So, I’m looking to take the family to Paris and Barcelona next summer from LAX. Norwegion Air- $350 One way…sounds good. Only problem is that I can’t transfer my SPG points there for whatever reason.
I would expect other flights to be reasonable, but most flights are crazy expesnive for some reason. $2,000-$3,000?! Makes no sense. Is there a reason for the outragious pricing?
ANyone have experience with Norwegion? Decent Airline?
First of all, I’d seriously recommend staying away from Norwegian. They are a real budget airline with little system flexibility to re-book if something goes wrong. I suspect that $350 price tag doesn’t include things like seat assignments, luggage, carry-on bags, a glass of water…So the pricing gap will close.
In my experience, international flights on most airlines tend to be cheapest about 6 months from departure. Keep checking, with one eye on the seating charts. If planes start to fill up , consider booking.
Also, try reversing your itinerary. Paris-Barcelona may be more expensive than Barcelona-Paris.
I flew twice last summer from Bos to London and France on Norwegian. It was by far the best airline experience I have had in decades. They fly 787 dreamliners which have lower cabin pressure, significantly larger windows and the lighting is controlled to lessen the impact of jet lag. Very Comfortable even in Coach and half the price of Air france
Summer is high season for European travel. $2K is not out of the range for good flights on a major airline. $3K seems a bit high. Set up an alert on google flights. I would not wait too long though. In my experience they don’t change dramatically and availability/good seats become lower. I would not travel on any of the discount carriers but that is me… I am picky. I would think AA out of LAX would have good options.
Confused about the SPG transfer… why would you think you could transfer to Norwegian?
George
I was getting quotes in the $1,450 range for our trip in December/January. I ended up booking MSY to JFK as one ticket and JFK to CDG as the next ticket. Doing it this way saved $400+ per ticket. So for our five tickets total of $2,000. The itineraries were basically identical, and you have to retrieve your luggage in JFK anyway for international flights. Required a bit of coordination to make sure everything lined up but well worth it. I opened two browser windows and used 2 different credit cards and pressed book at the same time to make sure everything went through. The only issue is that we’re having problems using upgrades as AA told me i should have booked with a human being to be able to upgrade the tickets. Not happy about this at all, but nothing i can do about it.
Been watching for months now to get any action on Delta direct from ATL to Rome/Florence for June/July. Can’t get it under $2,000 or ~150,000 points per.
Sucks.
Considering just going up to nyc and leaving from JFK.
My buddy flew Norwegian from LAX to Mallorca last spring for $600… roundtrip. Drove over from PHX just to fly out. 787 to Reykjavik.
Super budget so he just planned ahead for all accommodations. Said it was great.
Considering an originating flight from Canada (need to book separate itineraries from LAX to Van or Tor e.g.). I’ve saved thousands doing that rather than originating on Sea. Never flown Norwegian, but their planes are new.
If I understand you correctly you booked separate tickets. If this is the case you have an unprotected connection in winter to JFK. Meaning if your MSY to JFK is late and you miss your JFK to CDG flight you are treated as a no show and the tickets cancelled with no refund… assuming non refundable. You will also have to retrieve luggage outside of security. Your outbound flight should you be on one ticket would have luggage checked all the way through to CDG. Very, very risky unless you are going in the day before. .
If both flights are on the same carrier see if you can link them. I have done this once on AA still not 100% sure you are protected.
You should be able to upgrade the domestic AA flight online assuming you have status. Internationals on AA are always done over the phone and next to impossible unless you have very high status. I have never been able to do it as Platinum.
George
I’ve heard pretty OK things about Norwegian, considering what they are trying to be.
I booked my daughter one way, non-stop from AMS to NY on Norwegian for New Years Day for about 400 (for her to join us on Delta would be $2500 one way). That included a bag and a seat.
For 2 grand less Norwegian will be just fine for her.
Not sure where you are looking. Look at Google flights, I see things significantly cheaper to BCN
Norwegian is a good airline. It’s nowhere near the shit show of other budget airlines. Just gotta pay some fees for basic stuff but even with that the flights are super cheap.
I have only used Norwegian inside the EU but have nothing to complain about really. Sure Lufthansa usually has some decent Riesling and Sekt but otherwise I do not see a big difference in the overall experience.
Fortunately the layover is 5 hours so we have a bit of a buffer. We have enough points to upgrade the international, but they refused saying the tickets had to be purchased over the phone with an agent to be eligible, even though the website says you didn’t have to book that way. Last time through JFK to Munich, they made us retrieve the bags outside of security and recheck in even thought they were supposedly checked through. The only thing we didn’t have to do was go through ticketing. I’ll try to link them, they were linked, but when i called for the upgrade, they manually unlinked them before telling me i couldn’t upgrade. They still have some system issues leftover from the merger is my guess. Wish we could fly from MOB on one booking, but $2,200 per ticket was prohibitive. Even if i had to rebuy the tickets, it would be cheaper than that option.
If you have to rebuy tickets it will be 5 international last min round trip tickets. So… $10-15K?? That is going to be a lot more than $2200. You have a 5 hour lay over which is good but IMO still a huge risk as it is winter and JFK. I would go in the day before.
To upgrade an international flight assuming you are in Economy to Biz is 25K miles +$350 each way per ticket. Assuming seats are available. I would be shocked if they were during this time. I have never been able to do this online. AA doesn’t have any merger issues that I know of.
I am confused on the bags, if they told you they were checked through how did you then figure out you had to retrieve them. Standard policy is on one ticket they are checked through to final. The airport doesn’t matter.
Good luck.
George
Actually, if both tickets are on AA, they will rebook you on a mis connect. But you can’t check bags through. I’d bring a printout if the policy with me. Flyertalk is a better resource if you need help finding it.
The issue of how you booked the ticket originally for upgrades is BS. Phone agents are pretty ignorant and will make up things. You want to call and get on a wait list. But if you have no status, then it’s preyy much no chance as you will be way down the list.
I have only once been able to connect two separate AA tickets once. I have only tried a 3 times When asked if the connection was protected they said no. It could go back to who I talked to but I usually find the Platinum travel desk pretty well informed. If I were Milton I would definitely call AA maybe even get it in writing as there is a lot at stake financially.
I am guessing that the unlinking was due to not all 5 people wanting upgrades. To do this you have to “unlink” or create a new record locator for those that want an upgrade. It can be a pain and agents sometimes don’t want to do it.
George
Doesn’t have to be linked for protection on tickets.
If you want to check bags through, if one ticket is an AA award, and the other is revenue, and it’s done at time of booking, it can be put in the same PNR (Passenger Name Record). But many agents will say it can’t be done because they don’t know how to do it.
Linking is a klugey term that can mean just a cross reference in a note. Although does have a specific meaning for upgrade purposes (lower status passenger inherits higher status when linked to a high status passenger on same flight), it isn’t the right term for anything else.
There is no Platinum desk, just a number that goes to the same agents for the hoi polloi. There is an Exec Plat desk that was awesome pre-merger. Now its a huge roll of the dice as to whether you get a knowledgeable one or not.
Flyertalk is your friend in this case.
From Flyertalk
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Barry - great link. I have been traveling AA for a long time and have never seen that. What is saleslink? I couldn’t figure that out.
George