Norse Atlantic Premium: Honest Review London to Cape Town (Can You Sleep?)

So I just paid £1,159 for my premium economy flight on North Airlines to Cape Town, saving myself about £1,000 or more compared to BA and Virgin. But here is the real question. Will I arrive refreshed enough so that I can drive straight from the airport, I can get into the apartment, edit this video, sort the apartment out and continue my day? Or will it be a false economy saving? Because I'm so exhausted, because I haven't slept for 12 hours, that I wish I had paid a bit more and gone in a bit more luxury? Because if North Atlantic saves me a thousand pounds, yeah, I'm knackered for the next two days, then it's not money well spent. So for those who don't know me, I'm Rob. I'm 61 years old. I'm traveling solo on this trip because James, unfortunately has got to work back in the uk. And this review is going to test the boarding experience, what the whole seat and the ambiance and the food and everything is like, and more importantly, how I feel at the end of an 11 and a half hour flight, whether I'm ready to, to start my day and pick up where I left off without too much jet lag and too much exhaustion. So in a moment I'll show you the receipts and their fine print and then we'll board the plane and I'll show you around what that's like as well. And I wanted to make this a bit of a different review to the typical review by actually comparing the specific prices for exactly the same flights on both BEA and Virgin.

So let's kick off this price comparison by booking our Norse flight. Now, we are going on the 5th of November and we are going to pick premium economy including checked luggage, and then coming back on the 23rd of December and again pick the premium economy price. And you can see the total price is £1,159. Now let's make the same comparison with British Airways. So again, pick the same dates going on the 5th of November, coming back on the 23rd, we're going to pick Premium Economy. Now these are all direct comparisons, flying directly from London to Cape Town. And you can see here that the BA flight comes in at £2,089. So let's do the same thing finally for Virgin, again flying direct from London to Cape Town, same dates, selecting premium economy with checked luggage. And in this case you can see the total price is 2,251 pounds.

Okay, so I've created my own kind of Comfort or amenity kit for my flights, because let's face it, what you get given on planes in their amenity kits is very generic and not very good quality. So let's have a look at what I have in this pack. And this pack is always in my travel kit ready to go, so oops. And obviously it can fit in my carry on. So first of all, I've got a really good quality eye mask and this is padded so it kind of lifts it away from your eyes so it doesn't bother you. And it's completely black out as well. So this is great if you want to get some sun sleep. I also have some rehydration sort of face spray, which I really love. It keeps your face feeling a bit hydrated. I also have from a previous trip, this is a. I think this is probably from Emirates, a refreshing towel so I can wash myself as well in case I don't get given one on the plane. Obviously I want to kind of get rid of as much noise as possible possible. So I have my Apple earbuds and these are noise cancelling earbuds and they are really useful. Now to go with that, I've also bought a Bluetooth connector and this will plug into the connector of the plane. It's got a two pin one and a one pin one. And then I can wirelessly Bluetooth my headphones to that so I can watch the movies if I want, as well as watching stuff on my iPhone or my computer. I've also got some of my own earplugs and these are really useful. These are the ones I use sleep in at home, so I know that they work when I want to get some sleep. Now, rather controversially, I've also got some sleeping pills here because that does help me sleep. I don't sleep very well and so that does help me sleep a bit. I've also got some heartburn pills with me just in case because I suffer from heartburn. I have a pen in my kit because if I have to fill in any forms on the plane, I don't want to be scrabbling around for that. I got some flossers, I have some moisturizing cream and I also lastly have some chewing gum as well to give me some fresh breath in case I can't clean my teeth. So that's what I carry. I expect that I'll get a toothbrush and toothpaste in the amenity kit which most planes will give you, but that's what I always carry because I know it works. I know it's good quality. So if there's anything I've missed that you would put in your kind of comfort kit, then do leave a comment and let us know below.

Okay, well, I didn't record checking in, but this is the premium line here and you can see that there's absolutely.

No queue to check in.

I'm not sure whether I paid five.

Pounds or I got this included, but.

I had fast track security. So again, no queue walked straight through, although both my bags got stopped.

I'm only taking hand luggage, by the way.

I'm taking the backpack and a holdall and my holder got stopped because I.

Got two tripods in it and my backpack got stopped because I got a.

Battery in it, which is weird.

Anyway, that was all fine.

I am now in the number one.

Lounge and something that I always try and do to make my journey just a little bit more pleasant is have access to the lounge. I've got priority pass to do that and the level of pass I've got gives me 10 visits. I think I've already said this. And the place plan is to eat here before I get on the plane.

They board the plane in group numbers and I was in group one, which meant after families or people with needing assistance got on, we were next to get on the plane. Now, plane was late arriving, so we were about half an hour late boarding. But we did make most of that up, so we ended up only landing. 15 minutes.

It's late in two.

Cape Town. Is prohibited. The use of electronic cigarettes is also not allowed. Let's do a quick review while I'm here. Not much to tell you really.

Okay, let's check out the seat in more detail. It's really wide, wider than for example Qatar's Q suite, and there's plenty of overhead storage.

Now, I've just been to the loo and put my PJs on, so.

So I am nice and comfortable. You can see how much legroom there is in front of me. The tray is in the right hand side and on the left hand side.

Is your TV display that I'll show you shortly.

And as you can see, loads of leg room in front of me, so plenty of space to relax and chill out. After about 30 minutes we were offered.

Some orange juice, water or apple juice.

And then it was time to sit.

Back and take off.

And all the cabin lights are dimmed because it is a nighttime takeoff.

Okay, let's check out the pillow and blanket. So you get this on your seat when you arrive. Nice soft pillow and a Nice soft, fleecy blanket. Now this was useful, but to be honest, could have done with being a bit longer. So it covered you all the way down to your feet and then at the bottom you have got this footrest and you pull the lever on your right to open the footrest and also to put your seat backwards. And I didn't find the footrest that useful, but I did find the recline of the seat really nice. Let's now check out the onboard entertainment. So the screen flips out from the left side and you can see that there were quite a few different movies, although certainly no recent blockbusters. But I'm sure there's something that you can find to watch. And as we took off, I watched one movie and I can't remember what it was called, but anyway I watched one movie and then went to sleep. There's also a bunch of TV shows as well. Never understand on planes when they put a series on, why they don't put the whole series but just one or two episodes. Anyway, a few TV shows that you might find your favourite that you want to watch. You can also get really good flight information, which I enjoy watching to see the progress that you're making during your flight. And there is also an onboard store as well where you can order things from your seat, including both food and drink, drinks and also duty free perfumes and alcohol and so on. You can see some of the items you can order here. Well, they're not cheap, so it might be smarter to stock up at the airport if you want snacks like this. And then you can see some of the drinks that are complimentary here. I think these are complimentary for premium economy. Interestingly enough, they do walk around and ask if you want an eye mask or headphones, but that's it as far as the information kit goes. So after snoozing for a few hours, we are heading towards Cape Town after a relatively smooth and comfortable flight. So just a final chance to have a look around the seat to show you a little bit more. First of all, there is a remote control here that you can use for the TV if you don't want to use a touchscreen, although I'm not quite sure why you would use that and this bit of information about it. Okay, it's time for breakfast. So you get the tray table at the right hand armrest and it's pretty sturdy, either at half open or fully open. Now, for breakfast, the choice was a full English breakfast or pancakes. And I thought pancakes would be the better of two evils. But I'm not entirely sure that's true. They looked more like roti and they had been made quite a long time ago. Anyway, there were pancakes with like a, an apple sauce and then some fresh fruit, which was nice. A croissant, some jam and then a smooth strawberry yogurt and a cup of coffee to wake me up. I can't say this breakfast was very nice, if I'm honest. Didn't eat much of it except for the yogurt and the croissant and some of the fruit. Time to fasten our seat belts as we are approaching Cape Town. Now it's often pretty windy when, when you're arriving in Cape Town. It was a windy day that day, but actually the descent and the landing was really smooth.

So I've had a few days to recover from my flight and reflect on answering the question, is North Atlantic Premium Economy worth it for travelers of a certain age? And the answer is yes, with a few caveats. So first of all, make your flight as comfortable as possible. So it's worth getting the Fast Track security. It's also worth buying Priority Pass if you haven't got one to get access to the lounge where you can chill out and be in a calm environment before you board the flight. And I think it's also worth it if you create your own kind of amenity comfort kit, as I did, because as you saw, what you're offered on the plane is fairly minimal. Now, as I said, I think a few other things, the blanket could have been better. I wish that the foot rest extended a bit more so that when you're lying right back, your feet aren't kind of dangling off the end of the foot rest. But other than that, you know what, it's a direct flight and that is a big plus for me. And I saved nearly £1,000 compared to BA's premium economy and about £1,100 compared to Virgin. And actually that means that I can fly twice there, back there back, which is what I'm going to be doing rather than just flying once on BA and Virgin. And I suppose the only real difference probably is that the food might be a little bit better on BA and Virgin. But if it's a night flight like me and like I did, you're probably going to want to sleep anyway. And to answer the question, if it's not for you, well, it's definitely not for you if you want a lie back flat bed, but because you're not going to get one, it's a very comfortable seat, but it's not a flatbed. So if that's crucial for you, then you're probably going to want to book Qatar or BA or Virgin and you're going to pay an awful lot more money if you are. If you want that kind of superior service, then go with Qatar or Virgin because you know it's, it's a low cost airline basically, so you kind of get what you pay for. But if you for Armed is forewarned, which is why I hope this video is useful. Because if you prepare yourself then you will have a great flight. And as a result of that direct flight and the overnight flight, I was able to pick my car up, drive back to the apartment here, unpack everything and have a pretty pro a pretty active day on my first day. So I give North Atlantic a big thumbs up. I hope they keep flying. I will definitely use them again. And of course if you found today's video useful, then please do also give us the thumbs up. And also make sure you've hit the subscribe subscribe button so you're alerted when a new video goes live. And do leave a comment about any ideas or things that you do to make your flight more comfortable. Do let us know in the comments. I love hearing from you guys and as you know, I answer every single question. Other than that. This is James back in the UK and Rob in sunny South Africa and we will see you next week.