Background on Norwegian Airlines Refund:
Back in January, I booked a July Trip to Europe. One of the legs was from London Gatwick to Boston in Norwegian Airlines’ Premium Economy Cabin, which I was very excited to try.
As we all know, the COVID-19 situation got worse, and I pretty much knew by March that I wouldn’t be taking this trip even if things started improving. I wanted to wait for the flight to get cancelled by the airline because if I proactively cancelled, I would only be eligible for a travel voucher.
Norwegian Bankruptcy, Cuts Services:
Norwegian was at a risk of bankruptcy, but recently received government aid and a rescue plan to stay afloat. At one point, it was even said that Norwegian would suspend flights all the way until Spring 2021. Now, they plan to restart some inter-Europe routes this month, but international flights to the US have not been resumed yet.
Checking the Status of my Flight:
I’ve been checking the status of my flight periodically, and even at the beginning of June my flight wasn’t cancelled yet. On June 8th, a family member of mine received an email that their flight from the US to Rome was cancelled, and their travel date was very close to mine in the beginning of July.
Fast forward to June 25th, a little over 2 weeks until my flight. I tried checking my itinerary online and it says there is no booking that exists? I figured it was cancelled, but thought I would receive an email. So, I placed a quick call to the customer service team (which only took me 5 minutes to connect to a representative), and they let me know it was in fact cancelled. The representative showed me how to a request a refund online and I submitted a claim in minutes.
Under Information for Cancelled Flights online it prompts you with two options, either getting a travel credit with a 20% bonus (valid for redemption until December 31st 2021 and for travel until October 31st 2022), or a simply a refund.
I opted for the refund since I’m not sure when I’d be ready to fly given the current situation. Plus, there is uncertainty on their long-haul service to the US as it isn’t planned to resume until next year.
Refund Posts to My Credit Card 12 Days Later!
Wow! I was amazed to get an email from my credit card company saying that a refund has posted to my account. And that it was my Norwegian Airlines refund!
I had a refund request for an Alitalia flight I cancelled a week prior to the Norwegian flight and that flight hasn’t been refunded yet. Additionally, my easyJet flight that was also cancelled says “many customers will likely have to wait for the duration of the summer, and with our backlog continuing to extend, we anticipate new requests taking much longer.”
Yikes to easyJet. Kudos to Norwegian.
The Verdict:
Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised with my Norwegian Airlines refund experience. I will definitely consider them in the future when travel is restored as they have left a good impression on me.
How have your refund experiences with cancelled flights been during COVID? Comment below.
Stay safe everyone!
Best,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
I had unexpectedly good results receiving refunds from Norwegian for two cancelled flights. The process took about a week until the money was actually credited.
And today I received an email from easyJet stating that they had refunded a flight to my credit card…I’ll check again tomorrow to verify that the money is actually back on the card. I didn’t expect this refund until Fall or later.
That’s great! And good to hear easyJet is processing the refunds quicker. Thanks for your comment and for reading!