life: flying IcelandAir

TL;DR: highly recommend.

Frankly, I had never heard of this airline before. But my wife, the avid traveler, was itching to go somewhere and looking for a cheap fare that would make a trip a no-brainer. Two months ago she found a ticket on IcelandAir from our home airport in North Carolina to Rome Italy for around $500 round-trip. And we have a local friend that is temporarily working in Rome at the moment that offered to spend time with us and guide us where to go. And we would be there in the second half of January, a low point in the typical Rome crowds of summer tourists. It was a no-brainer, and we booked it. One leg from NC to the airline’s hub in Reykjavik Iceland with a minimal layover, and another leg from the hub to Rome.

It appears to be a bit of a budget airline. No meals are included, but you can buy them on-demand. The cheapest coach tickets don’t include checked luggage. So we booked one tier up from the cheapest coach rate, specifically to get the luggage included.

The outbound flights were the typical overnight flights going east. Lucky for us, the plane was about 1/3 occupied, so we each got our own row to lay down in coach and get some sleep. It’s the first time since Covid that I was on a plane that wasn’t completely full. But maybe that is why the tickets had a fire-sale price.

The first thing to learn about IcelandAir is that when booking, you are invited to do a stayover in Iceland at no additional cost. I’ve heard good things about Iceland and wanted to have a couple days there, but my wife wisely thought that January might not be the best time to do that, especially since we were trying to pack light. Definitely some other time when it is warmer, and live volcanic eruptions don’t have some attractions closed. After watching the “Visit Iceland” videos on the seat-back entertainment screen, it does look like fun, and there seems to be a good food scene.

After a wonderful week in Rome, we boarded the flight to head back home. The first leg was from Rome to the Reykjavik hub. BTW, the Rome airport is awesome – go through security in a couple minutes, and the terminal is modern, well organized, with lots of amenities. While boarding in Rome the captain said there was a mechanical problem, and they were working on it. Though they did get it fixed, this mechanical problem caused our departure to be delayed by about 90 minutes. Given the short layover in Reykjavik, we were at risk of missing our connection to NC. Their Reykjavik hub has a morning set of flights, and an evening set of flights. Our schedule was for the evening set of flights, so if we missed the connection we would be spending the night.

Upon landing in Reykjavik, we had obviously missed our connection. I turned off my phone’s airplane mode and immediately received an email from the airline with all the rebooking info (“complex re-accomodation”) for replacement flights, but they were for the next evening. We would be spending 24 hours in Reykjavik. Well, not exactly in Reykjavik, because the airport is about an hour’s drive from the city. The nearest town to the airport is Keflavik, population of about 15,000 and on the coast. As we were deboarding our late plane, they said on the intercom to claim your luggage and go to the meeting point with the orange sign. We did so, and they pointed us to a waiting van outside. We boarded the van which drove us to a hotel, about 10 minutes away. Not just any cheap hotel, this was a 4-star hotel (perhaps because there aren’t many tourists in Iceland in January). The hotel kitchen staff did a scramble, but put together a simple buffet dinner for us. We were also admitted to the hotel breakfast buffet the next morning, which was quite good. And a simple lunch. After breakfast, my wife and I took a taxi on our own dime to the Viking museum which was about 2 miles and a $25 fare away (yeah, taxis in Iceland are not cheap). Had a good tour at the museum, made our way back to the hotel, took a walk in the blowing snow, and then the van ride back to the airport. Got to talk to some fellow Rome travelers while waiting at the hotel.

In all of this, we were never asked to pay anything or show a credit card or expect to file for reimbursement. And our replacement flights were arranged even before we landed, so we didn’t need to get in a line (real or virtual) to talk to an agent to get those assembled. It was a total turnkey operation. Everyone was kind and polite and efficient. There was no excuse for a temper. I was thoroughly impressed. The only thing that wasn’t awesome was an extra leg – now going from Reykjavik to Newark to NC, getting us home closer to midnight than 7pm, a 29 hour delay.

While in line to board our replacement flights, we struck up a conversation with the lady behind us that had a German accent. She said that airlines operating in the EU have strict rules for compensation for flight delays not caused by weather, and that the airline probably owes each of us $600. I was like “wow, that doesn’t sound right, but I’ll look in to it”. And then TripItPro sends me a notification saying “The airline may owe you $600 for the late flight”. I do some Googling and find “EU Regulation 261” which basically says that if your arrival is later than expected due to the airline, the airline must compensate you, using a sliding scale. It’s not about reimbursement of additional personal expenses incurred, but more like an inconvenience penalty. This compensation isn’t automatic, you need to request it.

After a little more searching, I find this form on the IcelandAir web site. I fill out the “EU” selection, putting in details for the flight that departed late, attached the “complex re-accomodation” email as a PDF for myself and my wife to show the difference in arrival time, and hit submit. And wow, within 24 hours I get a reply from IcelandAir that says:

According to EU Regulation 261/2004, you are indeed entitled to 600 EUR in monetary compensation per person. Please fill out the following payment link with your preferred refund method so we may compensate you at first opportunity.

I follow the link and provide my credit card info. Within a week I see 1293 US dollars credited. Wow.

The customer service and organization has been excellent. Even during the flight, boarding, transfers, everything – I felt like they just made things work no matter what happened. There was no pushback at all from the airline. They nailed it. I’m very impressed. US airlines could stand to learn a lot of lessons from their example.

I do also feel a bit bad for them regarding our return travel. Between the hotel+meal costs, plus the EU 261 compensation, they definitely lost money on us, at least for this trip. But they have won a loyal customer. Next time I’m going to Europe, I’ll look first at IcelandAir. I already see a $500 round-trip ticket to Paris…