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Looking for flights to Europe on which to spend my miles and being astonished by the fees, I had a look on the Norwegian site and was amazed in the other direction, by how cheap the fares were from the West Coast.  Until I started trying to calculate the add-ons, fees for luggage, etc.

 

Someone here must have used Norwegian (Travel Rob?) or maybe another I'm unaware of.  If so, can you help me with a rundown on the other costs?  I found the Norwegian site very opaque in that regard.  In other ways too, trying to find flights, but maybe that's another discussion.  Anyone who's booked and can provide a breakdown of fees they paid in addition to the base fare, enlighten me please.

 

Thanks,  J.

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We flew Norwegian in May, Orlando-Oslo and were really impressed. The 787 made such a difference and we arrived feeling fresh. The moister air, bigger windows and lighting made a world of difference in how we felt post trip. We brought a  decent sized carry-on and personal bag each for free too. As far other extra fees, we didn't pay any. They charge for food or drinks, but we just bought those at the airport. And I think they also charge for blankets, but we brought jackets to cover with and that worked fine, A lot of overhead space for bags and ok leg space too. I actually liked that the flight attendants kept the aisles free. People order food from their screen but most bring their own. The flight attendants were friendly and the pilot kept as informed. I'd highly recommend them. 

If you want a thing done, ask a busy man.

This is sounding very promising, Rob.  I can think of no reason to pay more money to pay with miles than for a ticket on Norwegian.  I have enough miles to go around the world and only the first leg (or last, depending) is more expensive using miles.  It makes no sense.  

 

So you were able to carry on your main bag plus a smaller one?  I'm speaking of the limits for discounted coach tickets (aka "steerage").

Amazing the way these calculations work out. We're going to England next spring, using American Airlines points. The flight selection offered us flights on British Airways and American. The AA flights cost the points plus government fees. The BA flights cost the points plus the government fees, plus enough surcharges to make a $1000+ difference.

 

If I only had the BA flights, I'd certainly rather find a low-cost carrier! It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming year as Aer Lingus joins BA's parent company. Can a generally discount carrier stay that way in that company?

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

I think that's very similar to American Airlines carry-on allowance. A lot better than EasyJets etc. Whether my bag was over, I can't say. My original bag was lost by Megabus,  if you can believe it, so I had a different bag and clothes than what  I was planning on

 

The thing about the 787 is there's actually room for the carry-on. in the overhead.

If you want a thing done, ask a busy man.

I was just reading a Chris Elliott piece on when people get so  fed up with air travel they stop flying altogether.  He interviewed a man who owned a travel company, Spencer Carlson and the positive airline example he gave was Norwegian. So it seems like my good experience is the norm with them.  

 

Here is this link:

 http://www.seattletimes.com/li...-to-take-it-anymore/

 

If you want a thing done, ask a busy man.

I can live indefinitely with 2 sets of clothes, 1 to wear & 1 to wash, 1 extra pair of shoes, all in a day pack.  I wouldn't necessarily WANT to do it, but I could, rather than stop flying if, say, the airlines reduced baggage limits to 10 pounds altogether.  It's the same old story, I figure, if for any reason, you can't or won't travel (time, money, fed up, whatever), you just don't want to enough.  One excuse is as good as another.

 

Good to hear about Norwegian.  I repeated the exercise last night, looking for flights to Europe.  Over $500 was the least I found in fees, that's using up 40,000 miles as well.  I'd rather give it to Norwegian.

Continuing my search for an economical way to use my miles and avoid absurd fees, I tried a combination of 2 one-way flights, one with miles, one on Norwegian.  One way on Norwegian is as low as $286.  If I avoid using BA with points, flights on AA to Paris are 20,000 miles (before May 15th) plus a $5 fee (excellent!) but with a stupid schedule, 3 flights and 2 days to get there.  And 1 possibility available.  All the rest are BA flights, $326 in fees + 20,000 miles.

 

Next thought, why is AA allowing BA to do this to us?  The only possible answer is that AA is selling these routes to BA, which then makes money with huge fees charged to us trying to find our way to Europe using our hard-earned miles.  Needless to say, after that realization, which had never occurred to me before, even though I was aware of BA's exorbitant fees, I'm feeling very disillusioned with the AAdvantage program, to which before this morning I was a loyal supporter.

Last edited by PortMoresby

The AA-BA mashup is tricky, yes, but not as devious as it may seem. Between New York and Paris, for instance, AA has only two non-stops a day; BA has a half-dozen (or more, including Open Skies). And, BA has many seats LON-PAR, so availability is greater.

 

A similar situation exists on this side of the ocean, where BA feeds many AA domestic flights. It's sometimes possible to get around better if you don't mind one stop...we've used AA to Madrid paired with Iberia to Paris (Iberia's charges are much lower than BA's...don't know why), and AA to Barcelona and then a cheap Vueling flight to Marseille. All to avoid BA.

 

For our trip next spring to England, I had to play around with the days quite a bit to get AA on both the NYC-MAN and LON-NYC legs; not using BA saved about $1300, but seats were scarce, because the non-stop flights on AA were few.

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

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