Iceland is a popular vacation destination for those looking for cold temperatures and adventure travel. While a lot of airlines fly there seasonally for summer, service for the rest of the year is more limited, with Icelandair of course being the dominant carrier.
Continue reading: Redeeming Miles On Icelandair: What Are The Best Options To Score A Deal?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Please save your Alaska and jetBlue points for other partners.
"Icelandair isn’t the most exciting carrier on earth"... that's an understatement. It's a low-cost carrier, no food, no beverages, other than the Geneva Convention-mandated bottle of water at boarding. Business is a recliner at best, no lie-flat.
Iceland is a worth a visit; just take American (DFW), Delta (JFK, BOS), United (EWR, ORD, IAD), or Alaska (SEA, starting may 2026) metal to get there, often a seasonal service.
And, if you value comfort and well-being, for the love of...do not do the stop at KEF to get to Europe. It's hellish, limited restrooms, relative chaos there during those intense turnovers.
how are you prepping for the bilt announcement today? Do you have your comments pre-copy/pasted for maximum efficiency?? I'm dying to know
Meh...I am perfectly satisfied with my 1.24 cpp jetblue redemption at this point. Gotta burn them on something.
Ed, I'd much rather use jetBlue points on B6 Mint lie-flat nonstop to Europe (LHR, CDG, AMS, DUB, etc.), easily redeeming for 1.24 cpp or more, over Icelandair recliners and the grueling stopover at KEF.
Harold, 2ish hours to go... did you watch Ankur's odd video emailed out this morning? Not details. Just bumpin' bass and a focus on 'neighborhood' partnership. Looking good... /s
I've had decent luck with their bidding for an upgrade system, assuming that's still an option today. Book economy and then closer to departure, you get the option to bid for an upgrade. The little indicator tool tells you your chance of success based on your bid. I've never gone that high (somewhere in the middle of the little chart with the needle - I assume they have a strong incentive to push you higher) and have been successful with even two seats. Total cost was below that of paying outright for Saga at the time of booking.
Sorry Ben, but why would anyone from US fly Iceland Air especially on points? Its is one of the shittiest airline that for some reason stays under the radar. Their planes are like cattle class, too hot, no food, nickel and dime everything, they are more likely to misplace your luggage.
1990, sure, I would also rather, if that fit my needs, which it doesn't in this case (returning to US from Iceland). Plenty of other options to get to Europe, sick of sitting on a pile of jetblue points. Not every redemption needs to be about max value; happy just to save some cash on this trip.
@1990 all the Mint award seats to Europe seem to be in the 300k+ point range one way, whereas IcelandAir "business class" tickets are about 109k. The latter is a rotten deal for IcelandAir's fake business class, but 500,000 points for Mint is at least as bad. Other carriers frequently have lie-flat business available for under 100k points.
Ben, great article.
what are the US gateways for Icelandic Air?
Any tips for LAX based fliers? Seams like I’ll need to both stopover in Iceland on the way back from Europe and US east coast as well got maximum comfort.
I can’t handle narrowbody transcons after a TATL.
Agreed...JB doesn't have the best options at this point. Iceland is beautiful, it's priced for a lesser business class seat and there is a ton of availability, even during the peak travel season there. For the short flight from the Northeast I think it's a good use of JB points...today at least 🙂
FYI - a small clarification - AA doesn’t fly to Iceland from DFW (or from anywhere actually) for 5+ years.