Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Norwegian closing all of its Irish routes due to Boeing 737 MAX woes

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Norwegian is pruning routes quite heavily as part of its ‘from growth to profitability’ initiative.

In simple terms, this means getting rid of routes where it is losing money.  Gatwick to Las Vegas was given the chop recently, for example, as we covered here.

The airline has just announced that all of its long-haul Irish routes are closing.  These are:

  • Dublin to Hamilton, Newburgh and Providence
  • Cork to Providence
  • Shannon to Newburgh and Providence

Norwegian closing irish routes

The last flights will take place on 15th September.

To be fair to Norwegian, this is a decision partly forced on them by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.  It was used to fly these routes which meant that Norwegian had already temporarily suspended or sourced alternative aircraft for them.

If the Norwegian story does not end well, people will be debating for years whether it was actually the fault of Boeing.

Norwegian planned to offer low cost long haul flights by investing in ultra fuel efficient new aircraft which would let it undercut its rivals.  Unfortunately, it chose two complete dogs – the Boeing 787 (Rolls-Royce engine variant) and Boeing 737 MAX – which has left large parts of its fleet unable to fly.

Comments (144)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Claire says:

    Nothing on platinum or ba premium for me or OH. Never mind currently sitting in galleries lounge terminal 5 waiting for my complementary back massage. First time club world and loving it so far.

  • Alan says:

    Not got the supermarket offer on any of my 3 cards. I did get one Deliveroo offer but they don’t operate around here, so that’s worthless.

  • Lee says:

    Not on any of our 6 cards.

  • LewisB says:

    I’m always somewhat irritated when I see bonus this and that for BA Blue when I pay for the BAPP and no offer. Part of the game though. I did get the Deliveroo one which will come in handy on the Friday.

    • wetboy1uk says:

      yes, no offers for me yet again. Seems they go to people with money

    • Alex Sm says:

      I recently switched from BA Blue to Black card and most of the previous offers disappeared…

      PS if you are thinking of upgrading/downgrading BA Amex, DON’T apply on the website as if it was a new application as advised on some websites (you are likely to get rejected, as I got). Call them and they will do an upgrade/downgrade for you quickly and efficiently.

  • Bert says:

    OT – wonder if anyone can help with two distinctly different questions:

    1) Just found out that my wife is pregnant with our first child. We have non-refundable Norwegian premium tickets to Buenos Aires this Christmas which we won’t now use. Am I right in thinking that we should just hold on to them until the last minute in case the flight is cancelled (which seems to happen semi-regularly) and we can claim comp? Due to come back BA CW with Avios, so no problems cancelling this bit.

    2) Thinking about popping over to Madrid for a few days instead (burning a couple of our remaining Lloyds vouchers on the 777 flights). Any tips for hidden hotel gems that are central, chilled but won’t break the pre-baby bank?

    Thanks everyone!

    • William Squires says:

      Can’t help you with your questions, but congratulations 🙂

    • Stu N says:

      Congratulations.

      ME by Melia has been our choice, headline rates are high but they often have decent deals. It’s on Plaza Santa Ana, about 5 mins south of Sol and 10-15 mins to Plaza Mayor and Mercado San Miguel.

    • gomigo says:

      Congratulations, I was in a similar situation couple of years back.

      I wrote a polite email to their CS and they asked for a letter from midwife/GP or MatB1 form as evidence and after a quick review offered full refund in voucher form valid for 1 year. Airlines are reasonably good on parental reasons is my experience.

      All the best!!

      • Roberto says:

        Congrats…..

        And we had a good stop in Madrid at Hotel Preciados in March this year.

      • Alex Sm says:

        The question is whether you gonna travel with a baby and use this voucher at all… could be a good face saving exercise for an airline which will pocket your money anyway if you don’t redeem your voucher

    • Bert says:

      Thanks everyone. Very helpful and much appreciated.

      Good point, Alex. Perhaps we’ll leave it late to go down that route.

  • Lyn says:

    O/T thank you to @Shoestring for the RED link for earning 250 Iberia avios a few weeks ago. This has kept my husband’s Iberia account active for now.

  • Tom1 says:

    O/t any one know what time of day SQ releases spontaneous escapes? Pretty sure it’s 15th of the month, which means could be tonight depending on time.

    And how long for Amex to sq for points transfers please?
    Thanks 😊

    • Axel says:

      I’ve got them transferred in 48 hours recently

      Have you checked the flights on Lufthansa website, some bargains available? I snatched edi-sin return for £750 in premium last week, with a £40 upgrade to business offer following after, on one of the sectors.

      • Tom1 says:

        Yes thanks. Although I’m going around the F1 weekend so no cheap flights.

  • Steve says:

    Shuffled my flex J class USA-Far East ticket again but it’s disappointing that the likelihood of strikes are receding. The £20k spend on my BA amex is also a touch annoying. But the 50k Avios and TPs are a prize worth chasing. You’ve got to be in it to win it!

    • S says:

      I assume you paid in USD. You might get a unpleasant surprise when you realise how much you’ve lost on the depreciated £ when the refund comes back. 2% on 20k is not nothing.

      • John says:

        Er, if today you refund a USD payment that was orginally made a month ago you will get more pounds back than you spent.

    • BJ says:

      You’re flogging a dead horse, you’d be better taking a few @Shoestring tips and building your balance bit by bit at next to no cost (ignoring the Xmas Saver debacle ofcourse, but we will forgive him that one, nothing lost)

      • TGLoyalty says:

        And £12 gained still.

        • BJ says:

          Yes, plus I got refunded to my debit card so I guess a few free avios from my BAPP and no need to spend on Tesco, but then Harry was always big on insurance 🙂

      • xcalx says:

        Tesco saver, managed two out of three before Christmas . The third was used to buy 12 sim card deals . So Cheers Harry 3 out of 3 eventually.

        • BJ says:

          I remembered you were the lucky one but didn’t know you wound it up with the mobile offer 🙂 I get the feeling that the manager at my local extra is a stickler for the rules and keeps their staff clued up so I’m using a different store from now on.

          • Tom1 says:

            Managed to return and get cc vouchers back?
            I’m still long of Xmas savers.

    • ChrisC says:

      You are probably one of the few people disappointed that the strike threat is receding !

    • ChrisBCN says:

      Let’s hope you get screwed on the currency

      • Steve says:

        £48 profit on the currency movement and they waived the £15 cancellation fee for some reason.

        Your comments seems a bit vindictive, I’m only making the best of a bad situation. No different from investing in a ftse tracking fund at the outbreak of the gulf war for example. (Made a few bob from that as well!)

        And don’t start me on the bargain skiing holiday I booked to California in early October 2001!

        • 3742 says:

          There are some moral crusaders that comment here. I was thinking of trying what you have, and in the end I didn’t because I’m very busy and was worried I might miss the cancellation deadline and lose the £11k. However, I discussed it here and all the hypocrites came out of the woodwork. You know the type; they’re happy to abuse the opportunties afforded by Amex, but balk at doing anything against the sacred airline celebrating its fake birthday, the shareholders of which drink Dom Pom courtesy of the money they stole from the pilots.

        • S says:

          I’m no moral crusader but I don’t think your analogy to the gulf war is at all valid.

          You made a trade on the open stock market and took a view that differed from the one the market had legitimately set for the index at that time. Buying a flex fare with the intention to cancel is not a fair trade.

          Not saying I wouldn’t do it, but I wouldn’t claim I was doing something that is 100% morally sound.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.