It feels like every few years, ANOTHER budget airline introduces even cheaper flights to Europe, undercutting the other budget airlines. After much research, we decided to use some miles and travel round trip to Europe in September. Because we are an Alaska Air credit card holder, one of the partner airlines happens to be Icelandair. I hadn’t heard much about the airline, but after some reviews from friends saying it was decent, we booked.
The Good
- The plan itself was great. Taking people’s advice, we brought our own food. Each seat has a TV screen filled with TV shows and movies. I was entertained my whole round trip!
The Bad
- Because we booked using miles, we weren’t given the option to choose our seats. When we got to the airport, we were then assigned two seats that weren’t even next to each other. Due to a full flight, we had to fly 9 hours sitting by strangers.
- Keflavik International Airport is one of the smallest and most crowded airports. They clearly weren’t prepared for the rapid increase in tourism and amount of flights passing through Iceland on the way to Europe. We felt like cattle being herded everywhere with no real direction.
- Since the airport is SO SMALL, not all the planes have a spot at the airport. A lot of them stop on the tarmac. We had to load onto buses that took us out to the plane.
The Ugly
- Due to the carry on size regulations, most people have to check bags. When leaving from Paris, we had to wait in a 1.5 hour long line to drop our bags. The baggage counter didn’t open until a certain time. It was one of the most inconvenient processes. Icelandair should take a page out of Alaska Airlines baggage process.
What I learned
- If I book using miles again, call the airline to secure seats
- Luckily we arrived early enough, but really make sure to arrive 2+ hours before if you are checking in bags internationally.
- Not much you can do about the Keflavik airport process, just remain calm it will all be ok.
Have you flown Icelandair? What was your experience? Any tips for me?
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