$99 One Way Fares from USA to Amsterdam and Paris

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Wow Air, an Icelandic ultra-low-cost carrier, is offering $99 one way fares from Boston and Baltimore to Paris and Amsterdam this Fall and Winter.

Return flights are more expensive, so the cheapest roundtrips I found are about $300. Baggage fees, seat selection, and other onboard purchases can add significantly to these prices, but someone who follows the rules carefully can get an insanely cheap ticket to Europe.

$99 Fares

From Baltimore to Paris, the only $99 fare I found was for December 9.
For Boston to Paris, there are more $99 days including Thanksgiving and some Thursdays in January, February, and March.

Boston to Amsterdam features $99 fares on Sundays from November through March.All the returns I see are over $200, so the cheapest roundtrip I found is Boston to Paris this winter for $309.

Fees

Baggage fees are higher than on any other airline that I know of. Wow Air clearly wants to offer attention-grabbing base fares and make back part of that money with bag fees. Here is a full list of bag fees.

Your ticket entitles you to a seat and one carry on bag that can weigh up to 5 kg (11 pounds.) That’s not one carry on plus one personal item like with most airlines; it is literally one bag.

To upgrade that to one carry on with 12 kg (26 pounds) costs $38 one way between the United States and Europe. To purchase one checked bag up to 20 kg (44 pounds) costs $67 each way. These prices go up at check in, so make sure you know your bag situation when you purchase.

You can either allow Wow Air to assign you the worst seat on the plane at check in or select a seat in advance for $4 to $67. Note that XL legroom is about what most airlines have in economy and XXL legroom is something like Economy Plus.

I would pay the $4 seat selection fee for an aisle seat in the back part of the plane and the $38 fee to get 12 kg for my carry on. I can easily travel for a month with just one bag. That would make the “$99 fares” cost $141 all in. Not bad for a one way to Paris or Amsterdam.

Best Credit Card to Purchase Wow Air Tickets

Buy with the Citi Prestige® Card. It has no foreign transaction fees, which might be important because I have been stung with a foreign transaction fee before when buying foreign airlines’ tickets, even in dollars.

With the Citi Prestige® Card, the first $250 in flights per calendar year are refunded to you as a statement credit. This includes fees like the checked bag fee, seat reservation, or meals that you purchase at the time of ticketing or later. After the statement credit, your one way ticket would be free.

If you’ve already maxed out the statement credit, you will still earn 3x ThankYou Points on the purchase including bag and seat fees. The Citi Prestige® Card also comes with a 40,000 ThankYou Point sign up bonus.

Bottom Line

Wow Air is offering $99 one way fares from Boston and Baltimore to Paris and Amsterdam. Baggage and seat selection fees increase the price, but you can still get an outrageously good deal.

Returns are over $200. Either book a return with Wow Air or use miles for a return one way award.