First, the obligatory disclaimer: I have not received any compensation from Icelandair for the following review, nor for yesterday’s blog. This is just me sharing my and my family’s experience with the airline.
I chose Icelandair for our trip in part because it was more economical than the other airlines offering non-stop and layover flights. So much better financially, the cost of three seats with extra leg room were the equivalent of one seat on a major airline! Plus, with my husband having always wanted to see Iceland, the seven-day layover offer was too interesting to pass up. The more I thought about the prospect of some downtime in the relatively quieter environment of Reykjavik after the bustle of Paris, the more logical it sounded.
And overall, we were pretty satisfied with the decision. I pre-ordered food from the online menu, to avoid having to spend extra money on the flight, and the meals were fresh and delicious. At first we kept things simple: on the first flight, to Keflavik, I had a turkey pretzel sandwich, while spouse and daughter each had a baguette with ham and cheese. Then, on the way to Paris, I tried the baguette, which my husband and our almost-adult child enjoyed for a second time. When we left to return home, our daughter kept going with the familiar ham and cheese, but hubby had a steak sandwich and I tried a Nordic open-face sandwich. The traditional Icelandic meal I had on the final leg of the journey home included caviar, which I’d never tried before, and skyr with sweet apple topping, and it was all amazing. My partner had selected the turkey pretzel sandwich, which I think he may have slightly regretted when he saw my food, and daughter had her reliable baguette with the ham and cheese.
The best part of our four-part flight series was the jump from Paris to Reykjavik, because we ended up in the row of seats by the emergency exit and not only did I have enough leg room to mermaid, but the seat next to our daughter was empty and hubby got have a window seat on a plane for the first time in his life.
However, what I found uncomfortable in that row was the flip-up video screen and table. As a tall person, I found it a bit tight when they were in position.
And I need to look into exactly how much extra leg room we actually received, just because I’m curious. The three other flights in which we sat in those rows, paying a little bit more for seat selection and to accommodate my knees, still felt kind of scrunched, though I was able to move around. Unfortunately, the fourth leg was the most uncomfortable for me as I was already in significant pain from other vehicles (mostly buses) where I had to fold myself to fit. According to my chiropractor, my tailbone was in a lot of trouble.
The knowledge I gained from all of this? The next time we go to Iceland and/or Europe — because I am determined, there will be a next time — I / we will splurge on Saga Premium seats, otherwise known as business class. I had told myself, when planning and booking and spending the money on the journey, that it wouldn’t be that bad to sit in economy: the flights were long-ish, but we had the break to switch planes on the way and then the three days of layover on the way back, and really, what’s a handful of hours in comparison to all of the other things we were going to see and do?
Another factor to consider is that my husband couldn’t sleep on the flight because he requires a CPAP machine and Icelandair planes do not come equipped with power sockets for devices like that. He’s been on the waiting list for a new machine that can work with a battery, but it didn’t arrive in time for our trip. In hindsight, that was probably just as well, because there really wasn’t room in the rows for his machine to fit. BUT in future, if we get Saga class seating, that would solve that problem, which would be especially helpful given that the flight tends to leave Toronto after 7 pm and is basically an overnighter.
Bottom line: what with the friendly flight attendants, the good service, tasty food and coffee, decent selection of movies and TV shows, plus smooth landings, I’m glad we went with Icelandair and I will book with them again. They can take my money.
On a related note: A family member recently told me that they would never fly because they don’t want to give into the airline culture of spending more for more comfortable seats on increasingly crowded planes, which I kind of understand, and a dear friend refuses to fly because the cumulative environmental impact is too severe. I can understand these reasons, and to some extent, I agree … except that refusing to fly would mean limiting my / our abilities to experience other parts of the world. I suppose we could have chosen and could still choose a carbon-neutral ocean crossing, but that would take more time than we have available for the travel itself. So we are accepting and giving into the status quo in the service of the higher goal of seeing new places, with the knowledge that travel — especially international travel, discovering and immersing ourselves in other cultures and learning about people in those cultures — helps to build not only an appreciation for home, humanity, and life in general, but also fosters our abilities to empathize. To me, that makes flying worth it … although it would be nice if the 1% in charge of airlines would focus less on the profits of packing people into those metal tubes. Just saying. How much money do they really need?
Another reason to choose a relatively smaller airline, I suppose…
Anyway, the jury is out on when our next trip will be. Household bills need to come first, of course. But it would be lovely to say that we’ll return to Iceland in the fall, perhaps for my lovely husband’s 50th birthday. Should I start getting estimates now?
Tori L. Ridgewood 