Sharon Petersen
Cabin: Economy
Route: London Gatwick to Copenhagen return
Aircraft: 737-800
For the past four years, Norwegian has won airlineratings.com’s Best Low Cost Airline Europe award and with free Wi-Fi, a great route network, and adequate leg room it’s not hard to see why. The review flight taken between London Gatwick and Copenhagen return served to enforce that Norwegian is still one of the best in the no-frills carrier class.
Seat and Amenities
Norwegian operates a fleet of 737-800s with seating in a 3-3 configuration. Slimline Seats are all leather and have a four inch recline and 30 inch seat pitch. This flight was less than two hours and comfortable enough. Passengers have the choice to pre select preferred seats including those with extra legroom for a fee or you can save the money and just sit where put when you check in.
Being a low cost airline any blankets or pillows will need to be purchased.
Customer service on board
Pilots kept in contact with the passengers which I think these days is appreciated by all the nervous flyers. A lady next to me was a VERY nervous flyer and the cabin crew were excellent with her.
Catering
Menu’s are handed out shortly after take-off. All food and beverages including water are buy on board. The prices were higher than some of the competitors but the choice more varied and arguably of a higher quality.
Inflight entertainment
Norwegian was the first airline in Europe to offer free Wi-Fi onboard virtually all its fleet. The Norwegian in flight program features 8 documentaries or tv shows, an in flight map with flight information and for an extra charge you can choose to stream a movie. Unlike other carriers you don’t need to download a specific app on to your portable device first, you simply turn on the Wi-Fi and connect. The Wi-Fi to Copenhagen was fast and reliable easily downloading and sending images. Coming back however on a turbulent flight that had the seatbelt sign on virtually the whole way it was harder to get a good connection for anything outside the airlines flight map and TV programs.
Throughout the cabin, there are also drop down screens that show cartoons .
Extra information
Norwegian is a low cost carrier and its perfectly normal to have to pay for seat selection, food and beverages and baggage. Norwegian, however, sets itself apart with a very generous 10kg carry on allowance plus small handbag and free Wi-Fi. The ticket on face value might not be the cheapest on that route all the time but by the time the extras are added you will find it’s actually very competitive.
