When Norwegian first stepped up and announced that they will be offering low-cost long-haul flights about a year ago, the airline industry laughed out loud and focused on any possible flaws from the carrier. A year later, Norwegian flies from Europe to five destinations in the U.S. – Orlando, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA and San Francisco, CA. From US Norwegian flies nonstop to Bergen, London, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. The carrier operates 416 routes to 126 destinations within Europe and into North Africa, the Middle East, USA and Asia.
- Norwegian Air
Norwegian brought to the table a simple and widely used among domestic carriers solution for inexpensive international tickets, offering what the company calls LowFare. You pay only what you plan to use. You don’t need to pay for luggage, for reserved seat, not even for food, if you don’t feel like it. You can fly with your carry-on luggage, filled with snacks and whatever else you were able to fit in there and save an average between $200-$300 for a one-way ticket. If you want to bring check-in luggage, that would cost you from $40, depending on your trip. Remember those blankets and pillows that we take for granted in the long-haul flights? Norwegian says – that’s money included in your ticket too and if you don’t need them you don’t have to pay for them. Just remember to bring your jacket or blanket, or even a pillow, because if you end up needing one, that would be an extra $5 for each. Earphones sell for $3. Snacks are between $4 and $20; alcohol is $7-$10.
- Shopping during the flight
You don’t get complimentary water either, but you are allowed to bring as many bottles as you can fit in that carry-on. Keep in mind that with such a low fare cost, the tickets are nonrefundable and the changing fee is about $140 for transatlantic flights and $60 for domestic European flights.
The bad news is that the lower prices apply only to certain destinations and the majority is in Scandinavia.
- Lower fares apply mainly to Scandinavian destinations, but not only.
If that is not your final destination, you need to look for additional domestic flights or pay full price for your trip. In August you can fly from New York to Oslo for as low as $319.00 and in September the same flight starts at $203.00 for one-way ticket with all taxes included. A flight from New York to Copenhagen in August starts from $303. The prices are just as good from the West Coast. Direct flight from San Francisco to Stockholm starts from $322 in August and $245 in September.
Unlike the vertical aviation concept, which proposes a standing passengers’ cabin that leads to decreased costs of flying, Norwegian appreciates comfort and uses different methods to lower the cost. Besides the actual LowFare, Norwegian claims that the Dreamliner itself is a reason for the cheaper tickets. According to Norwegian, the new Dreamliner is much more fuel efficient, which leads to lower ticket prices. Check out their inflight welcome video HERE.
- Ambient light should ease jetlag
About a week ago I got to experience the Dreamliner and it is pretty awesome. It is not a spaceship or a magic carriage, but definitely would make your flight more bearable and even pleasant. Yes there is more room, the leather seats feel larger, so does the leg room. The middle row has only 3 seats, just like the end ones, unlike other aircrafts that like to scoot in 4 and 5 people together. Norwegian claims that the Dreamliner flights higher than an average plane, delivering cleaner air and thus mitigating jetlag afterwards.
I don’t know about that … I still experienced jetlag after my flight. Ambient lighting, electro-chromatic self-dimming windows, Android tablets at each seat, self-flushing toilets, bathroom doors that do not fold to take even more out of the tiny space, larger overhead bins, working USBs and of course endless on-board shopping with open tab all the way till landing.
- You can dim your window with the push of a button
Norwegian promises Wi-Fi on board and I was hoping to get some, but it turns out that Wi-Fi applies only to flights within Europe. “We are in the middle of nowhere, it is hard to get a signal from anywhere”, assured me the flight attendant.
Thumbs up Norwegian and you as well Dreamliner.
