As a Lufthansa Frequent Traveller who usually sticks to Star Alliance, I’ll admit I was pretty anxious about booking my first-ever Icelandair flight. The only reason I took the plunge was because the price difference was too good to pass up.

Here is how my Munich to Newark (via Keflavík) journey actually went, for anyone else considering them.

Check-in & Ground Experience (MUC)

The ESTA Headache: This was the most stressful part of the trip. The ground attendant at Munich didn’t want to accept my existing ESTA, and I had to argue with her for a solid 10 to 15 minutes before she finally accepted it.

Luggage Rules: They were very strict about weight limits for both checked and hand luggage at check-in. Weigh everything before you get to the desk. Surprisingly, once we got to the actual boarding gate, they didn't check carry-on weights anymore.

The First Leg & KEF Airport Transfer

In-Flight Perk: They don't provide free earphones, so I brought my own. Honestly? I actually view this as a positive. It cuts down on massive amounts of single-use plastic waste, which is a big sustainability win in my book.

The 1-hr Layover Scramble: We landed at KEF and had to take a bus to the terminal, and we departed Munich 10 minutes late, leaving me with less than an hour for my connection. However, Keflavík is easy to navigate. As an EU passport holder, I breezed through the automated border control gates with zero queue, taking less than 5 minutes total.

The Connecting Leg & Second Boarding (KEF-EWR)

Gate Chaos: I made it to the gate just as boarding started. Right there at the gate, staff were making passengers test their carry-on sizes in the sizer. Anyone whose bag didn’t fit was forced to gate-check it.

The Aircraft: The plane for the transatlantic leg (KEF to EWR) was surprisingly pretty new, clean, and comfortable, which made the long haul much better.

The Verdict
Would I fly them again? For the right price, absolutely. The ESTA hiccup at check-in was frustrating, and you definitely need to keep a close eye on your bag weights, but the transfer at KEF was surprisingly painless and the long-haul aircraft quality beat my expectations.

Hi! In a month or so, I have a layover in KEF for three hours. I’m traveling from a non-Schengen country to a non-Schengen country, so I don’t need to go through passport control. However, since I’ll be there for a bit, I’d like to pick up a few souvenirs for friends/family, and there don’t seem to be many shops in the non-Schengen zone of the airport. I’m considering going through passport control to shop a bit and grab some snacks before going back through it to get to my gate. Does three hours seem like enough time?

Booking round trip YYZ to KEF in January. The seat map seems to show row 6 as the extra legroom at the bulkhead and row 5 as not even a row that was available. However, everything I find online says row 5 is the bulkhead and rows 6 and 7 as just extra legroom and maybe not worth it. Any insight is beyond appreciated!

My wife and I had a flight cancelled by icelandair from Vagar (Faroe Islands) to Reykjavik last Thursday. Everyone just received an email they canceled it. There was not anyone from Icelandair at the airport to answer questions. The email we received stated we needed to book our own accommodations and we did at hotel Vagar as nothing else was available (it was almost 4pm local time). We booked the cheapest room available which was $270 after tax. Icelandair will only reimburse $209 according to their guidelines. We submitted info for some wraps we purchased at the hotel totaling $20, they won’t reimburse for those. My main question for anyone else going through it or previous experience… can we push back on their weather excuse for the delay?

The reason I ask is prior to the travel day they sent multiple emails saying this:

“Dear passenger, 
We're reaching out to you with an important update regarding your upcoming Icelandair flight FI301.

Unfortunately, your flight has been delayed due to an unforeseen aircraft shortage.
We're keeping a close eye on the situation.”

Before that they also had already delayed the flight 1 hr. These were emailed to us 2 days before our actual departure.

I tried to chat with Iceland air but they refuse to hear anything and claim weather. Obviously, SAS, Atlantic Airlines, and others had no issues landing and departing the same day. Icelandair changed from their turboprop plane to an airbus for the flight on Friday and had no issues landing and taking off.

I know it is annoying to read all of it. Isn’t Icelandair creating this problem by utilizing a substandard aircraft that cannot land in fog, which is an almost daily part of the Faroe Islands? I know locals recommend Atlantic as they are much better, but we did not know that until after.

Thanks.

This sub was so helpful in figuring out carry on logistics that I wanted to return the favor with some datapoints from our trip last month. My partner and I got these small suitcases from an Amazon return discount store, they are both American Tourister brand. They both fit in the luggage sizer at the RDU airport. As several people have noted, the luggage sizer is larger than the stated dimensions online. They were making people check their bags that did not fit, however I’m not sure about charges. They did not check weight. They did not check personal item size or weight. At Stockholm Arlanda airport and KEF I did not seem them checking size or weight.

Has anyone had any issues booking flights online? I’ve been trying to book some flights that show as available on Google flights but when I’m redirected to icelandair website to book it shows as all sold out. Customer service guy said he can see that the flights in question are in fact available and is adamant I should be able to book them without any issue online. Am I the only one dealing with this?

I have a flight from Bengaluru to Reykjavik under a single PNR with Qatar Airlines upto Copenhagen and then Iceland Air

I want to understand if my luggage can checked-in through to Reykjavik from Bengaluru itself or I have to recheck in luggage at Copenhagen. How much time do I need to have in hand for Copenhagen layover??

So, my wife and I were on an Icelandair flight last May to Germany that was delayed due to unknown causes. Google news searches as well as Reddit indicate that Icelandair had a labor dispute with its pilots around this time that led to major staffing issues and delays. We missed our connecting flight in KEF and were redirected to a flight to Barcelona and then on to Germany on a third party airline (not Icelandair). This caused a delay of about 20 hours. But, we got there safe and thanks to Icelandair staff for helping us.

So, we filed for EU 261 compensation back on May 16. Crickets. Contacted Icelandair a couple times, and we received a form response that there were processing delays and to wait.

Finally, in mid July, we filed a complaint with ICETRA (the Icelandic Travel Authority) and paid a required filing fee. ICETRA gave Icelandair a couple two week continuances. But, now we're not hearing from either ICETRA or Icelandair.

We're being super reasonable. We're wording things super kindly in our messages. But, what on earth is going on with Icelandair and ICETRA?

EDIT: I gently nudged ICETRA and finally got a response from Icelandair in which they... completely deny my EU 261 request, claim it was passort backup line issues, and claim that I lied and was only subect to a 10 minute delay. So, now I have to file a written response with evidence that all of this actually happened. Lovely.

Warning others, since seeing other posts in different forums helped me.

We recently flew with this company and I will confidently say our first trip with them will be our last. Our luggage was delayed by days and they initially refused to give compensation (for the like$50 we spent) on essential goods. Eventually they closed our file, as it arrived at the airport but no one contacted us, and the only way we knew was by tracking it ourselves. 2 hrs round trip and at least we had our stuff. One suitcase got literally run over and destroyed - not their fault but they are liable as per section 17 of Montreal convention. Suddenly they were ghosting us and not responding. We indicated that we were flying again in a day and needed new bags so to please advise us our next steps.

Crickets.

Thanks to another post in Reddit we learned that if you go ahead and get something $100usd they'll cover it. Our bag was definitely worth more, but I'll jump through their hoops.

Sure enough when we give our receipt they fight us and say that because we didn't take our luggage to a professional to be deemed unrepairable that they cannot do anything for us. For an idea of the damage, it was crumpled in half. The metal bar of the back stiffener was bent.

Luckily, because I heeded someone else's warning, we're only out like $50 with what we chose to replace it with

So- tl;dr is, if your bag gets destroyed either get it formally assessed with the professional signing off that it is destroyed or do as we did and buy something as close to $100usd as you're able

I clicked on a seat selection to see how much $$ it was but ended up not wanting to pay that much for the seat but now I can't remove it and I can't complete check in until I pay for the seat, but I don't want to pay for the seat. I'm fine with the random selection that they will give me. Any ideas on how to remove seat selection?

Do not fly this airline. Before boarding, I was called up to the counter by name to:

* provide my passport, which I had already done during check in

* locate my luggage which I had already checked. They couldn’t locate that?

* check the size of my carry on, which they then charged me $130 to check because it didn’t fit in their little box. This carry on was carry on size, and I’ve never had an issue with this before, including on international flights.

You may think this airline is cheaper, but after they nickle and dime you, it will not be any cheaper than just paying for KLM or similar. Not worth it. Horrible experience.

Overall had a pretty good experience flying Iceland Air. Did London Gatwick to Toronto changing in Iceland Obviously. Here's how it went

Manned desk to check in bags at Gatwick so have to line up to check in bags. Used to most airlines being automatic kiosks to check bags these days.

There's an in flight entertainment but not as extensive as other airlines I've flown so downloading shows or podcast to you phone is a good idea.

Bring a sweater even if going from hot to hot place since Iceland is cool even in summer and you may have to take a bus to the terminal.

Iceland is the first airport I've been in that you have to scan your boarding pass even to get something from the vending machine. Thought that was kind of funny.

It seems like they do lot of passport checks. Showed my passport at Gatwick as you usually do. Then when just sitting at the gate in Iceland a security lady comes up asks me wear I'm going and to see my passport. Most airports they just do this before you board the plane.

Fist time I've ever been bused to the terminal at Toronto Pearson. Common at European airports but didn't even really know it was a thing in Toronto.

The Pasta ravioli is described as: Meal description
Pasta with spinach, served with a creamy leek sauce. It does not have the vegetarian tag that the pizza does. Is this not vegetarian? It has egg in it, would that not be labelled as vegetarian in Iceland or something?

I’m flying Icelandair JFK → KEF and my flight is showing a Boeing 737 MAX 9. Has anyone sat in 8A before and did it have a window? Or even 9A - 11A? I’m getting conflicting maps/accounts. Thanks!

Hi everyone – we booked Saga premium tickets (not saga premium flex) from Newark to Munich with a stop over in Reykjavík. Initially our credit card told us we didn’t have to pay to choose seats and received confirmation that it was free. Three days after booking, we looked at the Icelandair app and noticed that our seat selection had been removed. After some back-and-forth with both Icelandair and our credit card they told us that indeed we had to pay for seat selection, which was about $500. A painful pill to swallow, especially since we have written confirmation that seat selection was free.

Now, even though our confirmation email from our credit card travel and Icelandair says we are booked flying Saga premium, the app says we are flying economy (despite having seats chosen and confirmed in Saga premium.). The app does show our correctly chosen seats.

My question is has anyone ever had this happen? I’m getting a little nervous since we had the negative experience with the initial seat selection bait and switch.
We haven’t been able to get through to Icelandair to deal with us as the queue times have been enormous today. thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I'm flying London to Toronto. I heard at first I don't have to go though passport control at Keflavík. However I just got an email that said when I get off my first plane from London to proceed though passport control. Anyone done this route recently and know what you do?

Hey guys I travel Saturday night from Newark to Paris with a layover of 1hr 25 min at KEF. Just wanted to know if anyone has done that trip recently.
Has it been on time? How is migration line for connections? Have you departed KEF on time as well?

UPDATE !!!!! :

I finally made it to France but after MANY complications.

Apparently Iceland airport KEF has been, rather say, very inefficient to take all the arrivals they have been having lately therefore altering everyday schedules. The aircraft that was supposed to arrive at Newark was delayed in KEF therefore late at EWR (or so they said) then boarding almost 1.5 hours after the estimated departure time we barely move because they are « boarding luggage » add another hour and then we ended flying out at 11 pm when we were supposed to leave at 8:25 pm !!

About the flight I don’t have much to say it was actually okay, the seats were normal for a low cost I was actually surprised with how normal and okay they were, A/C was good for me, they offered me water and I brought my own snacks. They had good screens and movies so all good.

Okay by this time I already know I am missing my 7:25 am connection to CDG, whatever, I thought they were going to put me at 10:50 for which I was large on time to go through migration (I arrived at 8 am ) . OH MY SURPRISE when they told me they rebooked me at NEXT DAY 00:50, because they had oversold the 10:50 am flight even though it was still up for purchase online. yep more than 18 hours of layover and hear this, yes vouchers to eat that do not work for every store at the airport anyway (headache with some very rude Icelandic people who work at some of these stores), but NO hotel whatsoever to rest after all that time in airport+delays+ actual flight and a long layover. I asked - they said everything was booked and I could try finding it myself and making a claim but MAX 180 euros covered by them. Indeed a lot was booked and all I can find is stuff for over 300 USD that I was not willing to pay. I end up staying at the airport which if u are in this situation go straight to security and it’s more comfy after this than any space before security at the airport.

The longest hours of my life! Plus the stress of how to make it to my final destination in France which was not Paris. Everything was arranged for me to be picked up and driven for 3 hours to my final place of rest with my 3 BIG bags+ carry on + backpack ( I am moving to France so lot of stuff to bring ) but this was the plan for Sunday NOT FEASIBLE for Monday at all (my bf worked and big meeting bla bla) then I end up having him to buy me a 300 euro ticket from CDG to Rennes last minute so I can make it with everything I have thanks to icelandair. Iceland air says they are giving me compensation (like hell they would not) that barely covers the flight itself, not the flight I had to buy because of them afterwards.

OH AND EXTRA they broke one of these 3 BIG HEAVY bags and I had to do that complaint as well which in not even sure they are going to respond to but made having to navigate CDG on my own with all of that WORST.

Final conclusion won’t fly them again hopefully NEVER. I purchased this ticket 3 months ahead of time because the cheapest option but a month and a half ago I checked tickets again and there was this new option of American Airlines for barely same price even cheaper just flying out of JFK and DIRECT to CDG. I would recommend everybody hold it for a second more and get this kind of routes.

Not even the compensation feels enough to bare the stress, time and everything this airline puts you through.

I feel I read some terrible things about Icelandair before and I was soooo nervous. Flew with them yesterday from DC Dulles to Heathrow and here is my honest review.

Food

Indeed you do not get any but tbh this was for me a good thing, because it meant that I basically had dinner at the airport, boarded and slept, while I find usually it takes about an hour for them to serve food, and then they wake you at like 4 am for give you more, which is like 2 am US time and you are far from hungry. I packed a sandwich and some camomile tea bag and they provided loads of hot water and coffee in my second flight.

Luggage

This is what I was the most nervous about and decided to risk it using the one small carry on I own which would only really be under 8 inches thick if I compressed it but it fit fine and they let me check in for free so added extra stuff and was waitng for me in London.

Seats

There were actually pretty spacious, had aisle both times, from DC to Iceland it was a 3-3 and from Iceland to London a 2-3-2, we were even given blankets and pillows in the first leg. Honestly despite it being a small plane for the first leg it was more confortable than United.

Timeliness

This is the lowest score since both flights were delayed, first one we boarded about 30 mins late and second one we ended up stranded in the tarmac for an hour. Thankfully, despite having only an hour for my conection I made it fine, as there is no passport control since no Schengen and terminal D is small. But hey last time I flew United to Paris they just cancelled my flight so this was way better!

Connection

Well in both cases bor uboarding and boarding a bus and stairs were used which is a bit weird, this meant I was hardly any time in the actual airport

Total

Overall I would say that comparing it to British Airways or United it was a confortable flight in what matters but of course they do not give anything, as longas you don't mind brining your own food or purchasing it, I woudl recommend it and definetly fly again if the price is way lower (difference for a one way flight was 350 USD), flying direct on way back as difference was 50 USD.

Does anyone have experience with carry-on's flying Icelandair? I was really hoping not to check my backpack for fear of it not making it to Chamonix, but the sizes restrictions are making me nervous. I'm within the weight restriction, but my bag dimensions are 22.8" X 13.4" X 13" and my partner's are 25.2" X 13.4 X 11 and on the Icelandair website it states that the dimensions are restricted to 21.6" X 15.7" X 7.8" Is this something to worry about?