Fly to Europe from the US for less than $100, but you’ll need to act fast

But there’s a catch: The airfares will only be available as part of a flash sale from September 26 to October 3, and the airline isn’t disclosing how many are available. However, it is part of a growing trend, with new low-cost carriers competing for passengers.

Cheap Flights is PLAY’s basic airfare, which allows passengers to bring one small personal item, such as a handbag, that can fit under the seat. Everything else – oversized carry-on bags or onboard food and drink, including water – incurs an additional fee, starting at around $49 for carry-on and priority boarding. There’s no onboard entertainment or Wi-Fi, so don’t expect to catch up on the latest movie releases or do much work.

PLAY manages to offer low fares by flying to smaller airports that offer an alternative to the continent’s main hubs. Flights to London land in Stansted, 40 miles from central London, as opposed to the main hub of Heathrow, which is 14 miles away. Flights from New York depart from New York Stewart International Airport, about 70 miles north of Times Square in Orange County, instead of JFK or LaGuardia. And all PLAY flights are on narrowbody Airbus A320 family aircraft in 3-3 seat formations, with stopovers at Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik, where the airline is based. For some, this may be an excuse to extend the layover and turn it from inconvenience to opportunity, especially as Iceland prepares for a winter of heavy seismic activity that could lead to particularly bright displays of the northern lights this year.

The brisk sale comes as several new low-cost carriers look to break into long-haul routes and seek brand awareness and market share. PLAY itself is a relatively new airline, founded in 2019 and debuting its first transatlantic flights in 2022. Norse Atlantic Airways, whose first flight took off from Oslo to New York in June 2022, also offers tickets from to New York to Berlin starting at $119. this October. Norse Atlantic would not confirm the exact number of tickets available at these low prices, but at the time of writing, there were easy-to-find seats available for $123.

In addition, US carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. began operating flights between New York and London in 2021 and added services to and from Paris in 2023 and Dublin and Edinburgh this year. And of course, basic economy fares have become a mainstay for legacy carriers in recent years as well, offering discounts to fliers who want to go amenity-free.

All of this points to a landscape where pretty soon it won’t require a fare sale to cross the Atlantic for less than $200, even if it means packing light and coughing up a few bucks for that onboard soda.