Here is what I like about them:
The boarding was really orderly, and they actually enforced the "kids and wheelchairs" first thing, then quickly boarded the rest of us, back to front. They didn't allow line cutters or the "free for all" boarding that is so common now.
The jet is a new 787-8 with lots of leg room (we are in the cheap seats and at five feet ten I can't stretch my feet to kick the bar under the seat in front of me). The seats are leather-like and soft, with a nice natural pitch back before you even recline them. They are wide enough for me at 170 pounds.
The seat backs all have a touch screen monitor with easy to use options, and accept a standard earbud plug. They also have USB jacks for charging.
Each window has an individual dimmer switch, so you can dim or brighten the light as you wish, and they seem to be a little taller than regular windows.
The overhead storage bins are huge; my pack slid right in and there was plenty of room left even though the flight was full.
The plane felt spacious.
We got into Oslo right on time at 10:40. As we came over Norway it was weird to see snow on the ground, as it was 106 degrees at home when we left. But it was nice, about 70 in Oslo.
It was a quick trip through passport (Velcome. WHACK!) and customs, then we exited right and found the NSB train desk. It cost us 90NK each for the short, twenty minute train ride in to the Oslo S (Central) train station. There is a Flytoget train which goes direct, saving you one, two minute stop, but costs twice the price.
By noon we were at out Hotel, the simple, clean, and efficient Comfort Hotel Grand Central. This is one of the only times we have stayed at a chain hotel, but it is very conveniently located for our one night stay; right at the train station, and close to the port for our ship out. It has a pretty good rating, and the room is clean, simply furnished, arty and efficient. Out our balcony we look at the port and opera house.
We dropped our bags and headed out, on the streets by noon.
We couldn't print out our boarding passes ahead of time, but there were only six people at the Norwegian Air counter.
They weighed our bags (at 9.4kg each, we were under the 10kg -22 pounds- carry-on allowed) printed our tickets, and we were done in five minutes.
Best of all, there was nobody at the security checkpoint, so we just walked up and they ushered us through.
We are so used to rushing through San Francisco, and so we had allowed plenty of time to check in. Suddenly we had an hour to kill before boarding started, so we found the bar. Gail had a glass of Pinot, and I had a beer and warm pretzel.
So, I was a little worried about the "possibilities" of flying Norwegian Air, given the ticket prices.
We paid $890 for a non-stop, round trip ticket.
Think about it, we were flying from afternoon sun up and across into morning sun and never really had any “dark,” no night.
So, the inside of the plane has that "mood lighting" for lack of a better term. The overhead LED strips are cheerful red when you enter, and as the flight goes on the lighting gradually shifts to blue, then purple, and the windows become darkened so that it appears to be night. It helps lull you to sleep, making it appear to be night out when in actuality the sun never really set.
At 8:30 AM local time (which is 11:30 PM at home) the plane started to brighten up: pink, then orange, and the windows lightened up and suddenly it was morning.
Gail wasn't feeling well on the flight, other than that I have to say that this was one of the quickest, most comfortable, and easiest flights we have taken to Europe. About 9.5 hours total.
It was really painless.
So, it is like we are flying the Cadillac of jets... Except it is really the Rolls Royce of jets!
See the photos below to see what I mean.
Here is the downside of Norwegian:
Some people around us had to pay extra for food and to reserve a seat. The girl next to us paid more for her ticket (I asked, and she bought it late) but she did not get meals included, and could not pick out her seat. She bought through Kayak, like we did (which led me to Justfly dot com).
We noticed about half the plane did not get meals.
Our friends Pam and Neil, who are flying Norweigian in September, are not getting meals either, but they got their tickets late as well, through Travelzoo.
Our other friends Charles and Barbara bought their tickets right after us; I'll have to see if they got meals.
The girl we were sitting next to told me the meal price was like $40 USD so she just brought a Subway sandwich. I think that was a smart move, and I will tell you that my chicken, potato and spinach meal was not very tasty at all. Certainly not worth $40. We got one glass of wine, poured out of a regular bottle, coffee and water. She even had to pay to get a bottle of water.
Then for breakfast I got a simple ham sandwich, crispy granola bar and coffee, packed in a cute "murse." While nice, I don't think the man purse would have been worth the money.
The view was great, however: dinner over the Rockies by Calgary, breakfast north of Iceland.
So, I suppose it is a trade off. We got lucky, but you have to weigh the good ticket price vs. the inconvenience of bringing your own food and a water bottle.
The Oakland Airport is a lot smaller than SFO, and I love it for that reason. The car drop off at Budget is easy to find and simple; this is the third time we have rented from them, and every time it is an easy, no hassle process.
We dropped the car and were on the shuttle in less than five minutes.
OAK has only two terminals, Terminal Two is for Southwest, and Terminal One is for everything else. Easy to figure out where to go, and once inside you don't have to look far to figure out where to go.
Here is the direct link to the OAK Guide.
There is this retro, aluminum screen sign above the counters announcing OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. It seems that there are about ten international counters total, and the terminal has a whopping 15 gates.