Review of Norse Atlantic Airways flight Oslo → London in Economy

Introduction/Context

Hey guys! Welcome to another flight report!

Today I'll be flying on Norse Atlantic Airways' 787 from Oslo to London. Norse is a brand new Norwegian low-cost long-haul airline. The airline started operations in June flying out from Oslo to various US cities like New York, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. They've recently started flying out of Gatwick, with flights starting from Oslo, stopping at Gatwick before continuing on to New York. I was on their first flight into Gatwick.

Norse had attracted a lot of attention with low fares - with flights from Gatwick to New York JFK from £250 round trip. Obviously, being a low-cost carrier, you would have to pay for any additional luggage (base fare only includes 1 small under-seat bag), meals (up to 2 hot meals for a long-haul flight) and any other extras.

For my short flight from Oslo to Gatwick, I paid £38.51, including a seat selection and airport check-in.

Oslo gardermoen Airport

Oslo Airport at 03:00AM in the morning, with refurbishments to the check-in systems taking place on the right.

The departure board for the morning, you can find our flight on the bottom of the third screen, conveniently below another Gatwick flight departing at the same time.

Norse's check-in counters opens around 3 hours before departure. There were barely any queues as the airline charges passengers to check-in at the airport and encourages the use of the self-service baggage tag printers scattered around the airport, making the check-in process incredibly fast and efficient. 


Through security (which took under 10 minutes) and into the domestic gates.

Stopped to get a quick photo of a retro liveried SAS.

From the domestic section, you'll have to pass through a barrier to get into the international section, where you're greeted by the duty-free area.

The international Schengen gates.

One thing I absolutely love about this airport is just how modern and relaxed it feels. It's like a complete different world to Stanstead (where I flew out of just days before). There were plenty of seating, lots of large windows and it was just a very chilled, relaxed atmosphere overall. I honestly could've stayed here for hours and hours.

But sadly, I've got a flight to catch, so it's into the (largely empty) non-Shengen area, where my flight will depart.

The flight

Our aircraft today will be a Boeing 787-9 (LN-FNI). She first flew on 18/09/2018 and was subsequently delivered to Norwegian Air UK before being stored following Norwegian's scrapping of long-haul routes.

Boarding was done in groups, I was in group 6 as I was sitting near the back.

It always amazes me how huge these engines are!

The IFE system (which we'll look into later) and tray table.

The legroom. (I'm 5'8")

First views out of the window. The Norse 787 next to us will be heading to Fort Lauderdale.

The other Gatwick-bound flight pushing back, looks like they'll arrive slightly before us.

Takeoff! Bye bye Norway.

Views of Oslo from the air.

Last views of Norway as we have a quick look at the IFE system.

The IFE menu.

Very modern and responsive screen with headphone jack and USB port on the bottom (you'll have to bring your own headphones). Selections of movies were fairly good, plenty to choose from a wide range of genres. There were also a fair amount of TV shows available, with multiple (4-5) episodes for each one.

Overall, a very nice IFE system - enough for a transatlantic flight.

First views of the UK as we fly above the English Channel.

The onboard menu. You can purchase up to 2 hot meals on long-haul routes and a light snack on this short flight. Prices are listed in USD and are what you'd expect on a plane.

Starting our descent into London.

A slightly bumpy approach later, we successfully landed on-time in London Gatwick.

The aircraft will now park here for a little while before continuing on to New York JFK. All passengers disembark in London and are required to go through immigration, even if they are heading to New York. This means that all passengers are required to have the necessary documents to enter the UK. I actually wasn't aware of this until a few days before the flight, and it appears that some of the passengers weren't either, as I saw a few being held up at the gate in Oslo because of it.

London gatwick

Getting through Gatwick was a fairly quick process, aided by the large amount of e-passport gates, it took under 30 minutes for me to get from the gate to the train station (a record for me).

Train station was incredibly crowded. However, this was mainly due to everyone standing next to the entrance, it was relatively quiet further down the platform (though it was in the baking hot sun.)