usually book our own hotels though, because NCL hotels are way more expensive than we book for ourselves......we just have them remove the transfer charges.  Our experience so far has been pretty good.  The only crappy flights were from TO to Miami last February when they had us stop in Chicago going and New Jersey coming back.......(ridiculous for a 3 hour flight, but worth the $0 charge).  Our Europe and San Juan flights were all direct.    

Flights from Toronto are very expensive, so the perk is well worth it for us. 

Hope this helps.   Keeping fingers crossed that we can finally start sailing soon!!!

[KKB]

I just placed a hold on a Greece/Italy cruise 2023 to celebrate our retirement & kids' college graduations (DD's Med cruise was supposed to be last May...)

Looked at flight prices for this August--$1200-1500 each to Rome. NCL is pricing at $900-1000, and one flies free so gotta jump. We plan to add days on in front in Rome. So it will save us $3K-4500

[KKB]

Curious--if we go in a few days early do we get a credit for the transfer?

[hallux]

44 minutes ago, KKB said:

Curious--if we go in a few days early do we get a credit for the transfer?

You have to specifically ask to have it removed or not even added.  Have that done as soon as you can, I actually tried for my Oct. 2019 cruise but I tried to have it done too late and couldn't.

[KKB]

On 3/27/2021 at 8:57 PM, hallux said:

You have to specifically ask to have it removed or not even added.  Have that done as soon as you can, I actually tried for my Oct. 2019 cruise but I tried to have it done too late and couldn't.

So I can request this after booking? It adds $750 to our total cruise cost for the 5 of us. 

Pretty sure I can get transfers for less than $325 each way!! (tho I will research first!!)

[hallux]

11 minutes ago, KKB said:

So I can request this after booking? It adds $750 to our total cruise cost for the 5 of us. 

Pretty sure I can get transfers for less than $325 each way!! (tho I will research first!!)

Both times I used it (out of LA) they allowed walk-ups and charged it to the room (on the second cruise both myself and one of my travel partners were charged on the ship for the transfer even though we had pre-paid), though I'm sure they would prefer to know in advance.  I'm sure there's probably a deadline to have it added but I don't know what that would be.

[KKB]

Sorry I wasn't clear--can i get transfers REMOVED from our reservation? (cruise is over 2 years away)