Review: Iceland Saga Class 757-200 Gothenburg To Reykjavik

Firstly, I must implore you, under no circumstance should you fly with Icelandair. In my 23 years of life, I have never suffered such indignity, discourtasy, and injustice. And I am about to tell you why.

Not only is their staff rude and happy to disregard what they deem to be an insignificant woman, but they simply refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes. In fact, I might add that they have the gall to blame their clearly undervalued customers for, once again, their mistakes.

I am a responsible college student working towards medical school, I work in the surgery department at my local hospital, and I used to pay my way through college by working at coffee shops and cafes. I am no stranger to kindness, hard work, and customer service. So believe me when I say Icelandair has zero understanding of the way America works.

I bought a ticket from Denver to London flying via Icelandair for myself and my best friend. That ticket was my Christmas present to her, so this trip meant a lot to us. However, unfortunately on the day of departure, the Denver airport was suffering delays across the board due to high winds. So when my connecting flight was delayed for three hours, I got to the airport with scarcely an hour before my Icelandair departure time.

But luckily my friend and I managed to check in and run to the assigned gate ten minutes before departure. But instead of finding someone waiting for the two passengers that were sweating with effort to make that flight, the doors had been closed early and the gate had been abandoned. I tried everything in my power to get the attention of any gate attendant to receive assistance but I was turned away by every individual. While even going as far as to knock on the gate door, it wasn’t until the plane was backing out of the gate (five minutes prior to the scheduled departure time) that two women representing Icelandair appeared from the gate door. I can’t say why one of them couldn’t have stayed at the gate desk to offer help to people in need but regardless, they flat out refused to help me when I asked about our flight, and told me to call Iceland directly before they walked away.

I find it hard to believe that the flight put so much importance on leaving early that they left two customers, who were clearly on their way (as we had checked in) but that is exactly what happened. Perhaps it is within the rights of airline staff to make such decisions, however, it is in bad faith and any airline would be happy to reschedule their forgotten customers on the next available flight (especially when taking the wind-related delays into consideration). Any airline aside from Icelandair actually.

I called Icelandair, waited an hour to get a hold of a representative, only to be told that it was my fault for missing my flight. I politely argued that not only were there severe delays at the Denver airport, but the plane left early. And instead of an apology, or an offer for the next flight, I was told it is a requirement to check in at the gate an hour early. I then replied by saying we checked in to the airport an hour early, and it doesn’t say on my ticket, your website, or in my email confirmation to be at the gate an hour early. I suppose the customer representative realized they were conveying empty information to defend themselves against blame, and rebutted with “It is common sense to be on time for your flight.”. I was so shocked that I immediately asked to talk with a supervisor. But not much to my surprise, there was no supervisor present. But I suppose in an effort to cover for their mistake, I was put on hold and then offered the next flight to London….if I would pay an extra $1,200 per ticket. And she made sure to cut me off by saying “that is all they can do” for me. I of course refused and asked to be compensated if they could not get me on another flight without fee. Of course, they would not refund me for my already purchased tickets at all and told me to contact the carrier for my connecting flight which had been delayed for three hours since it was their fault I missed the plane, not theirs.

Once that conversation was over, and I knew I wasn’t making it for my trip to London, I prioritized getting home instead. I had to find lodgings for the night and pay for another flight home. So then on top of losing all my money for a flight I couldn’t get, my hotels I didn’t stay at, my reservations I missed, my theater tickets that went to waste, the car that didn’t get used, the time off work I had to take (that’s not easy to get when you work in surgery), and more...my friend and I forked out more money just to get home safely.

Of course I didn’t drop this issue, however, and after getting home and contacting my connecting flight carrier, I called Icelandair again. I had to wait an hour on the phone that time as well, so I think I must not be the only one having issues if its an hour wait time. This time I was told, they could still do nothing. So I brought up the plane leaving early again and was suddenly put on hold...again. It seems like when they think they could possibly get caught in their wrong-doings, they frantically look for a way around it by putting people on hold and looking for a terrible solution. I was then told I could receive an offer to be refunded for “airport taxes” and that “it wasn’t much” plus it would take 3-5 weeks, and I’d have to file the claim on my own via their website. Knowing I wasn’t going to get anywhere I finally gave up in utter defeat and exhaustion. I know life isn’t fair sometimes but I stood outside holding my phone knowing I had just been wronged.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review, I know it is quite the story. But I truly feel the need to inform people of the stance Icelandair takes towards customer service. Please learn from my experience. I know that any other airline such as Southwest, United, JetBlue, American, Delta, etcetera would have gladly helped or guided their customers through such a traumatic event. I honestly don’t know how this airline is still in business if they treat everyone the way they treated me. But what I do know is that I am never offering my business to these people again, and I don’t think you should either.

@omgstfualready

Sorry but no, not every comment here is negative due to trolls and haters. Not everyone has to agree or liek the same things, and are allowed to express a dissenting viewpoint. Besides, calling people trolls and haters is a sign not being able to come up with a decent counter argument. If anything, most of the people using thr phrases trolls and haters seem to be the think-skinned snowflakes who are the product of coddled, helicoptered "everyone is a winner!" parenting.

My first international flight and only my second flight at the time was on Icelandic Loftleidir in 1972. I was 18. My round trip ticket from NY to Luxemburg, good for one year, in economy, was $300. During the stopover in Reykjavik I left the plane and walked across the tarmac to the little terminal and it was the first time I'd seen snow/ice. I was from Florida. The airline back then was a low cost way to get to Europe and was kinda thought of as the hippie airline. I was also thin, tall and blond. I'm no longer thin or blonde. Thanks for the memories.