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WOW Air has just announced four new routes between Reykjavik and the following American cities:
- Detroit
- Cleveland
- Cincinnati
- St. Louis
WOW Air is an Icelandic low cost carrier. It offers flights from Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco to Reykjavik with connections to Europe at rock bottom prices–like $69 one way, all the way to Europe (more on baggage fees below). More commonly you’ll see $99 one way fares to Iceland and $149 one way fares to Europe.
Flights to/from Detroit will begin April 26, 2018, Cleveland May 4, Cincinnati May 10, and St. Louis May 17. All will be served by Airbus A321s.
This is great news for those of you that don’t mind packing light (check bags and the fees can add up fast) and packing it in to economy to save money flying across the pond. Fares to Europe are getting cheaper and cheaper, and expansions from low cost carriers like WOW Air only encourage those fares to drop even more.
It’s making less and less sense to redeem traditional miles on economy flights to Europe as the cost of revenue tickets plummets. Read Top 3 Twitter Accounts to Follow for a Free Roundtrip to Europe to learn how to stay in the know when it comes to cheap cash tickets.
What You Need to Know About WOW Air Fees
Wow Air’s tickets include just a seat and a personal item.
A carry on up to 26 pounds can be purchased as can checked bags. They are very expensive. For instance, from Miami to Berlin, a carry on is $51 and a checked bag is $71. Here is the fee page for WOW Air.
You will be assigned a seat at check in for free, or you can buy one for $8-$51 at check in.
I often travel with just one carry on. So I could book many of WOW Air flights for $121 all in–$70 ticket plus $51 carry on.
See all of WOW Air’s destinations on their destination Wikipedia page.
Bottom Line
Starting in May, WOW Air is phasing in four new routes between Reykjavik and Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis in the spring of 2018. As soon as the routes go on sale we’ll try to post about it here, as the fares will no doubt be low for promotion.
Have you ever flown WOW Air to Iceland or Europe?
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I think your point that it makes less and less sense to redeem traditional miles to Europe is a good one. This does indeed devalue the miles. If even after paying a baggage fee and seat selection fee a person can fly WOW for a fare that makes the redemption value for miles less than 1 cent each, it has the potential to be a real game changer. And of course for those who can manage without a bag, it’s incredible. I never dreamed I would be able to fly to Europe or Asia (and other places sometimes) for the kinds of cash fares that are now being regularly offered. In my case St. Louis is a departure point is awesome since I can get a nonstop there on Southwest, and bypass the “race to the bottom” major airlines entirely when I fly to Europe.
I think that DAL (Dallas Love Field) would be a very successful destination for WOW. Southwest uses DAL as almost a hub, so it would serve as a feeder from dozens of US cities for economy-minded travelers wishing to fly to Europe.