Norwegian Air Discussion

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Flew DUB-SWF-DUB recently, an almost brand new 737 Max on both legs. Seats were as comfortable as any Economy offering I've experienced in recent years. As I can sleep on a bed of nails, I was out for most of the 2 flights.
Very compact and efficient Airport exited the plane and was outside Arrivals in less than 3 mins
Decided to take the train from nearby Becon to Grand Central in NY very pleasant journey about 25/30 mins slower than the bus, but well worth it. Used the bus from NY Port Authority on the return leg, good value and once your clear of Manhattan it's very swift 70 mins overall journey time.
Would I go SWF again, absolutely.

Benson Refined Vagrant wrote: »

We flew to Stewart for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. I thought I'd give a complete review because a lot of people are still asking questions about the service and I still had loads before we went even though we fly to the US often enough. Hopefully it helps a few people out.

We arrived in the airport for the 8.10 am flight at around 5.15 am. The desk for Norwegian was empty. Delta and United were already packed. They didn't bother weighing our carry-on's but gave us stickers to say cabin bag approved. These were not checked at the gate either. They told us pre-clearence opens at 6.30 am so to be there for that time.

We went down to pre-clearence at around 6.20 am and there was already a number of people waiting outside the door to security. They opened the door for security at 6.30 and by that time there was already loads waiting behind us. They let us wait in the queue inside but didn't actually open security till 6.45. After we went through security we had to wait after the scanners until they opened the shutter for CBP at 7am. There was loads of us squished into the area waiting for it to open.

There was loads of people here already for other US flights. Norwegian is the first out at 8.10 followed by Newark at 9. There was loads in the queue around us for the Aer Lingus flight to JFK which isn't even till 10.50. I know you can go down to pre-clearence at any time but since all other flights aren't till about an hour or more after Norwegian, they really should have someone upstairs letting people through to USP in batches for flights. If you didn't get down early to queue for Norwegian you really would be pushed on time. I know they will probably call you through if your flight is soon but I wouldn't want that stress. We were in the first 10 people to be processed by CBP and we only made it to the gate 20 minutes before boarding. Barely enough time to fill out water bottles, use the toilet, go to the shop etc. If you are on this flight you really need to be down there queuing before it opens.

There is 1 water fountain after USP to fill water bottles. There's one shop, one bar and one small restaurant. If you have no food booked, you could either bring your own, pick something up there, or buy something on board. We brought our own food but next time I wont because we had so much stuff to carry on between tablets, powerbanks and food. I'll buy some snacks onboard next time, I wouldn't book a meal. Most people seemed to have meals booked but it looked disgusting.

Boarding was fine. We were made to wait outside the aircraft after going through for 10 minutes or so but that was because of US security. Norwegian took pretty good care of us. I have Crohn's Disease so I had to call special assistance to have them add medical supplies to my booking. I have to carry syringes in a separate cooler bag with ice. They also allocated us special assistance seats near the toilet (which I really needed on a long haul flight and was really grateful for) and they also allowed us to board the flight first by calling us, we didn't ask. Aer Lingus don't even do this. I was really impressed by this. For a budget airline, Norwegian offered the most I've seen for someone requiring special assistance that wasn't in a wheelchair or similar and we only asked for the extra carry on bag.

The flight was half full on the way over, and half full on the way back.
Seats and legroom were standard. There were screens above every 5 rows or so that had different shows on them throughout the flight. They had no audio and subtitles only. We brought a tablet each onboard with Netflix already downloaded. As mentioned previously many times there is no power so we brought a powerbank. We didn't even need it in the end and we watched the whole flight. We didn't use them before boarding though. Food looked rotten as previously said. The food and snack menu was decent. It was as expensive as all other airlines, but it was all in USD instead of Euro. They accept card only.

Flight went by pretty quick. With the tablet to be honest I really didn't notice the difference between Norwegian and Aer Lingus. It wasn't uncomfortable and wasn't too small for either of us. We flew to Greece this year and that was 4.5 hours on a small plane. Your only going another few hours so I don't know why everyone thinks you have to fly on a big plane to the US. Honestly after flying with Norwegian I think people are mad to pay for Aer Lingus and normally I'd be pretty loyal to Aer Lingus. On arrival we were with my mother and brother in law in 5 minutes, the airport is so small. They were able to wait with us for the bag. Parking was only $3, when we used to fly to Newark it always cost them $8-$16 because it always took much longer for us to get out. Obviously we didn't take the bus, but it was already waiting outside for everyone when we landed.

My husband and his family are from the NY metropolitan area and it was their first time at that airport. They thought it was amazing and much easier than getting us from Newark. They also said anyone going into the city would be better off at that that airport in all honesty. They flew out of JFK for our wedding and said never again. After seeing Stewart they all said they would come again if flying from there. The bus only takes just over an hour. Your talking that from JFK with traffic anyway.

On the way back we arrived about 2.5 hours before our flight and we had loads of time. They did check bags on the way back and some people were taking stuff out. Bag check took a while because there was other flights. Security was pretty fast. There's one shop and a Quizno Sub before security. After security there's one toilet, one water fountain and a small duty free with perfume, chocolate cigarettes and alcohol. There's a small shop with I Love NY kind of stuff. There's a small "bar" which is two people behind a pop up counter with bottles to serve you. There's also a small place to get food serving pretzels, hot dogs, chicken dippers & chips etc.

It's pretty long but I've included most things I can remember. If anyone has any questions I'll try answer them.