This week I’m on a quest for flights, and it feels like a gamble between budget and peace of mind. I love seeing an amazing price, but then I wonder, “Is this too good to be true? Is the connection too tight? Will my bags and I get there okay without unreasonable delays or fees?”

I asked myself these same questions when booking with Wow Air earlier this year. Thankfully, it went off without a hitch.

Before booking with Wow Air, my friends and I searched for reviews and were concerned by the mixed ratings. However, after more research we decided to go for it (and saved a ton of money). Here are some of the top tips we gleaned:

Measure your personal bag

This is the easiest way to avoid a hefty carry-on fee. Wow Air’s personal bag size is smaller than most airlines, meaning that I had to use a different backpack than normal. If you measure it earlier than I did (yay last-minute repacking), you can avoid fees and stress.

Bring food

I can’t stress this enough – Wow Air is a budget airline, so don’t assume anything is included. Some items are available for purchase, like a ham and cheese baguette, but when in doubt buy food and drink before you board.

Allow time

This one’s more vague, but absolutely make sure you check in early and show up when you need to. It’s easy to be concerned about overbooking these days. I was nervous to have stopovers after some too-tight connection drama last year, but a 1.5 hour connection turned out to be fine. Would I trust Wow Air with a checked bag? To be honest, based on a couple of the reviews I’m not certain. However, with my hand luggage I got there reasonably punctually.

Book early & flexibly if possible

I got a great price to Reykjavik and Copenhagen, but one of my friends had to pay double for one of the legs because of their scheduling restraints. If flexibility is limited, at least try to book early – the headlining “$99 to Europe”-type deals seem to go quickly.

(Bonus tip: don’t forget to research in-country prices before committing. Iceland is gorgeous, check it out, but food there can be $$.)

Thus, if you’re up for travelling a bit more lightly, I would recommend trying Wow Air. As long as you keep your expectations in line with the fees (bring your own entertainment and food!), it’s possible to have a positive experience that lets you travel farther on a student/ young professional/ otherwise minimal budget.

 

Writer’s edit/disclaimer: Most of the horror stories we read were tied to luggage or lateness causing missing connections. Wow Air doesn’t have a great customer service track record, unfortunately.

That said, a number of the other complaints were based on the “no-frills” aspects (i.e. “what do you mean there’s no food included?”), so if you go in with low expectations on this and prepare accordingly, it can be a perfectly fine (and low-cost!) way to get from point A to B. That’s my background for this article.

Have you tried Wow Air? What were your experiences?