Norwegian vs LEVEL: Why the Comparison?
Both airlines operate a low-cost long-haul strategy for their fleet and brand, and therefore comparisons are inevitable. In fact LEVEL was “born” through the desire to compete with Norwegian Airlines and their model, and therefore a comparison of the two is ideal. If you want value over thousands of miles, you’re likely to be picking between the two airlines – let the Norwegian vs LEVEL battle commence!
Who are Norwegian Airlines?
A Norwegian Dreamliner Plane docked at London Gatwick Airport
Norwegian’s growth is staggering, and many think of the Airline as a new one from the past few years. However, Norwegian actually started in 1993, first by offering routes solely in the west of Norway using Fokker 50s. For non-aviation buff, the Fokker 50 carried a compliment of 62 passengers with a range of around 1000 miles, and had those amusing propeller engines that you either love to travel on or hate.
However, in 2012, Norwegian made an aggressive growth. It made the biggest airplane order ever – 122 Boeing planes, mostly Dreamliners with a few 737 MAX thrown in, and 100 Airbus planes. The whole order of Airbus was later scrapped in 2018 when Norwegian decided to go from a growth strategy to a more long term profit model.
In 2013 for UK passengers they opened their base at London Gatwick. The parent company is called Norwegian Air Shuttle SAS and made up of the subsidiaries Norwegian Air International, Norwegian Air UK, Norwegian Air Sweden, and Norwegian Long Haul (Norway). However, they keep the branding across the group and share commercial aspects.
They currently fly 146 planes across the subsidiaries to 149 destinations using 21 operational bases.
Who are LEVEL Airlines?
A LEVEL Airbus at a rainy Barcelona Airport
LEVEL Airlines is owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) whose brands also include British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling. As of 2019, the group was ranked 9th in the world for passengers carried, and in 2020 Forbes ranked it 6th by revenue. They hold 573 aircraft carrying passengers to 268 destinations.
LEVEL seems a little bit of an anomaly in the group. In fact, Willie Walsh, the CEO of IAG, spent nine months of his life trying to buy out Norwegian Airlines and in 2019 backed down and sold their 4% stake in the company too. This caused Norwegian’s stock to plummet initially.
But back in 2017, he also created LEVEL airlines to compete and handle low-cost long-haul flights. It was an interesting move since IAG already had their low-cost carrier Vueling operating flights to 155 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Many of the initial routes LEVEL flew to have been discontinued, but at present they had four bases out of Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Vienna. Unfortunately there is no base in the UK for passengers there but they do fly in and out of London Luton Airport.
Currently the fleet size is 13 with 29 destinations, just 10% of the size of the Norwegian subsidiaries combined. In fact if you’re European based, LEVEL has some short haul destinations as well. So flying from Europe, you have the choice of 10 destinations in other continents – Argentina, Chile, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Canada and five destinations across the U.S.A (Boston, Las Vegas, San Francisco and both JFK and Newark in New York)
Norwegian vs LEVEL: The Comparison
It’s hard to find a definitive way of comparing airlines, and most guides seem to only focus on certain aspects. In our comparison guides we look at Infrastructure, Pre-Flight & Post-Flight, and Onboard Experience.
Infrastructure looks at the routes the airlines offer, their pricing, and the planes on offer.
Pre and Post Flight looks at easy of booking, apps, checking in, seat selection, baggage, and customer service before and after your flight.
Onboard we look at seat size, plane interior, service from the crew and facilities such as food, drink, entertainment and Wi-fi. Since economy has the most seats and passengers, this is where the emphasis falls but with an additional section to look at Premium and Business classes.
Each sub-section awards a point to the better airline, and then at the end it’s all tallied to find out whose better in our head to head of Norwegian vs LEVEL.
Norwegian vs LEVEL: Infrastructure
Routes
As mentioned, LEVEL Airlines flies to 29 destinations with only 10 being outside Europe, whilst Norwegian has 149 destinations on the cards.
From its 4 locations in the British Isles alone, Norwegian UK offers 105 routes from London Gatwick, 47 from Manchester, 64 from Edinburgh and 68 from Dublin.
Additionally LEVEL only fly out of London Luton to its bases in Amsterdam and Vienna, so if you want to fly long haul as a British resident, you’ll probably need to take another airline to one of its hubs in Europe and definitely if your flight originates in Barcelona or Paris.
There’s no real battle here, Norwegian is clearly the winner.
Norwegian 1 - LEVEL 0
Pricing
For the most basic fare, both airlines seemed similar. However, LEVEL charged a lot more in all the searches we did for their Premium economy. Additionally, whilst Norwegian’s basic fare is called LowFare, they have one called LowFare+ which includes seat selection, 1 x 23kg checked baggage, and meals on most of its flights.
The differences become clearer by selecting one flight. I search for Barcelona to Buenos Aires one way on 1st May 2020.
Norwegian offered me £221.40 (€261.05) for their LowFare economy. The equivalent with LEVEL was €292.48, so not wholly different in costings.
Selecting Premium made things hugely different. Norwegian came in at £540.80 (€637.70) for the Premium Cabin which includes 2 x 23kg bags, food and seat selection. However the similar offering in LEVEL jumped up to €1081.48 – a massive €440 more.
Then we need to look at adding bags and food to the prices in Economy. With the Lowfare+ on Norwegian the same route came out at £281.40 (€331.78) with 1 x 23kg checked bag, seat selection and meals onboard. LEVEL added €40 for the first bag of 23kg and €35 for a meal package making €367.48.
There are times when you might need a second bag, although luckily in these days, travellers don’t tend to carry that much. However, I do use 2 bags when I’m doing expeditions, for example.
A 2nd bag cost £65 (€77) with Norwegian and a whopping €150 with LEVEL. In effect for 2 bag flying Norwegian is 100% the way to go either by adding them on to the economy fare, or flying Premium where they are already included.
For Economy the difference is less clear cut but on most searches we did, Norwegian still beats LEVEL in price.
Barcelona to Buenos 1st May 2020 Example:-
| Economy Basic Fare | Economy + 1 Checked Bag + Food | Economy + 2 Checked Bags + Food | Premium |
Norwegian | €261.05 | €331.78 | €408.78 | €637.70 |
LEVEL | €292.48 | €367.48 | €517.48 | €1081.48 |
Variance | €31.43 | €35.7 | €108.7 | €443.78 |
Norwegian 2 - LEVEL 0
Fleet
Norwegian’s fleet is made up of brand new Dreamliners and known to be one of the most environmentally “friendly” and fuel efficient fleets.
LEVEL runs Airbus A330 in its smaller long haul fleet, and the planes are decent and new, but just not quite on a par with the Dreamliners.
Norwegian 3 - LEVEL 0
The economy section of a Norwegian Dreamliner
Norwegian vs LEVEL: Pre & Post Flight
Booking & Apps
Both offer a fairly simple interface to book on their websites. Where LEVEL fall down is by not having an app – in fact when I booked my LEVEL flight, it initially came up as operated by Iberia and the booking came up on the Iberia App. However, it said that I had no checked in bags included and meals included when I had booked two bags. When I got to the airport, there was 1 bag and no meals on LEVEL’s system. So the Iberia App’s only purpose was to verify the booking and there is no LEVEL App.
The Norwegian App on the other hand I use regularly to book flights and view bookings.
If you’re booking on the website, I do think the Norwegian website just has the advantage. It’s easier to navigate if you want to look at routes and for the support section, I like the LowFare+ category (a lot) which LEVEL does not have, and it’s slightly easier to select the Low Fare Calendar – LEVEL does have a monthly view but you have to select it on the second page after putting it your flight details. Overall, its yet another point to Norwegian in the Norwegian vs LEVEL face off.
Norwegian 4 - LEVEL 0
Check-in / Online Check-in / Bag Drop
A surprisingly empty Check In for Norwegian at Oakland Airport
I must admit everytime I’ve checked in for a Norwegian flight has been slightly differently. The last time I fly I online checked in on the App, but still at the airport had to check in using one of the Norwegian machines that printed my baggage labels. Boarding cards were on the phone, and my bags were oversized so there was no queue whatsoever. Each time I’ve had to do bag drop, the queues have been up to 10 minutes and no more.
Like Norwegian you can check in online with LEVEL 24 hours in advance, but obviously not on an app. The LEVEL flights actually open check in 4 hours before at the airport which is longer than most Norwegian flights. However, when I checked in at Santiago, I noticed there were no separate queues for Bag Drop. All customers had the choice of an economy Queue or a Fast Track / Premium, which defeats the purpose of checking in online before.
All in all, both airlines are fairly similar in terms of the time it takes to check in, so a point to each.
Norwegian 5 - LEVEL 1
Baggage
For hold luggage Norwegian have just changed their regulations. LowFare only get an underseat bag now measuring 38x30x20cm with max weight 10kg. Lowfare+ get an additional overhead bag of 55x40x23cm but both bags combined have to be no more than 10kg.
LEVEL on the other hand give an underseat bag and overhead bag to all passengers. The overhead bag is rated at 10kg max with dimensions 56x45x25cm so slightly bigger. Moreover the underseat bag has no restriction on weight (or size) as long as it fits under the sea infront. The lack of weight restriction is great for putting your heaviest electrical items – and the hair dryer – in the bag, but not as useful as you don’t know how big the underseat storage actually is!
For checked baggage, Norwegian states that it should not exceed 250x112x79cm with max circumference 300cm and you get an allowance of 23kg. LEVEL’s weight is the same but no dimensions are given.
So LEVEL’s luggage allowance is better except if you need a 2nd bag – then LEVEL’s pricing goes through the roof. All in all though, it’s a clear point to LEVEL, especially with Norwegian’s new policy taking away an overhead bag from LowFare customers.
Norwegian 5 - LEVEL 2
Customer Service
This is a hard one for me to rate. After one bad experience on a Norwegian flight, I complained and noticed they had a 60 day reply on customer feedback, which is ridiculous. A month later they sent an inadequate reply, which didn’t overly address the issue.
However, on my LEVEL flight, they lost (or could not get to) every passenger’s luggage. The contact process was painful, the number they gave me didn’t work from outside Spain, the airline seemed to share some of its service with Iberia and the Iberia office in London were useless. If you want to read about this flight, you can do so here.
Personal experience aside, I’ve known many people who have been impressed with the Norwegian service pre and post flight, and even praised their online chatbox. In general, it feels like they are better set up to deal with any queries and have a dedicated team. LEVEL, on the other hand, seem to have to use the resources from other airlines – their Webform, for instance, is managed by Vueling currently.
Norwegian 6 - LEVEL 2
Norwegian vs LEVEL: Onboard
Seat & Plane Interior
The Norwegian Dreamliner’s have a seat pitch of 31 inches in Economy with a width of 17.2, and in Premium that goes up to 46 inches with a width of 19 inches.
While LEVEL’s Airbus A330s have slightly less pitch at 30 inches, they have a slightly wider seat at 18 inches. We couldn’t find information on their Premium seats, but if they are the same as Iberia, they would come in at 37 inches pitch with 20 inches width.
One small advantage of the Airbus is their 2-4-2 configuration, slightly nicer for the window seats as you have to clambour over one seat only to get into the aisles. The Dreamliners on the other hand have a fairly standardised 3-3-3 configuration.
All in all though, there’s not much difference in the seats unless you fly Premium. Where the Norwegian Dreamliners do have a slight advantage is that they feel newer. The LEVEL fleet may be new but it doesn’t quite feel it, and they slap horrible LEVEL signs up that look like you could just change them daily and put another airline up.
The Dreamliners have the big windows with the dimmable controls, and they have lighting that changes colours. It’s not a massive difference but the small touches do count.
Norwegian 7 - LEVEL 2
Crew
The LEVEL flight I took is my only experience of a crew and onboard customer service. It was poor, they worked slow, they promised and then didn’t deliver and the overall uniform and presentation was not great.
Except for a complaint about one member of Norwegian, the crew have always impressed me. They seem to work hard, and the service is quick. Items ordered from the Entertainment system come fast and the team are professional.
Norwegian 8 - LEVEL 2
Food & Drink
It tastes better than it looks! The Main meal onboard Norwegian Air
One of the benefits of Norwegian is that they have the LowFare+ option that includes meals onboard. With LEVEL this is an optional extra for €35.
Meal quality and amount seemed to be pretty standard, though Norwegian stocked more drinks.
However, when it came to ordering off the system, Norwegian were clear winners. Pricing was similar enough to not make a big difference. Norwegian operate a food and drink service through their entertainment system. Swipe your card once and it’s good to go for the whole flight, if you like. Select your items and they are brought directly to your seat, generally in minutes. But LEVEL’s system, though similar, was not working onboard out flight and talking to the crew, apparently has never worked.
The LEVEL crew informed me they were coming round to do a food and drink run after the pre-paid meals were handed out, but did not. The quality of the food and drink from LEVEL’s snack menu was also not great. We highly recommend not choosing the lasagne.
All in all, Norwegian makes it easy.
Norwegian 9 - LEVEL 2
Entertainment
Both Norwegian and LEVEL run a similar system for entertainment, with a selection of movies and TV Shows from your seat. They both have some new releases and a selection of older titles.
Both would get a point were it not for a glaring change in LEVEL’s policies – from February 2020, Entertainment will not be free on LEVEL flights.
Norwegian 10 - LEVEL 2
Wi-Fi
Wi-fi can be a bit of a gamble, I find, on long haul flights. For instance, on Norwegian I’ve never been able to get Wi-Fi on any of their Transatlantic flights – only their European ones. However, they do offer a free Wi-Fi service as well as a Premium service which is great.
LEVEL, on the other hand, offer a Wi-Fi service that starts at €8.99 with no free option. On our transatlantic flight, again like Norwegian, the Wi-Fi was not working.
Until Wi-Fi services improve unilaterally on aircraft, the fairest score is no points all round.
Norwegian 10 - LEVEL 2
Premium Economy / Business
We’ve talked about premium economy in other sections. It’s a clear win for Norwegian with lower prices and a bigger seat pitch.
Norwegian 11 - LEVEL 2
Enertainment screens on LEVEL's Airbus A330
Norwegian vs LEVEL: The Conclusion
It’s a fairly clear cut victory to Norwegian. In fact, the LEVEL flight I took from Chile to Spain was the worst flight I’ve had of all the flights I can remember. The service is not quite there and the airline seems to be floundering trying to brand itself and decide what it wants to be about.
Time and time again, Norwegian delivers a decent experience for a low cost carrier. Personally, there’s only one real reason to fly LEVEL at this current time – the price has to be right, and there has to be no better options. However for most routes, there will be a Norwegian plane that will get you there slightly cheaper and in better style, or another airline that will be worth paying a little extra for.
Disclaimer & Further Resources
Disclaimer: The Ever Changing World of Travel
It has to be noted that travel, and airlines in particular, change daily. Baggage policies can change in a heartbeat, especially with some operators. Prices also change daily.
This article was written in February 2020 and thoroughly researched. However, though we try to give an insightful and comprehensive guide to the Airlines, we cannot be held responsible for any changes, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information on here. Further details can be found in the Website's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Further Resources
Click on each tab below for resources to plan your trip
- Book Flights for Norwegian here:- www.norwegian.com
- Also, check out flight comparison searchs like Kayak for best pricing.
- Using the Low Fare Calendar on the Website can lower costs if you can be flexible about travel dates
- Book Flights for LEVEL here:- www.flylevel.com
- Also, check out flight comparison searchs like Kayak for best pricing.
- Using the Month Calendar on the Website after searching for flights. You can lower costs if you can be flexible about travel dates
- For a mostly serious account of my LEVEL flight from Santiago to Barcelona, check out www.davechant.com/level-worst-airline