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My Experience Flying Norse Atlantic – A Good Option For The Price
Here is my Norse Atlantic review as requested last week by a member here…(sorry it got long!).
We flew to Bristol, England via Paris (Delta to CDG and then EasyJet) and needed a one-way flight to NYC from London.
I knew about Norse and their Gatwick to JFK flight, but it was intimidating because it’s so new.
However, the price was right and they allow one way flights for a one way price.
It was me and 2 kids.
The kids’ tickets were about 15% cheaper.
I paid $947 for the three of us without any extras except one 22″ carry-on (we each had a free backpack).
No meal, no seat selection, no priority check-in, no in-person check-in.
I was expecting 7 hours of a Frontier Airlines experience.
We stayed near Victoria Station in London at the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel (a Radisson, apparently).
Great hotel if anyone is looking!
We took the “Gatwick Express,” which takes 30 minutes to the airport.
It drops you about 30 feet from the check-in area (keep in mind, I’m used to JFK!).
We got to Gatwick 2 hours before the flight.
I had tried to check in online but couldn’t get a boarding pass, so we headed to the Norse check-in desk.
There was about a 30-minute wait, and I was happy to see they were taking “Oslo flight” people off the line and checking them in ahead of us because their flight was leaving soon.
This is important to me because I’ve been the person waiting in line for a later flight, and it’s frustrating when airlines make you wait.
At the desk, they were charging the guy next to me 80 GBP because he hadn’t checked in online.
This would be a huge/expensive oversight for some.
The guy was probably 70, and they had mercy on him and didn’t make him pay.
It’s nice they did that for him, although I’m sure they would have charged a younger person with a smartphone.
I checked in online but missed in the ‘terms’ when booking that it’s required or there’s a fee.
On to security…
I saw a section for families and walked through it.
No one was in line.
That said, there was no one on any of the lines, so we were at DutyFree within about 40 minutes of stepping off the train.
We shopped until 11:50 (12:30 flight) and then headed for the gate a few minutes away.
When we got to the gate, I was surprised to see they were fully boarded, and we were some of the last on the plane.
They weren’t looking for us yet, but I guess they started boarding everyone early.
The staff were friendly, and their uniforms looked nice.
We found our seats (in a 3-3-3 plane, we had the middle 3 seats the row behind the bulkhead toward the back).
The bulkhead/emergency exit rows were empty.
I asked if I could move up, but they said it would cost $70.
The plane was about 65% full, so I asked if my daughter could move to an empty row in the back after takeoff, and they said that would be fine.
Some guys tried to sit in the bulkhead and were kicked back to their seats, so Norse takes the ‘pay for your premium seat’ policy seriously, even if it’s empty.
I did not prepay for the food, but for the $30 fee, the people across the aisle got a typical airplane food tray (chicken curry or pasta) and a light snack before landing.
The crew also had sandwiches for sale for $10 (or $20 with a drink and fries) and a cup o’ noodles style pasta bowl for $5.
The sandwiches looked better than the plane food.
My kids didn’t want any of it and survived on chocolate and cookies for the flight, having had a big breakfast at the hotel.
All drinks had a fee except for ‘a cup of water’ (bottles/cans of water cost a few dollars).
They had no issue with us asking multiple times for many cups of water throughout the flight.
We arrived at Terminal 1 at JFK and had only 10-15 people in front of us at immigration.
We were out in about 25 minutes.
All in all, I’d use them again based on my experience.
The price is right, it’s from my main airport and to a hub in Europe, so it’s helpful to get another flight from there.
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1 Reply
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I used to fly Norwegian from London Gatwick to Chicago O’Hare, and for the price, it was fine.
You just had to bring your own water and sandwich, but it was only about $350 round trip on a 787 Dreamliner.
Way better than flying United’s old 767.
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