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Low cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle is currently offering some fantastic prices to the USA.
I think a lot of people are put off Norwegian because they think they would have to connect in Norway/Scandinavia, but it’s not true!
Norwegian actually fly direct from London Gatwick to Boston, New York (JFK), Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, Orlando, Las Vegas, Oakland and Los Angeles.
If you book at least a couple of months in advance, prices are consistently excellent. The pick of the crop at the moment is from London to Boston, where from December through to April you can easily find dates for £235.00 Return.
Availability for the cheapest fares is good:
New York is only a little bit more expensive, and flights to Los Angeles can be had for ~ £300 Return which is tremendous value.
One of the main reasons I like Norwegian though is that you don’t have to book a Return to get the good prices. All their flights are actually priced as one-ways, which makes them much more flexible than most traditional airlines.
If you want to fly into Boston and back from New York for example, or maybe use Miles on the way back to fly Business Class on the red eye, being able to book cheap, direct one-ways is great!
The downsides of Norwegian are the same as most low cost carriers: you need to pay extra for checked luggage (only 10kg hand baggage included) and pay for food/drinks on board.
Personally I’m ok with that – I try to not check a bag whenever possible anyway (I hate waiting around!), and on a 6-7 hour flight I’d rather buy a nice sandwich or something before I board than rely on airline food.
If you need to travel with luggage then you might be better off considering other options because you’re looking at ~ £50.00 more each way, which in percentage terms is a pretty big difference.
Bonus Tip: Try pricing your flights out on the Swedish and other versions of the Norwegian site – you can often save a few quid (if your card doesn’t charge for foreign fx transactions).
Norwegian are a great airline for the money. Ideal if you want to position yourself in the US, and then use Avios while over there (again saving on the taxes).