As mentioned in a previous story, I wanted to find out what it would be like to fly a budget airline on a long-haul flight - one where you pay for everything and there are minimal creature comforts. On our flight to Paris with Wow Air, we broke up the experience with a stopover in Iceland. On the way back, we flew from Paris to Los Angeles, just changing flights in Reykjavik - and I will say that the stopover really made a big difference in the experience - especially flying with kids. After 14 to 15 hours in the air, when the kids have played every game on the iPad, which is all you brought onboard because of luggage limitations, and you've eaten all your food, you are really starting to miss the full-service flight - but then you remember how much those cost and you come back down to earth.
Check In/Security (8/10)
At Charles De Gaulle, we barely had to wait to drop off our bags and, since we had electronic boarding passes, we breezed through the gate. Security was a 10-minute wait and this was close to the holidays as travel was picking up. However, our flight was delayed by one hour - which meant more delays were in store for the rest of our journey.
Terminals (6/10)
The terminal that Wow flies out of at Charles De Gaulle (Terminal 1) was tiny. After security, there is only one or two places to find food and not souvenir shops to speak of - so make sure that you have all of your food (and souvenirs) before you get through that gate, except for water of course, which you can purchase at the tiny Relay shop in the terminal. This is especially important when traveling with Wow since you will pay for all of these things onboard.
I did notice, however, that Wow charges $3 for water in the air and we paid 3.50 euro for water in the airport - so maybe it's a better deal on the plane, if you want to wait for the snack service.
The terminal is also pretty tiny, so get there early if you want to snag a seat to get some work done.
Seats/Space (6/10)
Seats across the Wow fleet are pretty standard. There are no classes of seat, although you can pay for extra legroom and where you want to sit. If that's in the front of the plane, it's a pretty hefty fee.
We opted not to pay extra to guarantee our seats. We checked in online right when the 24-hour check-in window opened and had seats together. This technique seemed to work for all of our flights. The one flight that we checked in late for, we were separated, so I would recommend either paying for seats together or making sure you check in early.
We found the seating in the standard, no extra-legroom seats completely adequate for the nine-hour flight to Iceland. But when we combined both journeys with just the layover and without the stopover, we started to feel the effects of being confined in such a tight space for such a long time. I would definitely recommend splurging on the extra legroom -- especially if you are on the taller side.
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Service (8/10)
Once again, we found the service to be great for a budget airline. The only real drawback was the inability to accept people's credit cards in the air. One passenger had only a credit card and it didn't work, which meant that, potentially, he wouldn't have water or food on the entire flight. However, it's a testament to the crew onboard that they didn't let that happen and provided both. I wouldn't recommend testing this out however - definitely board prepared.
One thing of note about our service on Wow is that three of our four flights were delayed. Because it's a smaller airline, they were holding flights in Reykjavik for passengers so no one missed a flight, but if you are connecting on a different airline in Europe or in the states, it might be wise to allow time for the chances of a delay.
Overall (28/40)
In the end, for the price we paid, I have no major complaints. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and the price of the flight was part of that enjoyment. We didn't expect any thrills - and we didn't get any - but the service was pleasant and reasonably comfortable. It's a great inexpensive way to travel to Iceland or Europe from the U.S. and I would definitely do it again.
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