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In positive news, Norwegian Reward — the loyalty program of Norwegian Air — will lift its temporary CashPoints restrictions on November 1, 2021. Previously, members could use CashPoints on bookings. But, Norwegian restricted how points could be used.
Backstory on Norwegian Reward Limitations
Previously, Norwegian Air filed for bankruptcy, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts on travel. In the wake of this, they paused their Norwegian Reward program and use of CashPoints. That was in February 2021.
In May 2021, Norwegian Reward announced that it was “back” but with restrictions on the use of CashPoints. To sum it up: the airline was still hurting for cash, so you couldn't make 100% redemption bookings. You were restricted to cash+points bookings and had to spend at least 100€ to be able to use any CashPoints. A maximum of 1,000 CashPoints could be applied to each reservation, and each member was capped at 10,000 CashPoints per month.
As well as these redemption restrictions, Norwegian Air suspended all long-haul flights — including those to several destinations in the USA, Bangkok, Shanghai, Singapore, etc. In fact, the subsidiary Norwegian Long Haul was liquidated in January 2021. So, those long-haul flights probably won't be returning anytime soon.
CashPoints Restrictions Will End on Nov. 1
In good news for loyalty members, Norwegian Reward will remove these temporary CashPoints restrictions on November 1, 2021. In a press release, CEO Geir Karlsen said the program will return to its former state. This means no blackout dates, all seats available for award redemptions, and the ability to make full award bookings — no need for a percentage of cash payments on the booking.
Final Thoughts
This is good news for those with CashPoints sitting in their Norwegian Reward accounts. Now, you will be able to use them in full for award bookings on flights. Norwegian Air is still expanding its route network, so you won't be able to make award bookings across the Atlantic for a while. However, those planning to travel around Europe should be happy. You can find a list of their current routes here.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I am not very happy with the lasts news from Norweygian. They have cut some long trip flights from Europe to USA, so this promotion for me is not very valuable.
Thanks anyway for the article.
Thank Goodness!!! Thought we would never come back to normal times. This is GOOD NEWS indeed…
Yeay it’s an option but then they are tending to move forward and then retreat and repeat. It makes it nervous about anything with them. I wonder how many others feel the same.
Now I can redeem my large sum of $0.84 in Cashpoints! The long wait is over!
This is good news for their loyalty partners. Still its still touch and go with this airline.
Im surprized that Norwegian air is still with us, used to be a great budjet choice.
The airline is good for travels within Scandinavia and between Europe and Scandinavia. However, everything about the airline is not attractive to me for long distance trips.
Great that they are lifting their restrictions and expanding their network, about time!
This is definitely excellent news. I can finally redeem my points to cash and points purchases with no further restrictions. Hope Norwegian might be back to the status of being one of the best low cost airlines, I miss these times.