Please sign in to post.

Norwegian Airlines experience

I was asked to provide feedback on our experience with Norwegian Airlines. I can't find that thread again unfortunately, so I'm posting here.

We flew from Oakland to Gatwick then to Rome. We returned from Rome through Stockholm, landing back in Oakland. We traveled in June 2016.

Overall I would say it was okay, which is about the same as most airline experiences I have had in the last decade.

Our flight out of Rome was moved forward about two hours a couple of months after I had booked and and although they offered the option of canceling all my flights, it was really too late for me to find a low airfare elsewhere or shift my plans around. That meant a very early arrival at FCO and a five hour wait in Stockholm. Not long enough to leave the airport--at least not for me as I am risk adverse when it comes to possibly missing a flight. And a rather long time to wait. I wasn't thrilled, but what can you do.

We pre-paid for checking one bag per person and for meals. The meals were horrible. Truly horrible. My thirteen year old ate almost nothing--just a couple of bites of rice each way. I'd suggest skipping the meals and just bringing your own food on the plane. Also the shorter flights within Europe, they do not offer any free drinks--not even a cup of water. So buy a drink after you clear security and carry it on.

The flight attendants were fairly brusque. Not exactly rude, but not warm or friendly or helpful and mostly absent from the economy cabin.

They charge for blankets so bring your own if you want one.

The in-flight entertainment on the international portions of our flights was good. Lots of choices. As I recall there was no screen on the shorter flights within Europe (smaller, older planes).

The seats seemed fairly standard to me. We booked early and did pay to be able to pick our seats. Since there were just two of us, we chose the second row from the back which had just two seats together. That was great except we were last off the plane and that meant a long wait to clear immigration on the US end of the flight.

Try not to gate check your bags as, despite being told otherwise, they did not return them plane side at FCO (Rome), instead we had to wait for them at the baggage carousel. I gate checked ours voluntarily because they were practically begging people to do so. I would not do that again! We deliberately checked our bags all the way through on the return trip and they arrived just as expected.

All in all, I would take Norwegian again if the convenience and price worked out, but I would not be super excited or pay more or shift plans to fly with them.

Hope that helps.

Posted by
1829 posts

Thanks for sharing crl
I am taking them one way to Europe from US on an upcoming trip and your experience is basically meeting my expectations.

From the US they don't fly into too many European cities and I assume as a way to consolidate flights they seem to all arrive in Europe in the morning and yet inter-Europe connections are in the late in the day/early evening meaning long layovers are the rule rather than the exception.

Their flights are also rarely every day, they might fly somewhere 2 days of the week so scheduling with them is not as easy but can be a real cost saver.

Posted by
8319 posts

We've been on six flight legs with Norwegian in the last year--with no issues. We picnic going over. Coming back, we suck it up and pay for their food.
The 787 Dreamliners are new and really nice. I agree about the service level--lower line.

But when I'm paying half what most travelers are paying, I'm not complaining.
We need all the competition we can get--keeping airfares down where we can afford to travel.

Posted by
873 posts

Thanks for posting about your experience! I was/am curious about people's experiences with Norwegian, since we are flying with them in September. Aside from the flight that was moved forward two hours, I don't see anything too bad :)

Posted by
4088 posts

Thank you for answering an unasked question. Many inter-European budget carriers will not check baggage through a connection to the final destination, even on their own flights. It is good to know than Norwegian did so for you.

Posted by
1930 posts

It is good hear to first hand experiences! Thank you for the update and info. I was planning to use them next year and will likely fly with them unless I can get a good deal on another airline. But, for the price you almost can't beat it and their connections are actually quite good. Although, good to know about your experience about blankets/drinks etc.

Thanks for taking the time to give us the details.

Posted by
99 posts

We flew on Norwegian this February, we bought airport food to bring on the flight with us as well as some assorted snacks of our own (granola bars, trail mix, etc.) sounds like that was a good move!

If you aren't willing to pay for bottles water (I'm not) bring your own bottle. If it runs out before the end of your flight you can just ask a flight attendant to refill it for you and they will for free. Every time I got up to visit the bathroom or stretch my legs I brought my water bottle with and asked the nearest flight attendant for some water.
We didn't book our seats ahead so on our flight to Copenhagen my husband and I weren't sitting next to each other because we checked in later in person than most other passengers. On the flight from Gatwick we sat next to each other and had an empty seat by us! So the earlier you check in the more likely you are to be seated together if you don't pay to book your seat assignment.