Airfare Deals London London Gatwick LGW Los Angeles LAX Norwegian Air Oakland OAK WestJet (Canada) WOW Air (defunct)

Norwegian $502 round trip LAX – London LGW, and some WOW and WestJet fares

Norwegian Airlines flies nonstop between LAX and London Gatwick LGW year-round. Norwegian also started Oakland to London Gatwick last week, however that route is in its first year of seasonal service ending in October 2016 for this 2016 season. Sorting out all the low fares seen from the major airlines this past weekend revealed there are many places in Europe where a Norwegian round trip ticket in late fall and winter 2017 is still the best airfare deal for under $500 round trip from California.

Fares to London Gatwick are not much of a bargain for summer travel with three low cost airlines offering one-way discount fares on a consistent basis from LAX in Norwegian, WestJet (Canada) and Wow (Iceland). Aeroflot, SkyTeam Alliance member is another airline flying out of LAX with low one-way fares. Flights via Moscow SVO tend to go to London Heathrow LHR and one-way fares are often priced in the $400s for off-peak travel.

WOW has the lowest one-way fare to London at $409 one-way on July 9. Most summer fares are in the $500s one way. The return flight from London is generally more expensive on these low cost carriers. $790 is the lowest one way fare from LGW to LAX in July and it is August 22 before the fare drops to $435 for the one way London-LAX flight.

The primary deals with these low cost carriers is off-peak travel. Rates fall quickly from late August into October. Below I show the lowest fares by month for Norwegian and WOW. WestJet is consistently in the $400s and $500s for fall travel. I think this kind of listing of fares by month illustrates how the low cost carriers are generally not a bargain for summer travel, but can be a fantastic deal for Europe in off-peak travel periods.

Los Angeles – London lowest one way fares each month (Google Flights)

  • May 23 Norwegian $287 LAX-LGW nonstop
  • June 2, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 30 Norwegian $594 LAX-LGW nonstop
  • June 28 WOW $515 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland (WOW begins LAX-LGW service June 15)
  • July 14, 19, 20 WOW $355 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($379 July 5, 7, 12, 13, 21, 26, 27, 28 )
  • July 19 Norwegian $444 LAX-LGW nonstop (16 dates in July at $511)
  • August 2 Norwegian $511 LAX-LGW nonstop (most dates $594)
  • August 13 WOW $545 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($579 all other August dates)
  • September 19, 20, 23, 26, 27 Norwegian $345 LAX-LGW nonstop (10 dates $394)
  • September 6 WOW $280 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($379 six other Sep dates)
  • October 11, 25 WOW $280 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($355 Oct 6, 8)
  • October 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25 Norwegian $295 LAX-LGW nonstop
  • November 29 Norwegian $245 LAX-LGW nonstop (most Nov. dates $295)
  • Nov 15, 22, 29 WOW $280 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($355 Nov 24, 26)
  • December 1, 4, 6 Norwegian $245 LAX-LGW nonstop
  • Dec 13 WOW $280 LAX-LGW via KEF, Iceland ($325 Dec 3)
  • January 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 31 Norwegian $245 LAX-LGW nonstop
  • WOW $545 only shows 3 dates on January 3, 4, 21 with LAX-LGW service at $545 one way.
  • February and March every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday service Norwegian $245 LAX-LGW nonstop

London – Los Angeles lowest one way fares each month (Google Flights)

  • May 24 Norwegian $287 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • June 20 WOW $376 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • June 5, 6, 7 Norwegian $388 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • July 6 WestJet/Alaska $510 LGW-YVR-SEA-LAX
  • July 5 WOW $772 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • July 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 Norwegian $718 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • August 26, 28, 29, 30 Norwegian $431 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • August 22, 29, 30, 31 WOW $435 LGW-KEF-LAX;
  • Sep 7, 12, 20, 21, 27, 28 WOW $376 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • Sep 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 29, 30 Norwegian $388 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • Oct 10, 11, 13, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30 Norwegian $344 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • Oct 5, 28, 31 WOW $355 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • Nov 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 29 Norwegian $287 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • Nov 16, 30 WOW $355 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • Dec 1, 4, 6, 8 Norwegian $287 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • Dec 7, 9 WOW $326 LGW-KEF-LAX
  • Jan 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 31 Norwegian $256 LGW-LAX nonstop
  • February and March 2017 Norwegian $256 LGW-LAX nonstop

Clearly Norwegian is the leader in the low cost carrier service between Los Angeles and London, both for lower fare and bag fees than WOW Air on a far more consistent basis and nonstop flights on a Boeing 787. WOW is totally no frills, while Norwegian offers a wide range of movies, no music though. Norwegian also offers free wifi.

Norwegian Airlines  Los Angeles LAX – London Gatwick LGW

$244.90  Sunday February 12, 2017

LAX-LGW $245ow Norwegian Feb 12

Norwegian Airlines  London Gatwick LGW – Los Angeles LAX

179 GBP ($257.76 USD)  Sunday February 19, 2017

LGW-LAX 179GBP $258ow Feb 19 Norw

These two one way tickets on Norwegian create a round trip from Los Angeles to London during Presidents Week 2017 holiday for $502.75.

The strategy I take with low one-way fares from California to Europe with Norwegian is to use these tickets as positioning flights to Europe, from where I can purchase a far lower priced round trip ticket on a major carrier back to California for overall discount frequent travel to Europe.

For example, fly for $245 on Norwegian LAX to London Gatwick. For a return flight I can pick up a cheap one-way fare from London to a city like Stockholm, Sweden and buy a very low priced round trip ticket back to California.

American Airlines Stockholm ARN – Los Angeles LAX

$458.86  Tuesday October 18 – Tuesday November 15

ARN-LAX $459 AA Oct 18-Nov15

I have flown Norwegian Airlines from Oakland to Amsterdam and from Stockholm to Oakland in the past year. Both times were to start a low fare ticket from Europe to California or to get back to California after finishing a low fare Europe-California round trip ticket like the AA $458 round trip ticket shown in my example for Stockholm to Los Angeles in October. I paid $147 one-way fare to fly Norwegian from Stockholm to Oakland last month. In January I flew Norwegian from Oakland to Amsterdam for $210 one-way via Stockholm. Low fares on Norwegian have helped me earn loads of AAdvantage miles through low priced round trip tickets starting in Amsterdam, Bergen and Stockholm for several trips to Europe over the past year.

Loyalty Traveler – Flight Review Norwegian Stockholm to Oakland for $211 one way (April 14, 2016)

Loyalty Traveler – Flight Review: Norwegian Air OAK-ARN (Jan 26, 2016)

Loyalty Traveler – Why I am planning a Norwegian Reward mileage run (April 24, 2016). What turned out as a mileage run scheme developed into a trip to the Italian and Swiss Alps planned for September, and no plans yet for Norwegian flights on that trip.

Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.

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