As you may or may not know, I am a big WOW Airlines fan. I flew with them when I went to Iceland and I will be flying with them in a couple of months when I head to Berlin! They are mainly situated in the Northeast but offer some flights out of the West Coast as well. The current Europe deals below are mainly based out of the West but there are always reasonable East Coast tickets available. For everyone with New Years Resolutions to travel more in 2017, THIS IS FOR YOU!
As seen on Conde Nast Traveler:
Just as U.S. travelers have finally gotten used to seeing $99 airfare deals to Europe, along comes a fresh shock: $69 flights. This lower-than-ever price comes from Icelandic low-cost airline Wow Air, and the price tag of $69 is a strategic one; it’s the lowest airfare promised by fellow low-cost carrier (and competition) Norwegian Air. Their battle for your business only drives down the total, and West Coasters who’ll benefit the most from this sale. The $69 flights are available from both San Francisco and Los Angeles to Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Bristol, England, while Wow’s famous $99 flights are still available from New York, Boston, Miami, and Pittsburgh.
The travel time from California to Europe is thankfully broken up by a layover and plane change in Reykjavik, Iceland. If a dip in the Blue Lagoon and dinner of reindeer tartare is on your list, take advantage of Wow’s free stopover program in Iceland before continuing on to Europe.
It might seem too good to be true, but savvy flyers who read the fine print will get the most from this $69 deal. For example, Wow Air charges extra fees for everything from seat assignments ($9.99 to $50.99, depending on legroom) to bottles of water ($2.50). Be prepared to pay for food, extra legroom, and checked baggage. With an “XXL” seat of 35 inches legroom, plus a small meal and a checked bag, a passenger easily adds another $135 to the ticket, each way. To avoid the largest fees, plan to travel with only a carry-on; that shouldn’t be too difficult as Wow recently doubled its weight allowance for carry-on bags, from 11 to 22 pounds. On board, Wow is known for introducing humor and Icelandic flavor into the flying experience. Both the planes and vintage-inspired flight attendant uniforms are a bright fuchsia pink; the lavatory mirrors are painted with mustaches; flight attendant call buttons are marked with “honk if you’re hungry.”
This spring marks the airline’s second anniversary of U.S. flights and Wow’s CEO, telecom entrepreneur Skúli Mogensen, tells USA Today that he hopes the $69 flights become a regular offering and not just an intermittent sale.
How to book: Visit Wow Air’s website and search your preferred routes of those listed above. Travel dates are valid from January 15 through April 5, 2017. Although there is no official end date to this sale, book as soon as possible for the best availability of routes and dates at the $69 level. As the planes fill up, prices rise.