Flights from west coast to Europe

[kabookie7]

I’ve read almost all of the posts about booking flights through NCL particularly noting the pros and cons. Unfortunately I did all the reading after I had already added the flight to our cruise. Has anyone flown from the west coast (San Francisco) to Rome using NCL flight booking? I’m trying to get an idea of what airlines they use because all of my ‘pretend’ bookings put me on airlines I’m not familiar with. Thanks!

[complawyer]

i usually book our own flights, we've flown l.a. to athens, london, venice, flown back from copenhagen, rome, etc. usually delta airlines, we've got a great flight to london in july on british airlines, coming back from stockholm same airline. went to panama non-stop from l.a. on copa airlines. never heard of them before, but it was non-stop both ways, and very reasonable fares. 

 

try a bunch of airlines with which you  are familiar, i think in the long run you'll be happier with the outcome, and regardless of the price, i wouldnt trust ncl with my flights. if you truly have read most  of the posts, there are to many horror stories to take the risk

[casofilia]

@kabookie7

 

Simple Answer:- THE CHEAPEST ONES!!

 

If they can save you $100 by booking you with 2 stops and Diddle Me Quick Airlines they will.

[www3traveler]

When I flew from Seattle, Washington to Heathrow, it was on British Airways non-stop.  Very long all night flight.

[julig22]

I fly from Oregon, small regional airport so always need to go to a hub first.

 

With respect to Rome, flew to Denver - Toronto - Rome on Air Canada. Return was Rome-JFK-SLC on Delta.  Another trip returning from Rome was Rome - Munich - SFO on Lufthansa,

 

 

 

[fastpitchdad]

5 hours ago, julig22 said:

I fly from Oregon, small regional airport so always need to go to a hub first.

 

With respect to Rome, flew to Denver - Toronto - Rome on Air Canada. Return was Rome-JFK-SLC on Delta.  Another trip returning from Rome was Rome - Munich - SFO on Lufthansa,

 

 

 

 

RDM?

[julig22]

1 minute ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

RDM?

Eugene

[fredflint]

I would plan on it being a very long day no matter what, make sure you take that into account in your timing and get lounge access for the airports.    They usually book flights so that there is a fair amount of people on the same flight flying to Europe.  For me flying from Denver that meant going thru JFK we met about 20 other people there going on our cruise.  We flew Delta and American airlines, they will do codeshares, our Delta flight was booked thru Virgin Atlantic for some reason.

[kabookie7]

Thank you for all of your replies! I’ll just have to wait and see. 

[Kruisn'Kay]

I booked flights through NCL from Phoenix to Barcelona. Going to Barcelona, I had one stop through Chicago for only 45 minutes. My flight out of Phoenix was delayed so I ran to my Barcelona flight and only took a carry on due to the short layover. Coming back, we waited for 4 hours in the Barcelona airport and then had a few hour layover in NYC.  The flight was such a good deal that I really couldn’t complain!

[sherrihall128]

If you're flying out of SFO, you probably will have better flights than smaller airports. We flew overnight from Seattle to Paris, then Paris to Venice. Flying home from Rome, we left early morning from Rome to Boston, then Boston to Seattle. The flights were decent, and they definitely saved us a lot of money. Our layover in Paris was only 75-90 minutes, but our layover in Boston was 4 hours. We definitely needed a longer layover in Boston, because it took over an hour just to get through customs. If you have enough time to apply, I'd recommend Global Entry. I will definitely get that prior to our next international trip to speed along the US entry process.

[phissy]

I agree with the recommendation to get Global Entry..

Many premium credit cards have Global Entry fee  covered .

It also includes TSA Pre Check here in the US for domestic air travel.

 

We just renewed ours. We had to list all countries visited during last  5 year span of our GE.  I was surprised there were 22 countries listed. Good memories.

We are good for another 5 years 😁

 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, sherrihall128 said:

If you're flying out of SFO, you probably will have better flights than smaller airports.

Definitely not true in my experience, but it does depend on location.  NCl policy is 2 legs for domestic, 3 legs for international.  Since my airport has flights to SFO, it's possible that I'd get the same flight(s) in this instance. 

But flight 1 for me is nearly always to a hub unless my destination is near the west coast. So then direct from there for domestic, maximum of 1 stop for international.

My first trip to Rome went through Toronto.  I flew direct at that point.  Heard lots of complaints from the people who started in Toronto who did not get direct flights.

[eileeshb]

Watch out for baggage allowance, I’d hope NCL include a checked bag but there are an increasing number of transatlantic airlines that don’t include baggage on their cheapest fares. 
 

I’m flying to Seattle via Boston from Ireland in October and also booked for a friend who was astonished at how much baggage we’re allowed.  
NCL are unlikely to use Ryanair or EasyJet in Europe as those airlines do not allow luggage checked through to connecting flights. But you may want to check on their schedules as fallback options in case of delays if you’ve a connection in Europe. 

[sherrihall128]

47 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Definitely not true in my experience, but it does depend on location.  NCl policy is 2 legs for domestic, 3 legs for international.  Since my airport has flights to SFO, it's possible that I'd get the same flight(s) in this instance. 

But flight 1 for me is nearly always to a hub unless my destination is near the west coast. So then direct from there for domestic, maximum of 1 stop for international.

My first trip to Rome went through Toronto.  I flew direct at that point.  Heard lots of complaints from the people who started in Toronto who did not get direct flights.

 

I guess it might depend on the season that you're flying to Europe. We flew in the shoulder season, in November 2022. I heard horror stories about connections through Toronto during summer 2022, so I was absolutely delighted with our flight arrangements.

[9tee2Sea]

I booked air as part of the BOGO package for my last cruise ( Dubai-Athens, 2023).  Flew  non-stop from Los Angeles-Dubai ( 15.5 hours).  Way back home, Athens-London ( Aegean Air), then London to Los Angles ( non-stop) Virgin Atlantic.    Like others have said,  READ the luggage information page.  Some airlines may charge for carryon.  I purchased a hand held luggage scale to make sure ALL my luggage fit the weight requirements

[zzdoug]

I have followed many of these threads and I don't think I have seen any reports of being scheduled on ultra low fare unbundled airlines like Play Air, Norse, Ryan Air, EasyJet, Allegiant, Frontier, Spirit etc. where everything is extra, even water, and there are only 2 flights per week. Have any of you been booked on one of these airlines under the ncl promo?