Norse Airlines Experience And Why I Paid Cash For An Economy Flight
TLDR: easy, straightforward flight from Paris to New York. It was a good deal if you don’t mind going without complimentary meals in Economy class.
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TLDR: easy, straightforward flight from Paris to New York. It was a good deal if you don’t mind going without complimentary meals in Economy class.
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When I was looking for a flight home from Paris, I was of course looking to get strong value with my points. However, my points accounts were running low because I had just used 120,000 points to get to Europe, booking two business class seats on Singapore Airlines for me and my girlfriend. I had gathered these points by hitting the welcome bonus with my American Express® Gold Card and from Chase points accumulated over the years. I had also hit a recent welcome bonus for my Ink Business Cash® Credit Card which was helpful.
I decided to look for points options anyways, hoping to snag something for 30,000 or 40,000 points one way that would be good value versus a cash fare.
How do you know what is good value for points versus a cash fare?
So generally speaking you want to redeem your points for 1.5 cents per point (CPP). It depends on the airline/points currency, but that's a good rule of thumb. I was finding flights for around 50,000-80,000 per ticket for points in economy class when I was looking around.
I thought that was a bit high but you must ALWAYS compare this to cash prices. I was able to find 2 economy class seats from Paris to JFK with Norse Airlines for just 507 euros total which equates to around 600 dollars. This meant that booking with cash was a no-brainer. If I had booked 2 points flights for 50,000 points each, I would be getting around 0.6 CPP.
That means that I would be getting just a third of the recommended value if we are using the 1.5 CPP baseline.
When I was looking at flights in August returning from Paris, I knew that this was peak tourism season. All cash flights with airlines like Lufthansa, Air France and Iberia were double the price, if not more. I had a friend who had flown Norse Airlines before and he said it was a good and easy experience.
I was a bit surprised and asked, isn’t it the Spirit of international flights? He laughed and told me that it was much better than Spirit.
I was still wary so I decided to look at what people were saying on Reddit. I found that people were overwhelmingly positive about Norse except for the fact that they didn’t offer a ton of service.
The price was extremely desirable with it being in August, half the price of traditional airlines and having poor point flight options. I decided to go for it.
When you check in for an international flight, you expect the option to be able to check in online, right? Well, this was not the case with Norse. 24 hours before my flight I received an email saying that I needed to check in at the airport. I looked for information on this online and found that this was most likely true. Annoying, but not the worst.
I hopped into the check-in line at the airport and only had to wait 15 minutes. The agent kindly handed my girlfriend and I our boarding passes and we were on our way. I don’t enjoy checking in in person but if it means I save 600 dollars between the two of us, I’m all in!
One thing I would say is that if you have to check in at a desk before your flight, make sure to arrive at the airport 3-4 hours early for an international flight. You never know. Especially with a budget airline.
With my experience before, during and after the flight I have to say it was good service for what you pay for. There are no complimentary meals or drinks on the flight. With this in mind, I found the flight attendants were attentive and helpful. I saw attendants helping people with bags and answering their questions. There was also a flight attendant who showed me to the bathroom.
I got to chatting with a passenger next to me and he told me that Norse doesn’t have a call center.
How odd.
I decided to fact check this. He was right. Norse offers support via chatbot on their website or their app. You can also email Norse. The guy I was chatting to told me that he had a cancelled Norse flight on the way to Europe and he said Norse was extremely unhelpful. He said it was difficult to get someone to give him credit for his cancelled flight although he eventually got it. This was alarming to me because I had so many questions.
What if I forgot to add my TSA Precheck to a flight? What if my flight is delayed or cancelled and I want to know my options? Anyways, these are all good reasons to have a call center. BUT, if I’m saving 600 dollars I don’t mind one bit.
Before we got on the plane from Paris to JFK, we had to take a bus to the plane from the terminal. No biggie. The plane was massive and everyone boarded on time. We took off right around the time the plane was scheduled to depart. Seats were comfy for economy class along with decent legroom. I was nervous as I had flown Spirit before where the seats were like hard bricks. I was hoping to sleep on this flight and I was able to.
I will say that not having complimentary meals and drinks was tough. I was tempted to buy water or a snack a couple times. The $4 water and $5 snack was what was holding me back. The business model makes sense as I found a lot of people “caving” to buy a lot of food and drink towards the 2nd half of the trip.
A frustrating part of the flight was that Norse does not offer Wi-Fi. Not even paid! So make sure you download all your movies and shows before you take off. There is in-flight entertainment but I did not get the chance to check it out.
When comparing Norse Airlines to Air France or any other traditional airline that flies across the Atlantic, there isn’t a huge difference. The main difference I would say is the complimentary food and beverage. I can bring a backpack and carry on for no extra cost on both Norse Airlines and Air France. Both airlines have helpful flight attendants. Checking in at the airport with Norse is an annoying step but the process is simple.
For some passengers, having Wi-Fi might be essential on board to get some work done or so that you aren’t bored out of your mind. It is always nice with an airline like Air France to know you always have the option to buy Wi-Fi if needed. Not with Norse. They do not offer free Wi-Fi or an option to buy a Wi-Fi pass.
I do worry a bit about the fact that Norse Airlines has no call center. But if I don’t run into trouble, I will not need it. I’m sure I won’t run into trouble, right? It’s only a budget airline…
Overall, I have to say that since I have only flown Norse once and I have flown Air France several times it's hard to say what I think about the comparison. If you asked me today and said you have the option of flying Norse or Air France and they are the same price, I would choose Air France.
If you start off by saying Norse is $100 off or more I’m 100% taking Norse. With Spirit and Frontier in the US, I can’t say the same. I can genuinely say that if my only options were to take Spirit or Frontier on a trip somewhere for vacation, I would rather stay home. Horrible experiences on both airlines. But that’s a story for another day;)
Norse Airlines is best for the flexible traveler. Comfortable with change and comfortable with less but decent service. You may not get your nice dinner and light breakfast on the flight but at least you are able to relax and hopefully sleep. Although my Norse Airlines flight was not cancelled or delayed, they are known to have semi-frequent delays and cancellations. So beware of this when you decide to go with Norse. Overall, as a flexible traveler myself, I highly recommend Norse to save some money while having a nice flight.
All in all I’d say that flying Norse Airlines is an excellent option for those traveling on a budget or looking to save some cash. If you can deal with no Wi-Fi, checking in in person and paid food and beverage, then Norse is a solid option. They often offer much cheaper flights than traditional long-haul airlines. Just be wary of their semi-frequent delays and cancellations (even though I had no problem on my singular flight with Norse). With comfy seats and plenty of legroom for an economy international flight, you may be in luck for a flight with excellent value!