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Is the Norwegian Gatwick to New York service really ‘low cost’?

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The Norwegian service from London Gatwick to New York which I originally previewed back in October has now launched.   They have also started flying to LA and Fort Lauderdale from Gatwick, although I am concentrating on the New York service here.

The company has been promoting itself as offering £300 return tickets.  As the October post above shows, there was a LOT of availability at this level when bookings first opened.  (£300, remember, is less than the tax on a British Airways Avios economy redemption to New York.)

You could put that down to PR ‘bluster’ of course.  The key question is whether Norwegian can continue to offer low fares.

On the positive side, they are using brand new Boeing 787 aircraft which are very fuel efficient.  Using Gatwick also save them a few pounds per passenger in landing fees.  The downside – and it is a big downside – is that they don’t have any bankers on £4,000 return fully flexible tickets sitting on flat beds at the front.

I randomly priced up three ‘long weekends’ in New York this Autumn.  I looked for a day flight going out on Friday and an overnight flight coming back on the Monday.  Not coincidentally, this is exactly what I did myself last weekend.

The first problem is that Norwegian only flies on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  This is not great for the ‘weekend break’ market.  I assumed that Thursday to Tuesday would be the best comparator although, personally, that is at least one night more than I would want (and you are running up a higher hotel bill by staying longer).

Norwegian also prices in Euros.  I have added 3% to the converted £ price to reflect the credit card FX fee you would pay.

Finally, the Norwegian outbound flight is 18.40.  This is OK if you head to Gatwick from work, but if not you are effectively losing a day of your trip due to the 21.30 arrival in New York.  Coming back, the flight leaves at 23.50 from JFK which is pretty terrible given that your hotel will want you out of the door at noon.

Thursday September 4 – Tuesday September 9:

Norwegian: €699 (£573)

British Airways:  £599

Thursday October 23 – Tuesday October 28 (half term):

Norwegian: €583 (£477)

British Airways:  £585

Thursday November 13 – Tuesday November 18:

Norwegian: €545 (£445)

British Airways:  £585

Based on these prices, you would be crazy to take Norwegian for the September trip:

The flight times are not great

The days they fly are not terribly convenient

The flights are not particularly cheap, especially factoring in baggage and on-board food and drink costs

Norwegian has a very tiny fleet and you are running a real risk of being stranded if your aircraft develops problems

The October and November trips are more marginal.  Norwegian save you £110-£140 over British Airways.  However, with BA you could travel Friday morning and not Thursday evening and so save on 1 night of hotel cost.  You could also get a more convenient flight back (say 8pm) which would allow you to get into work in Central London at a sensible time on the day you land.

If you factor in the value of the Avios points awarded by British Airways (1 per mile flown in economy) which are enough for a one-way flight to much of Europe, plus the value of free food and drink, the BA option looks even better.  And if your BA plane develops a problem, there are no shortage of alternative flights.

A saving of £140 over British Airways is, if I’m honest, probably enough to fill Norwegian’s planes – but in terms of convenience, you are getting what you pay for.

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Comments (54)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jack says:
    16 Jul16 July 06:42

    Have you factored in the cost of checked luggage with those prices? A checked bag from gatwick to New York is €33 each way!

    I know your example used a long weekend but we’d usually end up needing a checked bag, on the return at least, for shopping.

    • Idrive says:
      16 Jul16 July 06:51

      The only thing i can think of it is a one way ex london with no luggage to pair with a one way redemption (AA) But still i would not want to get to Nyc at night. I would prefere to sleep at home get to LHR in the morning and enjoy my weekend. But still…agree with you fully.

      The flights will be full probably…as ryanair flights are! 🙁

      • Brendan says:
        16 Jul16 July 08:01

        You do get a free checked bag on AA. It is only on domestic travel within the US that you don’t.

        • Idrive says:
          16 Jul16 July 08:03

          Yes the point is ex Lon hand luggage only and ex Nyc with AA with a checked luggage after shopping!

    • Rob says:
      16 Jul16 July 08:21

      You’re talking to a man who can easily do a week-long holiday on 1 piece of hand baggage!

      Of course, it is possible that Norwegian would start getting fussy about the size of my piece of hand baggage, I didn’t actually check what their dimensions are and I have no idea if they enforce it.

      I came back in a Singapore Airlines First Class private suite (A380) on Monday night, complete with Krug, caviar and lobster for dinner (not easy to eat at 11pm but hey ho) so I don’t think Norwegian and I are meant to be. If they offer me a review flight I will turn it down!

      • DV says:
        16 Jul16 July 09:13

        I’d be interested in their Business Class to FLL (although it’s not particularly cheap). Can you review that please 😉

  • sandgrounder says:
    16 Jul16 July 07:05

    The low cost option may be a better deal for a one way or a return without a Saturday night stay. Or short notice. Maybe.

  • Richie says:
    16 Jul16 July 07:07

    Surely it’s better to get to NYC at night. You can go straight to the hotel, have a good nights sleep and wake up refreshed at your destination early the next morning.
    I paid £360 with ba to New York for long weekend in November.

    • Richie says:
      16 Jul16 July 07:09

      Dates are the same as your example swell!!

    • Scott says:
      16 Jul16 July 08:02

      I personally prefer getting there during the day.
      I hate arriving late at night and paying £200 or whatever for a hotel room that you pretty much walk into and go to sleep in. I’d rather have that room all day to get my money’s worth out of it.

      • Richie says:
        16 Jul16 July 08:09

        Never thought of that, does seem a bit of a waste when you put it like that.

        • squills says:
          16 Jul16 July 08:20

          I used to like travelling early out (so that you get paid to fly during the working day) but to get the red eye back to give yourself a bit of a weekend at home.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jul16 July 08:17

      My preference is to get to my hotel for around 4pm-5pm, which means landing about 2pm-3pm.

      On Friday I landed in Newark at 7pm. Luckily immigration was empty, I was happy to pay for a taxi, I was staying in Battery Park and I had no checked baggage, so I still managed to get to the Conrad by 8.30. I then lost some time at the Conrad because I had to change my room. It doesn’t give you much time to relax and plan out your trip.

      On the other hand, nothing is worse than getting to your hotel at 5pm, being totally knackered and having to force yourself to stay awake until 9pm/10pm for fear of waking up at 3am!

      • andy21 says:
        16 Jul16 July 12:28

        Or take Queen Mary 2 to New York and arrive at 9am with no jet-lag (they adjust the clock on board by an hour on 5 of the days at sea).

  • Martin Wood says:
    16 Jul16 July 07:32

    Article here on the difficulty of finding true low cost Norwegian flights to NYC.

    http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/02/norwegian-bargain-flights-no-frills

  • Alan says:
    16 Jul16 July 07:53

    For those of us that don’t work in Central London there’s also the minor issue of having to connect to Gatwick on a separate booking leaving sufficient time between flights for safety! At least with BA there’d be little extra cost to include a (protected) connection.

  • Worzel says:
    16 Jul16 July 07:58

    A brief survey for Nov13-18:

    Norwegian LGW-JFK: £489-including suitcase,seat reservation,meal.

    BA LHR-JFK: £468- including suitcase, meal/drinks.

    BA(Avios), LHR-JFK: £361 + 40k avios.

  • Richie says:
    16 Jul16 July 08:13

    For me this a no brainer, as a ba silver 13,800 avios, lounge access, extra 32kg bag. Seat selection, meals on board, tier points. All add up to make ba a better deal even at £150 more for the ticket. It just so happens that when I booked ba was cheaper anyway.

  • Toby says:
    16 Jul16 July 08:18

    Don’t think that Head for Point readers demographics are the target. For me the timings and small fleet make the (potential) £150 saving not worth thinking about. But a few years ago when budgets were tighter and time was less of an issue £150 would have swung me to them.

    • squills says:
      16 Jul16 July 08:24

      And whilst there aren’t very many cheapo flights at the moment, with budget airlines if you’re canny you buy as soon as the next tranche gets released (ie well in advance) or else watch prices like a hawk. Ie if I were a student, I’d be fairly sure to find something close to £300-350 return and (for NY at least) wouldn’t be taking checked luggage.

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