NCL BOGO Air - overnight connections?

[NCMtnBoys]

I am curious whether anyone who has used the NCL BOGO air offer from the US to Europe has received return flights from Europe with overnight connections? We are cruising from Athens in September and I am very hesitant to use the BOGO air because of all the restrictions - not having any control over the flights and what they assign, routing, departure times, can't make changes once assigned, etc. I've been searching for months for flights to purchase on my own and am noticing some of the return flights from Athens back to Charlotte have an overnight connection, which I'd like to try and avoid. Would these be flights that NCL may potentially choose or do they attempt to get you back to your home city on the day you disembark the ship? I'm presuming if we were given a flight with an overnight connection it'd be on us to get a hotel in that city until our connecting flight the next day? I know their T&C state they try to do a maximum of two connections when possible, but I don't recall seeing anything about maximum connection times.

 

The price difference between the BOGO offer and buying on our own ($1450 round trip for two with BOGO vs $1600+ per person if purchased ourselves for flights that get us back to Charlotte the day we disembark the ship) is hard to ignore. I'm still not sure whether I'm willing to give up control of my flights to use the BOGO offer, but the savings are significant. If they'd just give us a little more information and choice - like maybe pre-select some flights and show us the flights we may get for the BOGO offer, it sure would be nice!

[njkate]

They won’t give you any info, you will have no idea until flights are ticketed and sent to you. If you’re seeing many flights with an over night connect and use BOGO, I’d be prepared and have an airport hotel that is refundable booked
 

Only you can decide if the savings are worth the unknown. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by njkate

[julig22]

 

https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

 

While this doesn't actually differentiate between premium air and BOGO, I think it applies to both. Previously, they also said that they wouldn't book overnight layovers but now they just say 5hrs.

 

I've done several European trips and only had an overnight layover once - but only because of a last minute change to my flight schedule due to SAS going on strike.  It actually worked out well because there were sleeping pods in the airport and my flight out was at about 6 am, so I just stayed in the airport.

 

On the other hand, the flights from Europe to the US tend to be afternoon flights, so no opportunity to take any post-cruise excursions - at least from London and Rome, I haven't flown to/from Greece.  Pretty sure that attempting to get you home on the same day isn't even on their radar.

 

Yes, it would probably save everyone a lot of angst if they gave you some choices - but I don't ever think that's going to happen.  On my last cruise, they booked a flight with a 45 minute layover in Seattle, instead of the next flight that was about 4 hours later.  Had they called me, I would have said give me the later flight (which I ended up on anyway).

 

[cwtravel]

There are 10 people in my group using the BOGO flight program to/from Athens in May for our trip on the Jade. Most are from the DC area though one couple is from South Florida. None have overnight connections from Athens back to the United States and the flights are all good.

 

To Athens 4 are on United thru Newark, 4 are on American thru JFK and 2 are on BA thru London Heathrow. Return from Athens 6 are on Delta thru JFK, 2 on United thru Washington Dulles and 2 are on Air Canada thru Toronto.

 

I, on the other hand booked my own on Air France and due to multiple flight changes ( none good)and having to spend a ridiculous amount of time on hold/phone with Air France (major pain) I can not believe I did not do the BOGO (I wanted premium economy seats). The cost is triple the BOGO fare and the people using BOGO have better connections and arrive into Athens earlier. With the potential for strikes throughout Europe this summer the NCL BOGO is looking better every day.

 

Flight back from Athens have few options  to get back to the US after the cruise ends, thus the high prices, unless you want a really late departure which causes the overnight stay or a very early departure the next day.
 

 

[Ditch]

We are researching the same topic and trying to decide based on connections to fly out of Raleigh or Charlotte in June 2024.  Looks like the best connections are either with Delta or United.  My biggest concern is the total flight hours/connections.  Not sure of the process and don't want to sit around and airport for 12+ hours for our next flight, BOGO is much cheaper by a few thousand dollars.

[NCMtnBoys]

9 hours ago, cwtravel said:

There are 10 people in my group using the BOGO flight program to/from Athens in May for our trip on the Jade. Most are from the DC area though one couple is from South Florida. None have overnight connections from Athens back to the United States and the flights are all good.

 

To Athens 4 are on United thru Newark, 4 are on American thru JFK and 2 are on BA thru London Heathrow. Return from Athens 6 are on Delta thru JFK, 2 on United thru Washington Dulles and 2 are on Air Canada thru Toronto.

 

I, on the other hand booked my own on Air France and due to multiple flight changes ( none good)and having to spend a ridiculous amount of time on hold/phone with Air France (major pain) I can not believe I did not do the BOGO (I wanted premium economy seats). The cost is triple the BOGO fare and the people using BOGO have better connections and arrive into Athens earlier. With the potential for strikes throughout Europe this summer the NCL BOGO is looking better every day.

 

Flight back from Athens have few options  to get back to the US after the cruise ends, thus the high prices, unless you want a really late departure which causes the overnight stay or a very early departure the next day.
 

 

Thanks for your reply. I've been eyeing the Air Canada flights through Toronto myself, it's slightly less than $1600 per person for basic economy (plus seat assignments and baggage fees) and has good flight times and gets us back in the evening without an overnight connection. For the return I do not want a later flight and that was what I was afraid of... that they'd stick us on the American Airlines flight that leaves at 4:05pm with an overnight connection. I'm glad to hear your traveling companions got good flights. Very encouraging!

[NCMtnBoys]

7 hours ago, Ditch said:

We are researching the same topic and trying to decide based on connections to fly out of Raleigh or Charlotte in June 2024.  Looks like the best connections are either with Delta or United.  My biggest concern is the total flight hours/connections.  Not sure of the process and don't want to sit around and airport for 12+ hours for our next flight, BOGO is much cheaper by a few thousand dollars.

Yea, I've searched Raleigh too and it's no better than departing from Charlotte for us. For us and my wallet the best option at this time seems to be the Air Canada through Toronto each way, one connection, good flight times. My biggest concern is having an overnight connection on the way back and arriving back the next day instead of the same day we disembark the ship. Still, if it costs $1450 for two from Charlotte using BOGO vs $3200 for two booking it ourselves, that's a big savings. I hope you find flights that work for you!

[NCMtnBoys]

8 hours ago, Ditch said:

We are researching the same topic and trying to decide based on connections to fly out of Raleigh or Charlotte in June 2024.  Looks like the best connections are either with Delta or United.  My biggest concern is the total flight hours/connections.  Not sure of the process and don't want to sit around and airport for 12+ hours for our next flight, BOGO is much cheaper by a few thousand dollars.

 

38 minutes ago, NCMtnBoys said:

Yea, I've searched Raleigh too and it's no better than departing from Charlotte for us. For us and my wallet the best option at this time seems to be the Air Canada through Toronto each way, one connection, good flight times. My biggest concern is having an overnight connection on the way back and arriving back the next day instead of the same day we disembark the ship. Still, if it costs $1450 for two from Charlotte using BOGO vs $3200 for two booking it ourselves, that's a big savings. I hope you find flights that work for you!

So I decided to go ahead and just add the BOGO offer to our reservation to have it there - can take it off later if we end up not wanting it - and since last week the BOGO price has increased by $300. Now $1750 for two. It had been $1450 for months. But it's on our reservation now and still nearly half the price of booking ourselves.

[NCMtnBoys]

On 3/16/2023 at 7:01 PM, julig22 said:

 

https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

 

While this doesn't actually differentiate between premium air and BOGO, I think it applies to both. Previously, they also said that they wouldn't book overnight layovers but now they just say 5hrs.

 

I've done several European trips and only had an overnight layover once - but only because of a last minute change to my flight schedule due to SAS going on strike.  It actually worked out well because there were sleeping pods in the airport and my flight out was at about 6 am, so I just stayed in the airport.

 

On the other hand, the flights from Europe to the US tend to be afternoon flights, so no opportunity to take any post-cruise excursions - at least from London and Rome, I haven't flown to/from Greece.  Pretty sure that attempting to get you home on the same day isn't even on their radar.

 

Yes, it would probably save everyone a lot of angst if they gave you some choices - but I don't ever think that's going to happen.  On my last cruise, they booked a flight with a 45 minute layover in Seattle, instead of the next flight that was about 4 hours later.  Had they called me, I would have said give me the later flight (which I ended up on anyway).

 

Thanks for the link, that's encouraging with just 5 hour max connection times. I know it's a gamble with what they assign and you just have to make the best of it if it's not ideal. 

[NCMtnBoys]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:31 PM, njkate said:

They won’t give you any info, you will have no idea until flights are ticketed and sent to you. If you’re seeing many flights with an over night connect and use BOGO, I’d be prepared and have an airport hotel that is refundable booked
 

Only you can decide if the savings are worth the unknown. 

Thank you, with the flights that I've researched there aren't many that would be truly awful. I could work with pretty much any of them although some would be less desirable. A few hundred dollars might not be worth the savings but $1500 would be, for me!