Icelandair - Yea or Nay?

Hi,

We'll be traveling to the East Coast from CPH in May. Icelandair seems to have the best rates but the reviews that I've been reading have me questioning if the savings is worth it. They seem to be chronically late with variable in flight service and non-existent customer service. Is this perception accurate?

Thanks

On our last ta in the fall of 2012 we met several people who flew Icelandair to CPH, and they were very happy with the flight and the price.

I will be flying with them next month out of Denver. I think you have to do your research about what they offer and do not offer. I know that meals are not provided for adults in economy --no big deal for us and food is available for purchase. There is a drinks service and extras just require a trip to the galley --good to get a walk anyway. They do not guarantee you will get requested seats as they have the ability to adjust their classes of travel--they can convert premium economy to economy and the reverse. (I find most airline seats uncomfortable so always carry thermarest cushions). As for customer service --hopefully we will not need to use it for issues--I booked my tickets through one of their agents as the website was acting up and they were extremely helpful. Many of the Facebook complaints at the moment are due to issues arising out of their mechanics strike.

Nitemare on the Iceland help thread has used the airline many times and has no complaints.

Have flown FI a number of times and each has been a consistent coach experience. Seats are as you would expect on a 757, with adequate legroom. Blankets and pillows provided. Meals are ala carte buy on board, with some "specials" where you can combine designated items for a discount (such as two beers for a discount, entree and chocolate, and so forth). KEF is not a big airport, and if flights are packed, the gate areas can get crowded. But you will have no language issues and agents have been friendly in my experience.

During the strike, things got a big chaotic. Every flight on the days after were completely filled, and FI customer service has been swamped processing claims for reimbursements of lodging/meals. Evaluate for yourself if this event is sufficient to deter you from flying them.

One of the pluses for us is that we get to visit Iceland for 2 nights on our return trip! It's using up all the savings we made on the flight but what a wonderful opportunity :)

We were on two Icelandair flights in May, and were pleased with both. We booked their Economy Comfort class, so had food and beverages included for no additional charge. But the best reason for booking Economy Comfort was that on both flights we were seated in the Saga class seats (the leather ones with a console between) with very nice legroom. And booking Economy Comfort also allowed us to use their Saga lounge, which was a particularly nice perk in Keflavik.

I haven't flown them but have friends who swear by them do I would say yay

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We flew economy LHR to KEF and return last year. While the flights themselves were fine, the experience on the return was rather horrible. We have travelled the world extensively over the last 30 years and this was the first time ever we got bumped off a flight. The scarey part was that we had 3 connecting flights to get us home all the way around the world, to New Zealand. The lies Icelandair expected us to believe were annoying to say the least! When we were unable to check in for our flight, we were told we had cancelled our booking the day before! Rather unlikely, when they could see we had flown in a week previously, how were we expected to get out again?! Failing that our agent had cancelled our flight. Also they tried to tell us that the last flight in our trip home was not confirmed. We disputed all this and then they just continued to talk amongst themselves in Icelandic for the next 30+ minutes, while they investigated getting us back on the flight. Eventually they produced some boarding passes for us. Strangely they did not try to charge us another fare, which I was expecting as they reckoned we no longer had a booking! Our travel agent (extremely reliable and clued up, and feeling somewhat insulted!) tried to get an explanation from Icelandair, but they failed to respond to numerous emails. Obviously the flight was overbooked, but rather rude to bump people with connecting flights and then deny it, blaming us. And no, there was no problem with the rest of our flights!

This has become rather long winded, sorry. In a nutshell not impressed with their customer service. If you do use them make sure you check in early so you have time to sort out issues! Keflavik Airport was extremely busy at a peak time. Interesting place to visit, but take warm clothing!

Flew them last year from MSP to CPH with a day long stop over in Iceland. It was a good experience. I would do it again without question.

We found the service to be fine but our flight was late due to a mechanics strike.

We flew Icelandair in May from JFK to KEF. I was not impressed with them at all. The boarding process was very chaotic. We flew Jet Blue from PBI to JFK which was fine and carried on our one piece of luggage (which is all we took). Then when we arrived at JFK they made us show them our luggage and said it would not fit which I specifically checked several times on their website so it would fit. So we had to check it. Annoying....

The flight was 5.5 hrs. and no snacks at all, only soda or coffee or water.

I think they could at least provide snacks as all other airlines do.

The flight was OK but would probably look at another airlines next time.

Iceland was awesome and would definitely go back. Totally beautiful.

If your going to fly them I would upgrade to the next one after coach. They feed you and treat you like humans there....:eek::eek::eek:

We fly Icelandair out of Denver and really like them. I think Keflavik airport has its own issues because of all the massive tourist promotions that have increased their airport traffic beyond what they can handle. Haven't really noticed their flights being late (at least no more than any other airline). We have no problem with food not being included in economy fare (we bring our own sandwiches :) ) Really enjoy their movie selection on board, makes the time go by so fast!

We fly Icelandair out of Denver and really like them. I think Keflavik airport has its own issues because of all the massive tourist promotions that have increased their airport traffic beyond what they can handle. Haven't really noticed their flights being late (at least no more than any other airline). We have no problem with food not being included in economy fare (we bring our own sandwiches :) ) Really enjoy their movie selection on board, makes the time go by so fast!

This will be our first time flying Icelandair and out of Denver! Quite excited :D

How long does it take to go through immigration in Keflavik? --we have an hour until the next flight to LHR. Do you pick up sandwiches in DEN? Thanks.

This will be our first time flying Icelandair and out of Denver! Quite excited :D

How long does it take to go through immigration in Keflavik? --we have an hour until the next flight to LHR. Do you pick up sandwiches in DEN? Thanks.

It took us about two minutes to go through the passport check in KEF on 7/8 and 7/23.

Just back from our cruise two days ago.

We flew DEN-KEF-BCN, economy class, on IcelandAir; we had a 10-hour layover on the way there, and a 14-hour layover on the way back.

The DEN-KEF was quite possibly the best flight experience I've ever had. Bottles of water available at embarkation, at least one more beverage service, and the goodies they gave my 9-year-old kept her busy for a bit. (A hot meal, which she only ate half of because she's very picky; an activities book that was really geared more towards younger kids, but which she made fun in her own way, a blanket/pillow/backpack thingy which she really liked, and a box of colored pencils which she ended up using the whole trip.) Each seat had its own television, which played some good movies and had a good flight tracker as well. Also, each seat had a USB port with which we could charge our electronics.

KEF-BCN (and BCN-KEF) flights were more like standard domestic American flights--no bottled water at embarkation, no kids package, etc.

On the way home, we had a 14-hour layover. The original plan was to rent a car and do the Golden Circle, but we arrived at 2 AM, it was raining, and we were all exhausted from the cruise, so we decided to camp out in the airport instead. The airport is nice--some decent food selections (although we did have some trouble with my picky eater), and free wifi. We found some seats in which we could stretch out and nap as well. Only issue was charging electronics; there were very few plugs available in the main terminal (glad we had our adaptor!). Once we moved to the international departures section, though, there were charging stations (both kinds of plugs and USB ports)--however, food and seats were more available in the main terminal, so I'm glad we stayed there most of the day.

KEF-DEN: Not quite as good as the DEN-KEF flight. I had to ask for the kids' meal, and my daughter didn't get the kids package at all. Bottled water available at embarkation, and two drink services.

All flights were on-time (if not early) and we had absolutely no issues with either IcelandAir or KEF. Oh--we ended up checking all our baggage. We each got two bags free (checked one each), and the bags we normally use for carry-on were just slightly too big to carryon to IcelandAir, so they got checked. On both flights, they were checked completely through so we didn't deal with any bags in KEF at all (except our carry-on backpacks).

If you fly Icelandair, be sure and check out their Saga shop before your flight. You can order items to be delivered to you on the plane. They have some very cool playing cards featuring Norse gods (unfortunately the photo doesn't show them):

http://www.sagashop.net/kids/detail/?id=57430-0007

Here's a better image:

http://playingcardcollector.net/2013/04/16/icelandair-playing-cards-by-thorbjorn-ingason/

I think they'd make great stocking stuffers.

If you fly Icelandair, be sure and check out their Saga shop before your flight. You can order items to be delivered to you on the plane. They have some very cool playing cards featuring Norse gods (unfortunately the photo doesn't show them):

 

http://www.sagashop.net/kids/detail/?id=57430-0007

 

Here's a better image:

 

http://playingcardcollector.net/2013/04/16/icelandair-playing-cards-by-thorbjorn-ingason/

 

I think they'd make great stocking stuffers.

thanks so much !! on our flight next year am going to order 6 sets -

1 for us and for each of our 5 grandchildren !!;)

Definitely a Yea!

We've flown the airlines three times before and will be on them again this September. It is what it is - an airline with a budget North American style of service in coach in a typical 757. Despite having to pay for food and alcohol (soft drinks, water and coffee/tea is free) I found the meals - served cold - quite edible. I'm not going to spend 5-6 hours in a plane pouting about how you have to pay and not eat to prove a point like some people would - my Dad amongst them. I'm on vacation and I'm going to make the best of it.:)

Its appeal to the budget travellers is a cheap connection over to Europe with the possibility of an Iceland visit for no or little additional charge.

I found the service typically Icelandic - cool and reserved but they are not unintentionally unfriendly. Its just not the brash in-your-face happiness North Americans come to expect when they go out. I found the attendants on my flights efficient and did their jobs well.

Good choice of English and Icelandic movies and TV shows. I seem to never see anything recent on Air Canada but on Icelandair I've had better luck.

I like that the planes are named after Iceland's volcanoes and that there are Icelandic quotes on the headrests of the seats. The idea is to sell you on Iceland even before you get there.

Icelandair still has a somewhat generous baggage limit from North America - two free bags instead of one each in economy.

We've been lucky that we have yet to had a cancellation or significantly delayed flight on this airline but I am sure these things happen. ITs frustrating for sure.

Yes, we're happy with Icelandair and will fly them again. In fact since this is the year of my 50th birthday we're doing a big European trip including a Med. cruise. We're flying Icelandair to get over to England (for a visit of a few days) and went the full monty - doing Saga Class. A nice step up from economy.

I flew Icelandair in late November, 2013. The four day package trip to see the Northern Lights was cheaper than a plane ticket to get to my cruise on Dec. 3 even adding on the one way from Iceland to Rome (I didn't get on the cruise-chickened out at the last minute-just couldn't handle it after my husband passed away).

Go-Today and Icelandair have some tremendous packages if you have time to spend in Iceland. If you book the package with Icelandair directly as someone already mentioned, they own hotels, provide transport and some great sightseeing tours included. Go-Today will get you to Iceland with a really decent package price but you will have to book your own flight on to Copenhagen. Booking a package through Icelandair will get you all the way to CPH.

This is a VERY old airline that has gone through a lot of changes (and basically ownership) over the years. In the 60's, it was called the Hippie Airline as it was the airline every US college student I knew took to get to Europe for a summer of backpacking. CHEAP, VERY CHEAP, back then. That was their business model then and still pretty much is today.

So you might want to look into the packages if you have the extra time and want to see a little bit of Iceland-more than the day layover. But if you only take the day layover, spend the time to go to the Blue Lagoon. A truly surreal trip that is well organized from the airport.

We really like Icelandair. We have not had any problems with service, including when we had to rearrange tickets. We have twice done packages from Denver to Iceland for amazing prices, and everything was provided as arranged, no problems. Both times we really enjoyed ourselves. To/from continental Europe, it was nice to have a shorter layover, since Reykjavik is a smaller airport.

I am not thrilled with the cabin configuration for long flights, but at times we've run across good deals and been able to book premium economy (and once, Saga class!). If you're in economy, you have to pay for food, but that can be planned for.

I flew Icelandair in late November, 2013. The four day package trip to see the Northern Lights was cheaper than a plane ticket to get to my cruise on Dec. 3 even adding on the one way from Iceland to Rome

Off-topic, did you have success with the Northern Lights? It's one of my bucket list items, and the other things to see and do in Iceland may make it preferable to Fairbanks.

Back in the day, college classmates would take Icelandic on footloose summer trips to Europe. An engineering professor was from Iceland and he would give little promo "spots" at the end of lectures...he would call them "Loftleidir" but I can't even come close to the correct pronunciation!

We find Icelandair convenient & affordable. The savings on the tickets more than made up for our having to buy lunch (with 2 bottles of good wine each.)

Off-topic, did you have success with the Northern Lights? It's one of my bucket list items, and the other things to see and do in Iceland may make it preferable to Fairbanks.

We did the same promotion as greatam but late in the season (March 31st). It was dirt cheap considering it included round-trip flight, 3 nights in a hotel, a boat trip to (try to) see Northern Lights out in the bay (away from city lights), and transportation/admission to Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately we didn't see any Northern Lights :( Apparently we missed some record solar activity by 2 days, according to the locals.

This is my reply to Icelandair review site. I hope it is helpful.

This is absolutely the last time I will ever take Icelandair. You make it very difficult to change seats, move into a comfort section from Cabin--$800 I was told!! Your attendants clog the isle for up to an hour hawking "duty free" over-priced regalia. Your stop off in Reykjavik ends up exporting your sick currency (in change) to the rest of the world. You are not just cut rate, you are cut throat! ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!

John Hudelson, Asso. Professor

Wine, Recreation and Tourism Program

Central Washington University

During the strike, things got a big chaotic

We came home in May during the labor troubles. We were delayed about 2 hours in Copenhagen, but nothing to send us to another airline. We got to Keflavik in plenty of time for our BOS leg.

The fares are usually much lower than others, so if you have to buy your dinner & two bottles of Chenin Blanc you are still way ahead.

Steve