The low cost flights to the United States seems to be the future of aviation in the upcoming years. Find out how you can travel at very cheap prices between the two continents.
The first airline that started this type of transatlantic flights was Norwegian Air and was recently joined by Fly Level, which is part of the IAG group (Iberia - British Airways), and WOW Air. These low cost airlines offer flights to different cities in the United States, such as Boston, New York or Los Angeles from just € 90 each way.
Currently, there are tickets available starting for example from Barcelona to Boston. For a little more (around €100) it is possible to travel to other cities such as Miami, Las Vegas or San Francisco starting from Oslo or Stockholm. You will also find flights from cities such as Paris, Copenhagen or Rome and from Madrid or Barcelona.
It is as safe to travel with these companies as it is to fly with other low cost companies such as Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling or Volotea.
If you ask yourself why these transatlantic flights are so cheap, the reason is that, in addition to the current price of oil (which makes airline tickets generally cheaper), low cost flights do not include extras that are usually included in any regular company, such as food or checked baggage . In the specific case of Norwegian, when you buy your ticket with the LowFare rate you will only have one hand bag with measures of 55x40x23cm in addition to a small personal item of 25x33x20cm. Both combinations should not weigh more than 10Kg. To include checked baggage the rate should be LowFare +, Flex, Premium or PremiumFlex, which increase the price of the ticket.
The cheapest cities to fly from to USA are usually from northern Europe: Bergen, Stockholm or Oslo but as I said it is also possible to fly from many others, some of them with a stopover From Spain for example it is more expensive, around € 120 the cheapest way, so it is sometimes cheaper to take a low cost flight to one of these cities. For example, to New York it is possible to travel directly and at really good prices from:
Amsterdam Belfast Bergen Copenhagen Dublin Edinburgh Stockholm London-Gatwick Oslo-Gardermoen Paris-Charles De Gaulle Paris-Orly Rome SNN Shannon Ireland
If you plan your trip flying to a city and returning from another you can always get the cheapest prices and also visit several cities in one trip. For example, fly to Los Angeles on the way back from San Francisco getting to know the West Coast.
These kind of flights are really worth it but it will of course depend on your ability to travel with only hand luggage. If you plan to travel for more than one week or shopping I would suggest that maybe you book a ticket without checked luggage to go and buy a ticket with checked luggage included to come back to bring everything you want.
PS.- Do not forget that to travel to USA you need to have a valid passport until at least 6 months after the end of your return date and you also need to fill in the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) application if you are from a Visa Waiver Country.