How to get refund after hidden travel fees revealed while in transit

[Spiky Scouter]

For a cruise this spring, I opted to let Norwegian Cruise Lines handle the travel arrangements. Big mistake.

Our family was coming from two origin cities, so two itineraries were planned. Me, my husband, and younger son were hit with a $192 carry-on bag fee from Spirit Airlines on the way to our cruise. On the return trip we had to pay a carry-on bag fee from United for $103. These fees were the result of NCL's booking us on the least expensive Economy class of each airline. After our trip, I learned that the fees are clearly advertised on their respective websites but we didn't find out about them until we were checking in for our flights.

My older son's flight back home was scheduled for 9 hours after the three of us had already left, bringing him to his destination after midnight. This was even though there was a comparably priced flight leaving at around the same time as the rest of the family that was much shorter than the flight he was booked for.

I opened a ticket with customer service, but they claimed these were "unexpected situations" for which they are not liable. It’s surprising that professional travel agents would not have known or alerted us about economy fare restrictions and would refer to them as “unexpected situations." I’m also curious as to why somebody thought it was a good idea to make my son wait all day for his flight rather than booking an earlier one that left at roughly the same time as the rest of the family’s and from the same terminal.

I tried emailing executives, but either I had the wrong email addresses or they just don't care. How can I get my $295 back?

Edited July 29, 2022 by Spiky Scouter
clarification

[Spiky Scouter]

To clarify, I'm not looking for compensation for the activities my older son did while waiting for his flight. But it speaks to NCL's thoughtless trip planning that we had to pay for something for him to do for 9 hours.

[DeanneB]

I am sorry, I know it must have been tiresome.  I am not sure there is something to be done about the fees since these fees are from the airlines.  I don't think NCL can refund them.  I agree they should have mentioned the restrictions.  They generally include this restriction on the email they sent upon confirming the flight details.