WOW Air

Friends of mine flew WOW Air from the US to London and then back from Paris in October. The way over was fine, but they experienced some horrible layovers/missed flights/etc on the way back. They'd never flown internationally before so they didn't have much to compare it to, but from what it sounds like, it's like flying any budget European airline, except across the Atlantic. I wouldn't be too thrilled, but if your schedule is flexible enough that you can arrive a day late it might be worth the savings.

Thanks, Sarah. From other, anecdotal stories you may have heard, do you think your friends' troubles were an anomaly or par for the course? Did WOW reimburse them for extra hotel stays or meals caused by those long layovers and missed flights?

David, I don't think the sample size here on the RS forum would be large enough to draw any conclusions. Per Skytrax, WOW is a 3 Star airline and you can read all 56 reviews (still a tiny sample size) on Skytrax. I don't even bother with reviews although they could point to some pitfalls that are worthy of being traded-off against a low price. Complaining about airline service is practically a sport (most people who do reviews have a bone to pick or are extremely happy - a bimodal distribution where an "average" experience gets discounted because average experiences don't compel people to write reviews). At least the reviews will give you an idea of WOW in comparison to other airlines. Good luck making your decision.

http://www.airlinequality.com/ratings/3-star-airline-ratings/
http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/wow-air/

Welcome back, Sarah, we've missed you....

Well, you learn new things (most) every day! Thanks, Agnes. I hadn't heard of SkyTrax before.