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Comment by dehrmann | Hacker News Reader

I was recently debating booking a flight to Europe on Norwegian. It didn't affect my decision, but I'm very aware that they're struggling financially, so I'd only buy the tickets less than a month out on a credit card so it's the bank's money, and if they declared bankruptcy and cancelled flights, c'est la vie.

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But what happens if they declare bankruptcy on you way back ? and what about hotel reservations or the more expensive flight you'll have to take ?

BTW Norwegian are fine for a while

https://simpleflying.com/norwegian-bond-payments-deferrednor...

> But what happens if they declare bankruptcy on you way back ?

Buy your plane tickets with a credit card, ask your credit company for the money back, buy another ticket. This is one of the main advantages of using a credit card: the credit company will absorb the debts of the third party (the airline, in this example).

Sure, and hope that you aren't on a strict budget and the return flight doesn't cost a lot more. Oh, and that the credit comes in a timely manner and you aren't waiting until monday/tuesday because friday evening isn't a business day.

> and hope that you aren't on a strict budget

If you have a credit card and you're still on a tight budget, you're using credit cards the wrong way: i.e. the way most people use them. Use them like a debit card and you'll be fine, and in emergencies you have credit to dip into.

Don't travel 6,000 miles on a strict budget, and definitely not on an airline in an iffy financial position.

I just checked my travel insurance and they son't seem to cover bankruptcy of airlines in any way. That's good to know.

The hotel reservation problem actually happened to me. I booked the hotel via a company called AMOMA, which Google recommended me when I entered the hotel name (it was the cheapest so I took it).

They recently sent me an email saying that they immediately ceased service and our booking will probably be cancelled. I checked with the hotel the same day and got a confirmation that the booking is all good (via phone and email). One day after I get an email from the hotel saying our booking has been canceled.

I did pay via (prepaid) credit card so it'll be interesting to see whether I'll ever get my money back...

> I did pay via (prepaid) credit card so it'll be interesting to see whether I'll ever get my money back...

Curious: what card is both "prepaid" and a credit card?

> But what happens if they declare bankruptcy on you way back

That falls under c'est la vie. I gambled, I lost, suck it up, book BA (looks like the strike's over), Lufthansa, SAS, etc.

Ah, nuts! I had no idea Norwegian was struggling. I have a long-haul flight booked with them for Christmas :(

My brother just came to visit me on Norwegians NY->Dublin route. He said when he got on the flight they made an announcement that it was their last flight for that route ever. They have already cancelled their Providence->Dublin route as well so I'm a bit bummed I won't be able to fly back to the states cheaply in the near term.

I think they had problems due to 737-max being grounded.

They were having problems before that, but the 737-max exasperated them. They even used a 787 to fill in some gaps, but that's absurd.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2019/03/14/nor...

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