Having done the hard yards in the back of the plane, it’s time to check out what Norwegian’s Premium Class seats offer the long-haul traveller.

Norwegian Air UK flight 7407
London Gatwick (LGW) – Singapore Changi (SIN)
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner”

Some parts of this review have been cribbed from my economy class review as well, as the details are the same. Check it out here if you haven’t already.

The Deal: London Gatwick to Singapore, one way in premium class, for SGD$1228.90 at the time of booking. Premium fares put you in the front of the plane and include 20kg of checked luggage allowance, 10kg of cabin baggage, two meals, drinks, and the ability to preselect your preferred seat in the cabin. Including the meals and checked bag costs, this puts the Premium fare at about triple Norwegian’s regular economy fare.

As mentioned in my economy class review, there’s also a credit card surcharge you can’t easily avoid; in my case it was SGD$32.90, but that was for the whole booking including the return leg.

At the time of writing the Australian dollar and the Singapore dollar are almost at parity, so I haven’t done any currency conversions for this review.

The Schedules: Flights from Singapore to London take about 14 hours; Norwegian’s flights depart Singapore at about 9 am and arrive at about 4 pm local time at Gatwick. Flights operate 4 days per week- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The return leg isn’t quite so convenient, leaving London at 10 am and arriving in Singapore at 7:30 the following morning, meaning you have a fair few hours to kill before hotel check-in becomes available. These flights are on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The Airport: At Gatwick, Norwegian operates out of the larger South Terminal, which provides more options in terms of shopping and eating. Bearing in mind the early departure time, these are much appreciated, even if it’s just having the newsagent open for a £3 sandwich and soft drink deal. Duty-free options are a bit limited, though.

Lounge Access: Premium passengers get access to a contracted lounge, No. 1 Lounge at Gatwick, which is available 3 hours before the flight departs. The lounge has the usual buffet/bar/internet setup, with some hot meals available to order and two small rooms to the side as quieter spaces. It’s quite small- certainly nothing on even the more middling Virgin Australia Lounges or Qantas Clubs- but it’s pleasant enough.

Note that as it is not specifically a Norwegian lounge, flight announcements are not made; you’ll need to make sure you keep an eye on the clock.

Frequent Flyer: Norwegian Reward is basically a cash-back scheme; you get 2% of your fare in Cashpoints, which you can redeem for flights and individual services (such as meal reservations). Higher fare types earn higher percentages, with flexible fares earning back up to 20%. Norwegian doesn’t have any other airline partners, though.

There are no status levels but taking a set number of flights earns you Rewards such as upgrades and lounge access.

The Aircraft: A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, G-CKWF Charles Lindbergh, another brand new aircraft (only in service about a month). Norwegian’s livery features different “tail fin heroes” on each aircraft, honouring pioneers in different fields; originally restricted to people with some Scandinavian heritage, the list has since expanded. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to fly the Victor Borge plane, but I was just unlucky, I guess.

The Seats: The Premium cabin has a 2-3-2 configuration so you are only ever one seat from the aisle. Seats have a 46-inch pitch (50% bigger than those in Economy), so you can stretch out quite comfortably; on this point alone my taller readers might consider the upgrade worthwhile, even at the additional expense.

I didn’t find the seats as comfortable as I would have liked; I felt the headrest was a little too high and I couldn’t tilt my head comfortably to sleep (again, I am rather short). The footrest is fine and the recline was quite comfortable, though; with the tray table stored between seats you can recline a bit without affecting the seat behind you too much.

Window seats have the Dreamliner’s LCD windows; rather than just having the window shade open or closed, you can adjust the amount of natural light that comes through using the button below the window. These appear to be centrally controlled to reduce the light for the whole cabin and assist with sleep, given that the flight arrives at 7 am in Singapore. (SeatGuru notes that row 5- the back row of Premium on some planes- doesn’t have a window.)

A blanket is provided for Premium customers; it costs extra in Economy. There is also a 110v power socket under the seat, and a USB jack is under the entertainment screen.

Entertainment: Unlike other low-cost carriers, Norwegian doesn’t charge for its in-flight entertainment; instead it just runs ads before each program for the snack bar service.

The library has a wide variety but a limited selection, if that makes any sense. In addition to new releases the back catalogue includes movies as old as Singin’ In The Rain and Rebel Without A Cause, while there are Looney Tunes cartoons and the obligatory few episodes of Young Sheldon. However, there are only two episodes of Young Sheldon (the pilot, and one other out of order), only a handful of cartoons, and the New Releases section only has a total of ten films. This problem was exacerbated by this flight being the return leg of my trip; I had already been through the movies I wanted to watch on the outward leg, making the selection even more limited.

Each seat in Premium has its own screen mounted on an arm between the seats, a 12-inch touchscreen that is sharp and responsive. One oddity I found- because the screens are between the seats, I found it quite difficult to not be distracted by my neighbour’s screen, as the two tend to fold out next to each other.

Headphones are sold on board for economy passengers but are complementary in Premium class. The supplied headsets are about what you would expect for airline headsets, but you can also bring your own noise-cancelling set if you wish; the screens have standard mini-jacks and don’t need an adaptor.

Norwegian’s short-haul services (on Boeing 737 aircraft) have onboard wi-fi and bring-your-own-screen streaming instead of in-seat screens, however there is no wi-fi on their 787 fleet.

Food and Drink: The meal package I mentioned earlier included two hot meals with drinks, as well as a snack midway through the flight. Premium passengers get a choice of three dishes at each meal service, along with a snack (a sandwich or wrap) mid-flight.

The Premium catering is a little better as meals also include a bread roll (whereas Economy meals did not). I had roast turkey with gravy for lunch, which was pretty good although the gravy was perhaps a little thin. There was also a beef dish and a risotto as an option.

Interestingly there was no secondary option for breakfast as we approached the end of the flight; I think everyone was served a sausage and omelette dish, which was also fine. There might have been additional options for people who pre-booked a vegetarian or halal meal (you can do this when you pre-purchase your meal package; there is no additional fee).

The snack bar system is also in place for Premium passengers, allowing you to order drinks throughout the flight. Alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and tea and coffee are included in the cost of the Premium fare, but any snacks and hot food orders beyond what is provided in the meal service have to be purchased by swiping your credit card under your screen. As with my economy class experience, if you think you will want food, order it early; a lot of menu items were unavailable about two-thirds of the way into the flight.

Punctuality: I generally don’t worry about punctuality on 14-hour flights, but if you have to make connections then it definitely matters. My flight left London about 26 minutes late, and we were unable to make up the time as we had to circle as we approached Singapore. So we were about a half-hour down. On the plus side, Singapore’s entry procedures are pretty quick.

The Bottom Line: There is nothing particularly wrong with the Premium product; it is definitely a Premium Economy product rather than a true Business Class seat, but at the price it is at least competitive. The issue is mainly that the whole point of flying Norwegian is that the airline is so competitive on price and value for money, and at Premium prices they are directly competing with more established airlines. Quick Expedia searches reveal you could travel Air France or British Airways for about the same fare in Premium Economy, ex-Singapore.

That also harks back to my earlier review; for Australian customers looking for a bargain, the price assumes you have already made it to Singapore or can get there rather cheaply. If Norwegian does look at serving Australia that will throw the cat amongst the pigeons on economy fares, but whether they could attract premium customers away from Qantas, Emirates or Singapore Airlines at this price is unclear.

One other factor to consider if you are putting together a bigger itinerary; if you need to catch an onward flight from Gatwick you would need to consider allowing enough time to make an onward connection, as Norwegian doesn’t code-share with other airlines.

But on its own merits, I would have no trouble recommending or flying Norwegian again. The onboard crew were great, the seat is comfortable, the meals were pretty good, and they have a modern, clean fleet of planes. Just… maybe bring a few more movies on your iPad in case the selection doesn’t appeal to you.