Flight to Copenhagen has 8 hour lay over in Iceland

[Buffalo Man]

We are flying from JFK to Copenhagen with an 8 hour layover in Iceland. 11:40 pm to 8:30 am. Two questions: does anyone know how early we should check in for the 8:30 flight. Any recommendations on where we should stay? We are traveling with my sister and brother in law.

[DMac1983]

That's quite the layover. The worse I've ever had was 15 hours in Prague, but we were young and dumb and decided to spend our time in the terminal instead of doing the smart move and just paying for a hotel. I've never been to Iceland, but there are a list of airport hotels on the website.

 

http://www.kefairport.is/English/Service/Airport-Hotels/

[bevfd]

Generally aim to check in 2 hours before and usually the desk will close 30 minutes prior to departure (but I wouldn't be leaving it that late!) That is the instruction on just about every flight I have taken in Europe but do read the instruction on your booking confirmation.

 

Such a shame to have a lengthy layover and not get to see beyond the airport!

 

Are you on the 23rd May Baltic Cruise by any chance?

Edited March 31, 2014 by bevfd

[Buffalo Man]

Thank you DMac1983 and bevfd,

We are going on the 18 day Viking Passage, Copenhagen to NYC as a happy retirement trip for my wife, sister and brother in law. I have been practicing retirement for a couple of years. We are flying from JFK to Copenhagen and have the lay over in Iceland. We will be back for 2 days as part of the cruise.

[bevfd]

Ah, not so bad then! I would definitely grab an airport hotel and crash for a few hours :)

[NowRose]

We had a short stopover at the Iceland airport. Walked off plane down the hall, thru customs (no luggage) had our passports stamped. Down the hall to customs had our passports stamped again. Onto the plane and beside us was "Iron Maidan" on their world tour. That had interesting markings.

 

Airport felt far away from anything. Lots of a bare land around.

[sapper1]

We are flying from JFK to Copenhagen with an 8 hour layover in Iceland. 11:40 pm to 8:30 am. Two questions: does anyone know how early we should check in for the 8:30 flight. Any recommendations on where we should stay? We are traveling with my sister and brother in law.

 

Considering you would have to be at the airport at least two hours before the flight it hardly seems worth getting to a hotel. If you are flying Icelandair economy plus, you will get free lounge access. I don't know if the lounge is open at night but if it is, the lounge is lovely and comfortable. We were through the airport last June and the terminal was undergoing a complete reno. The completed parts were very nice---all very understated Nordic style.

With economy plus, if the seating configuration is three abreast, they do not sell the middle seat. If it is two abreast you get the rear section of business class, in the large seats. Very comfortable either way.

 

We found economy plus on Icelandair to be so much cheaper than just regular economy on Air Canada. If we ever return to Europe Icelandair would be our first choice of airline, even with the layover. We had about four hours there.

[Hertz Von Seasider]

Iceland is fascinating. I would suggest you grab a taxi and agree a tour for a couple of hours. I am sure they can take you to a few sights and get you back in time.

[jtl513]

Iceland is fascinating. I would suggest you grab a taxi and agree a tour for a couple of hours. I am sure they can take you to a few sights and get you back in time.

They are there from 11:40 pm to 8:30 am. And in a few days they'll be back for two full days in Reykjavik on a westbound T-A. Edited March 31, 2014 by jtl513

[joysav]

They are there from 11:40 pm to 8:30 am. And in a few days they'll be back for two full days in Reykjavik on a westbound T-A.

 

And :confused:

.

[sapper1]

And :confused:

.

 

I think the point was in answer to the poster who suggested a taxi tour for a few hours. One hardly takes a taxi tour at midnight after a long flight. At least I wouldn't see the point or have the energy.

[jtl513]

And :confused:

I think the point was in answer to the poster who suggested a taxi tour for a few hours. One hardly takes a taxi tour at midnight after a long flight.

Right! Why take a taxi ride in the middle of the night when they're going to be back there soon for two full days? (This is late August when sunset is around 9 pm and sunrise around 6 am, not mid-summer "midnight sun" days.)

[OldBoot]

(Oops....didn't see the previous posts)

Depending on the time of year, Iceland has many hours of daylight! Perhaps you could enjoy a bit of sightseeing?

 

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Forums mobile app

Edited April 1, 2014 by OldBoot

[agabbymama]

It appears hotels in Iceland do not provide shuttle service from the airport. I did find a pay shuttle service.

 

http://www.airportshuttleiceland.com/

 

It also doesn't appear that there are hotels right at the airport. The closest I see is 2 miles, but you can google or tripadvisor that yourself, as I don't know your likes and dislikes.

 

Is 11:40 pm your flight arrival time? And 8:30 am your departure time? If so figure midnight by the time you leave the airport, then back up around 5:00 am to get ready for you transfer back to the airport, your actual layover time may only be about 5 hours. Only you can answer if it is worth the 120 EURO for 5 hours in a hotel room versus 5 hours in airport.

 

Too bad the timing precludes any activities, but have a great trip whatever you decide to do.

[Buffalo Man]

Thanks everyone for your imput. Happily there is still time to figure all this out. I'm hoping that the flight to Copenhagen from Iceland is considered a continuation of the same trip so we won't have to get there 2 hours before the morning flight.

[jtl513]

I can never sleep well the night before an early flight (too nervous about oversleeping or having a problem on the way to the airport) so I probably wouldn't even get to sleep in a hotel for just 5>6 hours! I would just try to find a dark, quiet corner of the airport to stay in. Are your bags checked all the way through, or do you have to claim them at midnight and check them in again in the morning?

[Randyk47]

I can never sleep well the night before an early flight (too nervous about oversleeping or having a problem on the way to the airport) so I probably wouldn't even get to sleep in a hotel for just 5>6 hours! I would just try to find a dark, quiet corner of the airport to stay in. Are your bags checked all the way through, or do you have to claim them at midnight and check them in again in the morning?

 

Thank goodness I'm not the only one. :o No matter how much I plan, check, recheck, confirm, and reconfirm I'm always anxious the night before we leave. The more complicated the flights the next day the higher the anxiety. If Mrs. K worries about that stuff she hides it well. :) If I asked her she'd probably say "you worrying about enough for two people" or something along those lines. And yes, I probably wouldn't get much sleep with a 5-6 hour layover. Of course I'd also avoid that kind of a layover unless there simply and absolutely was no other way to get from point A to B.

[Buffalo Man]

jtl513, that is another thing I will check on. I am assumming that they will be checked all the way through. This is booked by HAL and our 2 day pre-cruise stay in Copenhagen. Of course I know: never assume. I have e-mailed our PCCthis morning.

[2ptu/000]

You can fly from Newark to Copenhagen nonstop. I would try calling HAL air and see if they can change your flight. Never hurts to try.

[Buffalo Man]

Thanks 2ptu/ooo I will check on that also.

[jtl513]

Thanks 2ptu/ooo I will check on that also.

Our friends are flying from Dulles to Copenhagen Aug 25 on Iceland Air with just a 1h:25m layover at Reykjavik. Flt 644 ETD IAD 8:35p ETA RKV 6:20a, then flt 204 ETD RKV 7:45a ETA CPH 12:45p.

 

That would be better for you MD people than JFK, but where are DS and DBiL located?

.

Edited April 2, 2014 by jtl513

[Randyk47]

Our friends are flying from Dulles to Copenhagen Aug 25 on Iceland Air with just a 1h:25m layover at Reykjavik. Flt 644 ETD IAD 8:35p ETA RKV 6:20a, then flt 204 ETD RKV 7:45a ETA CPH 12:45p.

 

That would be better for you MD people than JFK, but where are DS and DBiL located?

.

 

I was bored this morning waiting for a repairman to show up so I was up on the ITASoftware site double checking the latest on our May flights. For the fun of it I checked just flights originating at Newark Liberty International Airport/John F Kennedy International Airport to Copenhagen. Then I checked all flights leaving the couple of international airports in the DC area (i.e., Dulles, BWI) and I actually lost track of the numerous, and by that I mean literally dozens, of flights and combination of flights listed. I did kind of a "off the top of my head" sort of the flights and have to say there were still more options available than I wanted to count that didn't include any layovers and many, maybe even the majority, flew non-stop direct to Copenhagen. Reminds me why I prefer to book my own flights.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Randyk47

[jtl513]

... and I actually lost track of the numerous, and by that I mean literally dozens, of flights and combination of flights listed.

The problem is that this will be a one-way flight for the OP, and they tend to be expensive ... around $2000 pp, give or take a couple hundred. The IcelandAir flight I described is now selling for just $526.50 pp!! (My friends got it at something like $435 about a month ago.)

 

OP got their flights through HAL, but if HAL can't give them a better schedule it might be worth cancelling those and booking IcelandAir on their own. (I suspect that because the layover is in Reykjavik they are on IcelandAir already.)

Edited April 3, 2014 by jtl513

[Randyk47]

The problem is that this will be a one-way flight for the OP, and they tend to be expensive ... around $2000 pp, give or take a couple hundred. The IcelandAir flight I described is now selling for just $526.50 pp!! (My friends got it at something like $435 about a month ago.)

 

OP got their flights through HAL, but if HAL can't give them a better schedule it might be worth cancelling those and booking IcelandAir on their own.

 

That's true. I still have the search up on another tab and the costs go from $500 to $2,000 +/-. I do see an IcelandAir flight out of Dulles for $573 that doesn't have a significant layover in Iceland, certainly nowhere close to eight hours. Personally I get into this cost versus price analysis. The cost is pretty straight forward, how many dollars does it cost. The price, and I take a broader view, factors in my time and comfort. I can't count the number of times I've opted for the lower cost and paid a price in terms of added physical stress, etc. More than once I've wished I paid a little more, sometimes even a lot more, and not been exhausted physically and mentally. :)

[jtl513]

I just checked IcelandAir out of JFK. They have a flight 612 at 2:10p landing RVK at 11:40p (which I think is what you're on) that connects to a flt 202 leaving at 1:00a ... just a 1:20 layover. That also is selling for $526.50, so the question is, is there room on that flt 202?