If you’ve been keeping up with our social media and the blog, you’ll know that we just returned from our honeymoon in Ireland. We’re not rich and we needed to save some money on the trip. I had set a watch for cheap flights on the app called Hopper and lo and behold, cheap flights appeared. The only thing was…it was WOW Air. We had heard horror stories about WOW Air so we were a little apprehensive, but the price was too good to beat. After scouring over a million different reviews of the budget airline, I made a decision and bought the tickets.
I was able to put it out of my mind for a little, but as the trip neared closer and closer, my worry grew again. Would we be cramped up like cattle, starving and parched? Would it be the worst flight of our lives? Would it ruin our trip? All of these things passed through my mind, but I kept remembering how much money we had saved by going with them. I also asked around with my friends and got mixed reviews. Basically, the advice was to manage your expectations. So we did. We went into the flight expecting it to be the worst in our lives. We flew four flights with them: two at 9 hours and two at 2.5 hours. Let’s break it down.
The Plane
Since WOW Air is a newish airline (founded in 2011), the planes for the most part felt new. You didn’t get those hollowed out seats with no cushions. Everything is that bright magenta you see on their logo. For the longer flights, the plane felt wide and spacious. This is a budget airline and part of that means there’s no in-flight entertainment, though you can rent a movie-stocked iPad for some amount of money.
The Seats
First things first, you have to pay at least $10 to actually select a seat (not a special seat, just a seat). Otherwise, you will be randomly assigned. Hungry and I wanted to sit together for such a long trip. For our long flights, I chose seats at the back of the plane because Hungry feels safest that way. Not the last row, but the last few rows, and boy am I glad I did! We had 50D & 50G which are actually right next to each other. I was completely wrong about being cramped and feeling like cattle. For most of the plane, it’s 2 5 2 for seat rows. At the back where we were, it was 2 2 2, leaving HUGE space for the aisles on either side of us. We had plenty of leg room and plenty of aisle room. It was actually better than most flights we take. And they weren’t premium seats, either. So we were happy for those seats. The longer flights were also not full, so if we wanted to, we could’ve left each other and stretched out across a row. All in all, seats were great.
Our shorter flights were less comfortable because the plane was smaller and the seats closer together. Still, no worse than any other Economy flight.
The Service
The service was decent. Nothing was for free, everything was for sale. We ended up doing a few in-flight purchases, partly because they were fun Icelandic foods and drinks. It can add up quickly if you buy things in-flight. This includes water, ladies and gents–there is no free cold water. They are very attentive, however, and you can push the service button if you’re getting hungry or thirsty and they will be at your side in seconds, wearing their magenta outfits. On the longer flight back home, we had a very unruly disrespectful family behind us and we wished the flight attendants would put their feet down about it, but alas, they did not.
The Hacks
- Thirsty, but don’t want to pay $3.29 for a small bottle of water? I discovered a hack through my desperate thirst–ask for a cup of hot water. They will give it to you for free! And I just had them refilling that all the way through. Just let it cool down for a few minutes and there’s nothing wrong with drinking some warm water.
- Pack your own food that you can take through security and pack plenty of snacks too! It’s worth it.
- Eat a big meal at the airport beforehand and don’t forget a big glass of wine–helpful for a red-eye (most international flights fly out at night).
- Buy seats in the 50s row (you’ll see the seat map where at the back it turns to two seats together instead of five).
- Bring your own entertainment: whether that’s books, a loaded-up computer with games or movies, or your own thing. You’re not going to sleep the whole time.
Pre-flight meal
The Price
Alright, so I know I keep saying that I saved enough money for me to purchase these scary tickets. So how much did I save? 1k. $1,000! One thousand dollars! To me, at this point in our lives, that’s a good bit of cash to save. WOW Air charges so much less because you aren’t getting the standard international meal, entertainment, and snacks–they can afford to do it.
The Consensus
It was worth it. Flying WOW Air was worth saving $1,000. Like I said previously, the seats were actually more spacious than most flights I’ve taken. Using my water hack didn’t make the everything-costs-money an issue. If you play it smart, it is 100% worth it to fly WOW Air and save a lot of bucks.
Have YOU flown WOW Air? What are your thoughts? Please share in the comments below. And as always, stay hungry and fit!
