Norwegian Air

[CruisingIGo]

Does anyone know when Norwegian Air publishes their 2020 Spring/Summer schedules?

We are taking a Rome-to-Athens cruise in May and are interested in any west coast (Seattle, San Fran/Oakland, LAX) departures to Europe.

TIA!

[Zach1213]

I'm not terribly familiar with Norwegian long haul, but it looks like you can book through mid-June 2020 at this point.

[CruisingIGo]

I have flown on Norwegian long haul in 2018 and 2019.  What is currently offered for 2020 is significantly less flights.  I was thinking (hoping) that Norwegian hasn't release their full flight schedules yet.

[hallasm]

Expect changes - Norwegian does suffer from financial troubles and has been cutting flights - schedule right now available until March - 9 months in advance.

Also do not book 'too tight' before your cruise departure - have experienced some quite long delays.

[Zach1213]

3 minutes ago, hallasm said:

schedule right now available until March - 9 months in advance.

 

 

Not necessarily true, I'm able to get on their website and book (I chose a random mid-June 2020 date, LGW-JFK)

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Zach1213

[hallasm]

I did check flight out of LAX - however LAX to LGW has flights available until June 19

[clo]

3 hours ago, hallasm said:

I did check flight out of LAX - however LAX to LGW has flights available until June 19

And SEA cuts off in October, SFO goes into/through March.

[Zach1213]

23 minutes ago, clo said:

And SEA cuts off in October, SFO goes into/through March.

 

SEA is a seasonal route for Norwegian. As is the case with Norwegian, who knows if it'll actually come back in 2020.

[clo]

31 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

SEA is a seasonal route for Norwegian. As is the case with Norwegian, who knows if it'll actually come back in 2020.

Ah, thanks.  I didn't think of that.  We flew them (Premium) in March and were very pleased.  And, yes, their financial situation I guess remains less than 100% solid.

[hun]

We’ve been looking for Florida to FCO and Amsterdam to Florida flights for a May 2020  cruise - just looked but no fights yet. Hopefully soon! 

[Zach1213]

Just now, hun said:

We’ve been looking for Florida to FCO and Amsterdam to Florida flights for a May 2020  cruise - just looked but no fights yet. Hopefully soon! 

 

Are you limiting yourself to Norwegian? Most other airlines should have May 2020 open by now.

[hun]

59 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Are you limiting yourself to Norwegian? Most other airlines should have May 2020 open by now.

We’re not,  but what I’ve seen so far is around $1000 RT and I wanted to compare with Norwegian to get a sense of whether that’s the going rate and what we should expect for that route.  

We’re using Celebrity Air for an October cruise (MIA to FCO, BCN to MIA) and it’s only $600 RT, so I maybe spoiled 🙂  Our May cruise is NCL and their airfare is $1199 (plus wouldn’t even know the route until closer to the cruise date). 

[Zach1213]

14 minutes ago, hun said:

We’re not,  but what I’ve seen so far is around $1000 RT and I wanted to compare with Norwegian to get a sense of whether that’s the going rate and what we should expect for that route.  

We’re using Celebrity Air for an October cruise (MIA to FCO, BCN to MIA) and it’s only $600 RT, so I maybe spoiled 🙂  Our May cruise is NCL and their airfare is $1199 (plus wouldn’t even know the route until closer to the cruise date). 

 

The first thing to keep in mind is that October and May are very, very different markets for flights between the US and Europe. May is the beginning of the tourist explosion in to Europe, whereas October sees significantly less demand. Comparing October and May prices wouldn't be a fair comparison of...fares.

 

Frankly, $1000 roundtrip for May sounds very reasonable, assuming it's on a decent airline and through a decent booking system (or, preferably, an airline itself). I personally wouldn't wait for Norwegian (who may not operate the route, may not operate anything, or may be more expensive) to release and pass up the $1000 fare. Just my opinion.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Zach1213

[hun]

Thank you Zach!  We’ve traveled to Europe in the fall, never the spring, so I didn’t realize that - I’ll look to see what available for about that and not wait. Thanks again! 

 

(Coming back from Amsterdam 5/18, I didn’t want to wait too long to book, as that may be right after Eurovision weekend, if they decide to pick Amsterdam...)

[Zach1213]

54 minutes ago, hun said:

Thank you Zach!  We’ve traveled to Europe in the fall, never the spring, so I didn’t realize that - I’ll look to see what available for about that and not wait. Thanks again! 

 

(Coming back from Amsterdam 5/18, I didn’t want to wait too long to book, as that may be right after Eurovision weekend, if they decide to pick Amsterdam...)

 

I don’t foresee Eurovision having a big impact on Europe-US prices. I have no hard evidence to back that statement but I don’t see much demand between them because of it. 

[CruiseDigits]

The calendar function on ITA Flight Matrix is usually a pretty helpful starting point.  If you haven't used it and want a click path let me know and I'll post the steps I use here.

[CruisingIGo]

I don't know why, but ITA Flight Matrix does not search Norwegian Air.

I had an on-line chat with a Norwegian Air rep......they do not know/cannot provide flight schedule release dates.

[CruisingIGo]

22 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Are you limiting yourself to Norwegian? Most other airlines should have May 2020 open by now.

We will consider any airline that is offering a good "value" for the money......sometimes it's 1st class and sometimes it's coach.  When flying to Europe, we strongly prefer to fly on a 787.  Virgin Atlantic flyies 787s direct to LHR and has some great "values".  Norwegian Air also flies 787s, so want to compare with Virgin Atlantic's offerings.

[CruiseDigits]

Yes, I was thinking of ITA for a reference point of comparison.

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, CruisingIGo said:

We will consider any airline that is offering a good "value" for the money......sometimes it's 1st class and sometimes it's coach.  When flying to Europe, we strongly prefer to fly on a 787.  Virgin Atlantic flyies 787s direct to LHR and has some great "values".  Norwegian Air also flies 787s, so want to compare with Virgin Atlantic's offerings.

 

Just be aware that First Class is increasingly rare, even longhaul. Business Class is becoming more common as the "top" cabin. Even Virgin doesn't really have a First Class on the 787-9's, they have "Upper Class" which is equivalent to Business.

[CruiseDigits]

@CruisingIGo what dates are you thinking?  I picked random dates in May searching departures from LAX, SEA, SFO, or OAK and I'm seeing lowest pricing on ITA out of LAX.  Multiple airlines.  Fly to Rome, fly back from Athens.

[Fairgarth]

Latest news on Norwegian is dire.  They are now trying to sell some of their slots at Gatwick and the banks are withholding credit card sales.  I've seen that before - when an airline hits a rough patch and really needs the cash, the banks starve it to death.  Won't be long.

[FredT]

While I like Norwegian (3 flights out of Stewart to Edinburgh) I also have two friends who have been royally SHAFTED by the airline when they did not listen to advice and booked flights on them (day of) to european cruises.... And the flights canceled. (mechanical ).   As they do not interline with ANYONE, they were offered three options.  A refund, a flight the next day out of Boston, and a flight THREE days later out of Stewart...

[jasardeax]

On 9/5/2019 at 4:03 PM, FredT said:

 I also have two friends who have been royally SHAFTED by the airline when they did not listen to advice and booked flights on them (day of) to european cruises.... And the flights canceled. (mechanical ).  

In addition to a refund or rescheduled flight, did they get the compensation that they were entitled to per EU261? 

600 EURO each per flight

 

[FredT]

This was a couple years ago, and no, as far as I know they did not file. (They had no idea that a European law could/would apply to them...)   Most americans don't unless they surf Flyer Talk, etc etc....