Review of Norwegian flight Stockholm → Oslo in Economy

Hello readers! Welcome to a new terse series, consisting merely of two quick flights in August, 2017. The first part (you are here) includes the flight from Stockholm to Oslo while the subsequent part covers the return.

Background:

This particular background will not be of ample size, in comparison to backgrounds in other reports from this account. The story went like something along these lines:

It was a regular spring day in Stockholm and I was sitting in my room per usual, the day was ordinary until my dad came and told me we had to book tickets in August for just a single night. Apparently a wedding party of one of my cousins' wedding had been confirmed to take place on August 12, 2017. Talks about the wedding party had been ongoing for an extended period of time, it was confirmed at last which meant it was time to book the tickets after our invitation arrived. The standard options for travelling to Oslo are to take the train or to fly with SAS/Norwegian. My family agreed on flying to Oslo and I therefore searched for flights in August. Norwegian turned out to be the cheaper choice and the tickets were booked without further hesitation. This would be the first trip from our new home in the Stockholm area, the recent ARN-HEL-UME-ARN series was the final series from our previous home in Stockholm.

Note: Pictures used in this report were taken with my phone and camera.

Itinerary:

Part 1 - ARN-OSL, DY807, Norwegian, Boeing 737-800, LN-DYC - You are here
Part 2 - OSL-ARN, DY820, Norwegian, Boeing 737-800, LN-NGS -


Here

The hop to Oslo has a flight time of one hour, flight DY807 on Saturday was scheduled to depart at 10:00 AM in the morning. Online check-in was done the night before departure, the only task left was to collect BPs at the airport as my family would travel with hand luggage.


I went up from bed at 06:40 AM on the day of departure and started getting ready to leave. Additionally, the departure information from the mobile app was screenshotted for future reference on this FR. Interestingly the boarding time was set at 09:31 according to the app, instead of a customary 09:30.


Once the final packing had been completed, I walked to the kitchen and had some breakfast. Two slices of bread with strawberry jam, a piece of crispbread with cream cheese (knäckebröd) and oat flakes with milk constituted my breakfast. Generally speaking, many would most likely agree on the topic of jam being an unhealthy breakfast item. On that account I try to compensate by purchasing a brand that has a higher fruit content and less added sugar than what's standard on the market here.


I was done with my checklist by 07:52 AM and waited for the rest of the family to finish their checks.


The family was set to leave at 08:06, my father started the car at 08:08 AM on this hushed and dead Saturday morning.


Driving towards the E18 at 08:12 AM in typical Stockholm weather. Normally I take the E4 directly to ARN but since I have moved to another area in Stockholm, the routing will be slightly different.


On the E18 freeway towards the city centre.


Taking road 267 after a few minutes on the E18, road 267 serves as a connector between the E4 and the E18 in the northern outskirts of Stockholm.


Towards the E4.


To the E4.


Joining the E4 freeway towards Arlanda Airport at 08:28 AM.


Continuing the drive on the E4.


A multitude of my other cousins in Stockholm were also going to Oslo for the wedding party, some of them had already arrived in Oslo the previous day while one of my cousins would be on the same flight as us this morning.


Closing in on the airport.


Taking the exit to ARN.


Driving to the BETA long-term parking facility at ARN. The airport operator has got two long-term parking facilities at ARN, ALFA and BETA while other long-term parking lots are operated by different private companies.


Approaching the BETA parking lot.


It took a fair amount of time before a vacant spot was located within short walking distance from a bus stop, but eventually we found an acceptable spot.


The poster advises people to take a photo of the bus stop (in Swedish), in case you forget which stop the car was close to when returning.


Waiting for the shuttle bus at 08:48 AM.


The yellow shuttle bus arrived at 08:50 AM and we hopped on. Besides for getting to/from the parking facilites, these buses are also used for getting to the rental cars offices, one of the Radisson hotels, the Jumbohostel and a selection of other spots around the airport.


The ride to Terminal 5 lasted for roughly five minutes.


The shuttle buses stop at the arrivals level at Terminal 5, it is possible to enter the departures level by entering the building followed by going upstairs by escalators/stairs or lifts.


On an escalator towards the departures level.


Minimal time was wasted in the landside area, boarding was scheduled to commence in 30 minutes. Upon arriving in the departures level, I quickly walked to a kiosk and printed out our boarding passes.


Row 25 would have to suffice.


The line for the security checkpoint was of considerable length but fortunately it was not too sluggish. There are two security checkpoints at Terminal 5, one for gates 11-24 (we were here as our gate was 13A) and one for all gates. This point is convenient for departures from gates 11-24 while the second control by the SK desks is better for departures from gates 1-10 and F26-F69 at Terminal 5.


Rainy weather.


Bag repacking area, seen while standing in line for security.


Advancing.


Security was cleared in 11 minutes, there were 17 minutes left until boarding (or 18, according to the app which suggested boarding to start at 09:31).


The assigned gate for flight DY807 to Oslo was 13A, pictured. We met our cousin by this gate who were joining us on DY807.


Flight information display screen, or simply FIDS.


I decided to wander around the gates that were in close proximity to gate 13A, before boarding commenced.


Austrian E-190.


QR B788.


SK A320.




Flight information:

Airline: Norwegian Air Shuttle

Flight no & route: DY807 ARN-OSL

Aircraft: Boeing 737-800

Scheduled time of departure (actual): 10:00 (10:18), UTC +2

Scheduled time of arrival (actual): 11:00 (10:59), UTC +2

Scheduled flight time (actual): 1 hour (41 minutes)

This 738 registered as LN-DYC was delivered to Norwegian in March, 2010.


Boarding was announced with a delay of eight-nine minutes at 09:39, there was no priority boarding but passengers at the front of the aircraft were asked to use the jetbridge while passengers at the back would board from the rear side of the aircraft.


Walking to the apron. My cousin seated at row 1 boarded using the jetbridge while my family walked to the rear of the plane.


Walking to the 737 in rainy weather conditions.


The ride.


LN-DYC it is.


It would most likely not just be a rainy morning in Stockholm, but a rainy day in Stockholm.


Max Manus on the tail (full name is Maximo Guillermo Manus). He was a Norwegian resistance fighter and was active during World War II. Max Manus was also a shop assistant, author, sailor, businessman and a personal protection officer, according to Wikipedia.


Walking upstairs.


Inside the aircraft.


Seated on seat 25A.


Seatback.


Wing view in wet conditions.


Legroom and the seat pitch were adequate for a flight of this length, and they remained acceptable with a small camera bag.


TK1793 from Istanbul IST.


Boarding was succesfully completed by 09:55 AM.


Before taxi, I snapped a few pictures of the seatback contents. The safety card was up first.


Magazine.


Barf bag, two copies were spotted in the pocket of the seatback in front of me.


Taking pictures with the large amount of droplets on the windows was a difficult task, I managed to click a small selection of pictures using the camera's auto-focus before giving up and switching over to manual focus.


The safety video was displayed on these overhead monitors, it was shown in English and Norwegian if my rusty memory can be trusted.


Pushback from gate 13A at 10:09 AM.


Taxiing to runway 19R.


Air Serbia A319 rolling down runway 19R, operating flight JU411 to Belgrade.


SAS AT72.


Lining up with 19R.


Rolling down runway 19R.


Lifting off at 10:18 AM.


Amapola Flyg Fokker 50, Thai B77W, Titan B752 and the Jumbohostel.


Climbing out.


Road 273 and the freeway to the airport.


Benstocken long-term parking facility (private).


Heading towards Oslo.


E4 freeway.


Lake Fysingen.


Stockholm North Logistics Center.


Rosersberg, in the northern outskirts.


Climbing out.


The clouds were taking over a couple of minutes after departure.


Through the cloud layers.


Mood lighting.


Unlike previous occasions, connecting to DY's Wi-Fi was a hassle-free experience this occasion.


Tones of blue in the skies have been spotted.


Cartoons were running on the overhead monitors while we were cruising towards Oslo.


Cruising at 26 000 ft.


Oggy and the Cockroaches on the monitors.


There was not much activity onboard, besides the BOB service with few interested passengers.


Descending towards Gardermoen Airport.


Lining up with runway 19L at Gardermoen.


Through the clouds, for the second time.


Råholt, a town close to the airport.


The E6 freeway.


Aurvegen (road).


Residential areas around Mogreina.


Hersjøen (lake).


Transjøen (lake).


Moments before touchdown.


Landed on runway 19L at 10:59 AM local time.


Taxiing to our gate.


Continuing the taxi.


Thomas Cook A321.


Our aircraft came to a final stop at 11:04 AM. Our neighbour was EI-FPD, a CRJ-900 operated by Cityjet.


Disembarking could be done from both sides of the plane.


We left the aircraft from the rear as it was in closer proximity to row 25 than the jetbridge at the front.


Walking to the terminal at 11:07 AM, thankfully it was not raining here.


Goodbye LN-DYC.


We met our cousin inside the terminal and walked to the exit together.


My first impressions of the airport were great. The airport was clean with a contemporary design, an extremely stark contrast to ARN. Well done OSL.


Continuing towards the landside area.


While moving through the corridor, I noticed numerous spotter-friendly windows to my right. Stopping for a few spotting shots could not hurt much. Lufthansa A320.


Thai B77W.


I walked at an increased level of pace, after putting the camera back in my bag. It was required to combat the lost walking progress while taking spotting pictures.


Taking an escalator downstairs.


Towards arrivals.


A duty-free shopping section was seen while making it to the baggage hall and customs.


In the baggage hall area.


In the arrivals area, at 11:15 AM. My father had booked a rental cars so we immediately followed the signs towards the rental cars offices.


The offices were located downstairs according to the signs.


Originally my father booked a small hatchback with four seats, we had no idea of the presence of our cousin at the time of booking and therefore did not put seconds thoughts into it. Fortunately there were larger cars available and the agent upgraded us to a five-seater for a smaller fee.


Walking to the car after the formalites were dealt with.


To our surprise, the agent upgraded us to a Toyota RAV4 SUV. I had a larger hatchback in mind when I heard about the upgrade but I presume this was more than fine.


Driving out of the parking garage at 11:34 AM.


On the E16 freeway.


Joining the busy E6 freeway towards Oslo.


Jessheim has been passed, a town in Akershus County.


Houses around Isingrudvegen (road) in Kløfta.


Approaching the exit to Sørumsand, Frogner and Lindeberg in Akershus County. 20 kilometres (12,43 miles) left until we arrive at the hotel.


Passing Skedsmokorset.


11 km (6,84 miles) to go.


Driving under road 22, the bridge seen on the top of the picture.


Seven kilometres left after 23 minutes of driving, 11:58 AM at this point.


A few minutes left before leaving the E6 freeway.


The car came to a final stop at 12:07 PM, the drive from the airport to our hotel lasted for approximately 32 minutes.


We went to the wedding party at 17:30 (5:30 PM) the same day before returning to Stockholm the next day, I did not manage to visit the city centre in my short stay which means I will not have a bonus of downtown Oslo featured on this series. I will only include a brief selection of pictures from two neighbourhoods I was able to visit before returning home. Thank you for taking your time to read this FR :), have a good one and see you later!

A short bonus of my stay, including a short walk to a metro station and views from my hotel:

Views from the hotel and a walk to a nearby metro station:


Visiting one of my other relatives living in Oslo, the next day: