Last night I posted about a great fare sale for cheap flights from Boston and Baltimore (BWI) to Iceland, London, and Copenhagen. Flights are starting at $99 one-way which is one heck of a deal to go across the Atlantic. Hardly ever do you see these fares pop up on a legit fare sale, not a mistake fare deal.
WOW Air is a no frills airline based in Iceland that just started international flights. Service from Reykjavik to Boston starts March 27, 2015 departs 6 times a week. Service to Baltimore starts June 4, 2015 and departs 5 times a week. They are advertising the service that it is Washington, DC, BUT it is really Baltimore, which is very different and about a 45 minute drive to the capitol. Service is non-stop to Reykjavik and then you can continue on to either London (Gatwick airport, NOT Heathrow) or Copenhagen. Currently their schedule goes all the way till September 2015, so you can book almost a year out.
So while the introductory fees are very cheap, their are nice add-on charges when flying with WOW.
Seat selection fees:Â The lowest amount you’ll pay to select your seat is $3 per leg. And that is for a seat all the way in back. If you are continuing onto London or Copenhagen this will be a total of $6 each way (since they charge per leg). Paying these fees are a lot cheaper if paid in advance online.
Carry on luggage fees:Â 1 carry on bag less than 11lbs is free, but my assumption is most people will be packing way more than that! If you have a reasonable size carry on it will cost you $29 (for flights to Iceland). If your final destination is London or Copenhagen you’ll be charged $38 for the one-way. This is for a maximum of 15lbs which is most likely less than your typical carry on suite case, so chances are you will need to check your bag.
Checked luggage fees: This can get expensive. If you have one checked bag it is going to cost you $48 per leg! So you are paying close another $100 for your clothes to go to Iceland with you! For flights to Copenhagen or London the cost is slightly confusing as it says $67 per leg. So I am not sure if this is $67 total to get you from the US or Copenhagen/London, or actually $67 per leg since you will have a stop in Iceland. Most travelers will probably incur this expense so make sure to take it into consideration with this fare sale.
Even with these fees, you still might be able to find a very reasonable flight to Europe. Of course if you do not live near Boston or Baltimore this might not work out as well for you as the cost to getting to one of these cities will increase your fare.
I personally have never flown this airline, but if you do not care about your experience getting there (the miles, business class, the service, etc.) and just care about the destination itself, then you are good to go!
Overall, I know many folks were able to jump on these cheap fares so if you are still interested it is worthwhile checking out your desired dates. To see which dates has the cheap fares you’ll literally need to check every date. There is no monthly view so this can get quite tedious, although well worth it if you are flexible. I am not sure how long this low fares will be around for and many dates have already increased in price.
Anyone going to Europe for cheap?!
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There are opportunities for those who may not have enough miles for a round-trip award flight and no easy way to acquire more. Even with the super-low fares mostly gone now, the one-way prices even after ancillary fees are still pretty good.
I decided to book 4 tickets for my family for a July trip Baltimore-Copenhagen. R/T airfare incl 1 checked bag per person came out to $498/person. Although nowhere near the cheapest advertisement of $99 one-ways to Europe, the best alternative flight on similar dates on Kayak was $1000+ (SAS Airlines). All-in-all, I think it was a good deal.
@calvi – That is great! Enjoy your trip!
“WOW Air is a no frills airline based in Iceland that just started international flights.”
To my knowledge, Europe isn’t a country. So WOW air has been flying internationally since they launched.
What you wanted to write is that they just started (or to be precise, will start) international flights TO THE USA. 😉
@Hyacinthe – Thank you for pointing that out!