Norweigan air changed planes !

[jnc2345]

Originally Posted by Gemski

Can I ask how you got the refund? I've tried to get a change of flight but they won't budge saying they don't change or refund if not a flex ticket. Ive pointed out that they have made amendments to numerous peoples bookings but they are denying this

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They're not budging now, though they're directing me to the claims line so maybe they have more power, who knows. At this point I honestly suspect it's a financial issue.

[bighal]

Originally Posted by hardly

What more can they do. They have to maintain the aircraft, I’m sure there’d prefer not to lease aircraft etc. If it were Ryanair you’d be told at the airport no plane. Most booked Norwegian because it was very competitive on price. The fact they had Dreamliner was a bonus to most. It’s a mode of transport much like any other. Without Norwegian there’d be less competition. Careful what you wish for.

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As they cannot make money charging these 'low' fares then something has to give...(by the way BA's prices are near Norwegian levels, actually recently we have found them cheaper...)

[Kaspian]

Even if I got a refund, the cost of the next cheapest direct flight for that day would be four times the price! I’d rather just lump a 9 hour flight with HiFly and have more money to spend on holiday.

I went with Norwegian for cost not comfort

[Bats]

Originally Posted by RC22

Here's a review from a FB group from someone that recently flew on the HiFly LGW-MCO. THe lady that posted this has said on the page that she didn't mind ppl sharing.

As promised Hi-Fly review.

Hi-Fly review DI7057 A340-300 LGW-MCO

So on Sunday 27th April I awoke to a text from Norwegian informing me that our flight on 7/5/19 had been changed due to dreamliner maintenance.

Having travelled on a Norwegian dreamliner in November, I wasn't particularly bothered; as although it was a reasonable flight previously certainly it hadn't made any difference to my jet lag (Insomnia is my "adopted" middle name my parents didn't give me one &#129315

A quick search of this fab group 🤓🔎 & the rest of FB, Trip Advisor & Google revealed a few negatives, mainly no in flight entertainment (IFE) and a different seating configuration. (From 3 x 3 x 3 to 2 x 4 x 2)

Now, please be kind to me (pass the tin hat) whilst I reveal that this trip was a cheeky adults only getaway for myself and my partner Stevie and that we're not visiting the mouse or any of his friends/competitors. I know. Shock! 🙀

And, as it's only us then we've booked low fare which means no reserved seating, no food & hand luggage only.
We're off on a road trip around the coasts & borders of this amazing state, no strict itinery, only the first nights accomodation in Cocoa beach is actually booked.

Anyway, back to the flight. So, no reserved seating meant no disruption for us personally & I am unfortunately old enough to have taken many flights before the introductionof IFE. We used to consider it a luxury to have overhead screens down the aisle! 🖥

Having viewed all of the other travellers experiencing problems & asking similar questions to mine I thought I would blog the Hi-Fly flight.

I wanted to make it as comprehensive as I could to ensure that it would answer all of your worries. If I've missed anything off then please ask ne as I doubt I've remembered everything! If I can help, I will, I've also taken lots of photos.
If you get bored, apologies, scroll away! 🤣🤣

Check in

As normal and when I discovered the flight was only 1/3 full - result! The kind lady reassigned our seats to ensure we have lots of space around us. 👍🏼

Boarding

As usual except less busy obviously. I spent time taking photos!

The seats & IFE

This is the one that everyone wants to know about so here goes.
I snuck into premium which is now business class as Hi-Fly don't do premium and was very pleasantly surprised...
You lucky lucky people! 🍀 Arranged in a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration with so much room. You could swing a cat in there 🙀 And you won't need your glasses with IFE screens that size. They're huge. With bench type foot rests underneath them.

Down at the cheaper end of town there definitely seemed more room than on the Dreamliner.
With only 8 seats across instead of 9 there was more room, not only in the seat itself but in the legroom. And also behind the seats. Yep, behind.

So, economy is split into 2 cabins separated by the delightful loos that acompany each flight (yep, the loos are the same as every other flight but have Norwegian branded products in them despite it being a Hi-Fly flight) and just before that cabin split, after the last row of 4 seats there is a huge gap that you can walk through, almost as if they've left a row of seats out.

There's a smaller gap behind the 2 seats either side of the plane also, which it means that the last row of seats fully recline.
They have Norwegian "head doilies" on the headrests which actually adjust - the headrests not the doily thingys!
But the seats also have one other thing...

A monitor in the back of them.

Yes, thats right. IFE is alive and well in economy on the Norwegian/Hi-Fly flight! 🎉

So it only has films & TV programs, no trivia/quiz or food ordering option 😫 and only a limited selection of programs but it also has a usb & headphone port. I've taken a photo of every screen, theres seems to be something for everyone, including kids. It also swivels within its housing for screen adjustment.

To purchase food from the menu that's given out at the beginning of the flight, you just call the crew as usual. Theres a limited selection which I've photographed for you if your interested.

The Crew.
I think that there's 10 of them, mainly Hi-Fly, but there's definitely 2 Norwegian crew, I think that they were working in premium as I didn't really see them often.

The Hi-Fly crew seemed much more relaxed, I charged my phone using the empty seat next to me whilst watching a film on my own IFE (I've been told off for this before on Virgin!) and they didn't bat an eyelid. Very professional & friendly everytime we had any interaction.

Meals

Now, as I've already said, we didn't have meals booked & were in a really quiet part of the plane so I cant really comment but they seemed to be delivered efficiently. I did notice that they were collected in quicker than usual, but then it was a really quiet flight and this may have been why. They followed the usual routine 💃🕺 of hot meal about an hour or so after takeoff & sandwich/snacky thing 2 hours before landing.

The flight

Due to a passenger not boarding we had to wait whilst their bags were offloaded so took off 10 minutes late.

The actual journey was no different apart from it being slightly noisier during taxi & take off. Kind of creaky and clunky, which may sound disconcerting but it really was minimal.

The flight was smooth, the seat belt sign was illuminated a few times but the turbulence was barely noticeable, although the crew came and checked that belts were on each time.

One weird thing, just as the seat belt sign came on as we started our descent, the crew were asked to stand in their safety briefing positions, then they went through all the safety breifing as per before take off again, maybe they'd heard about my poor memory! 🐠

Landing, again slightly clunky & creaky (especially when the wheels go down but all still pretty normal.

Everything else was exactly as it was on every other flight.
The duty free sales, the cabin announcements, slight occasional turbulance, carpets, loo roll 🧻 etc. 🤣
You name it, it seemed normal.

Well that just about sums it up, congratulations if you've got this far, 👏 I hope it answers any questions or allays any fears you have if you've found yourself in the sane position regarding a Norwegian/Hi-Fly flight.

But if you feel I've missed anything please just ask. 🙋🏼

Personally Stevie & I think that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever and slightly more room!

Happy travels everyone, whenever you fly

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Thanks so much for posting this. I bit the bullet yesterday and upgraded but I'm not going to tell my hubby until I know for sure - like when we board the plane and we see what's there!

I'm super excited that it may be a bed, especially at less than £350 extra each.

As long as we get there and back safely though, all is good. I've started downloading stuff to my Ipad, so we'll be good for IFE in case that doesn't work.

Joa

[Bats]

These photos show Business Class (Premium) a Hi Fly A340 - the one that is meant to be used for LGW - MCO

[itsmeGAV]

Originally Posted by Kaspian

Even if I got a refund, the cost of the next cheapest direct flight for that day would be four times the price! I’d rather just lump a 9 hour flight with HiFly and have more money to spend on holiday.

I went with Norwegian for cost not comfort

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We also went with Norwegian in March due to cost.. £317pp with 2x 20kg each. Flying the dreamliner was a bonus really, however wouldn't have minded with a plane change as it's out of Norwegians control this time.

The idea of going through the route of getting a refund and then having to scramble to find an alternative airline just because they're using an alternative aircraft is bonkers to me..

[Segdude]

Originally Posted by Gemski

Can I ask how you got the refund? I've tried to get a change of flight but they won't budge saying they don't change or refund if not s flex ticket. Ive pointed out that they have made amendments to numerous peoples bookings but they are denying this

See more...

I found out about the change to Hi-Fly here on the DIBB on a Sunday morning, about 28th April. The first thing I did was check with Virgin if they had seats in PE, which is what we usually travel and had booked with Norwegian. They had seats available for our dates so we held that booking page open on one PC and contacted Norwegian via chat on another. I did not request a refund, I just said that I had booked with them purely to try and ease my daughters travel sickness and autism. I asked the operator what my options were and he went away to check. Ten minutes later he said we could change our dates (not possible) or have a full refund.
As an aside, we booked with Virgin, at an extra cost of, I think £93 a person, but due to a later flight time we no longer need the hotel the night before, saving £313 Plus, we get the additional Virgin Airmiles that now gives me a free flight in economy for next year. So al in all I think I'm slightly better off.

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Segdude

I found out about the change to Hi-Fly here on the DIBB on a Sunday morning, about 28th April. The first thing I did was check with Virgin if they had seats in PE, which is what we usually travel and had booked with Norwegian. They had seats available for our dates so we held that booking page open on one PC and contacted Norwegian via chat on another. I did not request a refund, I just said that I had booked with them purely to try and ease my daughters travel sickness and autism. I asked the operator what my options were and he went away to check. Ten minutes later he said we could change our dates (not possible) or have a full refund.
As an aside, we booked with Virgin, at an extra cost of, I think £93 a person, but due to a later flight time we no longer need the hotel the night before, saving £313 Plus, we get the additional Virgin Airmiles that now gives me a free flight in economy for next year. So al in all I think I'm slightly better off.

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Think I'd prefer Hi Fly's Business to Virgin's PE!

[Segdude]

Originally Posted by jnc2345

They're not budging now, though they're directing me to the claims line so maybe they have more power, who knows. At this point I honestly suspect it's a financial issue.

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I think it's financial as well, let's face it they can' just give money back without taking some extra financial pain on top of what they are already suffering.
I had a marketing email from them this morning offer great deals on Premium Economy seats, something like £599 if I remember correctly, so I'm assuming they are trying to cover the costs of their refunds etc.
To be fair, I did not expect to get a refund, but have to say for a number of reasons I'm glad I did. I cannot fault the customer service.

[porridge]

Originally Posted by duchy

The Miami flight was OK (we flew on Monday)
Plane was fine , crew some of the most professional I've had with any carrier in years , my only complaint really was the no electronics thing which as no one else has mentioned it may have been specific to that flight. I'd seriously consider finding out about electronics and if it isn't SOP I'd seriously consider sticking with it. Our crew were in a different class to Virgin and the planes are both Jumbos.
Yes I'd rather have the Dreamliner as it's excellent but the recalls are down to Boeing not Norwegian.

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What happened? We’re you not allowed any electronics at all, for the whole flight? Or was it just specific things like laptops? We can survive without the tv’s, but it’ll be hard with no music.