[pheighdough]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think this service isn’t really viable or an attractive proposition?

Would you fly c.3 hours to Iceland to connect on to another 10.5 hour flight to India, rather than use a hub en-route to India? IST, DXB, DOH for example.

[ontherunhome]

This may be aimed more at the large ex pat Indian community in the USA and Canada, who may be price sensitive. It would probably not have a huge take up from UK or Europe, but would till be feasible with the WOW transfers.

[AMcWhirter]

Interesting thread, pheighdough.

When details of Wow’s Reykjavik-Delhi service emerged a couple of weeks ago the thinking was that it was aimed at the voluminous India-N America-India market. The latter would be connecting at Reykjavik to/from Wow’s services to N America.

This morning Wow’s PR gave the impression it was for the UK market.

As I noted in ‘comments’ at the end of today’s news piece one imagines Wow would consider any traffic it gets for Europe-Delhi-Europe as ‘icing on the cake.’

There has been much discussion on social media, both in the US and India, about the merits of this route with varying opinions.

Wow Air launches London-Delhi flight via Iceland

[MarkivJ]

Indian expat living in the USA here. This will be HUGE for several IT folks living in places like Cleveland and Cincinnati that don’t have too many 1 stop options to India. That said, unless Wow ties up with a local “desi” airline, don’t see how it’ll benefit those living in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, etc. it’ll still be a 2 stop journey for several.

Also, there’s always Indian appetite for LoCo airlines even in the established cities like SF and Dallas (with established full service airlines providing 1 hop to several Indian cities).

I’ll be keen to see what their baggage rules are, because one thing with us “desis”… we travel heavy!

[AMcWhirter]

Wow is very much a low-cost airline (LCC).

It charges extra for almost everything.

Not just for onboard food and drinks and checked bags but also for hand luggage. Only ‘one personal item’ is free. One piece of hand luggage costs £36.99. One checked bag is £51.99.

When it comes to advance seat selection there are many different fees.

[Cedric_Statherby]

I must say, if hand luggage costs over £30 a sector it does rather redefine what the “low” in low cost carriers means!

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=867100]I must say, if hand luggage costs over £30 a sector it does rather redefine what the “low” in low cost carriers means![/quote]

The low stands for ‘low cost focus’, as in Porter’s generic strategies, not low cost fares 😉

[Travelfoot]

Time will tell. With WOW’s charges for everything their success on this route from London is highly suspect considering the competition offers less travel time. Additionally the other carriers in comparison not only offer fee less amenities but also 2 checked bags by most on this route this being an important factor to most who generally travel heavy.

[Chris]

Completely agree with the OP that to position this as any interest to the UK market is odd in the extreme. Theres price sensitive and price sensitive but I fail to see how anyone regardless of culture and disposable income would add so much time to save a few quid.

Which brings us onto price, agree that competitors use baggage as a key selling point here and fares would have to be so low on WOW to make up for charging for bags I fail to see how it could possibly be competitive, particularly against the ME3 who are so competitive anyway, particularly down the back.

[Chris]

and just to test the theory, I put a couple of random dates in January into the WOW air system and comes out at £400 return basic fare with just a small carry on. Add meals (which look awful), 2 bags and a carry on and brings the fare up to £744.

A quick search on skyscanner for the same dates gives emirates for £398 with one assumes all the bags and food you need. Indeed BA premium economy is only £50 more than WOW air (seats held together by Duct tape included).

LCC works well point to point, even short haul connection, but long haul connection? I think not.

[MarkivJ]

AMCwhitler – that’s what I meant about baggage rules. We have to see if they keep their existing prices or customise them for those travelling to/from India.

The meal choices also will also have to be tweaked (regardless whether it’s free or paid) to accommodate Hindu veg, etc. not just on the India leg but for those (with dietary req) travelling on to NA cities.

I’m not usually cynical but I don’t think a lot of research went into launching this route.

[MarkivJ]

Also, I don’t know if Iceland requires a schengen DATV (Direct transit airside visa) for Indian citizens living in the USA (as some EU countries require) which could be another deterrent. Another reason why the ME carriers are so popular with USA based Indians who aren’t Green Card holders or US citizens.

[AMcWhirter]

MarkivJ – We shall have to see re the extra fees.

I can recall when Norwegian first started operating Bangkok-Scandinavia. Some of its elderly Thai passengers flying to Scandinavia to visit their children had to do without any food or water on the long flight.

Why you may ask ?

It was simply because either they did not possess a credit card or because their Thai-registered cards could not use Norwegian’s car readers.

Following widespread complaints Norwegian had to provide free drinking water to all passengers and abandon its policy (at least on that one route) of *only* accepting credit cards for onboard sales. (That was the situation a few years ago. Not sure if it been changed since).

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=867118]and just to test the theory, I put a couple of random dates in January into the WOW air system and comes out at £400 return basic fare with just a small carry on. Add meals (which look awful), 2 bags and a carry on and brings the fare up to £744. A quick search on skyscanner for the same dates gives emirates for £398 with one assumes all the bags and food you need. — long haul connection? I think not.[/quote]

Thanks for the research, Chris, that is interesting and helpful.

To me this just highlights the fact that just choosing the lowest published fare without calculating add-ons or other drawbacks (I keep reading that this is how people choose a flight) is not wise (in my opinion).

[Flightlevel]

London-Delhi via Iceland is about 50% further and fuel being up to 50% of longhaul costs it will only help using lceland as a hub to fill a few more seats that are not taken by North Americans.
Good way to increase pollution and as stated above not cheaper.
Fuel costs rising will make it uneconomical?

[Author]

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