Terrible NCL air flight times

[Fishy 1]

We booked cruise buy 1 get one free airfare.  Received flight arrangements yesterday which is 30 days out.  Outbound flight was perfect. Went on Alaska air to upgrade our seats. Paid the appropriate upgrade fee.  Return flight is a totally different story.  Cruise docks in Vancouver at 6 AM.  NCL booked us on a Air Canada flight at 11:20 pm arriving at Chicago O`hare at 5:30 AM.  There is a Air Canada flight at 1:45 PM that has availability.  NCL and Air Canada won`t change us to earlier flight even if we pay difference in fare. Nor can we upgrade our seats for a fee.  Seniors on our 3rd NCL cruise and never had any issues. Any suggestions so we don't spend 12 hours at the airport and red eye home?

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

This is always a risk when using cruise line airfares. The cruise line will put you where they can get the best fares, especially when doing a promotion involving a free flight. They are under NO obligation to get you the flight you think is best.

 

We always book our own, as do many people here. 

[Globaliser]

53 minutes ago, Fishy 1 said:

Any suggestions so we don't spend 12 hours at the airport and red eye home?

 

Buy separate tickets for a different Vancouver to Chicago flight, and throw away the NCL ticket.

[6rugrats]

Agree, buy a separate ticket and use that.  Is your age relevant to this problem?

[LHT28]

Can you cancel the return flight  with NCL  & just book  a flight more suitable to you?

[Zach1213]

Third vote for "do it yourself". Ahem. 

 

Anyways, yeah...definitely look at the cost of a one-way YVR-ORD flight, and weight that against the time and expense of spending a day in Vancouver. Not just time, not just money, but the combination of the two and how much it means to you to (a) get home on the same day you leave, and (b) not have to deal with a short redeye (which are usually awful). 

[FlyerTalker]

10 hours ago, Fishy 1 said:

 NCL booked us on a Air Canada flight at 11:20 pm arriving at Chicago O`hare at 5:30 AM.  There is a Air Canada flight at 1:45 PM that has availability. 

 

Just because there is availability to the general public does NOT mean that there is availability to NCL under their bulk ticket purchase contract.

 

Remember that cruiseline air tickets and tickets bought directly from the airline are apples and oranges.  Do not try to compare, conflate, or extrapolate from one to the other -- in either direction.

 

But hey, you got a deal.  Isn't that what you all want?

 

 

[Fishy 1]

We were hoping to be able to change our flight and pay any difference in air fare.  We thought we would be able to do that through Air Canada.

 

We did in fact get a good price on the cruise and did not book the package for the BOGO air.  We actually contemplated booking our own air arrangements, and as it turns out, should have done that.  

 

Trying to find out if anyone has had any luck changing a flight with the airline at the airport on day of departure when NCL has booked a bulk rate?

 

[CruiserBruce]

31 minutes ago, Fishy 1 said:

Trying to find out if anyone has had any luck changing a flight with the airline at the airport on day of departure when NCL has booked a bulk rate?

 

Good luck with that...in today's really high demand flight environment, EXTREMELY unlikely. You have an very restricted fare, and it may not be changeable, even if, in the unlikely situation there are available seats on the desired flight.

[6rugrats]

1 hour ago, Fishy 1 said:

 

 

Trying to find out if anyone has had any luck changing a flight with the airline at the airport on day of departure when NCL has booked a bulk rate?

 

IF changes are allowed, which they often are not with very discounted rates, your ticket will be repriced at whatever it cost that day.  I would guess significantly more than what you paid.

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by 6rugrats

[waterbug123]

Even if someone else has been able to do this, it doesn't mean you will be able to.  Lots of different reasons for that.

[hallux]

On 5/30/2023 at 11:42 AM, Fishy 1 said:

Any suggestions so we don't spend 12 hours at the airport and red eye home?

I have a suggestion so you don't spend the day at the airport, but it's not changing the flight home.  Find and book a tour for after the ship docks.

On 5/30/2023 at 1:36 PM, LHT28 said:

Can you cancel the return flight  with NCL  & just book  a flight more suitable to you?

Once they're ticketed you can't cancel the flight through the cruise line.  OP is definitely after final payment anyway, and as the airfare was part of the cruise fare it would be subject to the cancellation fees for less than 30 days before sailing so it's not really worth it. 

[Hlitner]

While I have some empathy for the OP's dilemma, in some ways he/she got what they paid for!  With NCLH companies, you are dealing with a system that encourages folks to take the cruise line arranged air (you get whatever they they choose to give) rather than make your own flight choices (some NCLH lines charge extra for that service).  Other companies, such as many with CCL and RCI, do not charge extra fees for folks making their own choices, and even have online booking engines where cruisers can explore various flight options, prices, and make their own choices.

 

So, the OP took their chances (to save a few dollars) and now they are going to pay the price in time.  That being said, it can even happen to folks that choose their own flights.  My advice to the OP is consider this a lesson learned!  If you use cruise/air in the future, only do it when you have the ability to choose your own flights.  If the cruise line cannot do that, or is not price competitive, than book your own flights through normal means.

 

By the way, why we are on the topic of cruise line travel arrangements, folks should beware that using cruise line pre/post hotel/transfer packages will often cost about twice the price of simply making those arrangements on your own.  These days it is quite easy to book one's own hotels and transfers (or simply use a taxi or Uber).

 

Hank

[hallux]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Other companies, such as many with CCL and RCI, do not charge extra fees for folks making their own choices, and even have online booking engines where cruisers can explore various flight options, prices, and make their own choices.

NCL has this as well, it's called NCL Premium Air.  The BOGO is a discount offer...

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

[em-sk]

On 5/31/2023 at 9:01 AM, Fishy 1 said:

We were hoping to be able to change our flight and pay any difference in air fare.  We thought we would be able to do that through Air Canada.

 

We did in fact get a good price on the cruise and did not book the package for the BOGO air.  We actually contemplated booking our own air arrangements, and as it turns out, should have done that.  

 

Trying to find out if anyone has had any luck changing a flight with the airline at the airport on day of departure when NCL has booked a bulk rate?

 

 

The way this works is when a travel agent (or some other entity that is kind of acting the same way like a cruise line) books a flight they are in control of the ticket until around a day or two before when control transfers to the airline.   Under rare cases the airline will take over control earlier.  So Air Canada is going to tell you to go talk to NCL.

 

This is the published economy fare structure at Air Canada for flights to the US:

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/fare-options-and-fees/to-the-us.html#/

The special deal NCL and Air Canada negotiated is going to be based on these, there could be some special "NCL" specific conditions that we don't know about.

 

If you are in Basic then you can't make changes.  If your in Standard you can change it at the airport or in advance but it costs money.  If your in a higher fare class the change may be free.

 

If Air Canada reschedules your flight then that opens up the ability to make changes for free.  

 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, em-sk said:

If Air Canada reschedules your flight then that opens up the ability to make changes for free. 

 

But even then, it is subject to the specific fare rules of the ticket, as well as the extent of the schedule change.  A five minute change isn't going to allow you to get a wholesale change in your itinerary.

 

 

[happy cruzer]

On 6/3/2023 at 8:07 PM, FlyerTalker said:

 

But even then, it is subject to the specific fare rules of the ticket, as well as the extent of the schedule change.  A five minute change isn't going to allow you to get a wholesale change in your itinerary.

 

 

If the airline makes a major change, do you normally have the option of a refund?  Is the answer - it depends?  🙂

[6rugrats]

4 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

If the airline makes a major change, do you normally have the option of a refund?  Is the answer - it depends?  🙂

It depends on the airline’s rules.  if you book a highly restricted ticket, you may not have this option.

[FlyerTalker]

6 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

It depends on the airline’s rules.  if you book a highly restricted ticket, you may not have this option.

 

And each airline has their own rules.  There is no blanket "number" that qualifies as "major".

 

Plus, as noted, the specific fare rules for your ticket are part of the governing structure for your travel.

 

 

[megr1125]

NCL's air is terrible.  I'd never use it and would never suggest that anyone else does either.  You get what you get and it cannot be changed.

 

I agree with the others, buy your own ticket back.  Waiting to try and change at the airport is a terrible idea.