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Let’s get the obvious joke out of the way first: WOW! According to a recent article in Globes, WOW Air has requested six weekly slots at Ben Guiron International Airport (TLV) to provide service to their hub in Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF). They go on to say:
Passengers traveling from Tel Aviv to Reykjavik will then have the choice of vacationing in Iceland or [traveling] onto nine locations in Canada and the US: Montreal and Toronto, Boston, New York [Newark], Washington D.C. [Baltimore], Pittsburgh, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Map of US/Canadian connections for WOW Air’s proposed Tel Aviv service. Map courtesy of gcmap.com
No mention was made about the type of aircraft set to operate this route; however, at ~3,300 miles, this route pushes the limits of WOW’s A320 fleet. I would not be surprised to see this route operate with one of their Airbus A330-300 planes, which is a lot of capacity in this (I can only imagine) small market, but it makes sense when you think that the majority of passengers probably aren’t local, but connecting.
Case in point, this service could be a real game changer in West Coast – Israel flights. For a random week in July, Turkish prices in the cheapest at ~$900 roundtrip LAX-TLV. I wouldn’t be shocker to see sub $500 fares on WOW if they are given the requested weekly slots, driving prices down and demand up.
Remember, like Spirit, WOW will charge you for all the “extras” of flying, such as carry-ons, checked bags, and seat assignments. With cheap enough fares, it might still make sense to fly them with the extra fees, but always double check prices!
Does this news WOW you (sorry…)? Has anyone had an experience flying WOW? If so we’d love to hear about it below!
Header image courtesy of Eric Salard.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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Sam, I highly doubt WOW will be any game changer here and you picked the wrong airline to compare WOW to. Turkish is a first class “regular” airline, way way way above anything WOW offers. WOW may be great on shorter flights but service really comes into play on long over the pond routes. Turkish give you two bags from Israel to the USA via Istanbul, pre-assigned seats and good quality meals, including kosher if that is your thing. If you time your flights right you can even get a free tour of Istanbul thrown in. At the beginning of July [2-16] Turkish are asking $1176 for TLV-LAX. WOW are charging a base fare and taxes of $709.98 just for KEF-LAX on the same dates. Add to that two bags and a carry on and you get to $1095.92, and that is without assigned seats or food and only from KEF not TLV! Anyone who flies WOW TLV-LAX will very likely be paying a lot more than on Turkish for a far inferior product! The US routes from Israel have a dynamic of their own which includes how much shopping Israelis do. Turkish understand those dynamics very well, hence their two bag allowance.