Icelandair Reviews and Flights

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Pamela G wrote a review Yesterday

5 contributions2 helpful votes

Amsterdam - Baltimore

International

Unsafe for Travelers

My family and I had just arrived a few days before to Amsterdam when a family emergency caused us to purchase return tickets the next day. We purchased 4 economy tickets on Iceland Air for over $6000 as it was last minute. We were told that the flight was 98% full so we were spread throughout the cabin. About an hour later, my husband, a health care professional noticed that my cough, which I thought was from dry airplane air, had turned much worse, and did a covid test. It came out positive, so he immediately contacted Iceland Air to cancel our flights due to Covid. As a health care professional having worked through the Covid pandemic, he knew what danger we would have put the fellow passengers and crew in, so in spite of Iceland Air refusing to postpone or refund our flight, we did not fly. As we all know, Iceland Air is a budget airline. How many Iceland Air passengers do you think can afford to blow over $6000 to keep other people safe? And how many would? By my rough figuring, I would have exposed about 1000 passengers and crew on the flights alone, not to mention the probable thousands more in the airports. A quick google search shows that the diseases that you can be exposed to include, but are not limited to: Covid 19 and all new strains (XEC), RSV,Bird Flu, SARS, pertussis, meningitis, and many, many more. We all remember the Covid pandemic. It is terrifying to me to think that an airline would value money more than human lives, but apparently Iceland Air does.…

Date of travel: August 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Marlynn R wrote a review Oct 1

1 contribution

Frankfurt - Portland

International

Cancelled my flight after I had a checked in reservation and digital boarding passes

I was scheduled to fly Frankfurt to Reykjavik to Portland, OR on Sunday, September 28, 2024. I flew on a paid ticket on Iceland Airlines specifically to get Alaska Airlines miles. I had my own confirmation number. My husband flew on Alaska frequent flyer miles on a separate confirmation number with the same flights as mine. My two elderly friends flew together using Alaska frequent flyer miles on their own confirmation number with the same flights as the 3 of us. At 8:40pm Saturday, September 27, 2024, I got a text from Iceland Airlines informing only me that my flight had been cancelled and they rebooked me on United Airlines. Since United is not an Alaska Airlines partner, the agent told me that at least "you got miles going on your trip." After I got home on United Airlines, my husband said Iceland Airlines had cancelled their flight to Portland, OR the previous day. Still, of the 4 of us flying together, I was the only one whose flight was cancelled so I could not travel home with my husband and 2 elderly friends. And, I would not earn any frequent flyer miles. BEWARE, ICELAND AIRLINES CAN CANCEL YOUR CONFIRMED TICKET AND CANCEL YOUR BOARDING PASSES ANY TIME THEY WANT TO.…

Date of travel: September 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Gary B wrote a review Sep 2024

4 contributions

Reykjavik - Portland

International

One of the Worst Airlines on the Planet

On September 15, 2024 my wife and I travelled on your airlline from Portland, OR to Zurich, Switzerland with a brief stopover in Reykjavik. It was an uneventful flight that preceded our first European Tour vacation through Switzerland and Austria with Trafalgar Tours. The entire trip with Trafalgar was great. Then came the attempted return to Portland, which can best be described as a chaotic nightmare of incompetence, punctuated by multiple delays, gate changes, and confusion/frustration/anger. To make matters worse, we made multiple attempts to get assistance from employees who were either unable to provide information in a timely manner or simply trying to outdo one another in their ineptitude. On the afternoon of September 27, we arrived at the Reykjavik airport after a 45-minute delay in Zurich (Flight FI569). We—as well as several other paying passengers—were rightly concerned about catching our connecting flight to Portland (Flight FI665) at 16:50. However, despite repeatedly being assured during our flight that aircraft in Reykjavik would be held for us (an obvious lie), we learned that we would not be allowed to board the plane bound for Portland! Things deteriorated from there. After being sent through passport check, we headed to baggage claim, only to find our bags not on on the carousel (despite signage that indicated all baggage had arrived). Our repeated inquiries with the baggage service desk were met with assurances from the staff that “Your bags will arrive. Just be patient.” After one hour of frustration, we received toiletry bags for our overnight stay (they were not offered, but only given when we mentioned it). We finally arrived at the “Meeting Point” in the airport only to find that our shuttle to the hotel had left! Apparently, the baggage service personnel were not concerned about our overnight stay. We eventually boarded a second shuttle to a hotel where we met the other passengers having dinner. We hurriedly ate our dinner so as not to miss the shuttle to the second hotel (30 minutes away) for our overnight stay. Please keep reading, as it gets better from here. We were re-booked on a flight to Portland, and left the hotel at 11:15, arriving at the airport 45 minutes later. When the “service desk” at the airport opened, we inquired about our missing luggage. We were assured it would be with us on our 16:50 flight to Portland. After changing the departure time to 17:10 and moving to a different gate, we eagerly awaited boarding the the aircraft that was obviously there. Then the flight information screen went blank, and re-appeared with information about a flight to Vancouver. An announcement was then made that our flight was cancelled! You can only imagine the shock and frustration of 150+ paying passengers who watched as the plane—obviously ready for Portland—was immediately taken for the Vancouver flight. Having already experienced the “overnight hotel accommodation routine” the night before, we knew the drill: another trip through passport control to the baggage reclaim, and then a trip to the “Meeting Point.” This time we hoped that our luggage would be there and not on the aircraft bound for Vancouver! Luckily, we retrieved our, and we once again hurriedly made our way to the “Meeting Point” to join the 150+ confused and frustrated paying passengers for what would be a one-hour wait for buses. During that time, no information was provided, as we watched paying passengers continually inquire with the lone employee who urged them to be patient. Three large buses finally arrived, taking some customers to a hotel one-hour away from the airport, and taking us to another hotel two-hours away. Our bus driver did an admirable job trying to navigate through a fogged-up windshield on his unsafe bus (I gave him a t-shirt so that he could wipe a small hole to see through the fog). He still had difficulty with driving, as the check-engine light repeatedly warned him that the erratic behavior of the bus was a potential problem. We sat in the front row of the bus, so we witnessed the entire ride while others in the bus sat uninformed and confused. After arriving at our hotel, throughout dinner, and the few hours we had left to try to get some sleep, we received absolutely no information about how we were to get back to the airport for our 11:25 departure on another airline the next day. Unable to sleep, my wife went to the hotel reception desk at 03:45 to see if any information had been posted about travel to the airport. She luckily noticed that there was a taxi awaiting another passenger, and we were given 5 minutes to accompany him to the airport. This scenario seemed to be an acceptable practice for your Icelandair. We arrived at the airport at around 06:00 and spent the next several hours waiting for our departure to Portland. When we finally boarded the aircraft, we were disappointed once again, as we were informed that we would have to wait on the tarmac for nearly 2 hours as it was refueled! We finally arrived at the JFK airport in New York for our 7-hour layover before the 5-hour flight to Portland. Sleep deprivation was taking its toll. After a slight departure delay at JFK, we finally boarded our flight to Portland, and arrived at 23:30 where our son picked us up for the 45-minute drive home. As you can imagine, the fact that what should have been a total travel time of 8 hours from Reykjavik to Portland took 17 hours leaves us with a low opinion of the “service” that Icelandair provides. We are in the process of seeking compensation as per your website and printed information offered to us. We will never fly with Icelandair again and will encourage others to do likewise,…

Date of travel: September 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Julia D wrote a review Sep 2024

1 contribution

Reykjavik - Portland

International

Icelandair NIGHTMARE

Went to Iceland for our honeymoon. Excellent trip up until our return flight home. We were at the gate minutes before boarding was about to start, and the flight got delayed a couple hours. Annoying, but these things happen. We went to the service desk to ask a couple questions about the updated flight and asked if the flight was going to be cancelled. The employee assured us the flight was still on, just delayed. 5 minutes later, we got a text that the flight was cancelled. We got no information about a new flight, so we went back to the service desk. At that point a huge line had formed. Some people were able to get another flight booked, but most were not. They told us all it would be much faster if we all went to the airport meeting point, where we would receive vouchers for a hotel and meals, as well as a shuttle to a hotel 8 minutes away. We went to the meeting point where about 100 of us were crowded around waiting for information on a shuttle. After 2 hours of standing there waiting, a couple employees went up to the front of the crowd and said something. Those of us in the back couldn’t hear and asked them to repeat it but they didn’t. Others in the crowd told us they said to form lines based on our travel party (couples, singles, and families). We lined up and eventually were led to a shuttle. We got on thinking we were being taken to a hotel 8 minutes away like we had been told. 45 minutes into the drive, we were in the middle of nowhere. Passengers started getting panicked and asking where we were going. The shuttle driver did not speak much English and was having a hard time communicating to us what was happening. Finally a woman began having a panic attack so the driver pulled over. He finally clarified that he was taking us to a hotel 2.5 hours away from the airport. We asked how we were getting back to the airport in the morning, and he said he didn't know. We were angry and panicked. eventually we got to the hotel, where they thankfully were able to feed us all. Several of us were on hold with Icelandair for hours trying to ask about a return shuttle, but no one had any information for us. Around midnight, after several passengers had gone to bed, the hotel staff finally told those of us who were still up they coordinated a shuttle for us at 4am. I don’t know what happened to those folks who went to bed, because they weren’t told about the shuttle. After 3 hours of sleep, one of the employees from the night before (who had told us all that we were being taken to a hotel 8 minutes away) came to pick us up. One of the passengers, who was understandably angry, asked him "why did you lie to us and say we were going 8 minutes away?" The employee denied it and said "I told you 2 hours. Be polite. We just drove 2 hours to rescue you." I have never felt so abandoned, uncared for, or mistreated by a company. They lied to our faces, put us on a shuttle under false pretenses, and nearly stranded us in the middle of a foreign country. Luckily, our new flight was with delta, but other passengers who took a new flight with Icelandair then had their luggage lost, just to keep the nightmare going. Shame on Icelandair. We will not be letting this go. They traumatized an entire flight and have not taken any responsibility. I highly recommend avoiding this company like the plague. They clearly do not care about the safety and wellbeing of their customers.…

Date of travel: September 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Suzanne wrote a review Sep 2024

Salem, Oregon210 contributions71 helpful votes

Prague - Portland

International

Lousy airline with poor service

iceland air is the worst airline i have ever flown. when we booked the airline, we paid extra for seats with extra legroom. without our knowledge, they cancelled my husband's seat. they didn't notify us and it wasn't until just a week before the flight that i found out by checking on the website. then they couldn't refund the cost without an additional 'claim' form being filed. then on the return flight, they left our luggage in Iceland. Three days later I was still waiting for my luggage. They requested due to a full light that i check my carry on, which had my medications in it. I will never fly with this airlines again.…

Date of travel: September 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

1 Helpful vote

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