Review of Norwegian flight Berlin Stockholm in Economy

Airline Norwegian
Flight DY4508
Class Economy
Seat 4F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:35
Take-off 26 May 16, 21:35
Arrival at 26 May 16, 23:10
DY   #9 out of 22 Low-cost airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 96 reviews
Rl 777
By 811
Published on 19th June 2016
Hello and welcome to the last part of my class trip to Berlin that took place in late-May! This part will cover the return flight from Berlin SXF to Stockholm ARN. This FR has been severely delayed, I've started to work recently (summer job) which has reduced my available time to use for writing this FR. Without further ado, let's get into the FR!



Background (from part 1):
My class has split up after several fantastic years together, we wrapped everything up with a class trip to Berlin in May 2016. I'm about to continue my studies in a new school with new people from August 2016. I've been this crazy class since August 2012. We've had a lot of crazy experiences over the years, I've shared so many memories with these people over the years and it was time for a 'grand finale' before we split up into different paths in early-June 2016. Since grade 6 (in 2012) my class had done a lot to save up money for a class trip that was planned to take place in May 2016. We've sold cookies, clothes, food at special events and more. My class is very diverse, we literally have one person from every category. Almost everyone is friends with each other. In general we're pretty loud but still nice to each other. My class is also filled with a lot of cultures, most of us are born in Sweden but have parents from other countries. We have people in my class that have parents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Sweden, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Belgium, Syria, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh (me) India (me) and more!

Some of us were pessimistic about this planned class trip (including me), the pessimistic ones never thought we'd manage to get out of Sweden for the class trip. Some of us were very optimistic and were sure that we'd able to save up for an international trip. I remember when I joked about getting to Norrköping a few years ago (a city 163 km from STO). Time flew by and all of the pessimistic classmates (including me) were proven wrong, we would go to Berlin, Germany with our class. I was the one that booked the tickets with Norwegian. My class would finally go on a class trip, internationally after years of hard work! We also had two parents with us and one of them would be my mother.







NOTE: Some pictures are taken with my phone and some with my camera




Part 1 - ARN-SXF DY4507, Norwegian, Boeing 737-800, LN-DYE - Here
Part 2 - SXF-ARN DY4508, Norwegian, Boeing 737-800, LN-DYT - You are here







After a few hectic days in Berlin it was time to return to Sweden. Me and my class had gone through a lot of wild things while being in Berlin, no one liked us here haha. We almost got thrown out of our hostel and received several complaints in various places for being too loud. One 'grand finale' occured on the plane right after takeoff from Berlin, more details will be given later on in the report.

We had left our Hostel near Checkpoint Charlie at around 18:05/18:10 local time and went to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport's S-Bahn station by U-Bahn and S-Bahn. I was the one responsible for showing everyone the way and when and where we could connect from the U-Bahn to the S-Bahn. We arrived at the airport at 18:59 local time.
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Walking to Terminal D where Norwegian's flights depart from at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. The rest of my class including our teachers were behind me.
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Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld! No one in my class was impressed by the airport on the day of arrival, I told them not many of my 'aviation-friends' were either.
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Entrance to Terminal D.
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Norwegian's check-in desks at Berlin SXF, there were three flights to each one of the Scandinavian capitals leaving tonight. Our flight to Stockholm was scheduled to leave at 21:35 but that wouldn't happen, DY was once again too optimistic with the departure times as you'll see later.
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DY's check-in kiosks, there were five of them available here but only two of them were operational. Anyway, check-in began for my class and I helped 30-40% of them with the process. I was the last one to check-in.
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Security was pretty smooth and efficient, thankfully no one had brought drinks with them in their hand luggage this time around.
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Duty-free shopping once you've cleared security, nothing I was interested in but several classmates were.
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Our flight was scheduled to depart at 21:35 but the gate would be assigned at 21:10? I immediately knew we'd never depart on-time, an estimated time of departure at 22:00 seemed logical in my head.
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All of us split up after security, some of my classmates were seated somewhere, a few wandered around and bought drinks while a handful were in the duty-free area. I decided to explore the terminal together with a friend.
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While exploring the terminal I found some windows with a few plane spotting opportunities, glare was included though. I asked my friend if we could stop for a sec to snap a few pictures and he gladly said yes and spotted with me. Ryanair B738.
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4U A319.
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Norwegian B738, this was not our ride.
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UP B738 heading out to TLV tonight.
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We continued exploring the terminal after the short spotting session.
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We found a Burger King outlet after a few minutes of walking, we decided to have a light snack before taking the flight back to Stockholm. My friend walked around while I was eating and found a cute souvenir for his mother in a small store next to BK, unfortunately he didn't have enough money left for it. I gave him my last coins but that wasn't enough. He walked back to the other classmates to get a few cents, I did a bit more spotting in the meantime.
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SU A320 arriving from SVO at 21:12 local time. Our gate had been assigned at 21:10 as promised but boarding wouldn't being at that time.


We walked back to the assigned gate which turned out to be gate 15, a lot of people were already lining up but boarding hadn't begun yet and wouldn't for at least 18 minutes. I would be one of the last ones to board as I was seated at 4F.
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Boarding finally commenced at 21:40 but I didn't wait in line yet, me together with a few other classmates were the last ones to board the flight and waited until the line got shorter.






Flight information:

Airline: Norwegian Air Shuttle

Flight no & route: DY4507 ARN-SXF

Scheduled time of departure (actual): 21:35 (22:08) UTC +2

Scheduled time of arrival (actual) : 23:10 (23:22) UTC +2

Scheduled flight time (actual): 1h 35 min (1h 14 min)

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LN-DYT is five years old as of today.
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I was pretty tired and was hoping for a calm flight up to Stockholm, that was highly unlikely with my class onboard though.
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There was a flight attendant greeting passengers at the front door, I asked her if the flight was full tonight and she replied 'Almost!'. The load factor was probably exceeding 95%. Anyway, I quickly made it to seat 4F and settled down. I'm glad DY assigned a window seat for me once again!
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Acceptable seat pitch for a flight of this length. Thankfully the seat pitch in DY's 738s isn't as bad as in AK's A320s despite both being LCC-carriers.
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Seatback contents, May 2016 issue of Norwegien's N magazine, barf bag and a safety card.
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This bird was five years old but had BSI unlike the aircraft on the ARN-SXF leg.
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Boarding had almost been completed.
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A white screw cap was left on the floor under the seat in front of me.
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It had become pretty dark in Berlin, it was roughly 22:00 local time.
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Pushback finally commenced at 22:02 local time.
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The safety video was played on these overhead monitors while we were taxiing to runway 25R.
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BSI in action.
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Taxiing to runway 25R.
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Something interesting happened during takeoff. My class is pretty loud as I've mentioned earlier, they were very hyperactive and loud during takeoff on this flight for some reason. Right after departure, the cabin purser came out in an announcement saying 'To the teenagers we have onboard, now you better keep it quiet or I'll ask the captain to return this plane to Berlin and leave you off there. I'm the cabin purser here so I'm not joking, is that understood? You only have to nod, this is the only time I'm saying this'. All of this was said in Swedish and it suddenly became completely quiet in the cabin. I'm thankful the purser made this announcement, I could have a relaxed flight back home for once. I have never been apart of something like this before, I thought it was extremely embarrassing and hilarious at the same time. I felt sorry for the other passengers before the announcement. My class was loud and wild as you can see…


It stayed quiet for the rest of the flight after that announcement, what a breeze.
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We departed at 22:08 local time, my estimation of a 22:00 departure was off by 8 minutes. All screenshots were provided by Martin1405, thank you!
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Banking out of Berlin
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The flight was very calm, most passengers were pretty tired. Some of my classmates were sleeping, some were eating, a few were chatting with each other (quietly this time) but most of them were using Norwegian's free Wi-Fi on their respective phones. I didn't fall asleep but just leaned towards the window and enjoyed the calm flight back home.
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Seatback.
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Safety card, the white balance got out of control in my G4 when I took these pictures.
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N by Norwegian magazine.
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My friend next to me had run out of charge in his phone. I know he loves to read Manga on his phone so I offered him to continue reading from my phone, he asked me several times if it really was okay for me and I gave him a third green light before he borrowed it.


Flights heading to ARN at this time.
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Time flew by and it was time to descend into Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
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Descending, we would line up for runway 01L tonight.
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Another DY B738 from AMS landed before us.
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Landing on runway 01L at 23:22 local time. I have never arrived at Arlanda at this time.


Taxiing to our gate. A Thomas Cook A332 landed behind us and another DY 738 behind that one.
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A blurry shot of a DY B738 landing on runway 01L.
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Made it to SkyCity.
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We came to a final stop at 23:27 local time.
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Walking down the jetbridge.
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We were the only ones in the departure area for gates 11-16. The baggage claim area is located downstairs, you get there by escalators.
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The baggage claim area was packed with people at 23:32 local time! Several DY 738s arriving at the same time, a Thomas Cook A332 and probably some other flights as well.
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Our bags were supposed to come out on the belt at 23:41 but they came out at approximately 23:46. Meanwhile, even more people arrived at the baggage claim area. Possibly from the LH A321 from Frankfurt that arrived at 23:35.
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Walking out of the baggage claim area. Our parents had offered to take us all home with approximately 5 people in each car. My dad would take me, two boys and my mom home.
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My dad arrived with our secondary car, an old Volkswagen Passat. We also have a white Audi A4 that he drives occasionally. Thankfully all of our bags fit in the trunk and we were off towards Stockholm. Both Volkswagen and Audi are very popular car brands in Sweden.
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Driving on the E4 motorway back home at 00:06 local time.
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We dropped off my friends at their home and drove off to our home in Northwestern Stockholm, me and my parents were at home by 00:24. That's it for this FR, thank you for taking your time to read it!
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See more

Verdict

Norwegian

7.6/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Buy-on-board menu5.5

Berlin - SXF

7.3/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services6.5
Cleanliness7.5

Stockholm - ARN

8.0/10
Efficiency7.5
Access8.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Another smooth flight with DY (after the announcement). The plane had BSI, acceptable seat pitch and inexpensive. I would gladly fly with DY on intra-European flights from ARN again.

Cabin - Alright cabin with BSI and acceptable seat pitch.

Cabin crew - The crew was not happy with my class, my class kind of ruined their mood.

Entertainment - Free Wi-Fi, I don't need a PTV screen when I have Wi-Fi. However, I didn't use it much this time as my friend borrowed my phone. There were no connection issues this time either.

BOB - Decent selection, limited selection for flights under 2 hrs (like this one). Typical Scandinavian prices.

Related

10 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 353864 by
    martin1405 36 Comments
    Thank you a lot for sharing your amazing FR!
    I hope that you had great years with your class and an amazing trip to Berlin! I wish you all the best in the future and your new school!

    In my view, SXF is an 'ugly' airport and I hope that BER will open one day. Amazing pics and great spotting! I hope that you enjoyed the flight back to Arlanda, even though your class didn't behaved well in the beginning. I think that the announcement was still uncomfortable for you. I love the cabin of 737 NG and that BSI!
    Free Wi-Fi on bord is amazing and I can't wait to try it!

    I can't wait to visit you and fly to GOT with DY. We will have great time!

    Thanks again! See you!
    • Comment 353925 by
      Rl 777 AUTHOR 802 Comments
      Thank you so much for your nice comment :).

      Thank you! The trip was indeed amazing but also crazy haha. Thank you! Same goes to you haha.

      Thank you! I'm glad they made that announcement, the flight was very calm after that. It's the first time I'm witnessing something like this so it felt weird haha.

      Neither do I!

      Have a good one, see you!
  • Comment 353870 by
    Thurya 79 Comments
    Thanks for the nice report.

    Great spottings at SXF. Loved the shots of SV A320. That announcement was hilarious. I would have died from embarrassment if someone gives such a public warning against me. But seriously such behavior would be really annoying if you are at the receiving end. Free Wi-Fi in Y class is something really great!

    See you!
    • Comment 353954 by
      Rl 777 AUTHOR 802 Comments
      Thank you for your nice comment :).

      Thank you! I didn't like them but I'm glad you did, my photography in low-light conditions isn't good at all haha. I felt really sorry for the other passengers, thankfully this behaviour didn't last long. I agree! I don't need an IFE system when I have free Wi-Fi onboard haha, that's the best entertainment IMO.

      Have a good one, see you!

  • Comment 354039 by
    jish.b 283 Comments
    Nice FR buddy!

    -You sure did have an awesome trip if there were so many complaints :)

    -Taking aviation related responsibilities - lovely! :D

    -Nice spotting shots! What exactly is UP? It has the El Al livery…

    -Oh, BSI rocks!!

    -Wow, they were being serious about keeping quiet! And here you have most Indians who are loud right from boarding to collecting bags…nothing can be done :)

    -What are the BoB selections onboard like?

    Looking forward to more! And good luck in your future endeavors!
    • Comment 354242 by
      Rl 777 AUTHOR 802 Comments
      Thank you for your nice comment :).

      Yep haha, all those experiences made it to a great class trip!

      It felt really nice :).

      Thank you! UP is a low-cost brand of El Al.

      Same in Bangladesh!

      The selection is decent for a short intra-European flight. Sandwiches, hot and soft drink, a few pastries, snacks, sweets etc.

      Thank you so much!

      Have a good one, see you!
  • Comment 354389 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    Thank you RI 777 for sharing this memorable FR. I'm sure you will treasure this moment with your friends for years to come.

    I can't believe that Berlin as the capital of Germany does not have a world class airport that would reflect that status. Both TXL and SXF are just ugly and resemble warehouses instead of nicely designed transportation hubs like MUC or even FRA.

    Nice spotting and the SU plane looks like it has a special "retro" livery.

    Congratulations on your summer job and good luck in your new school.
    • Comment 354812 by
      Rl 777 AUTHOR 802 Comments
      Thank you once again for a very nice comment :).

      I wonder if BER will ever open its doors to the public. I had the same thought haha, I thought SXF looked similar to the warehouse I'm currently working in which is not a good impression at all.

      Thank you! It was indeed in a special retro livery :).

      Thank you very much, highly appreciated :).

      Have a good one, see you!
  • Comment 354717 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Thanks for sharing the return leg!

    “No one in my class was impressed by the airport on the day of arrival”
    - Never been, but can’t imagine it is worse than TXL :)

    “We continued exploring the terminal after the short spotting session.”
    - That guy looks like he could use some more help ;)

    Nice spotting of the SU retro livery, never seen that livery before. And the tarmac shots of your plane are fantastic.

    “My class is pretty loud as I've mentioned earlier, they were very hyperactive and loud during takeoff on this flight for some reason.”
    - This sounds very familiar to my MUC-SOF flight, where the school group was found and obnoxious the entire time. But was your FA bluffing ;) If that was on a US carrier... maybe not.

    DY offers a great regional product for the price, enjoy your summer!
    • Comment 354813 by
      Rl 777 AUTHOR 802 Comments
      Thank you for your very nice comment :).

      It would be interesting to travel through TXL one day, just for the sake of it haha. If I ever fly with AB from ARN.

      “That guy looks like he could use some more help ;)“
      - I never noticed that if I'm honest, thanks for pointing that out haha. I hope it wasn't too bad.

      Thank you :). Thank you again haha, those shots were taken using my phone.

      I'm not really sure how serious the purser was, I'm glad everyone listened to her as my (former) class usually have problems with discipline.

      That's a great summary of DY's European product :). Thank you, you too!

      Have a good one, see you!







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