Double check your flights if you get them through NCL

[EliseL]

We got our flights through NCL and were sent the info a few months ago but then got an updated schedule a few weeks ago.  Our cruise ends in Athens July 4th and flying out right away.  But I just noticed tonight that they changed the flight coming home to July 5th.  😲  .  It's being escalated and we're waiting to hear back.  We're flexible and going with the flow so if the flight can't change they just need to get us a hotel.  But I If I hadn't noticed we would have gotten to the airport and found out we'd wouldn't be leaving for 24 hours.  It never even crossed my mind that they would change the date on our flight.  So just double check if you get revised flight details from NCL.

[hallux]

7 hours ago, EliseL said:

But I just noticed tonight that they changed the flight coming home to July 5th.

WHO changed it?  NCL sent you the updated booking, but is it possible the airline adjusted schedules?  Is it possible the airline changed the time of the flight on which you were booked so as to be too early to make it from the ship to the airport in time?  There may not have been another flight meeting NCL's financial requirements that left on July 4.

[EliseL]

21 minutes ago, hallux said:

WHO changed it?  NCL sent you the updated booking, but is it possible the airline adjusted schedules?  Is it possible the airline changed the time of the flight on which you were booked so as to be too early to make it from the ship to the airport in time?  There may not have been another flight meeting NCL's financial requirements that left on July 4.

Who knows.  They just sent me a new attachment with the detail that looked to be an automated email.  No real communication from them.  That’s why I didn’t notice it.  Like I said it never occurred to me that they would give me a different date.  Lesson learned and there’s time to get it sorted out.  

[RocketMan275]

10 hours ago, EliseL said:

We're flexible and going with the flow so if the flight can't change they just need to get us a hotel.  

Best  you contact NCL about the hotel.

[mjkacmom]

I wonder if NCL will cover the hotel. Once NCL provides flights, their job is done. If the airline makes changes, you need to work with them.

[RocketMan275]

44 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I wonder if NCL will cover the hotel. Once NCL provides flights, their job is done. If the airline makes changes, you need to work with them.

IIRC, there was a thread several months ago where a person was complaining that NCL wouldn't provide a 'free' hotel in a similar situation.

[drew69]

Everyone should regularly check their flights regardless of how they are booked.  Airlines regularly do schedule changes, equipment changes, changes to seat assignments, etc.

 

I would not wait for NCL to escalate and get back to you.  You should use your airline record locator and check directly with the airline on what occurred and the best way to handle it.

 

If the airline canceled or changed your original flight, then NCL would not owe you a hotel or anything.

 

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

I remember being sent e-mails from NCL constantly before our cruise last summer with "new" flight information. And every time I checked, the flights both ways were exactly the same. The first few times I expected changes, but after that I still checked just in case but no longer expected changes.

 

And I guess they also sent those e-mails to our TA, and after I got the NCL e-mail, I would get the same e-mail from him.

[swmichigan cruiser]

What is now happening for us. We had great flight times for going to and from Seattle. And got a second confirmation from NCL so I went to the airline website to book our seats and found out the flights coming home are pretty messed up they now have us leaving Seattle at 6:00 am the morning the ship returns to Seattle so impossible. I guess what I really don't like is we had to find this out and NCL didn't notify us there was a problem and fortunately the cruise isn't until September so there is time to get this corrected even if I need to pay and book myself flights. Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do have my TA working on this.

[mjkacmom]

1 minute ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

What is now happening for us. We had great flight times for going to and from Seattle. And got a second confirmation from NCL so I went to the airline website to book our seats and found out the flights coming home are pretty messed up they now have us leaving Seattle at 6:00 am the morning the ship returns to Seattle so impossible. I guess what I really don't like is we had to find this out and NCL didn't notify us there was a problem and fortunately the cruise isn't until September so there is time to get this corrected even if I need to pay and book myself flights. Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do have my TA working on this.

I don’t know if NCL even monitors flights once they are booked.

[swmichigan cruiser]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

I don’t know if NCL even monitors flights once they are booked.

We got a second confirmation from NCL on our flights to Seattle to change the times by just a few minutes. So they did at least once.

[Asawi]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I don’t know if NCL even monitors flights once they are booked.

I have had major changes on NCL booked flights twice. Both times it has been the airlines that has made the changes very close to departure. Both times I have worked with the airlines (not without frustration! Anyone else have experienced Lufhansa's horrible muzak while on hold?) to sort it, but I have also recieved messages from NCL about the changes once they were done.

One of them was my flight back to Europe from NY that got cancelled/rescheduled in an impossible way (connecting flight departing before arrival of first filght) on the day before debarkation. I got a message through Guest services to contact the "air department" (or whatever their actual name is) and when I said I was aware and had sorted it out already they said "Oh... Wow!" Apparently not what they are used to... 

[SoloAlaska]

Double check your flight no matter who you book through. Air Canada completely changed my flights and never sent a notification. The only reason I found out is because I went on the app for something else. My direct flight I paid a ridiculous amount for now has a connection where we will now have to go through customs. Not so bad if I’m flying solo but as a group of 12 there was several reasons a direct flight was preferred which is what we paid for.

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, SoloAlaska said:

Double check your flight no matter who you book through. 

Amen to that! 

[Middleager]

We always keep checking our flights no matter who we booked them with.

 

We had booked with NCL, and so far they've turned out fine.  We've had airlines change/cancel flights often.  One just happened a few days ago, while we were on the first segment, the connecting flight got cancelled and we got rescheduled.

 

Another time we left home in early afternoon for a flight with Air Canada.  We visited a family member on the way, and while there I checked and found out that evening AC flight was cancelled, no reason given.  We drove home and I spent close to two house just waiting to eventually talk to someone, and eventually they got us on the same flight time the next day.  (I also had to rearrange the hotel and car rental bookings)

There are numerous stories, so we're not surprised if there are flight time changes/cancellations.  Ship happens and we got to deal with them and move on.

[Sailing12Away]

18 hours ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

What is now happening for us. We had great flight times for going to and from Seattle. And got a second confirmation from NCL so I went to the airline website to book our seats and found out the flights coming home are pretty messed up they now have us leaving Seattle at 6:00 am the morning the ship returns to Seattle so impossible. I guess what I really don't like is we had to find this out and NCL didn't notify us there was a problem and fortunately the cruise isn't until September so there is time to get this corrected even if I need to pay and book myself flights. Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do have my TA working on this.

If your cruise isn't until September there is no way you have flight info now in June. Flight info when booked through NCL free air promo isn't released until around 30-45 days before sailing. 

 

What you're seeing is just a place holder probably. Unless you have a record locator number from an airline you do not have booked flights yet this early out.

[swmichigan cruiser]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

If your cruise isn't until September there is no way you have flight info now in June. Flight info when booked through NCL free air promo isn't released until around 30-45 days before sailing. 

 

What you're seeing is just a place holder probably. Unless you have a record locator number from an airline you do not have booked flights yet this early out.

I had record locators for our flights going to Seattle and went to the AA website and gave them our AA frequent flyer numbers and got our seats assigned. When I went into my record locator for our flights going home is where I discovered the flights were  messed up. So I guess there was a way I had flight info.

[Wulfwyn]

NCL air has been giving out the flight information upto 100 days before your cruise.  Our Prima cruise from Galveston in March, our flights were assigned in November.   Our flights for Iceland in September, we assigned in May.  Its nice to have early so we can hotels. 

Wulfwyn 

[Wayward Son]

14 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

there is no way

 

That's a statement that should never be made regarding NCL.

 

[reeinaz]

Well, so happy I read this thread. I had been getting air confirmation emails from NCL but there were no changes. I am flying to Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise this weekend. Well, OMG. I just checked my Air Canada flight (my outbound flight to Vancouver) to see it was cancelled!!! I had previously logged in and selected my seats and gave my contact info for updates. NOTHING from Air Canada. Air Canada did not move me to another flight and I don't have access to select another flight because they were purchased by NCL. This is the first time that has been an issue and I book all my flights using NCL BOGO. So it looks like it's an Air Canada thing. I have always received communication regarding changes directly from Delta, AA, and United once I went into my flight booking to update contact information. But I called NCL and let them know and they will be rebooking me on something else. Thank goodness I was travelling in 2 days early. 

[EliseL]

Follow up.  For me it wasn’t the airline.  NCL booked me for the wrong day coming home.  Took a few days but they fixed everything and got me on the right date with a different airline.  They also apologized saying it was their error.  For what it’s worth the people we dealt with were very nice.  I’m just so glad I noticed when I did.  Definitely learned to pay better attention to the details.  

[sheshe01]

On 6/15/2024 at 4:04 AM, Sailing12Away said:

If your cruise isn't until September there is no way you have flight info now in June. Flight info when booked through NCL free air promo isn't released until around 30-45 days before sailing. 

 

What you're seeing is just a place holder probably. Unless you have a record locator number from an airline you do not have booked flights yet this early out.

Incorrect. We are booked for Sept 1st. We received our air confirmation from NCL on May 18th.

[cruiseny4life]

On 6/15/2024 at 7:04 AM, Sailing12Away said:

If your cruise isn't until September there is no way you have flight info now in June. Flight info when booked through NCL free air promo isn't released until around 30-45 days before sailing. 

 

What you're seeing is just a place holder probably. Unless you have a record locator number from an airline you do not have booked flights yet this early out.

That's how NCL was! They are getting better. For our March 2023 cruise, we received flight information (the actual tickets) in late January. For the November 2023 international cruise, it was 100 days in advance. We upgraded our seats since that was an international long haul flight. I was absolutely stunned we received the tickets so far in advance (our PCC was too)!!! 

Thankfully, the booking system for flights is becoming a wee bit more reliable....now I've said this, NCL is going to go back to the 30 days in advance! 

[redmomof4]

On 6/15/2024 at 6:04 AM, Sailing12Away said:

If your cruise isn't until September there is no way you have flight info now in June. Flight info when booked through NCL free air promo isn't released until around 30-45 days before sailing. 

 

What you're seeing is just a place holder probably. Unless you have a record locator number from an airline you do not have booked flights yet this early out.

We got our flights on 4/19 for a cruise leaving 7/31 🤷🏼‍♀️

[dilbertsdaddy]

what I've learned in 43 years of travel (including 25 years of weekly business travel) is that you NEVER let anyone else book your flights for you - not an admin, not a client, not a tour operator, and certainly not a cruise line.  

 

Airlines do schedule changes every month, so the further out you book the more likely it is that there will be schedule changes.  If NCL books so late that should at least minimize this chance.  If you book directly through the airline, resolving schedule changes is usually pretty easy.

 

I've seen some truly horrid schedules booked by cruises for people I've cruised with.  Arrive dead tired, and drama when you don't get what you want and things go awry.  Not worth it.