The Cheapest Ways to Travel Between Europe and North America
Featured Image: A WOW Air Airbus A321 in Reykjavik
all would like to travel to new places – especially if they are far away. A lot of us would love to travel between North America and Europe. Unfortunately, a lot of legacy airlines (United, Delta, Lufthansa, etc…) charge extremely high prices for traveling transatlantically. Fortunately, there are a lot of low-cost airlines that charge much lower fares. While they usually don’t have the most amenities, the fact that you are traveling is probably more important than the comfort of the flight. In this article, I will explore the cheapest ways to travel between North America and Europe cheaply, both in the economy and in a premium cabin.
Norwegian
Photo Courtesy of Norwegian Air Shuttle
What to Expect: Norwegian (see the link to my airline profile) has two transatlantic experiences. The first uses the Boeing 787 and is probably the more comfortable experience. In economy, passengers have seats in a 3-3-3 configuration and also get free personal on-demand entertainment. On the 787, there is a premium cabin (that sometimes can cost as much as economy on other airlines) which features recliner seats and free meals. The other aircraft that Norwegian uses transatlantically is the 737. It flies on shorter routes such as from Dublin to Providence. There is no premium cabin on the 737s, but there is free wifi with personal device entertainment. On all flights, meals are available for purchase in economy. Norwegian’s cabins are possibly the best of any low-cost carrier that flies transatlantically.
The Prices: Since it is a low-cost carrier, the prices in economy and a premium cabin are pretty low. Prices in economy from New York to London Gatwick can be as low as $170 while on American from New York to London Heathrow the lowest prices on the same date in economy can be in the high $2,000s! That’s a lot more money on a full-service carrier! Even the premium cabin tickets on Norwegian cost around $550 which is still less expensive than economy on American! On all transatlantic flights on Norwegian, you will find that they will be much more costly on a mainline airline. While they might fly from secondary airports, the low prices are probably worth it.
Where Do They Fly From? Norwegian flies with two transatlantic business models. The first uses the 787s which flies from primary airport to primary (sometimes secondary) airport. For example, they fly from cities such as Paris, London, or Amsterdam to Boston, New York JFK, LA, or Oakland. With nonstop flights and low prices, they compete heavily with the major airlines on those routes. The other business model uses 737s and flies from secondary airport to secondary airports. For example, they fly from Edinburgh, Dublin, and Shannon to both Newburgh and Providence which also serve the New York and Boston areas, respectively. With low ticket fares and smaller planes, they can fly from secondary markets in Europe to secondary airports of major cities in the US.
Via Iceland (Icelandair & WOW Air)
An Icelandair 757-200 at Keflavik Airport
What to Expect: When I said via Iceland in the header above, I really do mean two different things: Icelandair and WOW Air. On Icelandair, there are personal entertainment screens at every seat, meals for purchase, blankets, and pillows, and a premium cabin with recliner seats. Icelandair is thought to be the more “premium” airline. WOW Air generally has lower prices and has no in-flight entertainment (personal device entertainment on some aircraft), a premium cabin with recliner seats (on select airliner), and all drinks and meals for purchase. Icelandair generally has more things included in the ticket price while on WOW Air, there are a lot more extras that you have to pay for. The business model of both airlines is to take people to Iceland and to take people from primary and secondary cities in North America/Europe to primary and secondary cities in Europe/North America with only one stop (via Iceland).
The Prices: Generally, the prices on WOW Air are a bit lower than on Icelandair due to WOW Air being an ultra-low-cost carrier. I will run an example, comparing prices on a full-service airline, Icelandair, and WOW Air from New York to Berlin. Most of these ticket prices compare similarly to what the prices are from any US city to any European city. On WOW Air, from New York JFK to Berlin it costs around $170 in the lowest fare of economy (only includes a personal item). In premium class (premium economy), it costs around $690. On Icelandair, economy class (the lowest option is full fare, but it includes more amenities than on WOW Air) costs around $600 on that same route while business class costs around $2,400 (which is way overpriced). Finally, on a full-service carrier (nonstop on United), it costs in the high 2,000s just for economy one way. What do I take out of this all? Economy class on mainline airlines is way overpriced. For an okay experience for still kind of cheap, take Icelandair, and if you want a cheap (but miserable) flight from the US to Europe, take WOW Air unless there is a direct flight on any other low-cost airline.
Where Do They Fly From? As I said earlier and in my Icelandair Airline Profile, the primary business model of Icelandair and WOW Air is to transport passengers from the US to Europe and vice versa. Since Iceland is right along the way from the two areas, this business model works out perfectly. As discussed above, they fly from both secondary and primary markets in both areas to connect people to virtually any city across the two continents. This means that they fly to large cities such as London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, but they both also fly to secondary cities such as Cleveland, St. Louis, Glasgow, or Tampa. This way, people have connected to most large(ish) cities in both continents with only one stop along the way on extremely low fares.
LEVEL
Photo Courtesy of LEVEL
What to Expect: LEVEL is owned by IAG (think British Airways and Iberia). LEVEL has two travel classes: premium economy and regular economy class. Premium economy is pretty standard with recliner seats, leg rests, and slightly better food. The eEconomy is also pretty standard, where you have to pay for meals, extra baggage, and other extras. There is also personal on demand available at all seats on long-haul flights. Think of LEVEL as a regular full-service airline, but where you have to pay for the extras that you get on Lufthansa, BA, United, etc.. and where there is no business class. LEVEL operates Airbus A330-200s operated by Iberia on all long-haul flights. For more information, I talked more about them in my Airlines That Recently Took To The Skies Article.
The Prices: Like on all low-cost airlines, the prices are amazingly low. One way from Boston to Barcelona in regular economy costs as little as $150 and $160 from San Francisco to Barcelona! Premium economy from Boston to Barcelona costs around $560 which is cheaper than economy would be on most full-service airlines on that route! It’s pretty cheap.
Where Do They Fly From? LEVEL has three main hubs: Barcelona, Paris-Orly, and Vienna. They only do short-haul operations out of Vienna, which leaves Barcelona and Paris-Orly for long-haul operations. Out of Barcelona, LEVEL flies to Boston, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Out of Paris-Orly, LEVEL flies to Fort-de-France, Montreal, Newark (New York), and Point-a-Pitre. LEVEL does intend to expand into new transatlantic markets over the next few years.
Eurowings
Photo Courtesy of Eurowings
What to Expect: Eurowings is Lufthansa’s version of LEVEL, except it is much bigger and mostly flies short-haul routes. With over 100 planes, they are one of the largest European low-cost carriers (LCCs). They have a long haul fleet that includes the A330-200/300 and the Airbus A340-300. There are three classes of service on Eurowings. Economy class is pretty standard for LCCs in which you have to pay for food, baggage, etc… Unlike most other LCCs, Eurowings has both a premium economy cabin and a business class cabin. BEST (premium economy) is featured on all aircraft, including on long-haul aircraft. It is like premium economy on LEVEL or Norwegian. It features free meals that are equivalent to the economy meals, a leg rest, and greater recline. BIZclass is Eurowings’ business class. It features flat-bed seats in a 2-2-2 (A340) or 1-2-1 configuration (A330) configuration and is only featured on the A340-300 or the A330-300. The seats are nearly identical to the business class seats on Lufthansa. Also, service features better food than in economy and actual business class amenities such as amenity kits and premium blankets.
The Prices: The long haul prices on Eurowings are cheaper than on airlines such as Delta, but they certainly are no ultra low-cost fare price. From New York JFK to Düsseldorf one way, regular economy costs $600, premium economy costs $900, while business class (with a flat bed seat) costs $2,000. For a better inflight experience than on an airline like WOW Air, it is expected to have higher prices.
Where Do They Fly From? Eurowings flies mostly from Germany to vacation hotspots around the world. They fly to the US, Caribbean, Thailand, and Africa. Since this article focuses on transatlantic flights, I will only talk about the transatlantic flights of Eurowings. From the US, Eurowings flies from Fort Myers to Düsseldorf and Munich, from Miami to Düsseldorf, from New York to Düsseldorf, and from Las Vegas to Munich. Also transatlantically but not in the US, Eurowings flies from Varadero (Cuba), Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Montego Bay, Cancun, and Havana to Düsseldorf and Munich.
La Compagnie
What to Expect: Unlike the other airlines on this list, La Compagnie is an all business class airline. You might be thinking: why would I put an all business class airline on this list – this is a low-cost airline article, right? La Compagnie is a low-cost premium airline that has business class tickets for the price that some airlines have in economy. The airline operates two Boeing 757-200s (that will be replaced by Airbus A321s) which feature an all business class cabin with angle flat seats in a 2-2 configuration. Yes, angle flat seats aren’t the best for business class. However, you do get the full business class service with premium meals and a pretty good seat (in the grand scheme of things) with lounge access for a price similar to the economy!
The Prices: La Compagnie offers promo fares which are only available during certain promotions which can sometimes be as low as $800! However, during most times, they do not offer those promo fares – the lowest fare usually is the Semi-Flex fare. These fares cost around $1,800. Yes, that isn’t cheap. However, you have to think – what are you getting out of that ticket and what does it cost on other airlines? Regular economy tickets can be higher than $2,000 on mainline airlines such as United or Delta. So really, on that flight to get business class (which is much better than Norwegian or LEVEL premium economy) for $1,800 is not that bad. If you want to fly from New York to Paris in business class for very cheap, check for promo fares and eventually you might get lucky with an $800 business class fare!
Where Do They Fly From? La Compagnie only flies on one route: from Newark-Liberty to Paris Orly. They used to fly from Newark to London, although they have since discontinued that route.
Have you ever flown on any of these low-cost airlines that I have mentioned? Share about your experience below!
