Airfare to LA

[carohs]

Hi y'all! I have a couple questions regarding airfare to the LA port. I guess the first is which airport does NCL fly to and second will they still book a flight even if you're under 100 miles away? Normally I would just drive but I'm curious to know.

The other thing is, do any of you have any experience with using their airfare promos but declining the port transfers. Is this an option? 

TIA

[victory2020]

3 hours ago, carohs said:

Hi y'all! I have a couple questions regarding airfare to the LA port. I guess the first is which airport does NCL fly to and second will they still book a flight even if you're under 100 miles away? Normally I would just drive but I'm curious to know.

The other thing is, do any of you have any experience with using their airfare promos but declining the port transfers. Is this an option? 

TIA

You do not have to purchase transfers with their air. I believe you can choose what airport you want to fly in to but they are all different prices, LAX being the cheapest

[billslowsky]

3 hours ago, carohs said:

Hi y'all! I have a couple questions regarding airfare to the LA port. I guess the first is which airport does NCL fly to and second will they still book a flight even if you're under 100 miles away? Normally I would just drive but I'm curious to know.

The other thing is, do any of you have any experience with using their airfare promos but declining the port transfers. Is this an option? 

TIA

If they fly you into LAX...  ugh.  Might make that 100 miles seem shorter.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

I believe you can choose what airport you want to fly in to

No, you choose the airport you fly FROM, NCL can choose the airport you fly to.  It actually looks like NCL MAY substitute your home airport with another within 60 miles if the flights work out better.

 

Here's the wording on the promo terms - 

Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to select an alternate airport within 60 miles based on itinerary, choose the air carrier, routing and city airport from each gateway city and reserves the right to substitute commuter service and/or charter air service for scheduled air carriers without prior notice.

 

Most likely it'll be a flight to LAX..

Edited June 24, 2022 by hallux

[Sailing12Away]

You can absolutely decline the transfers and save some money. Either on the first half, back half, or both. Just give them enough notice.

[screenname2004]

9 hours ago, carohs said:

Hi y'all! I have a couple questions regarding airfare to the LA port. I guess the first is which airport does NCL fly to and second will they still book a flight even if you're under 100 miles away? Normally I would just drive but I'm curious to know.

The other thing is, do any of you have any experience with using their airfare promos but declining the port transfers. Is this an option? 

TIA

The ground transfer is optional and is separate from the air add-on. I believe it is $25 per person per transfer.

 

[hallux]

7 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

The ground transfer is optional and is separate from the air add-on. I believe it is $25 per person per transfer.

 

The cost varies by the port.  In LA I believe it was $40 each way.

[phillygwm]

9 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

The ground transfer is optional and is separate from the air add-on. I believe it is $25 per person per transfer.

 

Just did this back in December.  As noted, transfers are entirely optional.  We got to the port on our own (Uber,) since we came in the day before and going back to the airport was a unnecessary hassle.  If I were coming in on embarkation day (which I don't,) I'd probably have done the transfer.

 

On the return, I thought I'd be pressed for time so I took the NCL transfer. NCL warns you not to book a flight before noon and mine was 11:00.  But I made sure I was on the first bus out and found the whole process easy peasy.  Would absolutely do it again.  Got there in ample time, though a big part of that was because I had Pre-check and Clear so my TSA process was literally ~2 minutes.  .I might have been cutting it close without those shortcuts.

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by phillygwm

[milolii]

If your home is less than 100 miles away, then you will likely be on a commuter flight and LAX would likely be the destination. 

Also note, airlines are cutting flights and the commuter flights seemed to be affected.  

 

I would conduct an online search to determine possible flights first. 

[hallux]

In all honesty - for a trip of 100 miles it's more time-efficient to just drive it.  It's less than 2 hours to drive it, you'll spend that much time just in the airport if you arrive the suggested 2 hours before the flight.  I'm not sure what NCL would charge for the flight but I'd just put that money toward the cost of fuel.

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

In all honesty - for a trip of 100 miles it's more time-efficient to just drive it.  It's less than 2 hours to drive it, you'll spend that much time just in the airport if you arrive the suggested 2 hours before the flight.  I'm not sure what NCL would charge for the flight but I'd just put that money toward the cost of fuel.

Generally true but 100 miles in LA/So Cal is not like 100 miles in most of the rest of the country.

[phillygwm]

25 minutes ago, hallux said:

In all honesty - for a trip of 100 miles it's more time-efficient to just drive it.  It's less than 2 hours to drive it, you'll spend that much time just in the airport if you arrive the suggested 2 hours before the flight.  I'm not sure what NCL would charge for the flight but I'd just put that money toward the cost of fuel.

I understand that LA traffic can be a nightmare but I'd agree.  Parking at the port is $20/day, figure 1/2 tank of gas and you're a bit over $200.  Airfare has to be more than that and you have the airport hassle, to say nothing of the fact that, if you're booking air through NCL, you won't be on the most convenient flights.

[carohs]

22 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

I understand that LA traffic can be a nightmare but I'd agree.  Parking at the port is $20/day, figure 1/2 tank of gas and you're a bit over $200.  Airfare has to be more than that and you have the airport hassle, to say nothing of the fact that, if you're booking air through NCL, you won't be on the most convenient flights.

Not to mention the cost of baggage 🫣

 

When I did a mock booking, NCL was quoting me $138pp so I was just considering if it was even worth the hastle. I like the idea of not driving thru traffic and being able to leave the car parked at home. However, the time commitment and unfavorable flights might outweigh the pros.

[carohs]

16 hours ago, hallux said:

Here's the wording on the promo terms - 

Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to select an alternate airport within 60 miles based on itinerary, choose the air carrier, routing and city airport from each gateway city and reserves the right to substitute commuter service and/or charter air service for scheduled air carriers without prior notice.

I did read this. Any idea what they mean by "commuter service"? I know there's commuter planes, but is there a chance they'd put me on Amtrak or Greyhound 😱 instead?

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, carohs said:

I did read this. Any idea what they mean by "commuter service"? I know there's commuter planes, but is there a chance they'd put me on Amtrak or Greyhound 😱 instead?

No, they are only referring to commuter air service, i.e. puddle jumpers

[Sailing12Away]

4 hours ago, hallux said:

The cost varies by the port.  In LA I believe it was $40 each way.

For my upcoming trip out of LA in February they're charging us $100 per person for transfers (incoming is through LA, going home is through Miami - so I'm guessing $50 because I find it hard to believe Miami would be more expensive than LA). Which reminds me, I need to go and cancel those...

[njhorseman]

37 minutes ago, carohs said:

I did read this. Any idea what they mean by "commuter service"? I know there's commuter planes, but is there a chance they'd put me on Amtrak or Greyhound 😱 instead?

 

30 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

No, they are only referring to commuter air service, i.e. puddle jumpers

There actually are some short  commuter routes where airlines are replacing air service with bus service because of a shortage of pilots. So while NCL might book you on an airline you could end up on a bus. So far this has been announced in the Philadelphia and Denver areas by AA and UA but the same could happen elsewhere.

 

[screenname2004]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Generally true but 100 miles in LA/So Cal is not like 100 miles in most of the rest of the country.

On the other hand, unless OP is taking a mid-weed cruise out of LA, he is not likely to run into a lot of traffic jams on Sat or Sunday morning.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

On the other hand, unless OP is taking a mid-weed cruise out of LA, he is not likely to run into a lot of traffic jams on Sat or Sunday morning.

It's LA, there is always a traffic jam, especially mid-weed  🙂

[ColeThornton]

1 minute ago, LGW59 said:

It's LA, there is always a traffic jam, especially mid-weed  🙂

 

 

For some reason they rarely get speeding tickets mid-weed.

[screenname2004]

7 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

It's LA, there is always a traffic jam, especially mid-weed  🙂

Mid-week, yes. Weekend, depends where you at and where you need to go. At this moment, freeways near Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles are wide open.

 

 

[carohs]

15 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

Mid-week, yes. Weekend, depends where you at and where you need to go. At this moment, freeways near Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles are wide open.

 

 

 

🤯🤯 I've never not ran into traffic in LA regardless of the day of the week. I mean there's free stretches on the weekend at night on occasion but generally there's always traffic. 

[julig22]

5 hours ago, hallux said:

The cost varies by the port.  In LA I believe it was $40 each way.

In February it was $25 each way

[julig22]

23 hours ago, carohs said:

Hi y'all! I have a couple questions regarding airfare to the LA port. I guess the first is which airport does NCL fly to and second will they still book a flight even if you're under 100 miles away? Normally I would just drive but I'm curious to know.

The best way to find out if they will give you a flight (or alternative transport?) would be to just do a mock booking and see if the airport you are considering is on the list of options.  And you will get a price at that point.  Then google the flight schedules to see if it's worth the effort.

 

I live about 300 miles from Seattle and when I was debating drive vs flight and priced it (including gas and parking fees) it was a wash but timewise it was a no-brainer to drive - no waiting for shuttles, no worry about cancelled flights, no worries about luggage, etc.  I had a reserved parking space so no worries there either.

Edited June 25, 2022 by julig22