Last month I took my family to Italy for a vacation and had the chance to try out a couple of airlines that I had not yet flown. On the way over, I booked a one way flight from Newark (EWR) to Rome (FCO) through Norwegian, a low-cost international carrier that flies from several U.S. cities to Europe. The price for their base tickets tend to be very good deals—as long as you understand that you will be charged for extras that are normally standard with most other international carriers.

Originally I was actually excited to fly on Norwegian’s new 787. I knew that it was a budget international carrier and that bags, meals, seats, would all have extra charges but I was intrigued by their business model and also their low price! After some research, I found that the cost of the ticket, even including the extra charges was still pretty reasonable. I was able to purchase a one-way direct flight from Newark (EWR) to Rome (FCO) for just a shade over $300—bags and meal included.

About a month prior to the flight I got notification that the flight was now going to be operated by “Privilege Style” on a Boeing 777. First question I had, was what kind of name is Privilege Style?? My second question was why wasn’t Norwegian able to operate the flight on their 787? From what I could tell after some searching on the internet, according to the Points Guy and several other sources, Norwegian was replacing the engines on all of their 787s as either part of a planned upgrade or due to Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine issues, depending on what source you read. Thus they were having to contract with Privilege Style, a Spanish company, to cover our Newark to Rome flight.

To their credit, Norwegian did offer to allow changes to the flight, including changing dates, departure city, or even cancelling the flight for a full refund. I looked for other options that would work with my schedule, but did not find anything compelling. I also called Norwegian and explained that I wanted to still fly on one of their branded 787s—and they offered to change my flight to depart out of JFK around the same date/time, but with a connection that would add significant time to the overall travel time.

I opted to stay with the contracted carrier—how bad could it be? It was only an 8 hour direct flight on a 17 year old former Singapore Airlines 777–it could be worse right? Check out the plane here: https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Boeing/777/EC-MUA-Privilege-Style/XR6MC8d5

We arrived at Newark about 3 hours before the 11:30pm flight departed, and had no issues checking bags and getting boarding passes. Norwegian does not participate in TSA Pre-Check, so by 9pm we were waiting in a long security line which took about 45 mins to get through. Finally, through security, all I wanted to do was get some food/drink and sit down. This was not to be. Apparently every food option in the terminal closes at 10pm. I was able to get a grab and go sandwich and a bottle of water before that store also closed. Luckily boarding was only 30-45 mins away, right?

Nope. Boarding was delayed for over an hour with no explanation as to why. Finally, all passengers were allowed to board and I was expecting about an hour delay into Rome. Unfortunately, after push back we experienced an engine starting issue. To the crew’s credit, they were relatively quick to inform us of the problem and kept us updated. The aircraft taxied back to the gate, but all passengers stayed on board. The captain told us that the flight attendants would be passing through the cabin to offer refreshments, but that never happened. About 4 hours after our scheduled take off we finally got airborne. I was tired, hungry, thirsty, and cranky. After all I was supposed to be somewhere halfway over the Atlantic by now.

The service while airborne was actually not bad. The flight attendants were pleasant, and did a good job of efficiently going through the cabin with meals and drinks. The food was edible, but not thrilling. Of note, there was no in-flight entertainment—the screens in every seatback were all non-operable. Norwegian had mentioned this in its notification about the change of operator, so I had come prepared with an iPad.

The biggest problem on the flight was that the cabin temperature had some SERIOUS regulation problems. In the last third of the aircraft the temperature was very hot, and where I was seated in the middle third the temperature was blasting extremely cold air. I have never been so uncomfortable on a flight for so long. I was wearing pants and a sweatshirt and I was quite literally shivering at times. Since Norwegian is a low-cost carrier, Prestige Class apparently was not required to carry blankets for passengers, so there was absolutely nothing those of us in that part of the cabin could do except suffer and walk back to the hot section of the plane every 30 minutes or so to thaw out. Several of us requested help from the crew, but they couldn’t do anything.

We arrived in Rome a little over 3 hours late after a pretty miserable, cold flight. I understand that maintenance problems happen, and I am glad that the crew was able to get the engine starting system fixed so we could depart that night—otherwise I am not sure how we would have been re-accommodated, but it would not have been until the following evening when the vast majority of international flights depart for Europe.

I don’t know if the cabin climate system was a known problem on previous flights—but if so Privilege Style should have had the problem fixed before operating that aircraft with passengers. My guess is that it was a known problem based on the flight attendant reactions—and if so I am extremely disappointed. If that was the first time it occurred I truly hope that they had it fixed before flying another revenue flight.

I would still like to fly on one of Norwegian’s 787s to better review the airline. In the end, I would still fly them in the future if the price was a significant savings—but I would turn down any future Privilege Style operated flights.