Airlines from NYC area

We never traveled with a European airline before, only domestic like United and Delta, and try to get non-stop flights.

Only SAS has a nonstop out of Newark and Norwegian has a nonstop out of JFK to Copenhagen and/or Oslo. Then there is Icelandair with a stop/stopover in Iceland.

I have been reading reviews on Trip Advisor and other blogs about the above airlines and they are terrible. The last reviews here were 2015 and some said they were getting worse each year.

Which airline would you recommend?

Delta flies to Copenhagen from JFK each summer.

SAS is a good (but not great) airline. Norwegian and their various subsidiaries are Low cost carriers.

From Newark SAS have non-stop to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm

From JFK Norwegian Longhaul flies non stop to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.

From JFK, Delta flies to Copenhagen (CPH) and Stockholm (ARN)

From EWR United flies to Stockholm.

There is also the cruise air sub-forum http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

We took Lufthansa. Newark to Copenhagen with stopover in Frankfurt. Return from Copenhagen to Newark with stopover in Munich. Nice service and reasonable price.

If you will consider Norwegian, check their baggage fees.

A flight is what you make out of it. If you're one to complain about every single thing, most likely you will find something to complain about no matter what airline you fly. Every day, tens of thousands of people are flying all the carriers you mentioned, yet you say the last review is from 2015. As we all know, only the unsatisfied will go online and post a review. Just like at a restaurant or store, do you ask to speak to a manager when you have superior service?

With that said, you will get from point A to point B no matter which airline you fly so choose with your wallet. If money is of no concern to you and you prefer to fly with the legacy US carriers, do that. Otherwise, pick what route will get you to your embarkation port and/or stop over. I'm flying direct JFK-CPH in a few weeks on Norwegian and picked the LowFare+ (includes meal and baggage) for $500/pp -- can't beat that even if I get a rude flight attendant, print my own boarding pass, 2 sq ft less lavatory space, no headphones, no blanket, and get turbulence.

Thank you all for your responses. According to my searches for my dates, United and Delta have connecting flights, some of which are too short (less than 2 hrs) or too long (5+ hrs). Also, the price for two is $3600 compared to the others which are less that $2000 total. In addition, Norwegian is around $1100 total, but you have to fly on certain days to get nonstop and I cannot find on the website how to fly into one city and out of another. We wanted to go to Oslo before or after Copenhagen. Maybe I have to book one way flights?

Propel, can you come back here after your trip and review Norwegian air or even a trip report on the main NCL forum. Thanks.

It should be noted that SAS has upgraded their long haul fleet with new seats, better internet etc on 4 existing A330-300 and 7 A340-300 airplanes and they haved added 4 brand new Airbus A330-300 Enhanced to the fleet.

Only one of the A340-300 has the old cabin layout because its only a spare plane and will be sold off when they start delivery of the A350-900´s in 2019.

Thank you all for your responses. According to my searches for my dates, United and Delta have connecting flights, some of which are too short (less than 2 hrs) or too long (5+ hrs). Also, the price for two is $3600 compared to the others which are less that $2000 total. In addition, Norwegian is around $1100 total, but you have to fly on certain days to get nonstop and I cannot find on the website how to fly into one city and out of another. We wanted to go to Oslo before or after Copenhagen. Maybe I have to book one way flights?

 

Propel, can you come back here after your trip and review Norwegian air or even a trip report on the main NCL forum. Thanks.

Will do. Book 2 separate 1 way flights. No harm in doing that as that's how airfare is priced anyway.

For booking flights that you want to arrive in one city and depart from a different city click the option for "MULTI CITY" bookings, that way you don't have to pay for one way fares. You might have to find a button that says something like "advanced search" in order to find the multi-city option.

 

Propel, can you come back here after your trip and review Norwegian air or even a trip report on the main NCL forum. Thanks.

I am going to jump in here over propel as I have previous experience with Norwegian. We flew them a considerably longer distance from OAK to Oslo and then back from Stockholm to OAK. Their787's were wonderful. I am not sure what they use from JFK. You need to book their low fare + which gets you at least some other benefits. Also you simply book the two flights as separate one ways. You are correct that they do not do each flight daily. Out of OAk for instance they rotate the flights to and from Oslo and Stockholm. Are they perfect, no, but what airline is today?

The are several issues with Norwegian. They have expanded too quickly which have caused a lack of aircraft and crew.

To get around this they have leased much older aircraft which means you don't get what you pay for.

Norwegian, like Ryanair, also have a slight contempt for their passengers should something go wrong (cancelled/delayed

flight and etc) and you shall not expect that they will help you in anyway.despite that they are obligated to do so.

Obviously that is something you can expect from a low cost carrier. They are cheaper for a reason....

Personally I wouldn't fly with Norwegian or Norwegian longhaul.

Icelandair is great and are often the low cost option of the non "no frills" airlines. And you can extend your vacation a few days at no extra air cost with a layover in Iceland which is an amazing place well worth the visit.

As an American living in Norway, I fly back and forth between Oslo and the US quite often. I generally prefer the European carriers to the US ones because of the difference in service level, and British Airways and Lufthansa are probably my favorites.

Compared to other major European airlines, the service level for SAS is a step down on trans-Atlantic flights. The customer service is great, the in-flight entertainment is on par, and the flights are generally on time, but unlike most other major airlines, trans-Atlantic flights do not include free beverages. Flights include a meal and a snack, but for beverages, you get a bottle of water in your seat, one soft drink served with the meal, and a container of juice with the snack. Any additional beverages need to be brought on board or purchased in flight. Since I worry about staying hydrated on long flights, I find this a bit stressful, so I always end up buying a giant bottle of water at the airport and then never finishing it.

That said, I don't think SAS is a bad option, as long as you know what you're getting into and plan ahead to bring snacks and drinks accordingly. If the price and schedule are the best, I would still fly with them, and aside from that inconvenience, I still think that the flight experience is better than the US carriers, because of the customer service attitudes.

Norwegian is a different bird altogether. As mentioned above, they are a low-cost carrier, and their long-haul service is fairly new. Unlike the major carriers, everything comes with an additional fee. There are some slightly more expensive fare classes that include some of the extras, but at the cheapest fare you'll need to pay extra for food, drinks, blankets, entertainment, luggage, seat selection, etc.

I love their flights within Norway and Europe, and we fly with them regularly. If we aren't checking luggage, they're usually one of my first choices for shorter flights (<5 hours), because the aircraft are new, and a lot of flights have free in-flight WiFi.

For long-haul flights, they're usually not an option for us, since we need codeshare connecting flights to get to most of our destinations. When we had the option once, we did decide to try and see what it was like paying the absolute minimum. We booked a ridiculously cheap flight to Thailand, packed our own meal and drinks (and planned to buy some more on board), filled our iPads with movies, and brought along travel pillows and blankets. Again, it was fine since we knew what we were getting into and planned accordingly.

In the early days, they did have delays getting their shiny new fleet of 787 Dreamliners, which was disappointing for passengers stuck on older rental replacement aircraft. That is much less common now, though it can still happen if an aircraft needs maintenance, since they own the bare minimum and don't have backup aircraft available. To keep costs down, they run with a bare minimum of staff and equipment, so when something goes wrong, there can be significant delays involved when finding replacements (e.g. flying staff or aircraft in from distant locations). For this reason, I would absolutely recommend building in some flexibility if you choose them long-haul. Don't plan to arrive from a long-haul flight and leave on a cruise or another flight the same day ...unless you have amazing travel insurance and a strong sense of adventure!

One more thing to consider with Norwegian (even flying shorter distances within Europe or Scandinavia) is the season. I would avoid them in June and early July. Early July is the start of the typical summer vacation in Norway, so there are a ton of people traveling and a lot of crew leaving for their own vacations. Every year (including this one), the airline stretches itself thin, and if even a few pilots get sick and miss work, they have trouble finding anyone to cover, and chaos ensues.

I did a lot of research (convenience, price, service offered, etc.) this past year on flights to Europe. We just flew on SAS using their Plus Service from IAD to CPH in June for our Baltic Sea cruise. SAS is the only carrier that offers non-stop service on that route. It was very comfortable and we were able to be well rested upon our arrival as we hit the ground running on our first day. The flight over included two meals and a snack plus alcoholic beverages. The entertainment provided was sufficient for the almost eight hour flight. We also wanted to visit Bergen, Norway before our cruise so actually did an open-jaw to Bergen. So after clearing Customs at CPH, we boarded another SAS flight that served us our second breakfast that day!. Returning from Bergen we had a short SAS flight back to CPH. For that we just flew SAS Go. The SAS agent in Bergen actually graced our overweight-for-Go Service luggage instead of charging us. A big thumbs up!. My suggestion is to check for an open jaw flight as it should be much cheaper than two one-way flights.

I look forward to using SAS again!

EllieinNJ: Have you check air fares with the cruise line? We are doing a transatlantic and are doing one way from EWR to CPH. We are on the HAL Zuiderdam. Air fare was $420 each for the one way with SAS through HAL. When I priced the one way with SAS, it was over $2,000 each. Flight is non-stop. Hope this helps.

Don't know when your trip is but here is my timeline with Delta to CPH out of JFK. A non stop. Booked Nov 11 for a July 7 to 20th flight. Price for economy was $925 pp. 1 week later price dropped to $800 and 1 week after that to $725 pp. and the airfare stayed down to $800 or less for months ..We were of course stuck with our higher fare , however I noticed that the Delta one fare had dropped as well to only $650 more than what we paid for comfort plus ( comfort plus was an extra $209 on top of $925 ) . Delta refunded our comfort plus fee and we upgraded to Delta one ( first class) ..ended up paying under $1800 each for first class . 2 years earlier we paid $1500 comfort plus to Venice , so felt this was a bargain. Deltas international flights are very nice ..Plus 2 weeks prior to departure due to my husbands illness I changed our flights to return home directly from the cruise, 2 days earlier and they not only waived the $250 change fee but also kept us in first class seats ( which were now priced over 4 k ) .Cant recommend Delta enough

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Again, thanks for your responses. I checked Delta again and they do have nonstop from JFK to Copenhagen, but if you wanted to do open jaw returning from Oslo, you have a 1-1/2 hr. stopover in Paris. Then, there is an additional cost from Copenhagen to Oslo.

I'm still trying to figure out how many days I want in Copenhagen and Oslo before I book anything and if I want to go to Oslo or Copenhagen first.

For a Copenhagen and Oslo trip both SAS or Norwegian does offer direct flights into CPH and out of OSL or OSL/CPH - between Copenhagen and Oslo you can consider the over night ferry service DFDS Seaways rather than flying.

Time spend there will be much more to se and do in Copenhagen vs. Oslo - I'll recommend more days in Copenhagen.

Regarding flight be aware of Norwegians baggage rules. Only 44 lbs.

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Note also that Norwegian has begun to fly out from Stewart International Airport at Newburgh, NY to a couple of European destinations (Edinburgh, Dublin, Bergen), where you can connect to Copenhagen/Oslo.

Might be a cheaper and easier option for you, depending on where you live in the New York area.

I flew Norwegian from LAX to Oslo (and back) in 2015, got a great fare, flew on a new 787, and had a great flight. Paid to check one bag, and pre-paid for a meal each way. No extra charge for entertainment (movies, games, etc.). Power outlet for my own device. I actually planned my cruise around the flights, since that route only had two flights per week at the time.

This last spring I went on Delta/KLM to/from San Diego to Amsterdam. The KLM portions of the flights were better than the Delta portions.

Thank you all for your responses. According to my searches for my dates, United and Delta have connecting flights, some of which are too short (less than 2 hrs) or too long (5+ hrs). Also, the price for two is $3600 compared to the others which are less that $2000 total. In addition, Norwegian is around $1100 total, but you have to fly on certain days to get nonstop and I cannot find on the website how to fly into one city and out of another. We wanted to go to Oslo before or after Copenhagen. Maybe I have to book one way flights?

 

Propel, can you come back here after your trip and review Norwegian air or even a trip report on the main NCL forum. Thanks.

Here's my review -- Booked a LowFare+ JFK<->CPH non stop for ~$500 pp. Paid the extra little bit ($~40) to get LowFare+ which included a hot meal, cold snack, and 1 checked luggage. I would NOT hesitate again to book them on my next flight. I don't know why they get all the hate but if it makes someone feel better to pay twice or three times as much to fly a US carrier and get "free" meals and checked luggage, go for it.

Check in was a breeze, the plane was less than a year old, everyone had a entertainment screen which had plenty of movies, games, documentaries, maps, etc, all free for everyone. Flight attendants looked spot on with their uniforms, and always had a smile on their face.

My meal was a choice between beef and vegs, or chicken and rice. Both were great as DW and I had picked different ones. On the other leg, we both picked Beef Stroganoff and it was satisfying. All hot meals had a dessert, and drink. On the cold snack side, one leg had a turkey/cream cheese wrap and the other leg had a turkey pesto multi grain sandwich. Both had a juice, dessert, and hot beverage. The kiddos had pasta and meat sauce for both legs and had the same dessert and any beverage they want.

Long story short, if one has cash to burn, fly whatever suits you. If you don't "mind" paying for the next fare, you can't beat this airline and their fare. Both DW and I will look to booking with our wallets and if it ends up with Norwegian again, great, if not, I may go out of our way to see how we can fly them since we had such a good time.

Thanks for returning with your review of Norwegian Air. I was following along as we tried to arrange air for our cruise out of Bergen in 2018. We wound up being able to use miles, but your feedback will certainly come in handy in the future. Sounds like we would be fine on Norwegian. I would have to check to see if they fly out of DC in the future. That would make them even more appealing!

Thanks for returning with your review of Norwegian Air. I was following along as we tried to arrange air for our cruise out of Bergen in 2018. We wound up being able to use miles, but your feedback will certainly come in handy in the future. Sounds like we would be fine on Norwegian. I would have to check to see if they fly out of DC in the future. That would make them even more appealing!

I did a lot of research on flying to Copenhagen for our Baltic Sea cruise this year. I was enthused about the possibility of flying Norwegian AIr. We actually flew SAS but did seriously consider Norwegian Air. They are changing the International Market.

I am looking at them for possibly a Mediterranean cruise for next year but it appears that they are on a financial slide. It appears that cost creep is catching up. Already they have retreated from the seasonal Baltimore to Lesser Antilles market. It seems that their leasing department (airplanes purchased by DY but flown by other airlines), among other issues, is dragging them down. Their CFO left after fifteen years in July. However financial reports currently indicate that they should be able to survive.