What it's like to travel on Wow Air, the budget airline that's offering $69 flights from the US to Europe

@jamesdozer

LONDON — Earlier this week, the Icelandic low-cost carrier Wow Air announced that for a limited time it would offer one-way tickets from the US to Europe for as low as $69.99 (£57).

The sale, which was available until all 1,800 tickets were sold, was an effort to expand Wow's US customer base. Flights from Europe to the US were not discounted as heavily.

Furthermore, some of the amenities typically included with a plane fare — including bottled water, food, and even entertainment — aren't part of the deal. The airline, however, is up-front about its no-frills flights.

"This way you won't have problems with expectations," Wow Air founder and CEO Skuli Mogensen said. "That's why we tell them to bring their own food, water, and download a movie on your iPad or laptop ahead of the flight."

And with prices like the above, the airline is still worth a look, especially with the European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air launching $69 transatlantic flights in June. 

We asked two travel experts who have flown Wow Air, James Dozer of Travel Codex, who bagged a $99 one-way flight from Los Angeles to Reykjavik, Iceland, and frequent flier and travel expert Gilbert Ott, who runs the air-miles site God Save the Points, to share their experiences.

From quirky purple sick bags to iPads for rent, see what it's really like to fly with Wow Air, and determine for yourself whether it's worth the hype.

Dozer originally reviewed the flight here.

Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW Air regularly offers $99 tickets to Europe from the US and around European countries. We asked two people who have grabbed a ticket to share their experiences.

WOW Air

According to James Dozer, who booked a $99 one-way flight from Los Angeles to Reykjavik, buying tickets with WOW Air is "actually pretty easy."

WOW Air

"Their website was simple and functional and allowed me to search several days at a time to find the cheapest fares," he wrote on Travel Codex. "Once I found my flights and travel dates, I paid for my flight tickets and had the option of purchasing additional services such as checked bags and seat selections. Their website even allows you to book tours and airport transfers."

 

The check-in counters were open early, assisting passengers three hours before the flight. However, this didn't prevent issues with seat selection.

@jamesdozer

"If you already pre-paid and selected your seats, now would be a good time to double-check your seats as WOW Air’s IT systems are notoriously horrible," Dozer said. "Even though I confirmed our seats that morning for our flight, when we arrived at LAX, our seats were screwed up. We were no longer assigned to our seats and someone else had already checked into one of our seats. Unfortunately for us, the only two seats together were located in the back of the plane."

He added that two other passengers seemed to be facing the same issue, and that there have been many reports of the same problem online. However, the WOW Air Station Manager was "awesome" and helped to resolve the issue.

"Seeing that we were disappointed with our re-assigned seats, she proactively paged the passenger that was assigned to my selected seat and politely asked her to switch seats with us. Luckily, the girl didn’t care and we were back to our original purchased seats. Fortunately, this worked out in this case but I don’t know what would have happened if the girl said 'no'."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider