Flights to New York from £149... What’s the catch?

With flights to New York from just £150, one airline aims to make flying to America as cheap as parts of Europe.

As well as the Big Apple, Norwegian is operating flights to Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles from the UK– at a fraction of the traditional cost.

However, if you want to get hold of the cheapest tickets, you have to book well in advance and be flexible with travel dates.  

Currently, tickets to New York from £149 aren’t available until January 2015 – and that’s just one-way, while flights are only running on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Furthermore, the flights are only flying out of London Gatwick, so for those living outside the South East travel costs will need to be factored into the equation.

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The full costs including extras - how does it compare?

Still, booking a trip New York from 13th January coming back a week later amounts to just £299.20, including taxes. However, if you want to take more than just a carry-on baggage, you’ll have to pay an extra £25 (two bags cost £55).
You also get charged £25 each way if you would like to pick your seat, though you are not obliged to. And it goes without saying that food and drink will cost extra – you can pre-order one of the in-service meals from £20. Or you can do an 'Add Plus' package that will include seat booking, meal and a piece of checked baggage for £35.
Payment by MasterCard or Visa credit card is subject to a surcharge of £4, though it can be side-stepped by using a debit card or Bank Norwegian MasterCard.
So it’s entirely possible - though fiddly and requiring you to pack light and eat lighter (or buy food ahead of time) - to get a full flight for less than £300.
By comparison, on the same dates the lowest one-way price from either British Airways, or partner American Airlines, is £283 or a total of £565.31 for a return trip to New York. Again, a slightly higher surcharge of £4.50 is applied to MasterCard and Visa credit cards, but not on debit cards. However, allocated seating, a checked bag and onboard dining is included as standard.
The cheapest direct flight from Virgin on the same date is £342.41 to New York (though a cheaper alternative including a stop in Orlando is available at £323.29) and £176.40 returning, to total £565.31 –oddly the exact same price as British Airways to the penny.  Again, a checked piece of luggage, onboard meals and allocated seating comes as standard.
That means flying in advance with Norwegian offers a potential saving of £265. Looking at other dates, if booking in October you can get direct flights one-way from £179, though in September the cheapest ticket is £239.
The cheapest flights from the low-cost carrier to Los Angles start from £199, these can be found as early as November, though they only operate twice a week.
Meanwhile, the cheapest tickets to Fort Lauderdale start at £179, again only operating twice a week, and the earliest dates at this price are in December. But you can get a ticket in September to the sunshine state for just £20 more at £199.
“There’s great demand for high quality flights at a low fare between the UK and the US, particularly to and from London Gatwick, where no other airline currently offers these routes,” said Norwegian’s cheif executive Bjørn Kjos, when announcing the flight routes last year.

via Yahoo (with all details)