I tried flying on Iceland's low-cost Primera Air and learned first-hand that cramped seats and carry-on fees aren't even close to the biggest downside of budget airlines by Rachel Premack on Aug 30, 2018, 9:11 AM 
- Primera Air is an ultra-low budget airline that recently began making transatlantic flights.
- I was scheduled to fly with them on July 21 from Paris to New York. My flight was canceled after a four-hour delay.
- I ultimately had to book a flight for $1,200 that had a six-hour layover in Oslo. Primera still has not fully refunded me.
- The experience shows the potential perils of low-budget travel, where a cramped seat at least means you got on the plane.
I had never heard of Primera Air. But an airline booking site had a cheap seat for me for a direct flight from Paris to New York on July 21, so I bought it as the return flight from my week-long summer vacation in Europe. Primera bills itself as the newest of Iceland's budget airlines, joining established carriers like WOW Air. While it's owned by an Icelandic tour company, Primera Air is actually based in Latvia with a Danish operating certificate. (These byzantine international set-ups are common among budget airlines, as they cut costs.) Founded in 2003, Primera began transatlantic flights this year. It made waves last summer by announcing transatlantic flights for as low as $99 beginning in 2018. Ultra-low budget carriers get a bad rap for uncomfy seats and pitiful baggage allowances. I'm fine with being squeezed in if I'm paying a little less, and I regularly fly through carriers like Spirit. As for Primera, plenty of people, including my colleague Mary Hanbury on the retail team, have had perfectly pleasant experiences. I thought my direct flight from Paris to New York City would be the same — uncomfortable, but economical. 
But I never even got on our plane. After hours of delays turned into us being bused to a hotel that didn't even know we were coming, I ultimately had to drop serious coin on a new one-way flight to get home. As of August 29, I still haven't been fully refunded the $1,950.89 that Primera owed me. Here's what happened: SEE ALSO: I finally caved and flew on the 'worst airline in America' — here's what it was like I arrived at Paris-Charles De Gaulle around 5 p.m. for my 6:50 p.m. flight.  Primera doesn't offer mobile check-in, so I checked in at the counter. There was no line, and it was speedy and straight-forward.
The 200 or so other passengers and I waited in the terminal for the flight. By 6:30, 20 minutes before our flight, we still weren't boarding.  Once it was clear we were delayed, I joined several other passengers asking about what was happening. They didn't have any information for us — at all. Not where the flight was, when it was expected to be ready, or why we were delayed. While it was clear we were delayed, the screens hadn't been updated with that information. I passed the time by eating goat cheese from duty free and watching Netflix on my phone. At least the airport had good Wifi.
But by 8:30 p.m., I was getting exhausted and nervous. My parents called Primera from their US numbers, but no one picked up.  Primera's media team sent me an emailed statement on July 24, a day after I had reached out for a comment for this article. It read: Our regular procedure in case of delay and cancellation due to operational, technical or other reason is that as soon as we receive information about the issues that have an impact on a scheduled flight, we send a message to passengers and request meal vouchers as well as hotel from our ground handling partners in particular airport. However, I didn't receive a meal voucher — or any message at all — from the airline on that day.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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