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Norse Atlantic reversing ‘unbundling’ as it launches £259 sale seats to New York

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Air fares, it seems, are finally returning to their pre-pandemic normal and Norse Atlantic is once again offering £259 transatlantic flights.

In 2018 and 2019 it wasn’t uncommon to see such fares offered by Norwegian, and Norse is now following in its footsteps.

The ‘September Sale’ is running until 12th September with travel from 1st October until 15th June 2025.

Norse Atlantic sale

All flights are from London Gatwick. Here are the headline fares:

  • New York JFK from £259 return
  • Miami from £275 return 
  • Orlando from £275 return 
  • Los Angeles from £275 return 
  • Las Vegas from £299 return 
  • Cape Town from £329 return 

The most exciting new route Norse is flying is to Cape Town. I was easily able to find return flights for £323 here, which is a good deal for the 11-hour journey.

Pricing for premium economy isn’t bad either, with a return to New York in Premium going for £581. Cape Town is £816 – far below the £1,200+ British Airways is demanding. You can read our review of Norse Atlantic Premium Economy to New York here.

Is unbundling over for Norse?

Part of the reason that Norse Atlantic has been able to offer low fares is that you get virtually nothing included with your ticket.

Free checked luggage? Seat selection? Forget it. Norse Atlantic doesn’t even offer you free food on its cheapest economy tickets.

More frustratingly, Norse Atlantic didn’t even include cabin baggage with Economy Light fares. Whilst many people fly short haul every day with literally no baggage, cabin or hold, I doubt many people flying to Cape Town go entirely empty handed.

This is now over. All Norse Atlantic tickets – irrespective of whether they are booked as part of the sale or not – will now also include a 10kg carry-on bag for free. This is in addition to the under-seat personal item previously offered.

It isn’t clear if this is Norse getting generous or if an advertising standards person has had a word. All ‘compulsory’ charges must be shown as part of the advertised price and realistically 99.9% of people would find it ‘compulsory’ to take some item of luggage (apart from a handbag / small laptop bag) on a long haul flight.

PS. Norse also revealed this week that it will allocate half of its fleet to the charter market for Winter 2024 as it struggles to find profitable routes opportunities. The airline is also returning three Boeing 787-8 aircraft to the leasing company, allowing it to cut capacity and move to a pure Boeing 787-9 fleet.

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Comments (49)

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

  • Erico1875 says:
    5 Sep5 September 05:55

    Specific date i checked , Easter next year,OW Orlando to London.
    More expensive than BA, AA, UA and Virgin

  • David says:
    5 Sep5 September 06:13

    With 10kg included I can consider purchasing with s75 for obvs reasons.

  • roberto says:
    5 Sep5 September 06:40

    Like Norwegian before them their destiny is to collapse. Their low hanging fruit policy is fine in the short term but it won’t last..

  • BJ says:
    5 Sep5 September 06:51

    Unbundling was a great idea in theory but it has been no surprise to find that in practice it has just been used by many airlines to massively inflate fares. When unbundling started base fares changed little from the previously bundled fares but airlines increasingly added more and more fees on top. Despite this they have got ‘away with it’ because it has just become the norm as we passengers have become accustomed booking processes where we construct our preferred fares.

    There are airlines that have not played along. A good example is Bangkok Airways which includes both cabin and hold bags, seat selection, food and even lounge access in its fares including its heavily discounted promotional fares. Yet it exists in a marketplace awash with LCC including Air Asia, LionAir, VietJet and others where unbundling is King. Rationally I feel like applauding Bangkok Airways and should be favouring them and rushing to book them but for some reason I’m very fond of unbundled Air Asia and always look at them first. Perhaps it’s because Air Asia’s high frequencies are more appealing to me than bundled fares.

    • Paulthetaxman says:
      5 Sep5 September 08:06

      If anything goes wrong with Air Asia and you need help….youre going to struggle. No phone lines; answerphones where they don’t call you back; online chat with AI that won’t help; no reply on WhatsApp. Bangkok Airways in contrast are helpful. Like a lot of things, you get what you pay for.

      • BJ says:
        5 Sep5 September 08:54

        Part of my liking for Air Asia is that nothing has gone wrong for me and their on-time performance IME has been superb. I agree that the lack of human support is frustrating, and I’ve even seen pax directed to it in check- in areas which I think is a huge no-no. Having said that, mybown experience with the Bot, om e when I mistakenly double-booked and also with covid cancellations and vouchers was very good.

      • BJ says:
        5 Sep5 September 08:59

        I should have added that in my original post I should have made it clearer that
        Bangkok Airways remain very competitive compared to LCC all things considered.

    • Marcw says:
      5 Sep5 September 12:57

      Bangkok Airways exists because of Samui – where they control the airport.
      I also like Air Asia – it’s simple, straightforward and it works. And plenty of frequencies.

  • JPR says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:09

    I had booking with Norse from July for a trip next month and for £234 return to New York was prepared to travel with a personal item only.
    Slightly annoyed at seeing new bookings allowed a 10kg cabin bag I went back in to my booking and was pleased to to able to add Cabin bags for £0. No idea if this was a mistake but very welcome . A bit apprehensive that they’ll demand money at check-in but at the moment it’s on my booking.

  • Chris W says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:10

    When you said it was reversing unbundling I thought you meant more than just a cabin bag!

    Regardless, with these pre-pandemic prices with post-pandemic costs, I do not see Norse being around in a years time.

  • Grumpy Chicken 81 says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:11

    Although these fares look appealing, I fear the outcome may be having to buy a more expensive ticket on another airline while waiting for a credit card refund for the Norse fare paid….

  • Auryn says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:13

    £322 return fare to Cape Town for February half term holidays is crazy!

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