Norwegian Air Flights between US and UK

Anne8584

I am on a study exchange in the US and due to return to the UK at the end of July. I have a flight booked with Norwegian but I have recently been receiving emails about cashpoints. I rang Norwegian and they informed me my flight was not cancelled, but when I look at the online booking system it now says that my flight and all flights between Seattle and the UK are 'sold out' up until the end of October. Bookings for the LA to London route are still being taken however for July, but that route is 'sold out' up until July and when I last looked bookings were being taken for June. It seems however that Norweigan may be taking bookings for flights which will very likely get cancelled. 
From what I have read online I think it is very unlikely there will be any flights with Norwegian between the US and UK this year. Other airlines I could use are more expensive and will continue to get more expensive the longer I leave making a booking. I am not sure if to wait a bit longer or book with another airline now. 

Life__Goes__On

Did you buy a return ticket from Norwegian?

harz99

Anne8584 said:

I am on a study exchange in the US and due to return to the UK at the end of July. I have a flight booked with Norwegian but I have recently been receiving emails about cashpoints. I rang Norwegian and they informed me my flight was not cancelled, but when I look at the online booking system it now says that my flight and all flights between Seattle and the UK are 'sold out' up until the end of October. Bookings for the LA to London route are still being taken however for July, but that route is 'sold out' up until July and when I last looked bookings were being taken for June. It seems however that Norweigan may be taking bookings for flights which will very likely get cancelled. 
From what I have read online I think it is very unlikely there will be any flights with Norwegian between the US and UK this year. Other airlines I could use are more expensive and will continue to get more expensive the longer I leave making a booking. I am not sure if to wait a bit longer or book with another airline now. 

If it is a one way flight, they appear to be waiting until 7-14 days before departure date before actually cancelling so that you can get a refund. You are correct in that all indications from Norwegian themselves are that UK/US flights will not resume until around April next year, and even then only on select most profitable routes. Personally I would be booking an alternative flight with another carrier as soon as you can, unfortunately that may be significantly more expensive and/or require a "scenic" route.
As to the Airpoints offer, you could go that route, but who's to say they'll even be flying anywhere you want to go in the future, a straight refund would be my choice even if it takes a while to get back to you.
Good Luck.

Anne8584

It is a one way flight. I think I am going to book a new flight now, I know that United are flying between the US and UK currently so should be a safe bet and I will save on the inland flight as they go from SFO. Currently flights are £424 with United with checked baggage included for late July, for June they are over £1,000. The flight with Norwegian cost £214 and bookings are no longer possible for that flight so I think its very likely that won't go ahead and I will have to spend a lot more if I wait for them to cancel then book with another airline close to departure. 

lizziep

'sold out' appears to be Norwegians euphemism for cancelled

harz99

lizziep said:

'sold out' appears to be Norwegians euphemism for cancelled

Just a delaying mechanism to control the cash flowing out of the company...

thekman

Hi, I am in a similar position. I have flights to and from the USA booked for August. I've heard there is no way they will fly again to the US until next year. They only just scraped a bailout from their Govt with the help of Chinese taking a share.
I keep getting asked to take cashpoints but if you do you lose certain rights I believe. I would not suggest that route.
My annoyance is I need this money back as I may want to rebook for later in the year. This is a clear policy of keeping hold of your cash when they know they will not provide the service paid for.
How can I push this along? Through my credit card? Through my travel insurance?

The thing is, as the OP states, they are not officially cancelling flights until very close to travel.

harz99

thekman said:

Hi, I am in a similar position. I have flights to and from the USA booked for August. I've heard there is no way they will fly again to the US until next year. They only just scraped a bailout from their Govt with the help of Chinese taking a share.
I keep getting asked to take cashpoints but if you do you lose certain rights I believe. I would not suggest that route.
My annoyance is I need this money back as I may want to rebook for later in the year. This is a clear policy of keeping hold of your cash when they know they will not provide the service paid for.
How can I push this along? Through my credit card? Through my travel insurance?

The thing is, as the OP states, they are not officially cancelling flights until very close to travel.

You can't is the simple answer. Until the flight is showing on your reservation as cancelled, your options are take the Airpoints offer (don't) or sit tight until the day they finally officially cancel those flights. In the second case you will not get any money back until after the flight has cancelled, and card companies/travel insurance will not want to know until either cancellation has officially happened or your travel dates have passed. Welcome to the "Rock and a hard place Club".

movilogo

Norwegian have to refund you if they cancel the flight.
If you cancel, then they don't have to refund you at all. They may offer you voucher as goodwill. 
If you want money back, then unfortunately your only option is to wait till airline cancels the flight.

jap200

I contacted Norwegian by a private Facebook message about my flights to/from LGW and Denver, Colorado in June/July. I could see that it was not possible to book flights on the dates we were flying, so suspected that the flights had been cancelled, but we had not received a cancellation email (as it says on the website that we should). I was told that they have a massive backlog to deal with, and that the email or text would arrive much nearer the dates, but that all flights on that route were cancelled to the end of August. I was told to take the following steps to put in my refund request without waiting for the email:
1. Sign in to the Norwegian website
2. Go to this page on the Norwegian website: https://www.norwegian.com/uk/flight-status/updates/?promo_name=NAS-corona-home&promo_id=info-hub-from-HP&promo_creative=UK-white-box-HP
3. Click on "Can I claim a refund or Cashpoints if I cancel my booking?" to open the drop-down options.
4. If one or more of your flights has been cancelled (even if you haven't been notified yet) you will see a red sentence that says: "If you want to claim a refund, you can cancel your booking and submit a claim." IF YOU ARE LOGGED IN AND DON'T SEE THOSE WORDS THEN YOUR FLIGHT HAS NOT YET BEEN CANCELLED
5. Follow the steps and fill out the form and you will receive a case number (also confirmed by email).
6. My email says:
"Thanks for getting in touch with Norwegian. This is a quick note to let you know that we’ve received your inquiry and it’s been assigned the following reference number: XXXXXX-XXXXXX
If you need to send us any extra information, you can reply to this email and attach any documents. It’s best not to send a reminder to this address as it can unfortunately slow our handling process down.
Thanks again for contacting Norwegian; we’ll get back to you as soon as we've finalised your request."

So it seems to me that even if the flights are cancelled the booking will not automatically be cancelled and refunded - you need to manually request this option. I guess they are hoping people will use the credit option instead. 

nyck

jap200 said:

I contacted Norwegian by a private Facebook message about my flights to/from LGW and Denver, Colorado in June/July. I could see that it was not possible to book flights on the dates we were flying, so suspected that the flights had been cancelled, but we had not received a cancellation email (as it says on the website that we should). I was told that they have a massive backlog to deal with, and that the email or text would arrive much nearer the dates, but that all flights on that route were cancelled to the end of August. I was told to take the following steps to put in my refund request without waiting for the email:
1. Sign in to the Norwegian website
2. Go to this page on the Norwegian website: https://www.norwegian.com/uk/flight-status/updates/?promo_name=NAS-corona-home&promo_id=info-hub-from-HP&promo_creative=UK-white-box-HP
3. Click on "Can I claim a refund or Cashpoints if I cancel my booking?" to open the drop-down options.
4. If one or more of your flights has been cancelled (even if you haven't been notified yet) you will see a red sentence that says: "If you want to claim a refund, you can cancel your booking and submit a claim." IF YOU ARE LOGGED IN AND DON'T SEE THOSE WORDS THEN YOUR FLIGHT HAS NOT YET BEEN CANCELLED
5. Follow the steps and fill out the form and you will receive a case number (also confirmed by email).
6. My email says:
"Thanks for getting in touch with Norwegian. This is a quick note to let you know that we’ve received your inquiry and it’s been assigned the following reference number: XXXXXX-XXXXXX
If you need to send us any extra information, you can reply to this email and attach any documents. It’s best not to send a reminder to this address as it can unfortunately slow our handling process down.
Thanks again for contacting Norwegian; we’ll get back to you as soon as we've finalised your request."

So it seems to me that even if the flights are cancelled the booking will not automatically be cancelled and refunded - you need to manually request this option. I guess they are hoping people will use the credit option instead. 

Damn ... My Florida flight isn't until end of September so its only showing the Cashpoints option , which strange as on there Covid T&C is states cashpoints can only been taken if "The outbound flight for the original booking must depart before 21 August 2020"

I didnt follow the process through so it may of declined the Cashpoints as my flight is after 21st August

I checked and you can still book London to Orlando from 1st September onwards ,so im not so sure how true this April 2021 is ??

All i know its very frustrating as you dont want to cancel your disney booking to find your stuck with the flights