A beautiful glimpse of the sun over the Arctic. Photo by: Evan Berman

After spending time in various lounges at JFK, it was time to fly to Oslo. I had a mostly empty flight which allowed for great sleep. Finding a flight for this little is rare and the experience was solid. I’d recommend Norse Airways for those looking for cheap flights to Europe.

This flight recap is how I arrived in Norway and is a part of the Nordic Expedition. For more info on this trip, follow these links:

Intro

Flight: Delta Comfort+, CHS-JFK

JFK Lounges

Flight: Norse Atlantic Airways Economy, JFK-OSL (This Article)

Flight: Norwegian Economy, OSL-BGO

The Magic of Bergen, Norway

Christmas Markets

Hotel: Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret, Bergen, Norway

Flight: SAS Economy, BGO-SVG

Flight: SAS Economy, SVG-OSL

2 Days in Oslo, Norway

Oslo Restaurants

Hotel: Comfort Karl Johan, Oslo, Norway

Flight: SAS Economy, OSL-TOS

Terrific Tromsø, Norway

A Whale of a Meal, Tromsø, Norway Restaurants

Seeing the Northern Lights

Hotel: Clarion Collection Hotel Aurora, Tromsø, Norway

Hotel: Clarion Collection Hotel With, Tromsø, Norway

Flight: SAS Economy, TOS-OSL

Flight: Norse Atlantic Airways Economy: OSL-JFK

December in New York

Lounges at LGA

Flight: Delta Economy, LGA-CHS

Conclusion

Route: JFK-OSL

Date: Thursday, 12/1/2022

Flight: NO 002

Plane: Boeing 787-900 (Dreamliner)

Seat: Assigned 23H (Main Cabin Middle), “self-upgraded” to 17J (Main Cabin Window)

Est. Departure: 11:55pm EST

Taxiing: 12:16am EST

Takeoff: 12:30am EST

Gate: 3 (Terminal 1)

Est. Arrival: 1:00pm local time (7:00am EST)

Touchdown: 1:07pm local time (7:07am EST)

Arrived at Gate: 1:13pm local time (7:13am EST)

Gate: 58 (International Terminal)

Pricing:

Flight: I booked the roundtrip flight from New York to Oslo for $261.13. Yes, that is the total amount paid for both these flights. Note that I chose the cheapest options and days to fly and did not purchase any add-ons (carry-on, checked bag, seat selection, meal, etc.)

Earnings: N/A. Norse is not a part of any airline alliance and I do not plan to fly with them much at all, so I do not value the small earnings.

Booking:

I booked on Norse’s website. While it is not uncommon to see flights to Europe for $400-$500 round trip from select US airports, under $300 was too good a deal to pass up. I went through the entire month of December to find the best pairing of dates– selecting only the cheapest flights but that would allow me at least a 3-4 days in Norway. I ended up choosing to leave late Thursday, December 1st and return on Tuesday, December 6th.

I passed on all of the opportunities to add additional items. Food, assigned seats, baggage, etc.– nothing else was needed other than the ticket. I used my backpack as a personal item and that was all I brought with me. Stay tuned for an article on how I packed 5 days’ worth of clothes into a backpack!

Norse Airways does not belong to any alliance, nor does it have elite status. As such, there is no need to worry about where to credit your flights. On the flipside, you will get what you pay for– there are no upgrades.

Lounges:

I had more than 8 hours of time in between flights and I spent that time in the Terminal 4 Delta Sky Club, and Terminal 1 Primeclass and Lufthansa lounges. Since I eschewed food on the Norse flight, I made sure to get plenty in the lounges beforehand.

Check out the Lounges in Terminals 1 and 4 of JFK Airport for a full review.

Recap:

As mentioned above, this plane is a Boeing 787-900. The Dreamliner is a common plane used for international flights, including the flight from Santiago, Chile to Miami in LATAM Business Class and from New York to Santiago, Chile in LATAM Economy+. Since I did not pay for seat selection, I was assigned a middle seat (this is a ploy to try one last time to make you pay for a seat. Usually, you can ask to switch seats at the desk or pick another one on a non-full flight). That being said, the flight was mostly empty and the flight attendants informed us that after takeoff, we would be free to select another seat, as long as we stuck to economy, not the extra legroom or premium economy seats.

As such, once we took off, I moved my stuff 6 rows forward and took the entire 17th row of seats (G-J). This allowed me space to lie down and get some solid sleep despite being in economy and not having lie-flat seats.

Although we boarded and took off late, the flight was uneventful as most passengers (myself included) passed out shortly after takeoff. It’s worth mentioning; however, the captain’s message: “At this time we will be dimming the main lights. If you need an extra light, turn it on. Have a great flight. Bye!” Overall, this crew seemed fairly inexperienced, but I had no problems with anything. It’s always easy to be content when your eyes are closed!

The 787-900 we flew has a setup of 2-3-2 seats in Premium Economy and 3-3-3 in economy. There is no business class on these flights.

Meals:

Norse is a low cost carrier. As such, the only meal service provided is a la carte food and drink for purchase– water is free of charge, but nothing else is. The food offerings looked pretty good but I did not order anything.

Sleep:

As mentioned above, I took the opportunity to spread out and find a row to myself for the overnight flight. I estimate that I got 4.5-5 hours of sleep, mostly continuously. This is solid for any flight in economy, especially one on a low-cost carrier.

Experience:

The flight was lengthy, but most of the time was spent sleeping. Fortunately, I woke up just as the sun was beginning to rise and got the incredible view from the window found above in the lead image.

At roughly 1pm local time, we descended into Oslo. It was a cloudy day, but the beautiful countryside of Norway more than made up for it.

The flight was not turbulent at all. We were able to land slightly after the ETA but with plenty of time to explore! Although this is a low cost carrier, nothing seemed cheap. The bathrooms were kept in a clean condition, as evidenced by the below photo:

Customs:

I was in the back of the plane and as such was one of the last to deplane. I was not looking forward to another excruciatingly long customs line, but thankfully the line was quite efficient.

As is common in Europe, there were several lines: EU, UK, and Swiss citizens; Norwegian citizens; US and Australian citizens, and all others. The US line was the longest as can be expected but something amazing happened: the border agents, realizing we were the longest line, began instructing us to find the first available agent, no matter whether they were normally tasked with EU citizens or US citizens. In all, it only took 13 minutes to get through Customs! I wish more airports would allocate their staff as is needed, rather than sticking to arbitrary rules.

Recap:

I purchased a roundtrip flight from JFK to Oslo for $261.13. While this is definitely a no-frills fare, it was more than adequate for my purposes. The flight was mostly empty, allowing me to take a row to myself and get some much-needed sleep. We touched down in Oslo in the afternoon though I would only spend a couple of hours there before heading on to Bergen