Using NCL air Promotion

[Sailing12Away]

19 hours ago, victory2020 said:

I just put a deposit on a cruise for this September with air, & in the reservation it indicates that the air will be LA to Rome going & Rome to Toronto, Toronto to LA returning. I really like the air itinerary but can it change before final payment?

Don't trust anything with your flights until after final payment date, and until it is in your edocs. Once it's in your edocs you'll have the record locator number and can work with the airlines for seat assignments or upgrades. But whatever is showing now before that point is just a place holder.

[victory2020]

7 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Don't trust anything with your flights until after final payment date, and until it is in your edocs. Once it's in your edocs you'll have the record locator number and can work with the airlines for seat assignments or upgrades. But whatever is showing now before that point is just a place holder.

OK, thanks. Hope nothing changes, the itinerary is too good to be true.

[Sailing12Away]

If you're flying out of a major airport (LAX in your case, JFK in mine), you're most likely going to get a decent flight as the options are huge. Folks trying to fly from lesser known places or non-international airports will not be as lucky.

[DCGuy64]

23 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

If you're flying out of a major airport (LAX in your case, JFK in mine), you're most likely going to get a decent flight as the options are huge. Folks trying to fly from lesser known places or non-international airports will not be as lucky.

Random question, if you select a certain airport when booking the cruise, will NCL move you to a different one? We chose Dulles because it's nearer our house but was also cheaper than BWI or DCA. I wonder if NCL will switch airports on us? BWI is a long way and if we had an early flight (ie before 8 am) that would be an unhappy morning, LOL!

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

BWI is a long way and if we had an early flight (ie before 8 am) that would be an unhappy morning, LOL!

Trinity Reservations can provide reasonably priced stay and park accommodations at BWI.  Drive up the night before, get a good night's rest and then drive home afterwards.  No sales tax with them as well.

I doubt that NCL would switch you up though.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, SNJCruisers said:

Trinity Reservations can provide reasonably priced stay and park accommodations at BWI.  Drive up the night before, get a good night's rest and then drive home afterwards.  No sales tax with them as well.

I doubt that NCL would switch you up though.

Thanks for the tip. The one time my wife and I used BWI was when flying early morning to Hawai'i. We stayed at a local hotel the night before and it was quite nice. Anyway, as you say, they're not likely to switch us.

[Sailing12Away]

Do a mock booking for the airports in your area. Sometimes driving a bit out of the way will make it easier to have a direct flight rather than layovers and be worth it in the end. If there's no difference or your preferred place is better - they won't switch you. I've never had them switch me, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't do it if they had to.

 

JFK vs LGA I'm fine with, but if they tried to send me to Newark because it was cheaper I would be pissed.

[DCGuy64]

28 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Do a mock booking for the airports in your area. Sometimes driving a bit out of the way will make it easier to have a direct flight rather than layovers and be worth it in the end. If there's no difference or your preferred place is better - they won't switch you. I've never had them switch me, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't do it if they had to.

 

JFK vs LGA I'm fine with, but if they tried to send me to Newark because it was cheaper I would be pissed.

Thanks, that’s a good idea. I’ve actually done that and seen that the prices are just about the same, it depends on the level of service. For instance, Spirit airlines goes out of BWI and is relatively cheap but it’s totally no-frills. We have a credit card that gives us free checked bags on American, so we will make sure to pay for our cruise with that card in case they book us on American. 

[Sailing12Away]

Uggg, unless it's a short 45 min flight that I paid $25 or less for, I would avoid Spirit at all costs. You get what you pay for. I don't think NCL would ever use them. 

[teacherman]

Looking at a NCL offer (second person flies "free") for a flight to Cape Town, South Africa.  People say that you can maybe pay the airline to "upgrade" your seats.  I assume that NCL will book you into the lowest priced seat (middle seats in a row of 4) for a potential 26 hour flight with 2 stops.  Anyway, since I have received very low priced seats, exactly how can the airline determine how much it cost me to upgrade?  Is it the difference in price on the day I do it, or difference on the day NCL bought it?  How likely is it I could actually upgrade to business class?

[kevin&randall]

1 hour ago, teacherman said:

Looking at a NCL offer (second person flies "free") for a flight to Cape Town, South Africa.  People say that you can maybe pay the airline to "upgrade" your seats.  I assume that NCL will book you into the lowest priced seat (middle seats in a row of 4) for a potential 26 hour flight with 2 stops.  Anyway, since I have received very low priced seats, exactly how can the airline determine how much it cost me to upgrade?  Is it the difference in price on the day I do it, or difference on the day NCL bought it?  How likely is it I could actually upgrade to business class?

 

It's been a few years since I worked with air fare, but most likely the airline would process it in the following way.  Since I'm math stupid, I'm making this easy. 

 

Let's say the retail flight costs $100; and the business seat costs $250.  NCL only paid $80.  IF the air can be upgraded, the airline would baseline your ticket at $100 and make you pay the difference between the two retail price points.  In this case, you'd pay $150 out of pocket.

 

I say "IF" because some fare basis codes are set up so they are not even considered.  With the 2-for-1 Air Special, NCL might be using these types of fares.  It's really hard to say.  

 

We paid $899 for two of us to fly to Athens.  I hope we can upgrade to business because that is a LONG way from Orlando.

 

-Randall-

[Sailing12Away]

2 hours ago, teacherman said:

Looking at a NCL offer (second person flies "free") for a flight to Cape Town, South Africa.  People say that you can maybe pay the airline to "upgrade" your seats.  I assume that NCL will book you into the lowest priced seat (middle seats in a row of 4) for a potential 26 hour flight with 2 stops.  Anyway, since I have received very low priced seats, exactly how can the airline determine how much it cost me to upgrade?  Is it the difference in price on the day I do it, or difference on the day NCL bought it?  How likely is it I could actually upgrade to business class?

For simple sake, if you buy a coach ticket yourself and want to upgrade to comfort plus, it's $50 (for example, I'm making this up) per person per leg. If NCL buys your coach ticket, the cost is still $50 per person per leg. No difference. I've done this with AA and Alaska Air, I imagine it would be the same on Delta or other major carriers.

 

Most airlines let you make this upgrade yourself on their website with no issue, no fuss. To go into business class you may need to call the airline directly - you usually can't upgrade that much online (across multiple cabin classes), but I would imagine it's the same theory. Your seat is worth $xxx whether you paid it or NCL paid it.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

We have a credit card that gives us free checked bags on American, so we will make sure to pay for our cruise with that card in case they book us on American. 

You need to buy those tickets directly in order to get the free checked bags.  If done through a third party, American doesn't give you the free bags.

[DCGuy64]

20 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

You need to buy those tickets directly in order to get the free checked bags.  If done through a third party, American doesn't give you the free bags.

Thanks. We’ll just pay out of pocket then. No biggie. 

[DCGuy64]

4 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Uggg, unless it's a short 45 min flight that I paid $25 or less for, I would avoid Spirit at all costs. You get what you pay for. I don't think NCL would ever use them. 

I’ve heard that many a time about Spirit. To be fair, my only experience with them was pretty good: I flew to Puerto Rico in 2004 just after singing for the Reagan funeral and it was cheap, I upgraded to First Class for something like $30 each way and got free drinks + a spacious leather seat. 

[pghflyer]

Just curious if anyone has had a city change recently on their BOGO flights?  I selected BWI (Baltimore) but wondering if I will end up with IAD (Dulles).....however looking in the T&Cs it seems they only will select alternate airports within 60 miles and by Google Maps, IAD is 63 miles from BWI.  I suppose I could end up with DCA (Reagan) as it is within 40 miles but unlikely as this is for international and not much there.

 

"Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to select an alternate airport within 60 miles based on itinerary"

Edited July 20, 2022 by pghflyer

[cruiseny4life]

On 5/24/2021 at 4:48 PM, Sailing12Away said:

JFK vs LGA I'm fine with, but if they tried to send me to Newark because it was cheaper I would be pissed.

You just gave me nightmares. I used to fly in and out of all three NYC airports for work - depending on where the meeting was. Typically I had to fly into Newark - aside from an easy way to get status, this airport was terrible, as was United. Nearly half the times I flew to Newark, I had to drive myself home due to cancelled flights. Thankfully I only lived in Rochester so it was an easy drive...but I still never want to go to Newark again. Just driving by on 95 gives me shivers!

 

Now that I've started a new job, with business travel, I'm beginning to have nightmares about DCA. I've had to drive home from National given the current travel nightmares flyers are having. 

[Sailing12Away]

23 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

You just gave me nightmares. I used to fly in and out of all three NYC airports for work - depending on where the meeting was. Typically I had to fly into Newark - aside from an easy way to get status, this airport was terrible, as was United. Nearly half the times I flew to Newark, I had to drive myself home due to cancelled flights. Thankfully I only lived in Rochester so it was an easy drive...but I still never want to go to Newark again. Just driving by on 95 gives me shivers!

 

Now that I've started a new job, with business travel, I'm beginning to have nightmares about DCA. I've had to drive home from National given the current travel nightmares flyers are having. 

I forget who I was checking flights for, but on kayak they once showed me a flight that landed in LGA and then you had to transfer to EWR for your connection overseas. I don't care if that flight was free, there was no way someone was making that connection in time.

[kkoenig89]

I received my flight information this morning for my September 25th cruise, 52 days out. I was pleasantly surprised to receive them before the 30-day mark since that is what we were informed it would be via email. We requested a 1 day deviation at the beginning of the cruise, which was honored and we have an early morning flight. We fly from a local regional airport and have 1 layover each way to/from MIA. Hopefully the early morning flight means less chance for delays on the way to Miami! Our flight home departs MIA at 1:10pm. Overall, very happy with the flights we were assigned!

 

Edited to add: We were able to log into both United and American Airlines this morning to pick our seats and connect them with our frequent flier numbers and KTNs.

Edited August 4, 2022 by kkoenig89
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[RamblinRosey]

3 hours ago, kkoenig89 said:

I received my flight information this morning for my September 25th cruise, 52 days out. I was pleasantly surprised to receive them before the 30-day mark since that is what we were informed it would be via email. We requested a 1 day deviation at the beginning of the cruise, which was honored and we have an early morning flight. We fly from a local regional airport and have 1 layover each way to/from MIA. Hopefully the early morning flight means less chance for delays on the way to Miami! Our flight home departs MIA at 1:10pm. Overall, very happy with the flights we were assigned!

 

Edited to add: We were able to log into both United and American Airlines this morning to pick our seats and connect them with our frequent flier numbers and KTNs.

We are also on a Sept 25 cruise out of Southampton.  We are flying from San Diego.  Where did you find your flight info? Was it emailed?  Or in your online account?  Can’t wait to get this sorted!

 

Denyse  

[kkoenig89]

3 minutes ago, RamblinRosey said:

We are also on a Sept 25 cruise out of Southampton.  We are flying from San Diego.  Where did you find your flight info? Was it emailed?  Or in your online account?  Can’t wait to get this sorted!

 

Denyse  

We got our flight info emailed. I have yet to also see it in my NCL account online, which I think is a little strange.

[SpacemanSpiff]

On 5/17/2021 at 11:51 PM, Sailing12Away said:

You can cancel the flights up to 60 days before sailing

 

This assumes they've actually assigned you said tickets before then.  As of late, it seems to be in the 30 day range when they notify the cruiser - meaning that by the time they get you your ticket, it'd be too late to opt out.

[hallux]

2 hours ago, SpacemanSpiff said:

 

This assumes they've actually assigned you said tickets before then.  As of late, it seems to be in the 30 day range when they notify the cruiser - meaning that by the time they get you your ticket, it'd be too late to opt out.

I think you're confused.  I don't think the poster you quoted (who posted their comment over a year ago) was saying to cancel the flight with the airline, I think they were talking about removing the flights from the NCL reservation.  You have until 75 days to the cruise to make most changes to your flight request (deviations, primarily) when using the promo.  There's no defined deadline that I can find for cancelling it but I would say final payment or that 75 day deadline is probably a good guideline.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Ok - sorry for the confusion. 

[Sailing12Away]

Yup, anytime we use the NCL air promo, I still check flight prices on my own anyway from time to time. When you get close to that final payment date, if you find a better deal on your own then ask NCL to remove the air before you pay off the cruise. If NCL is still better, stick with them and stop checking or you'll drive yourself nutty.