sprite1:
but some people are happy to pay more for a particular service.
The question is what particular service? For flights to Europe the difference is very little:
- Free cup of coffee/tea at SAS
- Free newspaper at SAS
- Free Internet in flight at Norwegian (SAS has started to roll out WiFi too, but it's only a handfull aircraft that have it installed).
- Better quality to some of the BOB products at Norwegian, and no price difference between the two (when you compare prices in NOK).
- More new fresh aircraft at Norwegian than at SAS.
- Generally better seat comfort at Norwegian (some of the 735/736 at SAS has an awfull pitch in the back).
We can continue to find small differences between the two competitor. Norwegian is different from the two largest European LCCs since they are offering transfer tickets. As an example if you want to fly from BGO to MAN, you can either transfer at SVG (2x weekly from S13) or at OSL (total time 3:00 through SVG and 4:05 through OSL). With SAS it will take 10 minutes more than Norwegian through OSL, only the Mondays and Fridays direct flight BGO-MAN takes less time (1:45).
This comparison is obviously only for tourist class as Norwegian doesn't have any business class. Intercontinetal flights too can't be compared today, but there will be a change on 30 May 2013 as Norwegian start to fly their first B788. It will be interesting to see what destinations Norwegian will add from the third aircraft that will start flying from W13/14.