Wamos Air A330-200 at JFK – Photo: Creative Commons | Adam Moreira (AEMoreira042281)

Last year, I wrote about my experience flying with Norwegian Air on the 787-9 Dreamliner from London Gatwick (LGW) nonstop to Denver (DEN). On that flight, we were in their “Premium” cabin, but I peeked back at economy and thought it looked pretty good. It had a standard 3-3-3 Dreamliner configuration, reasonable pitch, and AVOD screens at each seat. The crew was friendly as well.

This year, my family was heading to Paris for the new year, and I had booked our outbound flight with miles (my kids were very excited to be flying business class for the first time, and on the upper deck of a Lufthansa 747-400, to boot!) Given that I needed a one-way flight back from Europe (which are usually obscenely priced on legacy carriers), I figured we’d fly Norwegian again, this time in economy. Norwegian prices their fare based upon the one-way journey, which is what you’re used to for U.S. domestic flights. For a very reasonable $511 each, we were booked nonstop from LGW to DEN. Our fare included advanced seat assignments, checked and carry-on baggage, and meals. Everything was going to be just fine. Then I got this text.