As I wait for last-minute Lufthansa first class award tickets to open for Germany in the coming days, I seriously entertained just booking a cheap economy class ticket earlier this week on WOW Air. But ultimately I just couldn’t do it.
There is no disputing the fare sale was tremendous: $99.99 one-way from Los Angeles to Berlin–
But several things discouraged me from ultimately booking. First, the cheap base fare is quite misleading. We will be away for several weeks and don’t have a second wardrobe of clothes waiting in Germany. That means one large suitcase per-person, plus two carry-ons. That puts us in the WOW Plus category already, more than doubling the one-way ticket price.
Second, the fare did not allow a stopover in Iceland. I am still not 100% adverse to flying WOW Air, but if I do I want to ensure it is in conjunction with a stopover in Reykjavik. I’ve been to Iceland in the summer before (and loved it). Next time, I want to visit during the winter and hopefully catch the Northern Lights.
Third, we’re talking about a special trip with my family. I always dreamed about Augustine’s first flight being in Lufthansa first class. It turned out to be United business class to London, but I need to get him into Lufthansa first class before he turns two and requires his own ticket!
Had we had more time I have may have worked in a trip to Iceland and Greenland on the way out, but we’re scrambling to prepare everything here in Los Angeles for our big trip.
CONCLUSION
There is understandably great allure to $99 one-way fares to Europe and I wholeheartedly encourage them: if you know what you are getting yourself into it.
My advice is to take advantage of these tickets when you are not traveling with a child and want to save money. But always look for matches from other carriers. Often, when Norwegian or WOW offer cheap fares legacies like SAS will match. Had SAS filed a matching fare to Berlin, I would not have hesitated to book. Why? Free baggage, lounge access as a Star Gold flyer, complimentary meals onboard, and no bogus fees (like credit card transaction fees, etc) would have made the prospect of flying economy and saving my miles much more compelling.
Good to know that you did not book your flight with WOW because:
1. You wanted to have a stopover in Iceland and it would’ve been more expensive. That why you chose another airline that also did not have a stopover in Iceland included.
2. You had a child and you wanted your child to fly first class on a specific airline.
3. You wanted to bring a full suitcase of your old shirts, pants and socks instead of spending several hundreds of dollars in fare difference on a whole bunch of brand new shirts in Germany.
It’s good to know your reasons and also good to know that they don’t apply to 99.9999% of flyers.
Here’s one just for you–
I didn’t fancy being squashed like a sardine for 12 hours on a flight without in-seat power.
Maybe you can relate?
But your summary missed a crucial key point — being nickeled and dimed.
Oh joy, a toddler on a 10+ hour flight in first class. Bet your fellow travelers in that cabin will be thrilled
Oh yes, they certainly will when baby sleeps the entire flight.
Matthew – whats your strategy for booking infant awards on LH F? Using Aeroplan? We’re trying to navigate that process ourselves.
Aeroplan for sure.
Don’t really blame you. WOW just started flying here to PIT this month. I went through the motions of booking a reservation to London just to see what the final cost would be, and once I added in the baggage fees and everything else, it was pretty much the same price as a British Airways flight! Plus, being on a single-aisle plane for 6-plus hours doesn’t thrill me.
The $99 fare is one way only, you will not find $99 fare for the return trip. Also when you add all the additional fees, the ticket price will be high.
I’ve flown Wow twice. Once to Frankfurt, the other time to Barcelona. We are flying Wow again to Frankfurt fir a visit to Prague mext week. Had terrific experiences in the past. To save money, my husband and I always let Wow do the seat assignments, and we have always been seated together (a total of 12 flight legs so far, and there were three of us including my daughter on the first Frankfurt trip). This is a lot better than Delta when I was flying full fare, and I paid an extra fare to have a seat for my then 20-month daughter coming back from Moscow, and they seated us about 20 rows apart. The only way I was able to get seats together was to negotiate with other passengers once we had boarded.
Good feedback. Thanks!
On June 25th I was able to book TXL – LAX – TXL for early next year at less than the WOW plus price x 2 all in – but on UA. Mighty happy with that .