I flew the cheapest business class from NYC to Europe I expected a disaster for my $500 but then something good happened

Flying in or out of JFK will always be one of those unpleasant experiences you just have to power through — like ripping off a bandaid, which only takes a second.Trying to break free of one of the so-called developed world’s most ridiculous airports, on the other hand — that takes hours.The prospect of spending a Saturday night battling this unfortunate reality was almost enough to put me off flying Norse Atlantic Airways from NYC to London-Gatwick in late August.

Departing the dreaded Terminal 7, which used to at least pretend to be sort of civilized, back before British Airways upped sticks, Norse is one in a group of lost child airlines looking for a suitable home, which they’ll apparently be getting at some point, once this place is bulldozed.For now, T7 rivals Terminal 1 (also due to be bashed to the ground) as the NYC-area departure point most likely to convince you that travel is bad, and that you should never leave your home again, and I’m including Newark in this ranking.

But the ticket cost less than $500 and it bought me a seat in the most reliably affordable upper class cabin flying across the Atlantic right now.How bad could it be — once I got on board, at least? Only known as Premium, Norse’s service is a little different than the competing business class products and Premium Economy class products available on the market, incorporating a little bit of both in what appeared online to be a very nice, domestic-style business class cabin.

Plenty comfy for a quick trip to Europe.It also typically costs a lot less than what you’d pay for the equivalent elsewhere — even after paying an extra fee of about $60 to reserve an aisle seat.(My carry-on roller suitcase, at about 30 lbs., was included in the fare.) I was about to learn that there’s a reason everything’s so cheap.

Before there was Norse, there was Norwegian Airlines, which still exists, but stopped flying long-haul during the pandemic.A group of moneyed investors was able ...