Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Fly to Oslo on a Boeing 787 with Norse Atlantic from £65 return – or £149 in Premium

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On Saturday we looked at the launch of Norse Atlantic Airways in the UK. Tickets are now on sale for flights from London Gatwick to New York JFK from 12th August.

What I didn’t spot at the time is that Norse isn’t, at least initially, opening a base at London Gatwick.

The aircraft will route Oslo – Gatwick – New York – Gatwick – Oslo. And, yes, you can buy Gatwick to Oslo on its own, flying a Boeing 787.

Norse Atlantic London to Oslo

Here is some typical pricing for August:

  • One-way Economy Gatwick to Oslo: £40
  • Return Economy Gatwick to Oslo: £65
  • One-way Premium Economy Gatwick to Oslo: £88
  • Return Premium Economy Gatwick to Oslo: £149

The Economy fares quoted above do not include checked luggage. You are allowed a small underseat bag – possibly enough for a night – but you’ll pay roughly £16 extra each way for Economy Classic which allows a full-size carry-on bag and a hold bag.

The website also says that you’ll get a free meal in Economy with Economy Classic but this could be a mistake – the website seems to be copying the wording from the long-haul ticket rules.

Don’t worry about not getting free seat selection. This is a Boeing 787 and I doubt that Economy will be more than a quarter full.

Premium Economy, above, is the sweet spot. The £88 one-way / £149 return fare quoted above gets you a full-size carry-on bag, priority boarding, priority check-in and (don’t bet on this) ‘two meal services’. Again, it’s another £16 each way to buy a ticket with a checked case included.

(When you try to pay, you are told “Pre-order meals are unavailable on this flight. Food and drinks can be purchased onboard” which implies that the promise of ‘two meal services’ is definitely an error.)

One way or return?

One thing to note is the flight times.

The flight TO Oslo is OK for a short break. You leave Gatwick at 11am and land at 2.20pm.

The return flight to London, however, departs at 9.35am. It lands in Gatwick at 10.50am. I’d be tempted to take the late afternoon British Airways flight instead and have another eight hours to sightsee, even if it does mean British Airways legroom …..

Other things to consider

Remember that the new National Museum has just opened in Oslo, if you’re looking for an excuse to go this Summer.

One downside is the almost total absence of IHG, Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt hotels from the city. Radisson has a huge number of hotels, however. If prices look high there is always the good value option of transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to Radisson Rewards at 1:3.

American Express Platinum cardholders will also have Radisson Rewards Gold status – the benefits of Radisson Gold are here. You don’t get free breakfast unfortunately.

I haven’t been to Oslo for over 20 years, so this deal has spiked my interest. You may see me on one of these services in late August ….

Comments (40)

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

  • BJ says:

    For hotels, buying (or earning) Choice points is an option for redemptions at Nordic Choice. In Oslo The Thief is a good option.

  • mkcol says:

    I stayed at Thon Hotel Opera on recommendation of others from here when visiting my niece in November for her confirmation.
    It’s right beside the train station & is pretty central for most tourist things. I’m sure it was part of GHA Discovery but seems to have adopted its own programme now.
    Breakfast huge, hangers wooden, coffee pod machine & cheap kettle.

  • Lou says:

    I second Nordic Choice Hotels, very generous loyalty scheme

    • PMG says:

      I will third this as well.
      Amassed a few points due to travel to Nordics and have had a couple of good redemptions 🙂

  • Andrew J says:

    Could be useful for QR positioning flights.

  • qrfan says:

    Hotel Continental was fantastic and I highly recommend it. My general memory of our weekend in Oslo though was how hilariously expensive everything was. I’d suggest a hearty breakfast at the hotel buffet.

    • Paul says:

      Is it expensive or is the £ just pathetically weak. My money is on the latter!

      • iain says:

        It’s expensive. Eye wateringly so.

      • qrfan says:

        GBP is not particularly weak vs NOK right now…

        • Rob says:

          Yes, to be honest I looked up hotels for a random date in late August and – at around £200-£250 for a 4-5 star – thought it was (given Norway’s reputation) acceptable. Just booked my brother into a London DoubleTree on points beause it wanted £350 for a Saturday night ….

          • qrfan says:

            I found food and drink to be the part that was ridiculously expensive. How much that matters for a one night stay is questionable but it would make an expensive weeks holiday I think.

    • georgeH says:

      Norway has always been expensive. The weak pound has just made it worse

  • Graeme says:

    You can easily pack for two nights with an underseat bag! On the right kind of trip, of course. A full-size bag is obviously preferrable and I’m not allowed to book ‘small bag’ only when travelling with the missus, but with my mates it’s no issue at all.

    • Rob says:

      Totally agree, won’t be a problem for most people. If I get over it will only be for one night anyway.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    Oslo is a special place, I’ve not been since C-19 I hope to get over there soon.

  • Bagoly says:

    And when you get there, almost as expensive as NY ?!

    • Andy in Cheshire says:

      It’s more expensive than New York.

      About five years ago, we paid £150 for four salads and four beers.

      Fortunately our hosts were amazing cooks.

      Booze has to be bought from the gov monopoly stores so the arrival duty free is massive as are the queues of Norwegian folk stocking up.

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