usernameistaken

In November we booked round trip tickets from Boston to Rome in April 2019 for a one week family vacation. Given all of the complaints about them cancelling flights, I am terrified! Our hotel reservation becomes non refundable on March 29. We have a buffet of two days if our outgoing flight gets cancelled.

What are our rights? Should we just demand a refund a book another airline with partners, etc. Buy travel insurance and hope for the best? Terrified here...

mlgb

Your "rights" depend on why your flight is cancelled. The same would be true on other airlines.. And read the fine details of any trip insurance as well.

Is your only concern that you would lose your prepaid hotel bookings? Another option is to just book refundable hotels, instead? Especially for only a week the price differential might be less than trip insurance. But I'd compare the two options. And weigh that against what booking on another carrier will cost instead.

I think you are panicking and hysterical without reason. How long ago were these so-called complaints made? Were they on the route you're flying?

When you say "demand a refund" does that mean you've bought a flight that is nonrefundable? If so, why would they do that, because you're terrified of what MIGHT happen?

Gardyloo

First, don't panic. If the hotel booking becomes non-refundable in late March, you have three months to monitor the situation.

The issue with Norwegian Airlines is another matter, but, again, patience is important. Norwegian is in jeopardy of defaulting on some major loans in the next few days, but within a month or so we'll know if they're going to be okay or if more dire problems lie ahead. You should look at the terms and conditions of your tickets to see what the refund options might be; usually there are stiff fees attached, but it's worth checking. If Norwegian goes under you might be faced with joining the line to get all or part of your money back, or it might not be a big deal. I suspect that they'll stay afloat, but we'll know more in a couple of weeks' time. Just monitor the situation.

Melnq8

Your rights, as stated right on the Norwegian website:

https://www.norwegian.com/us/booking...ation-2612004/

We recently had an issue with Iceland Air (also subject to EU rules) - they cancelled the first leg of our flight two weeks after we booked, then cancelled the second flight a couple of months later. We wondered if they'd cancel again on the day of our flights (they didn't).

They gave us several options, including cancelling our flights, them paying for a night in Reykjavik or re-routing us. They have a small fleet, so re-routing was a serious inconvenience which we declined. We weren't interested in cancelling either. We ended up moving our flights forward, twice, necessitating three extra nights at our destination.

If your flights are cancelled two weeks or less prior to departure, you are entitled to compensation, as stated in the link above.

'Demanding' a refund on what I assume is a non-refundable ticket, just because you're worried they might cancel is only going to cost you money.

Melnq8

Listen to Gardyloo - he knows what he's talking about.

mlgb

Maybe he does, maybe he's just monitoring internet blogs.

Or maybe they'll be just fine.. I hope so. They were a great option from LAX to Europe. Just flew them in October on one of the Dreamliners.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tra...saving-program

mlgb

By the way if you switch to a US carrier (such as American Airlines) direct to Europe and your flight is delayed or cancelled, the EU passenger rights don't apply to you.

usernameistaken

I guess the worry is that since they don't do codeshares or partnerships with other airlines we'll be SOL if they cancel our flight because they'll be no flight or partner airline to rebook us on. Sadly, I'm booking an apartment, which doesn't have a refundable option after Mar 29. I guess I'll try to stay calm and think positively. Ugh.

Macross

Go to insuremytrip.com and get some travel insurance. Compare the coverage. I did insurance on my cape cod rental this year in case there was a hurricane through VRBO but always add the cost into my insurance coverage when renting in Europe. My next trip has three rentals so a lot of money. I mostly get it for medical evacuation now but add the price of tickets and rentals in also. I have been following the news on Norwegian.