blasky

Hi All -

Looking for some feedback on the LAX-OSLO route for a trip at end of August. Norwegian is the only one that offers non-stop which I always prefer whenever possible. Never flown Norwegian.. and wanted to know:

1. Is Norwegian a decent airline?
2. Is their premium economy worth it or better spend a bit more to go with one of the bigger carriers in premium econ / biz and have a stopover (and earn Start Alliance or One World miles? The price i am getting right now is $1200 OW non-stop on Norweigian for premium econ.
3. Are they having financial issues like some of the other low cost European carriers (like WOW?)

Thanks in advance...

Blasky

Im a new user

There is a long thread for speculations about DY's finances: Norwegian Air stability through summer?

Just don't assume that everything in the thread necessarily is correct.

4sallypat

Yes, Norwegian is a decent airline for a low cost European carrier.
We did the LAX-MAD and CDG -LAX on Norwegian low fare (basic) for our family of 4 last month.
If you brush up on European LCC rules, you will be fine.
Most people we personally witnessed had issues and screamed bloody murder when their carry on and check in exceeded Norwegian & other LCC rules, costing them lots of extra money.
As long as you change your American / US flight norms and switch over to European LCC rules you will be fine.
Because we changed our carry on and check in luggage to comply with the size and weight rules, we did not get any surprises.

As a matter of fact, when we flew on another Euro LCC carrier: Transavia (MAD-CDG) their luggage rules were the same as Norwegian's and our luggage easily went thru without surcharges.

Norwegian trans Atlantic flights will likely use the 787 Dreamliners which look newer and are super comfy with lot less jet lag.
I now love the higher cabin pressure, higher humidity, less noise and cabin mood lighting at the end of a Dreamliner trip - you just feel so much better ready to go and adapt quicker to the destination time zone.

w0r1dtrave1er

I flew their premium economy ARN-LAX once. If you're flying solo it's definitely worth the fare difference

Phrastus

Mostly I'll just affirm what others have said here... Norwegian is a decent airline as long as you remember it is a low-cost carrier. Expect nothing apart from a seat and you won't be disappointed. Please remember that if your flight is delayed or cancelled, you'll be waiting as long as it takes for Norwegian to get another plane out there (even if it takes a day or more) as you will NOT be rebooked on another carrier.

Their premium economy is pleasant enough and unless you can reserve one of the bulkhead seats in regular economy, premium is a good choice if you have the money and really prefer a non-stop. I have flown in both regular and premium. The bulkhead seats in economy were perfectly average and cost me something like $40 extra instead of $1200. "Premium" means something a little different with Norwegian, since, again, it is an LCC. The seat IS bigger and the cabin is smaller than in economy, so those are indeed two big advantages to premium economy.

However, the food is equally terrible and drinks offerings are pretty poor (been a couple years for me, so I don't remember what drinks were complimentary in premium- not many, though). Service is completely hit or miss and really the best I've had on my OAK-ARN/CPH-OAK flights was one flight where the attendants tossed my pre-paid meal down (a bit of a mistake on my part, that), gave me a cup of water, and then went away for the rest of the 10 hour flight. The other flights had even more perfunctory service. Strongly suggest bringing a liter of water and a couple of snack bars and not paying for any food, either pre-ordered or purchased onboard.

I suspect Norwegian is not doing super well financially since their long-haul business model seems a little... low in the profits department. I doubt they'll go out of business in the immediate-term, but I'm no businessperson.

In conclusion, I have found my numerous flights on Norwegian quite fine considering what I paid. I don't think, however, that I'll be providing them much business moving forward. My personal feeling is that if they're really pushing premium at $1200 one-way, that's a pretty high price differential considering that I can find premium economy on SAS from SFO-CPH for example from $800 one way. If that non-stop really matters, though (and it might matter for me if I flew out of LAX instead of SFO/OAK) then Norwegian premium is going to be it.

On the other hand, Helsinki is served non-stop by Finnair on an A350 and I'd recommend that over absolutely anything Norwegian could offer. Transferring in Helsinki is the most painless experience I can imagine and Oslo is less than two hours from there. Stockholm and Copenhagen are both non-stops from LAX on SAS and then there's an even shorter connecting flight to OSL.

One last tidbit: if you think you can slog through the Norwegian language, try booking through Norwegian's Norwegian site. You pay in kroner there and, well, let's just say that in years past, even with conversion fees, things are differently costed on their various sites. I once did a comparison in Norwegian kroner, Swedish kronor, British pounds, and dollars for the same booking (I had a lot of spare time, apparently). Each of those four national sites gave me different pricing- up to 15% different in fact. I even seem to recall that I booked a one-way in kronor and another one-way in pounds because the outbound and inbound flights priced so differently. This may not be the case any longer, though, and I had the advantage of being able to read Norwegian and Swedish. But, maybe, just maybe, that premium seat will be a little cheaper in another currency.

Good luck! Oslo is a great city so I am sure you'll have an awesome time no matter how you get there.