MilesBuzz! - need HELP planning trip to ICELAND(!)

There's a good chance I'll be going there next month for a short vacation. Between LatinPass (8 countries in 4 days!), CO., NWA, and Alaska, I have about 1.2 million miles. Apparently ONLY Icelandair (what a surprise) flies there. Anyone know if I can use my miles to get all the way there for free, or should I do a freebie to Oslo (is that the closest big city to Reykjavik?) and just buy a ticket from Oslo to Reykjavik? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

-MJ

IMO it would probably be better to buy a cheap ticket to BWI and then fly Icelandair to Iceland. Oslo is an expensive destination both in terms of airfare and per diem (as well as travel time from LAX). BWI is much cheaper and the travel time is pretty close to that of backtracking.

I suspect that this is the wrong forum, but your question deserved an answer.

Icelandair flies out of Halifax Canada to Iceland. You could take advantage of the ultracheap Canadian $$ on get there pretty cheaply.

It's an amazing country, you should have a great time.
I'm guessing it would be cheaper to head up there from either London, or Copenhagen. I think you should be able to get there from London for about $300, which to be honest is not a lot less than some Icelandair fares from the US east coast to London via Iceland.
Iceland is a lot of things but cheap isn't one of them!

[This message has been edited by pt (edited 09-17-2002).]

If you want to use miles, the only option I know of is with SAS CPH-KEF. Have you enough SAS/UA/*A miles?

Otherwise, get to Glasgow, London or Copenhagen with miles and buy a cheapo (but they're not very cheap) to Reykjavik.

You could also get a tour from GLA or LON, which would work out better value. I'm guessing that there are links on the Icelandair website.

MSP-KEF on FI is 60.000 EuroBonus points in economy.

CPH-KEF on FI is 40.000 EuroBonus points in economy.

FI is the only regular carrier that flies to Iceland.

Thanks, kempis. I didn't know FI transatlantic flights were available with EB. Can I use EB for LHR-KEF?

Is this trip in regards to the opening episode of the Soprano's and the hope of meeting some of those FA's? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

As an aside question: My sister will be flying Iceland Air to Scotland, are there any regular frequent flyer programs that can used to accrue miles from Iceland Air flights?

Thanks.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Roger:
Thanks, kempis. I didn't know FI transatlantic flights were available with EB. Can I use EB for LHR-KEF?</font>

Its possible Roger. 50.000 in economy and 70.000 for business.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BadgerFlyer:
As an aside question: My sister will be flying Iceland Air to Scotland, are there any regular frequent flyer programs that can used to accrue miles from Iceland Air flights?

Thanks.</font>

I belive the only two options are either Iceland Airs Saga or SAS EuroBonus. I would recommend that she signs up for EuroBonus since SAS is part of the Star Alliance with alot more partners then Icelandair.

Please observe that no EuroBonus points on JFK-KEF route.

As others have pointed out, Icelandair or
SAS are basically your only choices. The low cost UK carrier Go (www.gofly.com) used to fly there on a seasonal basis as well.

Icelandair had great service and relatively reasonable prices when I took them a couple of years ago.

In the US they fly from BWI, JFK, MSP and BOS. I think they also have seasonal service from MCO.

I recall that they also had some sort of arrangement with Southwest.

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You are in a twisty maze of passages, all alike.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mileage junkie:
There's a good chance I'll be going there next month for a short vacation. </font>

Okay, forgive me for being such a Floridian but Iceland for a short vaction? I think you might chill your (!) off. Stay warm. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Icelandair generally has very good fares out of their North American gateway cities and your closest may be MSP. Check out the website:

www.icelandair.com (http://www.icelandair.com)

and look through their offerings -- but be sure to sign up for their "Lucky Fares" club, which has some real deals that will come to you via e-mail periodically.

Iceland is a neat place to visit; lots of natural wonders and the people are really wonderful. Meals and drinks are on the pricey side, but I've done the "Midweek Madness" deal with air and hotel for a couple of nights for under $400 per person from MSP (which leaves plenty to cover the difference on incidentals...). I would be surprised if you didn't have a great time! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Icelandic does not fly out of Halifax anymore - they cancelled the flights last spring....

Dave

Wonderful country. ALMOST as expensive as Norway, and THAT is saying something about both. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Go when the Puffin birds are in full numbers. Take a short trip to Greenland. Icleandair fly there, and the experience of your life. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

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~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com (http://www.1Kflyers.com)

One can fly free on IcelandAir by redeeming Diners Club Club Reward points for airline tickets. Info is located in the Club Rewards section of dinersclubus.com

You can also fly to Iceland with Atlantic Airways via Faroe Islands.
20K Eurobonus points are required for RT to Faroe Islands from Aberdeen or Copenhagen and additional 20K points are required for trip from Faroe to Reykjavik.
http://www.scandinavian.net/EC/Appl/Home/FrontDoor/0,3479,SO%253DF2BCB5CABFCD4BC7_AAEFD66AF12ED0AE%25 26MKT%253DNO,00.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Roger:
Thanks, kempis. I didn't know FI transatlantic flights were available with EB. Can I use EB for LHR-KEF?</font>

Just to clarify, according to OAG the FI flights from Scandinavia are code-shared with SK. The only non-Icelandic carriers that fly to KEF are AeroLloyd, LTU and Atlantic (Faroe Islands) Airlines.

Just bringing forward to say a sincere and heartfelt "thank you" to everyone above me for your help. I leave for Reykjavik tomorrow.

Just for the record, I'm flying Northwest (1st class) from LAX to MSP, then changing to Icelandair for the flight to Reykjavik (same thing on the way back). There was simply no easy way to get a free or upgraded ticket on Icelandair. I would have had to open a Diner Club account, and then transfer miles in. I think I would have lost a lot of miles in the transfer; I don't know how long it would have taken; and I didn't need or want another credit card.

All things considered though, I'm quite happy. My international ticket was inexpensive, and although I'm in coach, (I'm a LatinPass million miler, so I've been spoiled) it's a red-eye, so I'll probably be sleeping for a good portion of it.

Once more, thank you to all who offered advice and suggestions. I truly appreciate it. I'll be thinking of you when I'm sitting in the geothermic pools !!!

-MJ

Always wanted to go there...I think Icelandair once was a TW partner in the pre-AA days.

I think they've also promoted Iceland as a stopover en route to Europe and might have some advantageous rules on that.

Gotta wonder if they're ultra-protectionist with the landing rights in Iceland (xenophobia?)

Have a good trip.

This seems to be a pretty good starting point for people planning a trip to Iceland:

http://www.keflavikairport.com/airlines.html

Another possible resource is in the latest electronic edition of Frommers' Budget Travel. The URL is:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/823974.asp?0nl=T11&gt;