[amitoj]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

As lucrative as this looks, I think it'll end up being a "penny wise, pound foolish" deal.

I agree. Who would want to be on a long haul flight that serves only sandwiches for food? Add to that the ridiculous restrictions on carrying liquid items as cabin baggage, passengers will end up regretting their decision.

On the other hand, a friend of mine keeps wondering when airlines are going to start offering standing as a cheaper option instead of sitting So, who knows?

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Good point. Ryan Air owns and operates only one type of aircraft - Boeing 737. Most airlines operate 2 to 6 types of aircraft.

Mostly LCC (Low Cost Carriers) stick to one family of aircraft for maintainability, engineering and crew swaps without a hitch.
Easyjet, Southwest are couple of more examples.
Although I would cite Southwest as kind of an exception, as they are quite customer friendly and also have some more amenities.

[Stratosphere]

Originally Posted by amitoj

On the other hand, a friend of mine keeps wondering when airlines are going to start offering standing as a cheaper option instead of sitting So, who knows?

Actually RyanAir had proposed that some years earlier. but the relevant air transport authority in Europe turned the idea down (thankfully).
I studied RyanAir while in London and the airline has had the guts to try a lot of things. They even tried to charge people £1 for using the restrooms in-flight, IIRC.

The way this industry is feeling the strain in their finances, carriers will try to monetise everything in the future to bring in cash.
Let's hope for the best.

Originally Posted by blackasta

Mostly LCC (Low Cost Carriers) stick to one family of aircraft for maintainability, engineering and crew swaps without a hitch.

Easyjet, Southwest are couple of more examples.

Although I would cite Southwest as kind of an exception, as they are quite customer friendly and also have some more amenities.

On our side of the border, Indigo used only the Airbus A320 family, until their recent induction of ATRs for their regional routes.
One of the reasons it's the largest carrier. 😊

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

What was Freddie Lakers SkyTrain service like?

That's a long time ago. But as I recall, it was similar to the low cost no frills carriers of today. You had to pay for everything on board. No free meal, no free drinks.

Not sure about luggage surcharges

Originally Posted by blackasta

Although I would cite Southwest as kind of an exception, as they are quite customer friendly and also have some more amenities.

When we lived in the USA I flew a lot with Southwest, both work and privately. Always liked them. Everything is very down to earth and simple with them.

You would just show up at the gate and if there was an earlier flight they would put you on, no problem. With AA it would depend on your status, they might charge etc etc.

Whereas many carriers still like to portray flying as something special if not romantic, Southwest just saw themselves as simple bus services. Nothing special. Just getting you from A to B with the minimum amount of fuss. And yes, they have some very good staff. Check out the Southwest passenger announcements on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/07LFBydGjaM

I can testify to having met these sort of announcements several times over!

Jeroen

[sameer sultan]

I did a dummy booking DEL-YYZ on the WOW air website once they had announced on twitter the launch of their flights to New Delhi(with a picture of Taj Mahal).

Basic fare includes only one personal item like a sling bag.You have to pay for carry-on and check-in bags seats and meals. For a random date in Jan 2019 with the return a week later the total return fare worked out to US$620 for DEL-YYZ.

I chose Toronto as a sample booking since that sector does not have cheap tickets unlike US destinations which are well connected by the ME3 and Turkish airlines offering around US$750 R/T.

Whereas DEL-YYZ would be US$1200 on a direct flight of Air Canada or a bit less on the ME3 carriers like Emirates and Etihad. Qatar does not fly to Toronto.

WOW air has got an advantage on India - Canada sector as they are offering cheap tickets with similar pricing to US cities. But they don't have a competitive fare to US cities as full service carriers offer fares at around US$750 if booked early. For US they offer services to smaller cities like Cleveland Cincinnati etc which makes it a one stop flight from DEL.Pax headed to smaller US cities could consider WOW air over the ME3 carriers. Apart from this they don't offer any value over the full service carriers,

With no visa on arrival for Indians in Iceland this is another drawback as with a US visa Indians can get VOA in UAE or Turkey.

Low cost airlines like Ryan Air and Air Asia have succeeded as they are mostly short haul flights where the Pax is least concerned about meals and entertainment.

DEL-KEF is a 10 hour flight which is a long haul and would be a stretch to do it in a LCC like WOW.

[Annibaddh]

Having traveled extensively on low cost careers of Europe from Ryan to TAP, Wow, Vueling and Norwegian, I didn't find them half bad. Even with most services added on they tend to work out cheaper. Also, particularly in large groups, things work out even cheaper. Plus most of these airlines cover interiors and remote destination / smaller airports making for easier access. Recently took a Veuling from Budapest to Girona, when I wanted to go to Costa Brava. Reduced my driving distance from Barcelona to Brava by 2/3rd!! And it was cheaper.

[himarg]

I wonder if this option will be too lucrative to pass for the mass recruiting IT companies who send people regularly to the US.

[blacksport]

There was a time when flying was only for the rich, and all the in-flight pampering that you still see is a remnant of that era. So all that free luggage, free food, free blanket, free alcohol etc are set to exit when we take flying to the masses. Natural progression, I'd say.

[HKap]

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

For a random date in Jan 2019 with the return a week later the total return fare worked out to US$620 for DEL-YYZ.

I chose Toronto as a sample booking since that sector does not have cheap tickets unlike US destinations which are well connected by the ME3 and Turkish airlines offering around US$750 R/T.

Whereas DEL-YYZ would be US$1200 on a direct flight of Air Canada or a bit less on the ME3 carriers like Emirates and Etihad. Qatar does not fly to Toronto.

I've seen Jet Airways offer flights from 800 CAD (approx 40k INR) for Toronto to Mumbai (return). I was looking at tickets 6 months out. Would I bok Wow over Jet at almost the same price? No chance.

However, such deals are rare.

I have traveled solo to the US for a week or 10 days with just a laptop bag and a carry on. I've done that plenty of times and I think its easier and way more convenient than carrying large check in bags and waiting at luggage belts. The first leg of a US trip from India generally begin past midnight and most of us hardly ever eat anything on that flight. We then freshen up and have breakfast at the airport and proceed to the next flight. If the second leg is only 6-8 hours then you can avoid the dreadful sandwich or if you must eat then carry some food from the airport. That will be cheaper and better.

I think you can easily do a return trip for under 500-600 USD on WOW.

[Lobogris]

It is mostly a gimmick. I checked fares for San Francisco- London as India fares are not yet available. The cheapest in the next few months with a totally flexible date was $790. Then you have to pay $59 each way for a carry on bag meaning a final fare over $900!

Similarly they will have a fare of $199 for DEL to NYC each way but that would rarely be available. Mostly you would pay $299 plus each way and a baggage charge of around $200 for just one carry on. The final fare would be again around the $800 mark. You can get cheap fares from China Eastern and China Southern even now for around Rs. 35 to 40000 with meals and baggage included.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by amitoj

....start offering standing as a cheaper option instead of sitting ..So, who knows?

Trust me, the Designers are already out there exploring options

Aviointeriors-skyrider-2.0

[Akshitsi]

Well, as much as a fluke this low-cost Airline's concept seems, on a bright side, they also offer upto a week's stop over at Reykjavik, Iceland complimentary. Well, currently only between North America and Europe sectors. Northern lights, anyone?

Source: https://wowair.us/customer-service/f...stopover-work/

[ThomasZach]

I think there could be many takers for it. I have flown Norwegian. They are spartan too and everything carries and additional charge but they tell you upfront about the charges and that makes it possible to plan well. Airline traffic is yet to explode for India and I hope there are many more such operators who provide simple, no-nonsense service at competitive prices.

[rst89]

As a backpacker, I would prefer WOW flights any time.
I paid around 1100 USD for AI direct flights to US to and fro and at 199 Dollars, this deal is steal.
My back pack weighs maximum 9 to 11 kgs.
Even with a check in baggage for 70 USD and meals ordered on board, it should not go beyond 350 USD to 400 USD. It's a deal for guys like me.

I am eagerly waiting..

[avishar]

Iceland is geographically well suited for the creation of an international transit hub. Just like DXB+DOH+AUH, IST, HEL and SIN. In each of these cases, the geographic position of the airports allow it to take advantage of the people flying from west to east and vice-versa. In Istanbul's case, Turkish has created a huge network in Africa too, therefore funneling traffic from Europe to Africa. Finnair recent growth has its clever re-positioning as an airline which connects East and North-East asia with Europe via Helsinki.

Iceland also lies close to Great Circle routes, the routes which airlines take as the shortest distance between airports on either-side of the world. Hence it makes a lot of sense connecting DEL with Eastern USA through Iceland, rather than say flying over Spain.

Icelandair has been doing this for many decades now, albeit in a shorter scale, connecting USA and Western Europe.

The last few years has seen the spectacular rise of long-haul LCCs. Once thought to be concept which cannot work, thanks to the failure of Air Asia X, today we have Norwegian, LEVEL, resurgence of of Air Asia X, a new ones announced by legacy airlines like JAL, EVA Air etc.

That said, I think the real game changer is going to be Indigo. Once they get their hands-on the A330, and announce long-haul flights, they will be very tough to beat, since they have a massive feeder network to fill their planes!