Review: Icelandair Saga Business Class Boeing 737 MAX (JFK-KEF)

To kick off my Iceland to The Residence via Cambodia trip, I flew Icelandair’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 Saga Class on the 4hr40min flight from New York (JFK) to Keflavik (KEF). I hadn’t flown Icelandair in over a decade, so I was looking forward to seeing what the carrier’s product is like on its latest generation aircraft.

I think the first thing worth emphasizing is that Icelandair’s premium cabin is called Saga Class (or Saga Premium), and it’s somewhere between premium economy and business class. As you can see, I referred to the product as “Saga Business Class” in the title, but to be honest, that’s simply because people are searching “Icelandair business class” online, even though Icelandair doesn’t really have a business class. Furthermore, when you go to Google Flights, you’ll see Saga Class listed in business class searches.

Think of Icelandair Saga Class as being sort of like a great premium economy product. While seats are comparable to domestic first class within the United States, there’s a lot to like about the experience, from the food and drink selection, to the free Wi-Fi, to the amenities. While I prefer to avoid non-flat beds on overnight flights when possible, all-in-all, I thought flying with Icelandair represented a great value, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.

How I booked my Icelandair Saga Class ticket

Unfortunately there aren’t great ways to redeem points for Icelandair Saga Class. Fortunately Icelandair is known for its great revenue fares, with two things standing out:

• One-way fares are typically very attractive, which isn’t otherwise usually the case with major carriers across the Atlantic
• Whether traveling one-way or roundtrip, the airline allows a free stopover in Iceland, so this is a handy way to essentially visit two destinations for the price of one, since you can stop in Iceland while traveling between the United States and rest of Europe

In my case, I paid $1,116.24 to book the following itinerary in Saga Class:

10/24 FI618 New York to Keflavik departing 11:10PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)
10/31 FI450 Keflavik to London departing 7:35AM arriving 10:50AM

To expand on that a bit, I actually redeemed Chase points, at the rate of 1.5 cents each toward that ticket (a redemption option that’s being phased out), meaning I paid around 74,000 points. I then credited the flights to Alaska Atmos Rewards, so I earned quite a few points from this ticket.

Let me mention that ideally my strategy with booking Icelandair would be to fly westbound rather than eastbound, in order to avoid redeyes. If you originate in Northern Europe, like Copenhagen (CPH) or Stockholm (ARN), you’ll often find the most attractive cash fares.

Icelandair Saga Class lounge & boarding

Earlier in the day, I had flown from Miami to New York on American, and then connected to Icelandair. For what it’s worth, I booked Ford on the same routing, but on Delta the entire way, so he could fly Delta One on the 767 from New York to Keflavik. There was very cheap award availability through Flying Blue, and I wanted him to at least be comfortable, while I review something new (keeping a happy husband and happy blog readers often doesn’t go hand-in-hand). 😉

Anyway, Icelandair departs from Terminal 7 at New York JFK. I have such memories of this terminal from my younger years, though it’ll be torn down in the near future, as part of the airport’s redevelopment. Nowadays the terminal has a pretty random collection of airlines, which don’t otherwise fit in other terminals, for whatever reason.

The primary lounge in the terminal is the Horizons T7 Lounge, which acts as the contract lounge for most airlines (yet oddly isn’t open to Priority Pass, despite not being crowded). This is the former British Airways Lounge (before the airline co-located with American at T8), though at this point, much of the lounge has been roped off.

Here’s what’s interesting — I didn’t think my ticket was actually supposed to get me lounge access in New York. Icelandair overhauled its fare types a while back, and nowadays only Saga Premium Flex tickets offer lounge access outside of Icelandair’s hub. However, when I presented my boarding pass, I was scanned in and admitted, so… I’ll take it!

I won’t be reviewing the lounge in detail, since it’ll be closed soon enough, with the terminal redevelopment. It’s a perfectly pleasant space, and thanks to the lack of traffic at T7, it at least remains nice and empty.

The lounge had a food and drink selection that’s maybe a little bit better than you’d typically expect in a contract lounge, but not by much.

Anyway, my Icelandair flight was departing from gate three, just a short walk from the lounge. Boarding was scheduled for 10:45PM, just 25 minutes before departure. That might not sound like much time, but Icelandair plans tight turns in the United States, often around an hour, so I’d say that boarding time is actually pretty realistic, rather than overly aspirational.

Boarding started right on schedule, with Saga Class passengers being invited to board first…

Icelandair 737 MAX Saga Class cabin & seats

I boarded through the forward left door (as you’d expect on a 737 MAX), and turned right into the cabin. Icelandair’s Boeing 737 MAX 8s are equipped with 160 seats, including 16 Saga Class seats, plus 144 economy class seats. On the surface, the plane’s cabin should look somewhat similar to what you might be used to on a domestic flight within the United States.

The Saga Class cabin is spread across four rows, in a 2-2 configuration.

Icelandair’s seats are from Aviointeriors Andromeda, and feature 40″ of pitch, 20.5″ of width, and 5″ of recline, so they’re a bit larger and more spacious than you’d typically find in domestic first class within the United States, where 36-38″ of pitch is the norm. That being said, this extra pitch doesn’t entirely translate to more legroom, as the seats also just feel a bit “thicker,” and that takes up space.

I assigned myself seat 4F, the window seat in the last row on the right side. Note that there’s not a proper bulkhead between the two cabins — instead, there’s a divider above the headrests, and then a curtain that is used during the flight.

Each Saga Class seat has a 10.4″ touchscreen seat back monitor, with audio and video on demand. There’s also USB-A charging plus a headphone jack underneath the monitor.

I appreciate how each seat has a foot rest bar. This isn’t a huge deal, but I do find it’s easier to get cozy when trying to sleep if you can rest your feet on this.

The tray table extends from the side of the seat (the far armrest), and can be folded over in half, and it’s pretty typical for a 737 premium cabin.

Each seat also has an AC power outlet at the far side of the seat, for keeping electronics charged during the flight.

The center console has a small extra tray that can be extended, and also has headphone jacks.

Fortunately the overhead console has individual air nozzles, making it easy to stay cool on the flight. Speaking of which, the plane has the standard updated Boeing interiors, including with the larger overhead bins, so people shouldn’t have much trouble finding space for their bags.

All-in-all, the Saga Class hard product was exactly what I was expecting. Personally, I’d prefer to avoid this on redeye flights, since I do what I can to get a flat bed. However, for such a short flight, and given the purposes of this trip, this product was perfect. I’d say it’s a step up from your typical premium economy, but obviously not in any way comparable to your typical long haul business class.

Icelandair 737 MAX Saga Class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Icelandair’s 737 MAXs have audio and video on demand via seat back monitors, plus Wi-Fi, so let’s go over that. Each Saga Class seat has a 10.4″ monitor, which worked from boarding until deplaning (though using the system required watching a really long ad).

The entertainment system has movies, TV shows, music, games, a map feature, and more.

It was nice to have a seat back entertainment system, and I’d say the selection was solid, but not huge. For example, there were a total of 66 movies, while there were a total of 231 TV shows (though many were just very short clips about Iceland), and there were 534 music albums.

Of course my favorite entertainment system feature is always the map, so that’s what I had on for much of the flight.

Icelandair also offers Viasat Wi-Fi on its 737 MAXs, which is pretty tough to beat. If you’re stuck paying for this, it’s super pricey, at €24. However, fortunately Saga Class customers receive free Wi-Fi.

I could connect just by entering my booking reference and last name. Connectivity was available for the entire flight, with no data limits, and Saga Class customers can even connect on two devices.

Getting free Wi-Fi is always awesome, and I used that for a couple of hours of the flight.

Icelandair Saga Class amenities

Waiting at my seat upon boarding were a pillow and blanket, which were pretty cozy. Both the pillow and blanket were on the small side, but helped with getting comfortable.

Also waiting at each seat was a colorful amenity kit, with socks, eyeshades, a dental kit, earplugs, lip balm, and hand cream. I thought it was a creative and colorful kit, and quite well stocked, especially for such a short flight.

There was also a bottle of Icelandic water waiting at each seat. That’s a nice touch, given that we were originating at an outstation.

During boarding, headphones were distributed. Icelandair doesn’t have bluetooth audio on its 737 MAXs, so these come in handy, and they were pretty good quality, with a noise cancelling feature.

The menu and drink list were also distributed, and they felt quite substantial.

Toward the end of the boarding process, pre-departure drinks were offered, with the choice of sparkling wine or water. I chose the former, which was served in a plastic cup.

Icelandair 737 MAX departure from New York

The boarding process was pretty efficient, and I was amazed by how the full flight was, despite traveling in the off season. Economy seemed to be mostly full, while Saga Class had 15 of the 16 seats taken.

I thought I had lucked out with an empty seat next to me, but the last person to board took that seat. The funny thing is that the seat map indicated that the seat next to me was empty while the seat across the aisle was occupied, but the opposite ended up being the case. So my theory is he took the wrong aisle seat, and the crew didn’t say anything, since the mistake was obvious.

At 11:10PM boarding was complete, and the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of 4hr40min. He explained that we’d be taxiing for around 15 minutes, and would then be taking off into the northwest.

A few moments later, the supervisor added her welcome aboard. Icelandair’s 737 MAX 8s have four flight attendants (including the supervisor), with two working in Saga Class, and two working in economy. Shortly after the announcement, the safety video was screened.

We were a little late departing, but there was a bit of buffer in the schedule. We ended up pushing back at 11:25PM, and starting our taxi at 11:30PM. We had a fairly long taxi, though not much of a queue for takeoff, given the late night departure. We ended up taking off at 11:50PM, starting our journey to Iceland.

It was a smooth climb out, and the seatbelt sign was turned off around five minutes after takeoff.

Icelandair Saga Class meal service

On this quick overnight flight, there was a meal service after takeoff, and that was the extent of the proactive service. You can find the dinner menu below — Icelandair serves a three-course meal on North America flights, and a two-course meal on Europe flights.

Icelandair prides itself in its drink selection, and in particular, in the variety of Icelandic gins served. So you can find the drink list below, including wine, beer, soft drinks, liquor, and in particular, the “gin library.”

Service was quick to get started after takeoff. Around 10 minutes after the seatbelt sign was turned off, the crew passed through the cabin to take drink and dinner orders. I’m not typically a gin drinker, but given Icelandair’s emphasis on gin, I figured I had to give one a try. So I asked the flight attendant to serve me whichever was her favorite.

I ended up with the 64°Reykjavik Angelica Gin, which came with tonic, and was served with a basket of pretzels. Kudos to Icelandair for also having light tonic option, by the way…

Then just a little under an hour after takeoff, the meal was served, which included an appetizer, main course, and dessert, along with some bread.

There was no choice of starter, and it consisted of burrata with green pesto, arugula, semi-dried cherry tomatoes, and crostini, and I thought it tasted great. There were two main course options, and I opted for the shrimp with couscous, Greek salad, and chimichurri. This was actually a cold dish, though it was pretty high quality, and I appreciated how light it was. Lastly, dessert consisted of an apple crumble.

For a short, late night flight, I thought this kind of meal service was excellent. One random observation — I noticed there were no warm towels at any point during the service — it doesn’t bother me, but I know other people really like them.

Icelandair 737 MAX Saga Class lavatory

Icelandair’s 737 MAXs have a lavatory at the front of the cabin, reserved for Saga Class customers. I checked this out after the meal, and it was the typical very compact 737 MAX lavatory, with a tiny sink. I’m not a fan of these lavatories, but oh well, at least you don’t have to spend too much time in them (hopefully!).

Icelandair 737 MAX Saga Class rest & pre-arrival drink

By the time that the meal was done and I was settled back into my seat, we had around 3hr30min remaining to Keflavik.

I’m a horrible airplane sleeper, even under the best of circumstances, with a flat bed (I’m just someone who sleeps best at home). So I don’t think I actually got a wink of sleep, though I did try to “rest” for a couple of hours, and at least close my eyes.

I ended up giving up on trying to sleep around 50 minutes before landing, as we were passing south of Greenland, and slowly approaching Iceland.

At that point I pushed the call button and ordered a cup of coffee, which was served on a nice tray, with a couple of chocolates. There was no other formal pre-landing service, or anything.

Icelandair Saga Class service

I’d say service in Icelandair Saga Class was fine. Icelandic people aren’t known for being overly warm, which I don’t mind, since they’re a little more no-nonsense than us Americans (who I’d generally consider to be “fake friendly”).

They were perfectly pleasant and professional. They were efficient with performing service, and responded to call buttons quickly. But as you’d expect, they kind of disappeared after the meal service, which is fair enough, since everyone was asleep. So yeah, service was exactly what I expected.

Icelandair 737 MAX arrival in Keflavik

At around 7:55AM Keflavik time, the first officer was on the PA to announce that we’d be descending soon, and should be touching down around 8:30AM local time. Sure enough, we began our descent shortly thereafter, and the seatbelt sign was turned on at 8:05AM.

In terms of scenery, our arrival couldn’t have been better timed. The sunrise was so beautiful that I thought I was on psychedelics, because it was that breathtaking.

We approached the west coast of Iceland, and then turned southbound, for an approach to runway 19.

Despite it being pretty windy on approach, we had an indescribably smooth touch down at 8:30AM — I’m sure many people slept right through it. From there, we had a short five minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 8:35AM, around 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

At that point I stepped into the rather chaotic terminal (Icelandair uses Keflavik as a heavily banked hub, so the airport is deserted for most of the day, and packed during the two peak banks every day). I waited in the terminal, and within 10 minutes, Ford arrived on his Delta flight from New York. We then cleared immigration, and started our fun adventure!

Bottom line

Icelandair’s Saga Class experience is a unique, pleasant, and good value product. Think of it as being more like premium economy than business class, but with above average food, drinks, and amenities. Icelandair’s entire business model is based around connecting points in North America and Europe via Iceland, while giving customers the option to have a free stopover.

Ultimately you fly Icelandair either because the airline offers a great value fare, or because you want to travel to Iceland or have a stopover in Iceland. While I’d prefer to avoid Icelandair on an overnight flight if possible, I’d gladly fly with the airline again, though ideally next time on a westbound journey.

What’s your take on Icelandair’s 737 MAX Saga Class product?