gab787

At the minimum you should lodge a complaint with the DOT https://airconsumer.dot.gov/escompla...nsumerForm.cfm
(I have not yet managed to get E261 compensation for my last trip but at least I got the taxi reimbursed after getting the DOT involved)

CPH-Flyer

I think that is a pretty lost case, check in deadline is 1 hour before, they did not check in 1 hour before.

That they were waiting somewhere else and expecting the airline to offer check in services there is not really relevant.

Bogwoppit

GFrye

How was Norwegian supposed to know that the in-laws were waiting at the gate and that they wanted to "check in" at the gate?
The information on the Norwegian website states that you need to check in at least one hour before departure, and check-in takes place at the aptly named check-in counter, not at the gate.

vincewy

So most problems are with flights across the Atlantic (787 issues) and intra European flights are generally OK? More specifically operation in/out of Iceland.

I just booked KEF-BGO, not just for price but it's nonstop, with SK both the fares AND travel time double (connecting through OSL).

Often1

What exactly should DOT do?

This does not warrant action either by DOT or in the EU under EC 261/2004. Both US and EU laws require passengers to meet reasonably-imposed deadlines established by the carrier.

The harsh reality is that the passengers here failed to check in on time and thus were denied boarding. That is common to almost all carriers in all situations. OP's parents were given the proper instructions when they finally called and simply did all of this too late.

I am no defender of DY and understand that it is very hard to deal with on all forms of EC 261/2004 compensation. But, on this one DY is correct.

klmml

There are the usual caveats of flying with a low cost carrier, but the intra-European network is fine. You're covered by the protections under EC261 (despite Iceland and Norway not being in the EU). I've never flown them ex-Iceland, but it looks like your aircraft operates BGO-KEF-BGO and e.g. looking at the rotation on 8.4 next year (DY 1172/1173) it's operated by a 73H (i.e. 738 with winglets) and it's operated by DY (i.e. Norwegian headquartered in Norway flying with a Norwegian AOC). So, standard intra-Europe Norwegian. There don't seem to be any other flights to Norway from KEF that day by Norwegian, so if it's cancelled and the loads aren't great there's a risk they'll make you wait for the next day's OSL and route you KEF-OSL-BGO. Your options for self-rebooking also get slim after the last SK flight has gone, and you can bet that DY won't put you on any other carrier if they can avoid it.

Frankly, I would be completely comfortable booking that flight. The SK options don't look fabulous and while connecting international-domestic at OSL has got easier over the years, if you have checked baggage you have to clear customs there (although I think this now means approving a picture of your bags on a computer screen rather than picking up your bags and walking through customs yourself).

gab787

An update on my situation and some questions to the experts...
Norwegian Air still refuses to compensate me under European Regulation 261/2004 for my 3-day delay back in August, and reaching out to resolver.co.uk did not help (Norwegian Air simply ignores all communication).
I am somewhat concerned that Norwegian Air might declare bankruptcy sooner rather than later (as Primera and WOW have done over the last few weeks) and I am consequently planning to seek redress in court as soon as possible.
I am still deciding between going to small claims court or using the service of one of those European websites that charge a roughly 30% commission to take the matter to court in Europe (such as AirHelp, EUClaim, FlightRight or refund.me).
What do you recommend? And if you think I should be using one of the European websites, can you help me pick one at of the four listed?
Thanks!

progapanda

I can only speak to AirHelp. They were able to obtain compensation for my party of four from Norwegian under EU261 for a last minute ~16h delay on EWR-BCN. Payment took more than 3 months, but came through in the end.

gab787

(deleted)

gab787

Hello. This is hopefully my final update on the matter: I eventually decided to take the matter to Small Claims Court... and I finally received the full compensation I was seeking.
My main reason for taking this path is that I felt that the sites that charge a commission charge too much for the service they provide. 25-30% is typically only the base commission. If they need to take the matter to court, which I expected would be the case for me, commission typically increases to the ~50% range. And if they loose you might end up having to pay legal fees. Also they apparently cannot take the matter to court in France where no-win no-fee arrangements are frowned upon and where from what I read you can only be represented by a designated attorney (so a 261 case from one of those sites is likely to be thrown out on technical grounds) so the matter would have had to be debated in the US anyway.
The drawback is of course that you have to file a lot of paperwork and possibly take a day off to show up in court.

Ricki Kelly

RoyalSwazi

Just FYI - Norwegian currently has 10 Dreamliners grounded. Risk of being put an a wet lease is very high.

ucdtim17

RR issues still? How do they not have a handle on this yet?

My parents are scheduled OAK-ARN tonight. Supposed to be on HiFly A340 but the logical plane departed LAX at 1:51 this morning (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...830Z/KLAX/ESSA) so turnaround time will be very late to OAK. Presumably customs at OAK closes at some point so I won't be surprised if it cancels. Trying to research other options.

Edit: Annnnd they cancelled. Now gotta figure out plan b

ucdtim17

No other Bay Area Norwegian flights today so they were offered connections in BCN or FCO tomorrow. Downgrade from Premium to separate middle seats in economy. They don't currently have any miles stockpile and I need to keep mine for flexibility with a planned CDG-OAK flight in a couple weeks. I tried to convince them to just pony up for a different airline today but without any other good options they're booked on OAK-FCO-ARN tomorrow, losing a day of vacation. I'm going to try to convince them to book a backup ticket on something in case the FCO flight gets canceled tomorrow and they're in the same situation again.