The number of flights to/from Iceland the past few years has increased at an incredible pace, thanks to huge expansion from Icelandair and WOW Air. Both airlines operate similar business models, where they're using Iceland as a hub to connect passengers traveling between North America and Europe. Both airlines also offer "free" stopovers in Iceland,…
Continue reading: Wow: Icelandair’s Next US Destination Will Be Tampa!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
My parents flew LH FRA-TPA back home yesterday and they said the flight was completely packed.
very excited! i've flown on both the edelweiss and Lufthansa flights from tampa and both were pretty full. i also recently flew the tpa-lax on DL and it was 100% full! Tampa seems to be an emerging market; i'm glad more airlines are now flying to tampa!
Yay for Tampa since this is my home airport. Hopefully we will see some of those flight deals that Icelandair does for NYC.
Americans don't realize how popular Florida, and especially Disney World, is with European leisure travelers. Does this mean they will have both Orlando and Tampa now?
Air Berlin has had both Miami and Fort Meyers for a while and now they are adding Orlando in preference to many major cities and OneWorld hubs they still don't serve in the US.
Especially for lower-cost leisure airlines that appeal to families, Florida rules.
I've watched the Tampa market grow and I am excited for the future. I was trying to get a large group trip together to fly from the new Miami to Iceland route, but I may just wait this out and fly directly. Pumped!!!
Are Iceland Air (and WOW air) flights really transatlantic? Iceland is in the middle of Atlantic ocean, and most passengers will need to fly a few more hours over the Atlantic ocean to get to their destination in continental Europe.
The same logic applies to Azores Airline (previously SATA) with its hub in Ponta Delgada, Azores (Portugal) in the middle of Atlantic ocean.
Completely random but I thought it was hilarious that the title of your post about Icelandair starts with "wow" 😀 .
Wow sucks. They literally lost every bag on our flight from KEF to LAX this past Monday. Seriously they forgot to load all of the luggage. 2 days later, still no bag.
Orlando is under a 2 hour drive from Tampa, so I'm surprised they don't just keep the MCO route unless there's enough demand in Tampa and Orlando to justify both routes.
Wow base fares are cheap, and their seats are comfy, but 1) they charge for EVERYTHING. My wife and I carefully weighed our carry-on (28Kg limit) and checked bag (44Kg limit) but didn't think to weigh her purse, which we were charged $30 for. 2) their website is tricky and their customer service sucks. They have little flags on their booking site, which I thought were language indicators. If you clicked on the French flag, you got the site in French, if you clicked on the Swedish flag you got the site in Swedish. Apparently I accidentally clicked on the British flag and when I had completed my purchase the amount was listed in Pounds. I didn't pay much attention to it, as I figured the credit card company would do the conversion. When the conversion resulted in an additional $200 per ticket, I complained to WOW. They refused to adjust the bill, and although my credit card company initially adjusted the bill, they ultimately accepted Wow's charge and stuck me for the extra $200. Be careful out there!
Well the NEXT destination will be Philadelphia International (PHL)
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Philadelphia-gets-a-nonstop-flight-to-Iceland.html
Glad Philadelphia is the next destination for them. That will be a nice alternative to AA/BA, LH etc. to get to europe. GO BIRDS!
Just returned from BWI with BA, and Icelandair is introducing kef bwi in 2017, bwi is a good choice as entry to US, its the smallest intl terminal i have ever been in in US so i guess that the CBP waittime is minutes rather than hhr.