Norse Atlantic are the new budget transatlantic airline on the block. With prices starting from just £45 for economy and £90 for premium, this is truly a low cost carrier. I’m reviewing their premium cabin and the total price ended up being £102 (£90 for the ticket and £12 for seat selection).

Today’s flight is just a relatively short 1 h 50m hop accross the North Sea to a very cold Oslo. It had snowed the night before and was forecast to be between -6C and -12C so I brought a warm jacket.

Norse Atlantic Airways are a new low cost airline based in Norway. With their heavily Viking-inspired branding they are planning to connect Northern Europe with North America on a handful of routes. Closely following in the footsteps of Norwegian Air Shuttles now defunct long haul operations it will be interesting to see if they can successfully establish themselves in this competitive market.

The aircraft I flew on today was obviously a Boeing 787-9 (their only aircraft at the moment). Its registration is LN-FND and it was 4.8 years old at the time of flying with the name “Dartmoor”. Interestingly this aircraft was previously operated by Norwegian operating the same London to New York routes. Another indication of how Norse is following in Norwegian Long Haul’s footsteps.

Norse Atlantic split their aircraft into two cabins. Basic economy and premium. With a 2-3-2 configuration in premium and 3-3-3 configuration in economy it is a pretty standard seat map. This is one of the few short haul widebody routes you can fly in Europe so that makes it a rare experience. Another route I would like to try is Iberia’s Madrid to London flight that they do in an Airbus A330, a pretty comparable plane to the 787.

The in flight entertainment system was a bit of a let down though. With relatively small 11 inch screens compared to Virgin Atlantic’s 13.3 inch screen. There was also a pretty poor selection of movies, with mostly old classics like Chicken Run or Happy Gilmore. On short haul flights you also have to pay for wired earphones, but they are provided on long haul flights apparently.

I spent most of my time looking out the window on this short flight so the poor tv options didn’t bother me too much though.

I also greatly enjoyed the cabin lighting coming in to land. It kept changing colours to mimic the Northern lights which is a clever use of the ambient lighting. One negative though is that the cabin also felt like you were watching the Northern lights too. It was freezing throughout the flight, I had to wear a thick jacket throughout.

A major benefit of flying on the Boeing 787 is just how big it is. The cabin feels very spacious and the toilet actually has space to move around in. Compare this to, say, Norwegian’s Boeing 737s and the difference is night and day. The cabin also feels more comfortable in my opinion. The lower pressurisation altitude, ambient lighting and large windows all make for a better passenger experience, according to Boeing at least.

You’ll expect to pay for pretty much everything on board. Premium tickets include a welcome drink followed by another drink and snack in flight. Economy you’ll have to pay for everything. I got a coffee and very disappointing blueberry muffin. My expectations going in were low but for a premium seat this was a bit disappointing. I also noted they use the same cups as Luxair.

A perk of flying Premium/business is that the crew tend to be very accommodating if you ask to see the cockpit. I’ve done this several times, most impressively on a flight from Lima, Peru to Madrid, Spain where the captain let me in mid-flight to see the sun rise from the cockpit. Most recently I got a look inside with British Airways on a flight from Geneva to London which I reviewed here. On that flight I didn’t even need to ask. The head flight attendant saw me filming and asked if I wanted to see the cockpit. It’s always worth asking if you’re interested. I find 90% of the time the pilots are happy to let you in for a look.

Anyway, my point is, flying in more premium classes the cabin crew will give you a better level of service compared to standard economy. Whether it’s letting you in the cockpit or giving you extra portions of food. Another example was when I flew with Cathay Pacific in Business class from Hong Kong to London. The cabin crew knew my name on boarding and would call me by it throughout the flight.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with Norse. It is definitely a budget experience so don’t get your hopes up about travelling in luxury, even in premium. Despite this the cabin crew were very friendly and the service was fine.

Just the experience of flying such a large plane on a short flight within Europe makes it worth it to me at least. For £45 economy and £90 premium it competes well with other budget airlines so if you’re curious go for it!