Related: How we scored a cheap flight to London-Gatwick on Norwegian

I recently flew from New York-JFK to London for $168 and Paris to New York-JFK for just $220. Of course, there’s always a catch with such a nice price. And if you’re used to flying established carriers like Air France, Virgin Atlantic, or airberlin, you need to prepare yourself for a different experience, so don’t expect to be welcomed with a glass of Champagne.

However, we’ve enjoyed most of our flights on Norwegian despite the lack of perks. And after flying this low-cost airline a number of times, we’ve discovered a few easy ways to make your trip on Norwegian more comfortable.

Related: Search cheap flights to Europe

1. You don’t need to pay for a seat reservation

Unless you absolutely need an aisle or window seat, there’s no need to pay extra for your exact seat. They’ll assign you one on the day of your departure.  If you really like a window or aisle seat, then you should go ahead and pay the $45 fee to secure your preferred seat, but we’d rather spend that money on our first meal of the trip.

2. Flying with someone? Check in early to (hopefully) nab seats together

If you’re traveling with a companion and don’t already have a seat reservation, it pays to arrive at the check-in counter early. Each time I’ve flown Norwegian with a companion, we’ve been able to get seats together. On sold-out flights from JFK to London and Paris to JFK, I was able to get two seats together without any hassle.

3. If you like views, nab a window seat

If you love gazing out over the landscape like I do (check out this shot of Greenland on a trip back from Iceland), you might want to request a window seat. Boeing 787s have oversize windows that you can control with an electronic shade. It’s a cool feature that may or may not be worth the extra money to reserve your seat.

4. You might want to pay to check your bag

We all know the agony of having to check your bag at the gate. The fees can kick off your trip on the wrong note — say goodbye to $65 when you fly Norwegian (as opposed to $45 if you pay for luggage online; check out all baggage fee details). Although Norwegian does have spacious overhead bins on their long-haul flights, if you have a big piece of luggage, it might be better to pay beforehand rather than getting stuck with a big fee at the counter.

Related: WOW Air $99 to Europe? Yes, but the devil is in the details

5. Buy water before boarding

Unless you purchased a meal online, you won’t be getting any free drinks or snacks — not even a cup of water. They don’t even come around with a drink cart, so grab a couple of bottles of water beforehand if you don’t want to shell out a few bucks. Or go super cheapo and fill up your own bottle at the bathroom water fountain.

6. Maybe skip the meals and bring your own

The food on Norwegian for LowFare tickets won’t win away awards. Expect your typical airline food. If you have time, swing by a bakery in Paris for a sandwich and pastry on your way to the airport. You’ll make your fellow passengers very jealous, especially the ones who paid for the chicken à la mode.

That said, sometimes Norwegian offers online combination specials (called LowFare+) for a three-course meal, drinks, seat reservation, and piece of baggage. I once scored a LowFare+ for an extra $50 on a flight to London. That might be a good time to upgrade your experience.

7. Order drinks and food right from your seat

If you start craving a snack, you can just browse the selections from your seat. Swipe your card, and your order is delivered by the flight attendants. The pricing is pretty standard for airlines ($6 for a beer, $3 for snacks, etc.), and a bottle of sparkling water from Iceland was actually cheaper than at the gate in JFK. I usually use the money I saved on the seat reservation to splurge on a glass of wine.

Related: What’s it like to fly to Europe on Primera Air

8. Free movies, TV shows and interactive maps help pass the time

For a budget airline, the on-board entertainment is surprisingly good. They offer free movies and TV shows but don’t expect the latest blockbusters or live TV (except for flights within Europe). Settle in for a few episodes of Friends or movies like Argo or Finding Nemo.

Also, I’m a huge cartography nerd, so I love Norwegian’s live map feature. You can zoom in on destinations around the globe to learn more about the attractions and choose different views from the plane during your journey.

9. Charge your laptop, tablet or smartphone from your seat

They don’t offer live TV on in-seat screen, but you can charge your mobile devices with ease. Get your smartphone juiced up with the plug just below the screen, so you can start snapping photos from the moment you get off the plane.

10. The 787 Dreamliner is quite comfortable and the crew very friendly

Norwegian flights to Europe all use the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for their routes. Mood lighting, a 3-3-3 seating arrangement across the plane, and several bathrooms make for a nice flight. The crews on all of my Norwegian flights have been quite friendly and enthusiastic at assisting in any way they can (despite the lack of free snacks). This can come in handy on a 6+ hour flight!

Your tips

Have you flown Norwegian? Tell us about your experience in our comments section below. What tips do you have for other travelers?

The post Flying Norwegian: 10 Tips for making your cheap flight to Europe more comfortable appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Right now on Norwegian, you can book one-way trips for an incredible price with a “LowFare” ticket in September and October. From New York and Los Angeles, prices are only $175 to Paris and $220 for the return trip back to the US. The fare from Miami is starting a little higher at $299.

Previously, Norwegian has rolled out great deals like $240 flights to London, while WOW Air upped the ante with $99 one-way flights to Europe. The current LowFare of $175 to Paris includes all taxes, but you still might have to pony up for a few extra fees depending on how you like to travel. We’ve talked at length about the extra fees that can add up on budget airlines like WOW Air. Expect to pay for everything from seat reservations, checked baggage and meals.

Related: 8 Tips for finding cheap flights to Europe

However, if you just want to jet off to Paris with a small carry on and don’t care where you sit, you can grab a round-trip LowFare ticket for only $395! But being a bit more realistic, you’ll probably need to pay around $40 extra for a checked bag. Or an even better option might be to upgrade to LowFare+. This sale fare is still only $265 to Paris from New York and includes a seat reservation, checked bag and even meals with wine. Throw in the return LowFare+ ticket, and you can still get to Paris and back for only $575.

Even though oil prices have been falling since 2015, airfares to Europe have still not budged much. Finding any roundtrip fare for under $1,000 can be a challenge. However, maybe that is finally changing with airlines like Norwegian raising the stakes. You can contemplate the future of airline fares later, though. Right now, book your ticket to Paris, because these fares are only on sale from February 18 to 21, 2016.

Related: How we scored a $298 flight to London on Norwegian

The post Airfare Alert: Norwegian launching nonstop flights to Paris for $175 appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

This past fall I was able to nab a fantastic deal on a non-stop flight to London from New York JFK for less than $300. Sound impossible? With a little bit of planning, a few hours of online searching, and a willingness to be flexible with your schedule and traveling habits, you could easily score the same kind of deal.

Related:

Wow! Airlines offers $99 flights to Europe

Norwegian offers $240 flights to Europe

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Search around

The big players in the flight search industry like Kayak, Expedia and Hipmunk are essential tools to finding good prices on flights. Spending a few minutes on each can’t hurt and is a great way to get the lay of the land. Be sure to check out EuroCheapo’s flight search, too, as it’s powered by Momondo.com and offers some surprising deals through smaller European carriers.

But don’t forget to check out the official airline websites, as well. The rates might be the same that you’ll find on meta-search engines, but they offer cool features to help you find less obvious deals. For example, Norwegian has a helpful fare calendar where you can quickly scan through a few months of schedules to find the cheapest trips. Wow! Air shows a few days at a time, and you can scroll back and forth to see cheap flights around the date you chose.

Spend some time getting to know your low-cost carrier’s online home, and you’ll be well on your way to finding a great deal.

Book early

This might be the most important tip here. Make sure to start your search well in advance of your potential travel times. And we don’t mean a few weeks—try to reserve your tickets at least two or three months out or even earlier.

For example, if you want to fly to London in January or February of 2015, flights are still available on Norwegian for as low as $249 each way. However, if you want to head over in spring when things warm up, you’d be wise not to wait on booking those seats. As of December 8, 2014, you can still find one-way flights to London in May for as little as $248. That’s a fantastic deal for a late spring vacation to Europe, but you can bet that those prices won’t last long. Snag them now.

Be flexible with dates and destinations

Granted, as a freelance writer, I had greater flexibility when planning my trip. However, even a little flexibility can usually go a long way when it comes to hunting down airline deals. Flying mid-week, for example, can almost always save you a $100 or more over weekend ticket prices–so if you can take an extra vacation day, go for it.

This doesn’t just mean that you have to leave midweek. For example, for my recent three-week jaunt around Europe this past fall, my plan was to start in London, and then hit Paris and Amsterdam on the way to a final week in Berlin for the Fall of the Wall 25 celebration. This gave me plenty of options when choosing my flights, as I could shuffle the order of the cities visited to find a deal. With a bit of patience, I was able to find a flight from NYC to London for a great price on Thursday night, getting into Gatwick on a Friday morning—just in time for the weekend!

Cut back on extras

We’ve talked about the stringent policies of these new budget carriers before in our recent article about $99 flights on Wow Air. But we’ll stress it again for any newbies to low-cost flying culture: Checked bags, meals, and even seat reservations can (and usually do) cost extra.

Fortunately, the price you’re shown on screen almost always includes taxes and airport fees. However, in almost all cases, the first fare you see is just the bare-bones flight. If you really need an aisle seat or plan on checking a bag, you’ll have to fork over some extra money.

Sometimes package deals on perks can be found. For example, Norwegian often bundles a seat reservation, meals and a checked bag into one fee. But this can still reach $50 or more, so a true Cheapo will go for the basic fare and pack lightly, bring along a sandwich or two and not mind where they end up sitting on the plane.

My ticket

Here’s how much I paid for my ticket for a non-stop flight from New York JFK to London Gatwick on Norwegian Air. I flew on October 23rd and booked the ticket in late July, approximately three months out. Cost of the ticket (including taxes and fees) was $298 (a great fare for an October direct flight), but I also opted to upgrade for an extra $50 to get two meals (including wine), a seat reservation (I love my window seats) and checked baggage to see if this experience was worth it. In the end, the food was only mediocre and I didn’t really need to check my bag, but I still enjoyed having the peace of mind that I wouldn’t be stuck in a middle seat or go hungry. It was nice to kick off my trip with a few extra perks, and a couple glasses of wine on your way to Europe never hurts!

Airfare: $298

Checked bag, seat reservation and food/drink: $50

Total cost: $348

The post How I scored a $298 one-way ticket to Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.