Iceland Air FF Alliances?

Does Iceland Air belong to any other airline frequent flyer programs as a partner or alliance member? I am putting together a trip from San Diego to Reykjavik, and I would really like to use some frequent flyer miles.

Short Answer: No

Thanks. I was afraid that was the case.

They used to be a SAS EuroBonus partner, but that ended almost a year ago.

Hey -

I know they have some relationship with Hilton Honors... Can I transfer Hilton Honors to Icelandair? To redeem for flights...

JW

*BUMP*

Unfortunately, no. The only way to redeem points for a "free" flight on Icelandair is with points earned by flying them.

Icelandair changed their point accrual/redemption schedule almost 2 years ago. With that change, the FF program at Icelandair is worthless. It is now impossible to achieve any worthwhile reward level with coach fares.

It is sad to see this, but that is how it now is. I have come to believe that Icelandair does not want a FF program that encourages carrier loyality. They could care less about their regular fliers, and I speak from experience, as I am one.

If I didn't want to go to Iceland I would not fly them, and I have definitely booked away from them on my trips to Europe.

Icelandair has gone downhill, big time, when it comes to their FF program.

You can trade ICELANDAIR points ( with a cost ) through POINTS.COM

Michael

Having essentially no FF program or partners could position them to be Southwest's Europe partner. Southwest is very public that they're on the hunt. Icelandair is their only tolerable and logical option. By all indications, Southwest, WestAir and Volaris are all going back to the drawing board in favor of one common program, or each having one that looks like the others. Doesn't Icelandair already fly into several Southwest stations? And Southwest did choose Terminal E at BOS. @:-)

[Ducking.]

And when Icelandair flew to BWI and Southwest was building up there, they did in fact code share back then already...

I really don't think SWA would find FI useful to serve any desires to codeshare to Europe. This past winter, in the 5 month off-peak period (Nov-Mar), FI only operated from JFK and BOS in all of North America, and even then, not everyday.

Icelandair really does go its own way, and one of the big reasons is that they can move crews and aircraft from the scheduled Icelandair operation to their wet-lease Loftleider operation. The Icelandair scheduled operation is quite strong in the peak summer travel months, but really drops off afterwards, with minimal scheduled service in the off-peak period.

Have you ever wondered where all the Icelandair flights (aircraft and crews) go with the schedule reductions? They don't park them, they just move them to Loftleider and fly wet-lease operations.

I just don't see how anyone can tie into what they do, considering their independent nature.

If any carrier was to be a code-share candidate for FI, I would think it to be AS, considering their new year long service to SEA, and the announcement of an increase in service in SEA next year.

But that is not going to happen either. Icelandair just goes its own way. Always has, and perhaps, always will.

I joined their FF program on my last trip to Iceland, and when I earned the points, I decided to finally find out what they would get me.

It took me a few minutes to pick myself up off the floor after laughing uncontrollably. It's a worse-than-useless FF program.

I definitely agree with your evaluation of the Icelandair FF program. They changed it 2 years ago, and really reduced the points earned on coach fares.

Quite honestly there is no value in being a FF on Icelandair. If you need to use them, fine. But if you have a FF program in place with any other carrier, use that carrier and not FI.

If you do have points with Icelandair, the best use is to trade them for something worthwhile on points.com.

@ Donna:

Has anything exciting happened on this front ?
Right now I see unbeatable fares SEA-MAN thru May - very tempting !

As I understand it, Saga Club is worthless unless you live in Iceland.

Points can't be used/earned on other airlines or elsewhere outside Iceland. However, if you live in Iceland and get one of their credit cards, it can be a good way to earn vacations abroad.

So let's think of Saga Club as a kind of subsidy for Icelanders :P