After flying out to Oslo on a Norse Atlantic Airways Boeing 787 I decided to head back on my favourite budget airline in Europe: Norwegian. I managed to get this ticket for just £25. It would have been £45 but thanks to a nifty Booking.com voucher I got £20 off. This did mean I had to book through Booking.com rather than directly with the airline which I wouldn’t usually do, but I can’t resist a good deal. Despite being snowy and as low as -10C in Oslo everything went without a hitch. With a short 1 hour stopover in Stavanger this was an almost flawless experience from Norwegian. So please read my Norwegian Flight Review! Also for a more visual review checkout my Youtube video below:
Flight Details
Norwegian are a relatively new budget airline, founded in 2002 and the fourth largest budget airline in Europe after Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair. Today I was flying from Oslo Gardermoen to London Gatwick with a short stopover in Stavanger. The first leg was a 45 minute domestic flight followed by the second 1 hour 50 minute flight to Gatwick. It had been snowing in Oslo so we also got to visit the de-icing stand which was exciting.
Oslo and Stavanger Airports
Oslo Gardermoen Airport is one of my favourite in the world I’ve visited. The check-in hall is gigantic and reminds me of an opera house with curved wooden ceilings. I’d checked in online so didn’t need to print off a boarding pass and headed straight to security. It was very efficient with no delays and after buying some food I went staright to the gate.
Oslo airport is split into a domestic and international area. As I was flying to Stavanger (within Norway) I could only access the domestic zone, which is nice enough but much more limited than the international area. A shame because I was hoping to do some Christmas shopping, but couldn’t visit the much better shops in the international area.
Stavanger Airport on the other hand is just average. It does seem quite modern and well designed, but there aren’t many shops or restaurants. And saddest of all the single lounge was closed. Even though I was just there at 7pm it felt like things were already closing up for the night. It was a very efficient airport though and there was just a short queue at border control.
The Cabin and Seat
After selling off their long haul fleet during the pandemic Norwegian’s fleet is now entirely made up of the Boeing 737. Currently the fleet is entirely the Boeing 737-800 variant but these will slowly be replaced by new 737 MAX 8s a they are delivered. Today unsurprisingly both my flights were on a 737-800, the first of which was 11.5 years old and registered LN-DYU. The second flight was also a 737-800 but I didn’t catch its details as I was running a bit late.
I found both my flights to be clean and relatively empty, probably only 50% full. On the second flight I even had a row to myself which was nice. The cabin on Norwegian is a standard 737 cabin, but the seats are pretty good. With soft leather seats, ample legroom (for a budget airline) and various spaces to store items you’re travelling with.
The cabin lighting also has a soft red hue matching Norwegians branding, I found it to look nice too. When it comes to service, I can’t say much as you have to pay for everything. They do have a relatively wide range of food and drink items in their magazine but nothing is complimentary. I just bought a sandwich at the airport instead.
Finally I need to mention the in-flight wifi. Presently Norwegian offer 15 minutes of free low speed wifi on (almost) all flights. You can pay extra for high speed wifi. In my experience the low speed wifi is pretty terrible and will often cut out before the 15 minutes is up. Of my two flights today, wifi didn’t work at all on the first. I had more luck on the second and managed to send a text.
The Bottom Line
Overall I’m very pleased with my flights with Norwegian. Thanks to a £20 Booking.com voucher I only ended up paying £25 for this flight which is extremely cheap. Even the full fare of £45 is very reasonable, though it’s worth mentioning that looking at future dates prices have gone up so I was lucky with these prices.
You get a no thrills experience with Norwegian, like any other budget airline. However, I would rate the seats on the higher end compared to say, Ryanair. The two flights I took were also relatively empty which probably adds to the enjoyability of the flight. Both flights were exactly on time and service was good throughout. My only gripe is that Norwegian’s wifi is not great considering they boast about it so much (e.g. the livery below). But many European airlines don’t even have wifi so this is nitpicking a bit. I will definitely fly Norwegian again when the opportunity arises
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- Norse Atlantic Airways in Premium – London Gatwick to Oslo flight review
- British Airways Club Europe London to Geneva – Another “Premium” short haul flight
- Best Airline Alliances and why you should care– For a guide on how to decide between Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam.
And if you fancy earning some fantastic rewards and Avios points through American Express, please use my referral links below:
- The Platinum Card – You Receive 35,000 Membership Reward points after spending £3,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 12,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGuUeO?CPID=100493012
And lastly, if you fancy staying in Oslo, consider using my Booking.com referral link here.