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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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Category

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Comments (54)

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

  • Henry says:
    16 Jul16 July 08:29

    My partner used the service to NYC on Saturday and was very complimentary. Total price genuinely a lot less than BA (OK, a Saturday in July isn’t necessarily the fairest comparison), and she said it was a very pleasant way to travel. She said the service was a lot closer to Virgin’s chumminess than what you get on BA, but no worse for that.

    Accept the points about aircraft availability etc – but ultimately it’s like any other comparison between BA and an LCC – if the price of what you get bundled with BA doesn’t offset the price difference for you, you should go with the LCC. If not, choose BA.

    • Richie says:
      16 Jul16 July 11:59

      Exactly, I don’t think we have a clear winner. It totally depends on each airlines price at time of booking, status, timings, etc. it’s nice to have the option of a Lcc on this route though.

  • nick says:
    16 Jul16 July 08:51

    I think. the benefit of going to work on the morning you land with ba is a bit of a non starter really. I wouldn’t go to work after an overnight flight in economy so that aspect of the return flight time is irrelevant to me. If in flying in cw or first I might try to work that day, but not economy.

    • Fenny says:
      16 Jul16 July 21:14

      I used to fly back from the US to Manchester, arrive around 8am, get the train back to Huddersfield, walk down to the office and work until 4pm, then go home and crash!

      Try telling that to the young people of today. They won’t believe you!!! 😉

      • Rich. S says:
        16 Jul16 July 22:48

        I did this for a while, then realised I didn’t have too…..

  • Matthew says:
    16 Jul16 July 09:04

    Stupid article.

    £300 is almost half as cheap as £599 QED.

    You may not like cheap airlines but claiming they aren’t cheaper just because they don’t suit your needs is absurd.

    • DV says:
      16 Jul16 July 09:12

      The Norweigan fares being compared to BA are £573, £477 and £445. Who is stupid now?

      • Matthew says:
        16 Jul16 July 09:25

        Then get one of the £300 flights instead?

        • Brian says:
          16 Jul16 July 10:02

          Are you so flexible that you can travel exactly when you want? Most people have particular dates when they can travel. Those who don’t can probably afford more expensive, better-quality flights…

        • flibbly says:
          16 Jul16 July 14:16

          Can you actually read?

    • Andrew S says:
      16 Jul16 July 14:59

      I assume you are not familar with headline price grabbing marketing techniques?

  • squills says:
    16 Jul16 July 09:17

    Here are some REAL scheduled airline £300 return flights

    • Andrew S says:
      16 Jul16 July 09:44

      11 hours with changes… depends on how you value your time.

  • Brian says:
    16 Jul16 July 09:28

    I don’t think you can make the point about BA’s flexibility regarding times (flying on Friday morning, for instance) without acknowledging that those BA flights are likely to be more expensive since they are more desirable!!

    • squills says:
      16 Jul16 July 09:42

      I bet you BA introduce a hand luggage only option on certain long haul routes for a discount (as they have already done with European flights).

      • Dave says:
        16 Jul16 July 10:07

        No 3% credit card FX fee if you use a Halifax Clarity card. Everyone who travels abroad should have one.

        • squills says:
          16 Jul16 July 10:09

          Ah, but how does the exchange rate they use compare to Amex? I looked into it a while ago, and because Amex’s rate was much finer, plus you get the MR points, there was nothing in it really.

  • Sam says:
    16 Jul16 July 11:07

    If you want non-stop then Kuwaiti Airlines frequently has £300 return on it’s 3 x weekly flights. Including luggage, food & entertainment (no booze). And flights from LHR-JFK.

    On the New York route i’d always been led to believe that Y is heavily subsidised on BA / VS by those flying upfront anyway?

    Always happy to see a new carrier try on this route, but cannot see them succeeding where so many other have failed, despite lower cost base. The mid / long haul market in Y is so competitive anyway. And they have had a mountain of 787 issues and have had to sub a lot of their ex-Oslo flights with wet leased 767’s.

    One good thing that the Air Asia X STN-KUL showed us is that if they do pull the route at short notice they will HAVE to rebook you onto another carrier as there are plenty of options, so there should be confidence in booking IF they suit you for whatever reason (i.e. live in Brighton, get £300 return, happy with hand luggage, not eating, etc).

    • Kyle says:
      16 Jul16 July 16:45

      Yes, I was on one of these services – not a 787 Dreamliner (not to London, however) but rather a old 777 (Boeing) service, with a company called ‘Hifly’ and the staff where in ‘Hifly’ uniform.

      Probably the worst experience I’ve had flying internationally, no food service (even to purchase) and main-screen entertainment – and very poor service.

      This said, the 787 experience was above-par and comparable to a number of major airlines, if you buy the ‘plus’ option.

  • Jeremy I says:
    16 Jul16 July 12:40

    The crucial advantage on all of the Norwegian long haul routes is that they allow one-ways , which is a game changer in the long haul market. Get a cheap outbound from London and a large portion of the one-way fare will be APD anyway. Return on points and you’ve got a real saving.

    • Worzel says:
      16 Jul16 July 13:55

      Nov13-18:

      Norwegian: LGW-JFK(one way) £244-including suitcase,seat reservation,meal.

      BA: JFK- LHR(one way) £149 +20k Avios- including suitcase, meal/drinks.

      Total: £393 + 20k.

      Reply

  • BD says:
    16 Jul16 July 12:47

    I agree that for a single traveller the £170 pound saving is less than compelling. However, as the HFP yardstick tends to be “family of four to DXB”. On that basis the saving of £680 is substantial. Certainly £500 after food and bags.
    For those south of London or within easy reach of gatwick the convenience needs to be factored in.

    It’s a shame that they don’t offer WiFi on the long haul product. I believe it’s free on the majority of their short haul fleet.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jul16 July 14:39

      Fair point, but on the same ‘family off on holiday’ route I’m not sure I would risk it with an airline which has zero chance of helping you out if the plane goes tech (and this is a 787 we’re talking about!).

      I was never trying to suggest that Norwegian isn’t worth a look. I even mentioned it to our nanny last week as an option as she was thinking of going over. As with all budget carriers, the key things I like to stress are:

      * do not assume a budget carrier is cheaper because it is not always true
      * take into account other factors such as the need for additional hotel nights, transfer costs, refreshments, baggage etc

      Whilst I am sure Norwegian has done the maths, I struggle to see how they can make any money out of this. Although – in terms of fuel cost – the Los Angeles flights must be even more difficult. Dreamliners are meant to be 20% or so more efficient than older aircraft, but that is only 20% of the fuel bill which is hardly your entire cost base. If Ryanair doesn’t think it could work (and they have the marketing machine to fill every flight) then I worry for Norwegian.

      • Kyle says:
        16 Jul16 July 16:48

        If you ‘risk’ it – then you’ll most likely end up on a ‘Hifly’ or subsidiary 20+ year old aircraft, rather than being left at the airport – they sell a number of their flights as ‘a dream-liner’ experience, whereas they know that they don’t have the planes to service this demand, for the time being.

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