Get a free Norwegian long-haul flight if you take 12 short-haul flights

Low cost airline Norwegian has launched an interesting offer – but not necessarily one you would want to volunteer yourself for.

If you take 12 return flights with Norwegian (short haul) between July 1st and December 31st, you will receive one free long-haul flight to take in 2016.

There is very little small print, to give Norwegian credit.  Not only will you not have to pay any taxes and charges for your free flight, Norwegian will give you free meals and free seat selection.  You have to pay for this normally on the cheapest Norwegian fares.

If you live in the UK then the rules say that you must redeem on a route from Gatwick.  This means that you must redeem to New York, Los Angeles or Orlando.

On the face of it, this is a good deal.  In reality, I am less convinced.

For a start, 12 Norwegian flights in a 6 month period is going to be tricky unless they fly a route you use heavily.  It certainly isn’t worth taking 12 Norwegian flights for the sake of it, just to get a free USA flight next year.

Secondly, whilst Norwegian flies brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, they have been criticised for punctuality issues.  They run their fleet very tightly indeed and do not have the spare capacity to recover quickly from delays or technical issues.

I was also unimpressed by the timing of their New York flights.  You land at 22.30 in New York which is not ideal.  Any savings on the flight cost seem to be swallowed by the need to take a taxi to your hotel (assuming you don’t want to take public transport at midnight, once you’ve got through immigration).  If you took an early BA flight you would be in New York as early as 11am.

Full details can be found here if you want to give it a go.