Had your flight cancelled by Norwegian Airlines because of coronavirus? Still not received a refund? Can’t really get through to anyone? Yep, it sucks. BUT – I’ve FINALLY managed to get my money back after my flight to Texas was cancelled, and here’s how I did it.
I don’t know if it will work for you, but… I did manage it – so there’s hope out there if you are a frustrated customer who needs their money back.
A lot of us are relying on Norweigian Airlines to do the right thing because insurance is less than useful during the coronavirus crisis for a lot of people.
Norwegian Airline coronavirus refund details
Back in December/January 2020, I started to make plans to go to Japan. However, there was chat over the internet that there was this mystery virus in China that was killing people.
Being over-cautious (!), I came to the sad conclusion that we should make the sensible decision to not travel to Asia because of the coronavirus and go to Texas, America where it would 100% be safe. We wouldn’t want to have to cancel our flight!
Well… wasn’t that a joke?!
We booked a flight to Austin on the 9th February 2020, to fly out on the 9th of April 2020. We were going to go away for three weeks and had an awesome itinerary planned.
As the weeks and days got closer, and the virus spread closer – we had radio silence from Norwegian Airlines.
Then the UK government announced we couldn’t leave the country – and still, no cancellation from Norweigian Airlines.
I filled in the cancellation form (not the coronavirus one)
It was about at that point I decided to try and get my money back. There was no way I was flying out and wasn’t going to wait for the airline to come to me.
On the Norwegian Air coronavirus refund page there isn’t (well there wasn’t) a proper way of asking for a refund. Especially because I had bought LowFare tickets.
I could get the refund in points, which I spend then I can travel again – but no option to get a cash refund.
So I ditched the Coronavirus page and found this refund page tucked away in the help section.
I asked for a ‘flight refund’ and choose ‘coronavirus’ as the reason.
On the next page you fill in all the details, and then there’s a box to write something. I explained that the UK government said that there’s no way to fly out, so I want a flight refund from Norwegian Air. ASAP.
I didn’t wait for Norwegian Air to cancel my flight. In fact, at no point did Norwegian get in touch to say that my flight to Texas had been cancelled because of coronavirus.
I got in touch with my credit card company for a duel attack on Norwegian Air
I spent over £1,200 on flights, so I was going to do whatever it took to get those my money back.
If you’re in the UK and paid for your Norwegian Air flight with a credit card, you can put in an S75 claim with your bank.
There’s a load of information in the MoneySavingExpert link above – but – long story short, if you put in a complaint with your credit card provider, they become jointly liable, along with Norweigian Airlines for your flight refund.
More often than not, the bank will kick up a fuss with whoever you’re complaining about because they don’t want to fork out the money – and your refund gets moved along.
Now, I have no idea if the S75 claim helped or not – but I didn’t hear anything back for another load of weeks, from the airline, or my bank, so I put in another refund request.
Sometimes, when a ton of people are complaining about something, your complaint can get pushed to the bottom of the queue, so it doesn’t hurt to keep complaining.
If I were you, I’d put in a flight refund request form weekly. I’m sure it doesn’t make Norweigian Airline’s life easier, but it’s not an easy time for people finanicially and there is potentially thousands of pound on the line.
In fact, the aviation industry is going to be hit terribly by this pandemic – you don’t know how long airlines will survive. If they go under, your money is likely gone for a lot of people. So I know I wasn’t going to wait around.
Norwegian Air offered me a flight refund – of sorts
I finally got an email from Norwegian Air, acknowledging that I asked for the flight refund.
They said that if I choose a points refund (meaning I could rebook a flight in the future), I’d get an extra 20% of the original flight cost on top, in points.
Was tempting, but:
- I need my money back
- I don’t know if Norwegian Air will survive this pandemic and if it goes under, those points are worthless
- Norwegian Air flights might be really expensive in the future and I might need to spend even more money on top of the points (rather than find a better, cheaper deal with a different airline).
So asked for the cash.
- Did this on the 7th of April
- Got an email saying the refund would be processed on the 11th May
- The money went into my account about a week later.
My thoughts on Norwegian Air
Sure, now I have my money back, I’m less stressed and angry about it all.
I understand that with the pandemic, everything is an absolute mess, and people in these airlines are losing jobs – and everything is going to be slow. It’s hard out there for everyone.
That said, I found it really frustrating that it was so hard to hear from Norwegian Airlines. Their social media has been awful during this.
I also was really upset that for a while, they were only offering point refunds, not real cash.
However, once they acknowledged my refund, it moved along pretty smoothly.
I’m just really grateful I managed to get my money back. It is possible with Norwegian Air. Other airlines (looking at you British Airways), are not behaving properly during this. Check out this post by Mind Over Money Matters on how you can get a flight refund (not just Norweigian Air).
My advice is to keep asking for your money with the refund form. Keep bothering them and get in touch with your credit card provider if that’s possible.
Good luck!
Wish I was so lucky!
THEY cancelled our flight May 4th (not supposed to fly until middle of June), I applied for refund on May 6th, told it would be processed and receive an email update when it has (but to expect up to 6weeks due to high demand). May 19th – email to say it is approved and expect the money back shortly.
Still no money.
I’ve had a terrible time with them. My ticket was for June 22, and back in April, I tried to contest the charge with my credit card company as soon as it became clear that no one was flying anywhere. Norwegian actually told my credit card bank that the flight was still on, so the bank RE-CHARGED it to my account on May 14. Then on May 19, Norwegian officially emailed that the flight was cancelled! But Norwegian has not refunded us yet, AND the credit card company refuses to do anything either. Also, Norwegian customer service told me NONE of this — I couldn’t get anything helpful out of them, no dates, no details, nothing. It is a travesty. One would certainly expect better of this company.