Norwegian long haul cancellation - cashpoint exchange

SamTimBen

Hello all, my first time posting, just wondered whether anyone has any advice please?  We booked 6 premium ticket flights to Orlando with Norwegian for travel in September 2020, for my big birthday.  Last June, Norwegian emailed us offering free option to transfer tickets into Cashpoints to use on a flight in 2021.  We did this and last October booked for flights for September 2021.  We've just been emailed to say the flights are cancelled and they'll no longer flying long haul.  They will only refund our tickets back to Cashpoints.  Do we have any way of getting our original money back, we paid alot of money (from our current account). Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.  

Westin

Was there a reason why you accepted the refund in their Cashpoints rather than a physical cash refund?

Even back in 2018 it was well reported that Norwegian were struggling financially.  Holding credit in a financially unstable company, now effectively bankrupt, was never going to end well. A bit like shop gift cards.

I don’t think you have any legal recourse to transfer Cashpoints to cash. I guess no harm in asking the airline but you are seeking goodwill and cash from an airline with no money. If that fails at least you hopefully will still have the opportunity to burn through the Cashpoints on some of their Nordic routes post travel bans being lifted.

SamTimBen

We were never offered a refund and when they sent the email about cashpoints in June, they hadn't cancelled the flights.  We were worried that they'd still fly and we wouldn't travel and lose it all.  They also offered an enhanced points deal with a take it now or it'll go tone.  We looked at their financial state but they were still being supported by the Norwegian government.  All in all we thought this a better chance of still flying, 

Westin

I suspect others will also be left with Cashpoints. Might be worth contacting the travel journalist Simon Calder at the Independent to see what his thoughts are and if he is willing to take up the issue.

SamTimBen

Thank you, I agree I suspect there will be others.  I will reach out to Simon as you suggest and see whether there's anything we can do. 

bagand96

Good advice from @Westin.  You took the Cashpoint offer at the time (and I can see why you did).  Your new booking was payed for via cashpoints, so now Norwegian have cancelled it, they have refunded by that method of payment.

The company is in dire straits so I doubt they have the cash to refund everyone's cashpoints even if they wanted to.  There will be a lot in the UK (and US) left in this predicament I am sure.

Alan_Bowen

The Norwegian CAA ordered them to pay all outstanding refunds within 7 days on Wednesday this week. Part of the reason behind yesterdays announcements regarding long haul was the hope, real or imaginary, that the government would step in again and help them if their business was Scananavian based rather than flying from major European capitals. Norway's air services are currently in an interesting mess, Wizzair launched 5 weeks ago but refuse point blank to allow unionisation with the result they are being boycotted by many and the government seems keener to protect Norwegian again to get rid of Wizz!

mattyprice4004

Was your original flight ever cancelled? The problem you have is if not, you weren’t entitled to a refund so the credit was a gesture of goodwill. 

rebeccaw7

Hi all,
Also my first time posting - I created this account to see if there was any advice available as I have the same issue as SamTimBen. I booked 4 return tickets from London to New York in December 2019 for travel in August 2020. When our flight was cancelled in June 2020, we took the CashPoints because we wanted to rebook in the future when it was save to do so. Now that the company have announced they're no longer flying long haul, we're left with almost £2000 worth of CashPoints. If we wanted to use those up on the reduced flight network that is currently available before our CashPoints expire (we have to book by the end of December 2021 and fly by October 2022), we would have to travel multiple times and obviously in the current climate that is not feasible. I did briefly speak to someone from Norwegian on their live chat and they said:

As per my check your ticket has been already refunded in CashPoints. The redemption period for Cp is till December 2021 and then one year ahead to use them. Currently we do not have any information regarding change of CashPoints into cash. You will be notified in case new policy will appear. In case there will not be flights to the USA till 2021 it may be possible that cp period will be extended or you will be provided with more options.

I realise Norwegian are probably not obliged to do anything but I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice!

Thanks,

Rebecca

 

Westin

Perhaps as I suggested to the other poster, contact Simon Calder to see if he might take the matter up.  The more of you in a similar situation perhaps more likely it would become a good media investigation and story.

SamTimBen

Hello Rebecca, I must admit I feel a bit better knowing we're not the only ones that have this issue.  Interesting that your live chat with Norwegian seemed to imply there might be a change in policy or am I clutching at straws?
I have tried to contact Simon Calder, Martin Lewis and the BBC news regarding our problem, as yet no reply.  Simon's website is great, but he does say he won't be able to respond to every query.  I think Westin is right, we may have more luck if there are more of us.  In the meantime i just keep emailing the various news channels to see if I can get someone to take note.  Also, I've spoken with my bank and they are prepared to raise a 'dispute' with Norwegian on our behalf.  This is based on the fact that Norwegian are unable to provide us with the service we originally paid for, so this might be worth exploring?  I'm not sure how optimistic they are, but worth a shot.   Please let me know how you get on.
thanks
Sam