Considering that Norwegian’s whole reputation is staked on the idea of low-cost travel, especially across the Atlantic, you might be surprised to learn that the airline charges about 25% more if you book on its U.S. site.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported the difference, citing a New York-Oslo flight with the different prices on norwegian.com/us from what’s offered on norwegian.no for Norway-based customers.
The airline’s not shy about explaining, but when you parse their explanation it comes down to “because we can.” Here’s what the line’s communication director wrote: “In the US, demand for transatlantic flights with Norwegian is strong and growing because we have offered prices that no other companies can come close to – neither American nor European. And when the demand in the US is so great, then the prices in that market will be adjusted somewhat.”
NRK found a similar discrepancy in prices at cruise operator Hurtigruten, which marks up prices by as much as 77%. NRK’s example for a double cabin on one trip showed it was 1470 kroner on the company’s U.S. website, and 830 on the Norwegian site.
Looks like it pays to shop the ‘native’ site and let Chrome translate for you!
This is really disappointing to me. I’m sad that Norwegian is doing this and that other airlines have done this practice for a long time. Mainly though I’m disappointed to see the above answer given to NRK by spokesman, Lasse Sandaker- Nielsen, who we interviewed on TravelGumbo. At that time of our interview, I found his answers refreshingly direct.
https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/norwegian-air-1