NCL Booking Air 30 days prior to Embarkation

[jkbec101]

Is there a logical reason as to why NCL is not booking air until 30 days prior to departure, other than staffing shortages? 

 

In the case of international travel, I would have liked to have seen the air booked within 10 to 20 days after final payment.  

 

Some have stated in other places that prior to covid international travel was booked 75 days out, but I have no way of confirming that.

 

We're 66 days out and I just see no logical reason why NCL would wait another 36 days to book my airfare.

[hallux]

First - even before the current times the tickets weren't typically booked until about 45 days before the cruise, only saving 10-15 days.

 

Second - NCL doesn't book "rack fares" for the flights, they negotiate lower fares based on availability and flight schedule.  The airlines may be driving the delay by waiting to negotiate on the fares.

 

Third - Air travel is quite volatile right now so it's possible they're waiting a little longer to be sure the flight schedules are more stabilized so there are fewer changes needed once someone is booked (I'm not saying this is going as planned, just a theory).

[mskaufman]

The web site has my connections but I have not received email confirmation from NCL with specifics.  We are 24 days out.

[debdel]

At 30 days(which was 2 days ago), I noticed on my account summary flights and connections, but no airline information or times so I called the NCL airline phone #. The woman I spoke to was able to give me confirmation numbers, times and airlines so I could look them up myself. I got the airline confirmation email late last night. A couple of weeks ago I called and was told the reason they wait until 30 days is because the airlines kept cancelling flights so they kept having to make changes. The flights they booked for my sister and I are decent, and since I made the reservations in January, about one third of the cost that they are now, since one person is free and the prices have increased so much. Fingers crossed the airlines don't cancel the flights. We are flying to Vancouver one day before our cruise. 

[CaliMom05]

I guess we are lucky as our cruise isn't until 9/2/22 and we received our email confirmation on 7/6/22.  We did request a one day air deviation so that may be why we've already received our flights but I'm not sure.  Flights are from San Diego to Seattle so it's not international but we did get excellent non-stop flights and I was able to go into each reservation and get decent seats on each flight. 

[julig22]

Is there a logical reason?  Yes, NCL is doing what is best, from a business sense, to be able to book flights and keep from losing money.

It's their program, their rules.  Just like the final pay date and other deadlines that may seem arbitrary to those of us who aren't privy to how airfares are determined and negotiated with the airlines.

For my most recent trip I got my airfare info about 30 days out.  And the update came 2 days before I was scheduled to fly out - so I had to completely change my plans, etc. because of airline cancellations, strikes, who knows.

[jamadeliz]

We received our flights at 55 days out for a European cruise.  

[Goofyfigment]

our cruise is in 31 days and we still have not received our flight info - we are flying from florida to rome so its an international flight.  we have gotten some emails from aircanada with flight info that would coincide with the trip but NCL told us that its just a placeholder when i called them about seat selection.  Seat Selection is a big one for me as i dont want to sit next to a stranger for 9 hours.  hoping to hear something soon.  

[Crown Vic]

If memory serves correctly, NCL will use the least expensive route even if it means two stops for an original three hour flight.
It is a pity that one cannot request a specific carrier or non stop flight even if there is an up charge. 

Economy fare for our upcoming cruise is approx $700 each. NCL is offering a flight for $220…but…hafta take whatever flights are provided. 
Sometimes life is tough…

[Crazy planning mom]

when using promotional airfare. do they ever book overnight layovers?

[mapleleaves]

I just read on a Roll Call that someone just rec'd their flight info for a cruise out of Italy on July 24.  They had been quite frustrated at the delay but were VERY pleased with the flights they rec'd ! 

[julig22]

5 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

when using promotional airfare. do they ever book overnight layovers?

With all the issues with airlines it's hard to say.  Their policy used to say they didn't but I had an overnight layover in order to get to Stockholm for the cruise I'm on right now.  But it was a last minute flight change so might have been all they could find.  Original itinerary had me arriving the evening before, as requested - not sure what would have happened if I hadn't had that 1day deviation planned.

[AllenO]

We did not receive our flight information until 25 days prior to departure for a domestic flight.  NCL simply kept putting us off even after we saw the departure dates on our cruise summary.  

[Tooncamp]

We are 53 days out and check my app daily for any info. We are flying to Seattle from New Orleans. We got an email from NCL stating they couldn’t guarantee that my sister and her husband would be on the same flight as us. We took the 1 day deviation. Now I wish we would have done 2 day. We are contemplating using shipgo to send our big luggage ahead because we are scared of lost luggage. 

[hernando52]

On 7/12/2022 at 7:10 AM, Goofyfigment said:

our cruise is in 31 days and we still have not received our flight info - we are flying from florida to rome so its an international flight.  we have gotten some emails from aircanada with flight info that would coincide with the trip but NCL told us that its just a placeholder when i called them about seat selection.  Seat Selection is a big one for me as i dont want to sit next to a stranger for 9 hours.  hoping to hear something soon.  

I hope that you keep us updated on how this all works out.  We are travelling R/T Orlando to Rome in 2023, and am curious as to what kind of flights NCL is booking....we'll have a 2 day deviation on each end and will have to make car parking & hotel arrangements if necessary.

[Goofyfigment]

On 7/13/2022 at 1:23 PM, hernando52 said:

I hope that you keep us updated on how this all works out.  We are travelling R/T Orlando to Rome in 2023, and am curious as to what kind of flights NCL is booking....we'll have a 2 day deviation on each end and will have to make car parking & hotel arrangements if necessary.

Got our flights today.  We are on Delta.  MCO to Atlanta - Atlanta to Rome.  Same on the return.  We leave Orlando at 130pm and get to Rome at 850am.  Home we leave Rome at 10am back to Orlando at 7pm.  Very happy with these flights.  My mother in law ended up with aircanada and she has to pay for seats and they still have mask requirements during flights and in airport. 

[hernando52]

14 hours ago, Goofyfigment said:

Got our flights today.  We are on Delta.  MCO to Atlanta - Atlanta to Rome.  Same on the return.  We leave Orlando at 130pm and get to Rome at 850am.  Home we leave Rome at 10am back to Orlando at 7pm.  Very happy with these flights.  My mother in law ended up with aircanada and she has to pay for seats and they still have mask requirements during flights and in airport. 

I'll cross my fingers that we get flights like this!!!!  Have a wonderful trip!

[Russiamomm]

On 7/11/2022 at 9:49 PM, debdel said:

At 30 days(which was 2 days ago), I noticed on my account summary flights and connections, but no airline information or times so I called the NCL airline phone #. The woman I spoke to was able to give me confirmation numbers, times and airlines so I could look them up myself. I got the airline confirmation email late last night. A couple of weeks ago I called and was told the reason they wait until 30 days is because the airlines kept cancelling flights so they kept having to make changes. The flights they booked for my sister and I are decent, and since I made the reservations in January, about one third of the cost that they are now, since one person is free and the prices have increased so much. Fingers crossed the airlines don't cancel the flights. We are flying to Vancouver one day before our cruise. 

We got the email with our flights last night, but they haven’t shown up in my account with NCL.  The confirmation numbers are also not recognized by American Airlines.  I really don’t like the return flights and want to work with AA to change them (I have status with AA).  Does anyone know how long it takes to get this all to sync?  

[Russiamomm]

33 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

We got the email with our flights last night, but they haven’t shown up in my account with NCL.  The confirmation numbers are also not recognized by American Airlines.  I really don’t like the return flights and want to work with AA to change them (I have status with AA).  Does anyone know how long it takes to get this all to sync?  

Quoting my own post.  I called NCL.  I have no air reservations yet.  Apparently someone was working on it and pushed the button and the email came to me, but the flights were not booked.  We don’t leave until September 5.  She said it likely won’t be for another few weeks.  That (kind of) explains why AA didn’t recognize the reservation number. Hopefully the next set of reservations will be better than what I thought they put us on!  We’re only going to NY with multiple flights every day.  Why make us stick around NYC until 10PM on debarkation day?  LOL

Edited July 15, 2022 by Russiamomm

[hallux]

35 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

I really don’t like the return flights and want to work with AA to change them (I have status with AA).

Status doesn't matter, the fares NCL books don't allow for flight changes.  You can TRY going standby for the earlier flight but that means hanging around the airport on the off chance you get a seat.

[Russiamomm]

3 minutes ago, hallux said:

Status doesn't matter, the fares NCL books don't allow for flight changes.  You can TRY going standby for the earlier flight but that means hanging around the airport on the off chance you get a seat.

Yup.  I understand how the airlines work.  Just want to see what the Platinum desk can do for us.  It doesn’t matter now anyway since it turns out nothing is booked.  I do know at a minimum I can make a same day flight change for no charge.  We’ll see what happens.

[Joshgrobanfan]

The only big issue for me was layover time. If you have an international layover you should allow at least 2 hours between flights. I had one hour and called and insisted that was impossible based on everything I had read. They changed the flight to have a 2 hour layover. I barely made it. For example depending where your connection is, you might have to go through customs and immigration, pick up your bags and then recheck them on the new flight. That is what happened to me. As I was running to the gate which had already closed, they were kind enough to open the gate and let’s us in. Stressful. Make sure you arrive at least a day or 2 early.

[victory2020]

1 hour ago, Russiamomm said:

Yup.  I understand how the airlines work.  Just want to see what the Platinum desk can do for us.  It doesn’t matter now anyway since it turns out nothing is booked.  I do know at a minimum I can make a same day flight change for no charge.  We’ll see what happens.

Not trying to hijack, but by Platinum do you mean their credit card or a level of miles/flights?

[Russiamomm]

4 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Not trying to hijack, but by Platinum do you mean their credit card or a level of miles/flights?

Flight miles.  I’m Platinum AA.

[cmecruise1962]

Just received my flights for my August 14th cruise from Athens.  I had the Air Canada "place holders" for the last month or so, but my flight out is on American through Chicago and back is on Delta through Atlanta.  I've gone on the sites and booked seats, not great ones, but at least we get to sit next to or near each other...with extra legroom on the way to Athens.  Extra charges of about $600 but worth it!  Less than a month!!  Woot!