Norwegian Premium Review: Singapore to London

Norwegian 787
Photo: Jeffry Surianto.

Norwegian Air Shuttle offers some very competitive fares on its long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner routes. The low-cost carrier flies many trans-Atlantic routes, as well as several routes between Asia and Europe. From last year, non-stop flights from Singapore to London were added to the airline’s growing network.

Norwegian flies 4x weekly from Singapore to London, with the daylight flights departing Singapore mid-morning. The flights take around 13 hours, arriving at London’s Gatwick Airport at 4pm. In the other direction, the flights operate overnight and arrive in Singapore early in the morning.

Norwegian uses a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the route with both Economy and Premium seats. AFF member dajop recently travelled from Singapore to London in one of the Premium seats. With a one-way flight in Norwegian’s Premium class costing just $575, it was a very good deal.

For the price paid, dajop was happy with the service.

Overall, an excellent flight, and great product for day flight. Would probably be OK for overnight flight, but if the price is reasonable wouldn’t hesitate to use them again on the day flight from SIN-LGW.

Norwegian Premium class on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is laid out in a 2-3-2 configuration. The recliner seats have ample legroom, width and recline. In fact, with 43-46 inches of seat pitch, these seats have much better legroom than Qantas Dreamliner Premium Economy seats which are also laid out in a 2-3-2 setup.

The seat has good recline, and excellent legroom, although could be difficult to get out if the seat in front was fully reclined. Luckily seat in front only reclined about 2/3 so easily get out from window seat. Leg rests came up (was a trick to doing that) and were long enough for my 6′ height, and adjustable head rests were good. Better than any of the premium economy offerings I’ve been on due to the superior seat pitch.

The Norwegian Premium meals receive a thumbs-up as well. Two full meals were served during the flight, as well as a mid-flight snack. Although the meals were served in a box, they were tasty and came with salad, bread and ice cream. Unlimited drinks were also available throughout the flight, and the crew were attentive.

Service – excellent. Regularly came through cabin with trays of drinks (juice, water, beer).. You could also order drinks from the on screen menu (although that didn’t work for first few hours, so had to rely on call button) and a range of drinks including little bottles of spirits, wine, beer and various non-alcoholic beverages were available. The flight attendant on my side of the plane was excellent. Explained the meals, was responsive and friendly.

A weak point was the in-flight entertainment. Our member found the range of movies somewhat limited, but there were some options. As this is a 13-hour flight, you may be well-advised to bring a good book.

Lounge access is included at selected airports with Norwegian Premium class fares. Although the Norwegian Air website does not list Singapore as one of these included airports, lounge access was indeed available. At check-in, Norwegian Premium passengers in Singapore are directed to the SATS Premier Lounge.

All in all, Norwegian Premium seems like a very good value way to fly. Sure, it’s no match for the lie-flat Business class beds offered by Singapore Airlines, Qantas and British Airways on the Singapore-London route. But neither is the price.

Read the full Norwegian Premium cabin review on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Norwegian Premium SIN-LGW (summary .. no pics)

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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