Icelandair

[sfwilshire]

I am still trying to find reasonably priced flights for the British Isles in June/July and have been exploring lots of alternate cities to fly out of. For some of them, Icelandair is coming up the cheapest by a pretty significant difference.

Can anybody tell me about this airline? I've never even seen one, let alone flown with them.

Sheila

[tashamen]

They have been around for a long time - I've flown them to Finland a couple of times when they have been much cheaper than anyone else. You will always need to connect in Iceland - and if you havem't ever been there it's worth a stopover of a day or two.

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Sheila,

I first flew them in 1986 when they had just introduced service from the US to 4 European gateways at about 1/2 the price of everyone else. Back then, all flights from the US and Europe landed within two hours of each other at Reykjavik.

Reykjavik Airport was a great place to get icelandic wool products.

It was almost comical back then. They flew old DC-8's from then recently failed Avianca. All airplane signage was in Spanish, then English. The Iceland change was necessary as the plane's did not have the range to go non-stop.

Iceland was a great 3 hour layover, the terrain is not like anything I've seen elsewhere, they say it is more similar to the Luner landscape because of all the reletively miodern lava flows and vulcanism. Reykjavik Airport was also a major US airbase at that time and many dozens of transport, bombrs, and fighters where parked, ready to go attack the Evil Empire of the USSR as needed.

The airline staff was absolutely top notch, as good as the folks at KLM, Luftansa, or SwissAir from my experiences.

I understand that they now have a VERY modern fleet but have retained their Reykjavik hub for all flights.

Everyone I know who has taken them was equally happy.

I highly recommend them.

John

[IreneLF]

on my first trip to Europe, I flew them as they were the cheapest and I thought it would be great to spend a couple of nights in Iceland, tour the island a bit, and watch the sun NEVER SET. I was there in early July and could read a newspaper outdoors at 2 AM, same as if it were midday. It was a weird experience and it never did go below the horizon.

Anyway, Sheila, the airline was fine back then, the people nice, the countryside fascinating - like the moon in places - and in short, the airline has been small, but reliable for many years. All else being equal, I'd take it; it'd be nice if you could fit in a night or 2 on the island as well.
Irene

[IreneLF]

I learned on the bus ride to the hotel that our astronauts had trained there in preparation for the moonwalk because the landscape was so similar!

[grest]

My trip on Icelandair was in 1973, from NY to Iceland to Luxembourg...they served caviar on the plane!
Connie

[Carolinian]

Originally Posted by grest

My trip on Icelandair was in 1973, from NY to Iceland to Luxembourg...they served caviar on the plane!
Connie

Before Europe had open skies, Luxembourg was the only place they flew to in Europe. It was the only country with no national airline that flew trans-Atlantic to object to their coming in. Since they can now fly all over Europe, they have dropped Luxembourg as a destination.

[scotlass]

We flew Icelandair a couple of years ago to Glasgow, Scotland, our third time using this airline. Until recently, they had the shortest and easiest way to get there from Boston. (Now flyglobespan has direct flights). The flights were fine, food was so-so. The one thing I remember was checking in at Reykjavik and being herded into a small area with all other passengers and no seats and having to wait a long time before they actually opened the doors of the plane. I kept thinking of how disorganized they were. We also experienced a very long stopover, 4 hours, and not much to do after looking at the expensive items in the airport shops. I have read that long stopovers are the norm, particularly coming back from Europe.

The first time we flew them was several years ago and we did the 1-day stopover and took a tour of the island. I can see why the astronauts trained there. It was fascinating and we were very glad we did it.

[sfwilshire]

Thanks for mentioning flyglobespan. I never heard of them.

Boston is one of the cities I considered flying out of and they are cheap from there to Glasgow. More expensive coming back three weeks later, but we might fly into Glasgow and out of a different airport. Certainly one more option to consider.

Would the Economy No Frills be like being in a cattle car?

Thanks so much.

Sheila

[scotlass]

Sorry, I don't know much about them except what's on their website and that they are also flying direct from Boston into Knock in West Ireland.

[Larry]

We flew to Paris on icelandair a couple of years ago and thought it was one of the best airlines we have ever flown on. Changed plans in rejkevik Iceland and then had a smooth connection to Paris. Best looking stewardesses I have seen in the past 30 years of flying and service was oustanding. Flew during June and price was around $500 per ticket from NY roundtrip which was about half the price of any other airline at the time. Would definetly fly with them again