DETROIT — A new airline has landed at Detroit’s Metro Airport (DTW). At around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, the first-ever WOW Air jetliner arrived. It was greeted with a water salute from two fire trucks as it approached Gate 5B at the DTW’s North Terminal. AmericaJR.com was the only news media outlet to witness it happen.
WOW Air is an Icelandic low cost carrier that was founded in 2011. They are new to Detroit but they’ve been flying for several years from other airports. The low-cost carrier is offering flights as low as $99 to popular destinations in Europe such as London, Paris and Berlin.
“I’m super excited, I’ve never been abroad,” said passenger Remington Reackhof from Ann Arbor, Mich. “WOW made it possible because of how affordable it is. The midnight take-off is a little bit confusing so it’s nice to get a few notifications and everything. We’re headed to Paris and then doing a trip around Europe–mostly France and Italy.”
His mother, Suzanne Rockind, added: “We’re overwhelmed. It’s a graduation present. We saw WOW on the internet. It’s been excellent. They’ve been so in contact with us. They’ve been corresponding via email and making sure we’re all set to go. We’ve never had that happen. It helped us out. We may have been on the wrong day all together. We very appreciate them letting us know.”
All of their flights connect in Reykjavik, Iceland and then head to popular European destinations such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, London, Milan, Paris and Warsaw. WOW Air is also launching new service from airports in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, New York City and St. Louis.
“It’s a different experience we actually didn’t know it was the first flight and now we’re excited,” said passenger Sarah Kolis from Novi, Mich. “We got a text message saying, ‘Don’t forget about your flight. It’s the first one out of Detroit.’ And we’re like, Oh, okay. (laughs) I didn’t realize that. I just happened to pick that one. Here we are. We were actually planning on driving to Toronto. When we saw they were coming to Detroit, we delayed our trip a month so we didn’t have to drive that distance. We’re lucky.”
Her daughter, Angela Kolis, added: “It’s unique. We’re going to London to travel around and see cool places.”
WOW Air flights from Detroit (DTW) depart at 12:50 a.m. on Monday’s, Tuesday’s, Thursday’s and Saturday’s. The new airline joins the North Terminal which houses other airlines such as Alaska, American, Frontier, Jet Blue, Lufthansa, Royal Jordanian, Southwest, Spirit, and United.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Flights start at $99 and include one personal item
- Checked bags are an extra $60-100
- Carry on bags are an extra $40-100
- There us no WiFi available on board
- If you want to select your seat in advance there’s a charge for that as well.
The new airline uses airbus jet liners in their fleet capable of holding between 174 and 365 passengers and crew members. Currently they have 18 planes in their fleet. Nine more planes are being ordered to handle the new routes.
“It’s cool because we have a new airline for international departures and that’s a game changer,” said passenger De’Sean Jones from the Detroit-based band Knomadik. “It’s fantastic to have this. My final destination is London. We’re connecting through Iceland. I’ve done that a thousand times, I’ve just not done that from Detroit. I’m a musician so I travel quite a bit. It’s very reasonable.”
Former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza now serves on the board of directors at WOW Air. He brings a wealth of expertise to this new low-cost airline.
There you have it. You can now travel to Europe for as low as $99 one way. Just be sure to book your ticket with WOW Air.
For more information about WOW Air or to book a flight, visit https://wowair.us/
