Norwegian...Only friday flights to Orlando

nyck
nyck Posts: 147 Forumite
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in Overseas holidays & travel planning
Was looking to book Norwegian LGW-Orlando Sept/Oct 2020 .
Ive been waiting for my dates to become available and been checking on price once a week . They seem to only be flying on Fridays now ??
When i previously looked they flew every day but have scrapped that and only show Fridays
Anyone know why ??
Thanks

Comments

  • bradders1983
    bradders1983 Posts: 5,684 Forumite
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    Nobody on here is likely to know why, they will merely claim "operational reasons".
  • Westin
    Westin Posts: 5,940 Forumite
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    Norwegian have been quite open that they need to refocus their business in order to continue flying. They announced that they will scale back operations away from the growth seen in the past to that of operating only profitable routes. We have already seen them announce pulling ex Ireland flights to the USA. They are also closing their Madrid crew base. I expect there will be more adjustments in the pipeline.

    I have not heard anything specifically for Gatwick except that they placed their LGW slots up as collateral against their debt. I still expect LGW will play an important part of their operations but perhaps frequencies to Orlando are one of the changes needed. Also however a chance that being a low cost model that they simply haven’t loaded their full flying programme so far in advance.

    You have unfortunately just missed a BA and VS sale so prices are back up at the moment (until the next discount campaigns), both being the other MCO options.

    If you have the patience to wait, given travel not until Sept/Oct 2020 and lower season, I would personally wait and keep an eye on the Norwegian site to see if extra services added. Also compare against BA/VS who if following historical patterns may well do a flash sale around ‘Black Friday’ weekend.
  • bagand96
    bagand96 Posts: 6,100 Forumite
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    Could be a number of reasons:

    Demand - the weak pound is hurting UK-US tourism
    Profitability - Norwegian are reviewing a lot of their long haul flying, much of it is rumoured to be heavily loss making
    Aircraft availability - Rolls Royce engine issues on the 787 fleet has left aircraft grounded and meant they had to charter aircraft in from other airlines. This is both expensive and unpopular with passengers who expect the advertised “Dreamliner” experience. Norwegian also have 737MAX aircraft grounded and deliveries not happening so there could be a larger reshuffling of the fleet going on.

    As the above poster says, no one here will know for sure. It could just be a glitch on the website, or it could be a temporary review. It may seem strange such a dramatic cut on a popular route, especially with Thomas Cook collapsing, but maybe that’s a reflection on how much money they actually made on it.

    EDIT: I hadn’t seen Westin’s well written post at the time of writing this. Some good advice there.
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 16,469 Forumite
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    Demand and profitability tend to go hand in hand. If there isn't the demand to fill aircraft they will scale back to a point where flying the route either becomes profitable or proves not to be worth running at all. It makes no financial sense to run flights daily, but only quarter full on average, if they can fill them by running only on what have been the busier days.
  • nyck
    nyck Posts: 147 Forumite
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    Just noticed this morning they all back up apart from Monday and Wednesday , must be the new stream lined service
  • leylandsunaddict
    leylandsunaddict Posts: 1,923 Forumite
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    Norwegian have only released until end of September, and they're flying 5 days a week LGW-MCO. I still wouldn't book this early though!
  • bradders1983
    bradders1983 Posts: 5,684 Forumite
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    leylandsunaddict wrote: »
    Norwegian have only released until end of September, and they're flying 5 days a week LGW-MCO. I still wouldn't book this early though!

    Quite. If the OP is booking, use a credit card.
  • leylandsunaddict
    leylandsunaddict Posts: 1,923 Forumite
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    bradders1983 wrote: »
    Quite. If the OP is booking, use a credit card.

    Making sure his insurance covers a minimum of SAFI or better still, supplier insolvency is a good idea as well. If anything did happen to them closer to departure he'd need to be able to claim back for consequential loss.

    To be fair, if booking flight only they should have that anyway, no matter which airline they book with.
  • Westin
    Westin Posts: 5,940 Forumite
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    Travel trade publication TTG has reported this morning that Norwegian have made further adjustments to flight schedules for 2020 ex London Gatwick.

    Some additional frequencies to San Francisco, Austin, Denver and Tampa but reductions on Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Orlando.

    Orlando (for the OP) is reported as down to 5 flights weekly from 29 March 2020. Does not unfortunately add value to the OP's quest for a definitive answer but I think it shows that Norwegian are still playing with schedules.

    https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/norwegian-adds-new-flights-on-four-gatwick-us-routes-19665?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Midday%20Bulletin&AutoLogin=1
  • leylandsunaddict
    leylandsunaddict Posts: 1,923 Forumite
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    Westin wrote: »

    Orlando (for the OP) is reported as down to 5 flights weekly from 29 March 2020. Does not unfortunately add value to the OP's quest for a definitive answer but I think it shows that Norwegian are still playing with schedules.


    As I posted earlier, flights have been released to end of Sept. 5 times a week - Tuesday and Thursday thru Sunday for the Summer season. 7 days a week in April.

    Of course the schedule is always subject to change, like with any airline, and the earlier you book the more likely you are to experience changes of some sort.
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