Iceland Air to Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The airport in Reykjavik is nice and small. It reminded me of an Ikea. One thing that was weird is that they only sell food/beverages to passengers who are laying over, and they scan your ticket to ensure it's a layover.

Are you talking about KEF where the OP will likely be landing? Or the domestic airport that's actually in Reykjavik? KEF is absolutely NOT like that. I was just there!

PP here. I goggled it to make sure I wasn't imagining that they scanned it, and below is why they scan. I was incorrect about why they scan, but they def scan it:

At Keflavík International Airport (KEF), scanning your boarding pass for food, beverages, and retail is required to verify your status as an international passenger, ensuring tax-free (VAT-exempt) status and facilitating data tracking for the retailer. This is especially common in duty-free zones to distinguish between travelers going inside or outside the European Union.

The scan activates the cash register system in duty-free areas and validates that you are a traveling passenger. Retailers use this to comply with custom rules that require passenger identification for sales after security

[Anonymous]

I fly Icelandair most of the time. I live in Baltimore and it's a convenient and often more cost effective way to get to many places in Europe with a 60 min layover in KEF. And the airline makes it easy to fly to one city and of another.

It's perfectly fine. Maybe slightly less comfortable than, say, KLM or BA but flights are always spotless, timely, transfer is easy if brisk. Going over I bring dinner with me on the plane (usually pack sandwiches to avoid airport concessions), return I pick up sandwiches from the local Pret if in UK or comparable in other European countries, or a snack at KEF.

Can verify Keflavik has the scanning boarding passes to buy something. It can be tricky as sometimes the passes don't scan well, from what I've seen.

The only caution I have is if flying first time, the transfer is fast as it's timed to get you through the airport rapidly and this means off plane - straight to customs - clear - straight to next gate. Do not linger or be slow getting off plane. If you're someone who needs 20 minutes for the bathroom, forget it. But everyone clearly makes it.

[Anonymous]

I’ve flown them multiple times with my first flight at 7yrs old, and most recently in 2024 (I’m mid-40s). Highly recommend. As a nervous flyer you might appreciate that much of the flight path is over land versus straight across the Atlantic. I always liked that aspect.

[Anonymous]

I felt like I was on Spirit Airlines.

[Anonymous]

On IcelandAir, I highly recommend ordering your food ahead of time. They have a nice ham and cheese baguette, for example. Last time I flew them, they ran out of EVERYTHING on the menu except candy. And we were sitting in the middle of the plane -- but they served from front to back and back to front concurrently, so the middle was the last to be served.

[Anonymous]

I second the PP who said to order food in advance, we were also surprised when we were not able to purchase on board. A second tip is to pay close attention to the carry on size requirements as they are not the same as other international carriers.

[Anonymous]

We had a better experience on it than any American Airline. Crew was very nice. No issues at all.

[Anonymous]

I had a layover in KEF about 6 months ago and was incredibly surprised that it took me just about 15 minutes to get from the first plane to the gates of the second one. That includes going through immigration control.

[Anonymous]

The airport has very little seating. Fine if you are just headed right to your connecting flight but not great if you have a longer time at the airport. Flights are fine; nothing luxurious.

[Anonymous]

I priced it for KEF this summer and it was about the same as United, and worse times, so I just went with United. But, that was 10 months ago. Is there another airline that might make more sense if that's the issue?

[Anonymous]

We went spring break last year and it was great. Normal economy class experience on the plane, nice staff, and the big bonus is that since iceland is your entry into the schengen area, you go through customs there, and it's a domestic flight into europe. Customs was quick and easy and infinitely better than CDG.