Second person flies free perk???

[KarimaJ]

Hi. Just wondering your experience using this perk. We may book today for our Med cruise next summer and we see this perk being offered. Do they only use certain airline carriers or is it flexible? Are the times generally good to fly in the day before? Thanks.

 

 

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[hallux]

There's some discussion of this in another thread, not sure if it covers what you're looking for but it's a new spin on an old perk.

 

 

[klfrodo]

When was the last time you got something for free?

Last time I got something for free, it was a free drink in the casino.

I lost $200 in the slot waiting for my free Budweiser, but it tasted very good when it finally arrived.

[farmersfight]

32 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

waiting for my free Budweiser, but it tasted very good when it finally arrived.

 

[smplybcause]

It's likely similar to a previous promo. Basically you have no choice on the airline or time of day - you just get to pick the day but it's no more than 2 nights early or 2 nights late. They try to limit stops, but you're not guaranteed non stop even if they're available. 

 

Only use it if 1) It's a decent price and 2) you're ok with having no control over your flights. 

[KarimaJ]

12 hours ago, smplybcause said:

It's likely similar to a previous promo. Basically you have no choice on the airline or time of day - you just get to pick the day but it's no more than 2 nights early or 2 nights late. They try to limit stops, but you're not guaranteed non stop even if they're available. 

 

Only use it if 1) It's a decent price and 2) you're ok with having no control over your flights. 

 

Ya, agree. Since we only use the Wifi and drinks perks we will probably book. Then when the time comes to book the airfare we can decide if we even want to use it. Any idea how far in advance they book the flight? Is it really close to the cruise date? 

[hallux]

32 minutes ago, KarimaJ said:

Any idea how far in advance they book the flight? Is it really close to the cruise date? 

They book anywhere between final payment and 45 days out I think, or they did.  You can't just decide to add it though, it needs to be part of your reservation prior to 90 days before sailing, and if you want a deviation (fly in 1-2 days before or out 1-2 days after) that needs to be requested before 75 days until sailing.  The airfare offer also needs to be a current promotion at the time you want to add it.  You can't book today, decline the air promotion and then decide later that you want it but if it's not available then I don't think you can add it (someone can correct me here).

 

Also be aware that taking the airfare offer generally adds the transfers from airport to ship, if you want to take other transportation be sure to remove those.

Edited October 20, 2020 by hallux

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, KarimaJ said:

 

Ya, agree. Since we only use the Wifi and drinks perks we will probably book. Then when the time comes to book the airfare we can decide if we even want to use it. Any idea how far in advance they book the flight? Is it really close to the cruise date? 

 

Doesn't matter when they book it - it matters when you have to pay for it which is by final payment which is officially 120 days out. They don't usually book it that far out, but you have to pay for it with your final payment then. The last promo it averaged around 45 days but I saw a few got booked like 60 days before and others that didn't know until around 30 days before.

 

Also beware that if you select the airfare, after final payment you can only get the obc or upgrade if NCL is still offering the air promo you booked under (very likely they won't) so you won't be able to do that if you choose it. 

[Fergus]

We just booked a cruise for June 6, used the two-for-one airfare deal and our reservation summary includes specific flights.  They are on a major carrier, I think we have one stop going one direction (Charlotte, Toronto, London) and maybe nonstop back home from Reykjavik.  I haven't even looked at the times, just assumed it would pretty much be straight from the airport to the pier.  

[smplybcause]

2 hours ago, Fergus said:

We just booked a cruise for June 6, used the two-for-one airfare deal and our reservation summary includes specific flights.  They are on a major carrier, I think we have one stop going one direction (Charlotte, Toronto, London) and maybe nonstop back home from Reykjavik.  I haven't even looked at the times, just assumed it would pretty much be straight from the airport to the pier.  

 

Be advised I know from posts on the previous air promo that they put in place holders and more often than not the flights you see were not the ones finally assigned. 

 

Oh, and with the last air promo there was also no guarantee to get you to the ship. So if you were flying in day of and your flights got delayed NCL wasn't paying for you to catch up with the ship. 

[hallux]

3 hours ago, smplybcause said:

Be advised I know from posts on the previous air promo that they put in place holders and more often than not the flights you see were not the ones finally assigned. 

This happened to me.  Within a week of booking the cruise I had placeholder flights showing just the airports with no times and no airline listed.  The day before I had final flights those placeholders changed to the ACTUAL airports (just the connecting flights changed, I was sailing with another party and mine changed to match theirs).

 

3 hours ago, smplybcause said:

Oh, and with the last air promo there was also no guarantee to get you to the ship. So if you were flying in day of and your flights got delayed NCL wasn't paying for you to catch up with the ship. 

I don't see anything in the T&C's about this.

 

There IS a new clause in there though, something that wasn't there a year ago.  I know this because none of the 3 of us (in 2 cabins) paid a $25 fee for this guarantee (only for the deviation to fly in the day before) but our reservations were linked.  There's a "Travel with guarantee" whereby all passengers in up to 4 cabins pay a $25 fee and the reservations are linked for the purposes of flight booking.  For the bolded line, I'm reading that as this linking needs to be done prior to air ticketing being done for any passenger.  Here's the relevant section - 

The Travel With Guarantee program ensures that eligible guests on different reservations are booked on the same flight:

• A maximum of four reservations per Travel With group.
• A non-refundable fee of $25 per person applies to all guests in the cabin (who are two years or older).
• Air cannot be ticketed for any of the guests in the Travel with group.
• Guests may revise their Travel-With-Guarantee group up to 75 days prior to embarkation.
• All eligible guests in the Travel-With-Guarantee group must be booked through Norwegian on the same: ship/sail dates, flight itinerary, date deviations and depart from the same gateways in order to qualify.

[smplybcause]

16 minutes ago, hallux said:

I don't see anything in the T&C's about this.

 

There's this whole saying that if it's not there then it means it doesn't exist. Meaning if there's no get you to the ship guarantee in the T&Cs then there isn't one. Also, the part you highlighted is with regard to ticketing in other words if they can't ticket everyone in your group on one flight they'll move everyone to another flight (ticketing in airlines now refers to when you get a ticket #, which is usually but not always right after you buy a ticket). You'd be looking for a guarantee to get you to the ship if you wanted a guarantee to get you to the ship. 

 

It's just worth noting because traditional airfare bought through the cruise ship often gets this guarantee. For example Royal's FAQ (though I know it's not specific T&Cs) https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-protection-is-provided-with-an-air2sea-ticket Or Princess' page is specific in the guarantee https://www.princess.com/plan/ezair/ or HALs https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/pre-post-travel-cruise/flight-ease.html

[KarimaJ]

21 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

Doesn't matter when they book it - it matters when you have to pay for it which is by final payment which is officially 120 days out. They don't usually book it that far out, but you have to pay for it with your final payment then. The last promo it averaged around 45 days but I saw a few got booked like 60 days before and others that didn't know until around 30 days before.

 

Also beware that if you select the airfare, after final payment you can only get the obc or upgrade if NCL is still offering the air promo you booked under (very likely they won't) so you won't be able to do that if you choose it. 

So when you say "pay for it" do you mean the second person's airfare since the first is free? I have credit and miles with a couple different airlines, was hoping to use those if I can. Is that possible?

[hallux]

22 minutes ago, KarimaJ said:

I have credit and miles with a couple different airlines, was hoping to use those if I can. Is that possible?

No, the cruise line will not work to apply your points for your airfare (since they won't book an airline that you request) BUT if you're a perks member with an airline you should be able to assign the flight to your account and get credit if the flight is on that airline.

 

I did a mock booking, NCL wanted an insane amount of money to fly from Albany to NYC (for which there are no direct flights, it was just a cruise I'd been looking at and was curious about the perk).

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, KarimaJ said:

So when you say "pay for it" do you mean the second person's airfare since the first is free? I have credit and miles with a couple different airlines, was hoping to use those if I can. Is that possible?

 

What @hallux said. You can't use points to pay for the ticket so I mean pay for it as in you have to pay for the ticket - cold hard cash or rather credit card at the time of final payment. You will earn miles though and can use perks if you have them with whatever airline NCL ends up booking you on. 

 

It just logistically wouldn't work with points - there's several different airlines NCL could end up putting you on and they likely don't even know until a bit before tickets are purchased. For all you know they could put you on one that you don't have points or enough points for. Or since NCL is acting as a consolidator maybe they get a deal on flights that are twice as expensive point wise than other flights. 

[klfrodo]

Anytime there is a "Buy your airfare thru the cruiseline" question, I try to get people to educate themselves on what is going on behind the scenes of the "fantastic" deal the cruise line is offering by providing a link to an old but very educational link here on cruisecritic.

Nobody ever does go to it and educate themselves but at least I tried.

However, I'll say it again. Buying a ticket on an airlines website and buying a ticket from a cruiseline ARE NOT THE SAME TICKET.

Yes, you may be on airline ABC and on flight XYZ,,, but everything else is different. If there are no issues with the plane, no issues with the weather, no issues of the flight being diverted for an emergency, no issues of any kind,,,, then you most likely will not experience any differences.

 

If interested in learning about cruiseline and consolidator tickets. click this link. Again, it's about 10 years old but the information is still valid.

 

[BamaCruiser39]

20 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

If interested in learning about cruiseline and consolidator tickets. click this link. Again, it's about 10 years old but the information is still valid.

 

Great info, thanks!

[hallux]

@klfrodo and @BamaCruiser39 this thread was linked in the thread I linked in post 2, but I guess people just ignore the duplicates...

[Sailing12Away]

We've used the "free" air promo 3x out of our last 4 cruises. First cruise from Rome around the Mediterranean I found a great price direct through Alitalia for $500/pp from JFK and jumped on it. 

 

Next cruise we had "free" air from JFK to Miami and almost missed the ship. There's a thread somewhere in here about that misadventure. Completely the fault of the airlines, but the NCL customer service folks made the situation worse. Nearly the entire plane was traveling either on the Jade, Breakaway, or Carnival and we all were running for the ships. They handled it wonderfully when we finally arrived in Miami and no one from NCL missed their ships, but no one likes that extra stress unnecessarily. 

 

Next one was "discounted" air from JFK to Honolulu. The prices NCL gave us were nearly half what we were seeing on our own, so we took it. We were sailing with my sister & BIL who were coming in 20 mins after us from ORD, but NCL wouldn't let us take the shuttle bus together with them to the pier, even though we stumbled upon them at baggage claim. Our experience with the shuttle was better than theirs (due to our measly gold Latitudes status vs theirs being none? who knows...), but we all made it to the ship on time with an extra $600 in our pockets each to spend on pineapples and hula dances.

 

Last one was "fee" from JFK to San Juan. We flew in a day early and dropped both NCL transfer for that leg of the trip, got an Uber from the airport to the hotel. Coming home was a bit of a nightmare at the pier as they were very disorganized with luggage everywhere, no one watching it and random trucks pulling up to throw bags in the back and take off. I would of preferred cancelling that transfer and just getting another Uber. 

 

Long story short - just do some price checking. If it's in your favor, take advantage. If it's not, just ignore it. If you book your air through them, they are obligated to get you to the ship on time. With our Miami Jade experience, it would have ruined the trip regardless if we missed embarkation day. It was a short 5 day trip and the first port was 2 days away, so not sure if they would of put us up in a hotel in Miami for those 2 days or in Belize for 2 days - but it all worked out in the end.

[Suite Heart]

What if you are sailing solo and, of course, paying double. Do you count as Passenger 2?? I.E., do you fly for free?

[cntryman77]

I’ve tried to book “free” air online and thru the phone.  I’ve found it to be a scam.  If I book solo, flight X is $502.  If I book a 2nd guest with free airfare, the cost is $1004 for the first person and the 2nd is free.  How does that work?

[Asawi]

11 minutes ago, cntryman77 said:

I’ve tried to book “free” air online and thru the phone.  I’ve found it to be a scam.  If I book solo, flight X is $502.  If I book a 2nd guest with free airfare, the cost is $1004 for the first person and the 2nd is free.  How does that work?

Both get half price. So not a scam. Good thing that a solo traveller gets the same % discount as a couple!

[cntryman77]

I don’t buy that.  So you are saying they are giving me half price on a $1000 flight when I can buy it myself for $400?  If that’s the way it works, they should just say everyone gets half price airfare. It’s is false advertising and very deceiving.