Let’s start this trip report by explaining the journey. I would be flying from Madrid to Oslo, and then continuing on to Trondheim on Norwegian. I would stay 2 days in Trondheim and then fly to Bergen on SAS. Finally, the next day, I would return to Madrid from Bergen on Norwegian. So, in total, the trip would be 4 days long. On Norwegian I preferred to purchase the “low fare+” option. I knew I was going to check baggage and I enjoy sitting in the window seats to take pictures. On SAS I took advantage of their SAS Go Youth fare. I got a super cheap flight to Bergen!
Once we have that out of the way, let’s begin with the check in process. Interesting is the word that best describes it for Norwegian!. It was easy, but not usual. I could only get each individual boarding pass 24 hours before each flight. So I first got the Boarding pass for the MAD-OSL leg and then I got the Boarding pass for the OSL-TRD flight. I think it would be easier to get them altogether, but hey! Every airline does things in their own way!
Once again I arrived at the Madrid airport on the subway. Norwegian flies out of Terminal 2. Boarding started a 7:20 AM. That was actually 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We had a nice bus ride from our gate (D55) to our plane. All in all, it was a fairly organized process. Since I had some time to spare, Inside of the terminal I took some pictures of a TAP A319 that was flying to Lisbon and a pair of Air Europa E195s.
FLIGHT 1:
D8 6072 MAD-OSL
Seat: 6A
Aircraft: B737-800 EI-FHJ
Flight Time: 3h 30min.
We all got off the bus and started walking up the stairs. I started to take pictures at a beautiful Air Europa A330-200 bound for BCN. The lighting was perfect!
We were greeted by a Spanish crew. First surprise!! I didn’t expect that. Anyway, walking down the aisle I admire the beautiful Boeing Sky Interior, it never gets old for me!. Second surprise!!, the seat was pretty comfortable and I had plenty of legroom!. The flight was about 80% full. Many of the passengers where headed to start their vacations in their Cruise ships. Most of the passengers were Spanish.
Sooner than what you think the doors were closed, the flaps were set and the takeoff roll started from runway 36L.
Then, once airborne, wifi was connected. It worked perfectly! Nice little perk you got there Norwegian!!. It’s nice to be able to contact your loved ones from the skies for free. I was tracking myself with Flightradar24, and also looking if I could get some Air to Air shots. Many of the passengers were buying food onboard. I didn’t care for any, I brought my own.
After a approximately 3 hours we started descending into Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Finally we landed on runway 19R. It was a pleasant flight.
We got off the plane and went directly to gate D2 where we could use the domestic transfer. Unfortunately our flight to Trondheim was delayed. But only for 15 minutes so it was manageable. Oslo airport was beautiful, it had nice Nordic colors and lots of wood surrounded the whole terminal. There were also nice windows to watch planes. And… it also had some great seafood to eat!
But I must say that most of the time I felt the airport was too crowded and the seating areas were too little. Take for example the gate our plane was parked at. It had six rows of 6 seats in each row (3 seats were facing one way and the other 3 seats were facing the other way). That means there were only 36 seats for a 180 passenger flight. (I admit there were more seats along the hallway but there were more people standing for our flight than sitting down)
We started boarding at gate A4. Previously they had changed our gate 3 times!! But oh well, nothing major to complain about.
Flight 2:
DY754 OSL-TRD
Seat: 6A
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 LN-NHA
Flight time: 40 minutes.
The boarding process was super organized and also super fast. Our flight departed the gate 15 minutes late. While waiting on the plane I got some decent shots of this SAS Boeing 737-700. After all, these were going to be my last pictures from Oslo Airport.
This flight was 100% full, and, the wifi service didn’t work properly. It was also a bumpier flight than the one coming from MAD. Since it was such a short flight I didn’t mind the inconveniences.
Once we arrived at Trondheim airport we headed to the baggage claim. I was very surprised seeing that almost every passenger of the flight had baggage to claim, specially knowing that Norwegian charges for the checked baggage. As soon as our bag arrived on the belt we went out to go on the “Flybussen” to downtown Trondheim.
Trondheim was a beautiful little city, with many things to do. Here are some pictures of the city:
Time literally flew by in Trondheim and when we realized it, we were already sitting down in the “Flybussen” that took us to Trondheim Airport.
This time we were flying SAS. The check in process was super easy. I just needed to insert my Lufthansa Miles and More card and the boarding pass came right off the machine! Security checks at Trondheim airport where one of the tightest I’ve seen (Which I don’t mind) and therefore, they were very slow.
The terminal is one long rectangle. We were in the domestic part of the terminal. The construction seemed fairly new. There was a “SAS Cafe Lounge” but I didn’t have the status with Lufthansa to access it. The airport also had a very good selection of food outlets and great windows for spotting. I enjoyed it!
About 20 minutes before boarding a Winderoe ground agent (they do the handling for SAS in TRD) told us that we would be leaving 15 minutes later due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. I already checked Flightradar24 and sure enough the plane left Bergen 20 minutes late.
Flight 3:
SK4187 TRD-BGO
Seat: 16A
Aircraft: Boeing 737-600
Flight time: 50 minutes.
We soon boarded. My gosh they put us fast on that plane!! 10 minutes and we were out. Fastest boarding procedure of my life. I was quite excited about flying a B737-600. It’s such a rarity. And I would finally be able to say that I would have flown on all the 737NGs. (I have flown the 737-900ER on DL, 737-800 on a variety of airlines like AA, KL or D8, the 737-700 on KL and finally the 737-600 on SK). Quite the achievement for me!
While getting settled down on my seat I saw that the aircraft was super dirty. Lots of crumbs on the carpet, stains on the airplane walls… SAS sure has room for improvement in this area. The aircraft also was showing its age (almost 20 years old).
We departed from Runway 27 and we got to admire the beautiful Norwegian countryside. The ride to Bergen was very enjoyable. The scenery was amazing. The SAS FAs started their service with the SAS Plus customers. They were able to enjoy a wide selection of free snacks onboard. I was flying in “SAS Go” so if you wanted you could purchase those same snacks. Many of the passengers took advantage of this. I took advantage of the free water offered!!
Once the service was over the aircraft started its descent into Bergen. What a beautiful approach. I recorded the whole thing. Amazing!
We departed the aircraft through the E gates. (That’s the old part of the airport) and we had to walk to the baggage claim in the new part. Now that’s a nice airport!! We collected our bag and went straight to the “Flybussen” stop to go to our hotel in central Bergen.
Bergen is plain and simple beautiful. I would have loved to have more time in the city. Here are some pictures:
Our last hours in Norway were enjoyable. The temperatures were higher. (Not nearly as high as back home in Madrid lol).
We hoped on the “Flybussen” back to the Bergen airport to catch our last Norwegian flight. I recommend “Flybussen”. Their drivers are very polite and helpful. Plus you can earn Norwegian cash points (Even more than for a flight from OSL to TRD, which I though was awful. We’ll leave that for another review)
Security here had the new scanners that you can find in airports like ORD were you put your belongings on a big bin and it’s all automatic. It went much faster here than in TRD.
The airport was a amazingly nice. Such a big construction. Avinor sure takes care of their airports! (looking at you AENA)
Our flight was completely full and the boarding area soon got very crowded. Boarding process here was chaotic! No organization at all and we were left cramped at the jetway for at least 10 minutes. Awful boarding experience here Norwegian.
Flight 4:
D8 6075 BGO-MAD
Seat: 6A
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Flight time: 3h and 15 minutes
We finally got onboard. I was surprised, it was the exact same crew that we had flying from MAD to OSL. Anyway, we were soon on our way. We departed from runway 35. WiFi did work in this flight, and as I said on the review of the first leg of this report. It is a nice perk!
We arrived at Barajas airport 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We parked at the C gates, but we had to go all the way to the E gates to get to lounge 6 to retrieve our baggage. This walk was horrible. Many of the passengers got lost. The signs were not clear at all (Not even for me that I use MAD all the time). Oh, and also there is so much construction I can't imagine anyone in that flight having a good opinion about MAD's facilities.
CONCLUSION
Generally speaking I was very pleased with Norwegian. The lack of any free service was countered with the fact that they had free wifi. The seats were comfortable with more than enough legroom. I would fly them again. But I highly recommend purchasing the “low fare+” option rather than the “low fare” one. My travel companion had bought his ticket with that option and he couldn’t change his seat in any flight. He would have payed it, but there was no option for it. Also, keep in mind that Boarding can sometimes be a little bit chaotic. I didn’t like how the boarding process was organized in BGO.
SAS was Ok. I didn’t have enough time to fully “try them out” . Service was average. The dirtyness of the aircraft was the worst aspect of the flight. The crews were polite. And at least you have free water and coffee. Also, since they are part of the Star Alliance you can enjoy the benefits of the alliance and earn miles. The baggage delivery service was very fast. I'd also fly them again.
** Even if we are reviewing the airlines, I would like to mention “Flybussen” here. I was very very surprised. The were fully organized, all the staff that we spoke to were very kind and they didn’t hesitate to explain were you had to get on and off the bus. I give them a big A!!! (Bus companies such as Wisconsin Coach lines with their service between ORD and MKE should follow their example) **
I hope you enjoyed the trip report! Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments!