If you're looking at flights to Europe this fall and prices are looking steep, newcomer budget airline Norse Atlantic Airways might have a solution for you: one-way flights to Europe starting at $139.
Norse Atlantic launched a brand new Explorer Sale, slashing fares on all its nonstop routes to Europe for a trip in September and October. With these cheap fares, you can fly Boston (BOS), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), Orlando (MCO), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington, D.C. (IAD) to London-Gatwick (LGW) nonstop or other European hot spots for under $527 roundtrip!
This sale ends next Wednesday, April 5 at 9 p.m. ET, so you have nearly a week to take advantage of the sale. But as is always the case with airfare, the low fares are first-come, first-served – you should gobble these up while supplies last.
You won't find cheap flights to Europe over the summer with this Norse Atlantic sale, but instead for a trip in September or October. That's not a bad thing: It's shoulder season, an amazing time to visit Europe thanks to great weather, fewer crowds, and less expensive lodging.
We sent this deal to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members as soon as it was published Wednesday. And while we typically don't highlight budget carriers for our flight deal alerts, I flew Norse late last year and found the experience plenty comfortable for the price. The airline flies a new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners with seatback entertainment for every passenger. It's not your typical ultra-low-cost carrier.
Read next: What's It Like to Fly Norse Atlantic?
Norse Atlantic Europe Sale Information
This Norse Atlantic Airways sale connects all of its U.S. bases with its growing hub at London-Gatwick (LGW) in the U.K.
While London is the centerpiece of the deal, you can snag a cheap fare to other cities like Oslo (OSL), Berlin (BER), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), and Rome (FCO), too. For our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, we rounded up the best deals and included the cost of a carry-on bag each way for tasty roundtrip prices.
The fares are Norse Atlantic's “Economy Light” fares, which are the cheapest, most bare-bones fares. You can also upgrade your Light fare to “Economy Classic” to include a carry-on, a checked bag, and a meal each way.
Seat selection is not included for Norse Atlantic fares and starts at $40 roundtrip for the middle seats in the back and $200 roundtrip for the seats up front in economy.
Changes to Economy Light fares will cost you $200. In Economy Classic, changes are $100. You'll need to upgrade all the way to “Economy Flextra” for free changes. You can read all about Norse's fare classes on its website.
Thrifty Tip: Flying to London-Gatwick? Pre-book a ride on the Gatwick Express train for ~$20. The speedy ride takes just 30 minutes to get to London's Victoria Station.
How to Book a Norse Atlantic Flight
Google Flights is far and away the best way to search for and start booking flights. But I think booking Norse Atlantic is an exception.
While you can search for Norse fares on Google Flights, it's not a perfect way to do it. Instead, we recommend searching for fares directly on Norse Atlantic's easy-to-use website.
First, put in your desired dates and cities and press “Search.” You'll get a page that looks like this.
Then click the “Calendar view” button on the top right of the search results to see the lowest fares all month long, instead of week-by-week. Here's what you'll see.
Once you choose your travel dates, you'll be prompted to choose which fare class you want for your journey. You can choose between Economy Light, Economy Classic, and Economy Flextra.
For my money, unless you need to have both a carry-on and a checked bag on your journey, choosing an Economy Light fare and then adding your own carry-on bag for $45 each way is the cheapest way to book Norse Atlantic fares. We always recommend flying with just a carry-on and avoiding checked bags if you can. Don't leave the fate of your trip (and your belongings) up to any airline if you can avoid it.
Read next: A Review of Norse Atlantic Premium Economy
While most of the inflight experience is above average with Norse Atlantic, the same can't be said of their food. When I made my Norse journey last year, the meal was … pretty awful – and that's part of what you're paying for with a pricier Economy Classic fare. If I had to do it again, I would have picked the Economy Light fare and had a big dinner before the flight, or brought my own food on board (like many of my much happier seatmates did.)
After you select your bags, click “continue” and head onto the next page to choose your seats. From the $100 per-way extra legroom seats to the $60 fee for seats closer to the ront and $20 middle seats at the back, there are lots of options on Norse. Every seat has seatback entertainment and the same amount of legroom (except for the bulkhead), so don't fret about feeling more cramped.
If you're going to choose the back of the bus middle seats anyway, just skip the seat selection and save the $40. You're likely to be placed in one of those seats anyway at check-in.
After you've selected your seats, you are asked to add trip extras like meals, carbon offsets, priority boarding or check-in, and more. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't think any of these extras are worth the cost. I assure you: That's not what the meal looked like.
After this page, you simply put in your traveler information, pay the fare, and voila – you're flying Norse Atlantic to Europe this year.
Bottom Line
If you've been stymied by high flight prices to Europe, consider booking this Norse Atlantic sale on its nonstop routes to Europe this September or October.
Norse put all of its fall routes from the U.S. to London (LGW), Berlin (BER), Oslo (OSL), Paris (CDG), and Rome (FCO) on sale this week. Any one of them could be your ticket to Europe. Just be cautious when selecting your fare class and any extras on your trip. Some of them are worth it … and some are definitely not.
Lead photo courtesy of Norse Atlantic Airways