iluvdoco

Great TR and photos! I've long been thinking of flying FI Y+ and visiting the Blue Lagoon. Great review of the restaurant there and food pix!

flyingstudent

How did you get around KEF and to get to the view points? Rental car or cab? What's the approximate transporting costs?

rob_flies_ua

Ah, that was you folks that didn't have seats! I was on the inaugural as well. I too filled up my water bottle at the Centurion prior to boarding. Not even water is complimentary on WOW, although I heard someone managed to get some hot water for free because there was no item that the FAs could figure out to charge for just hot water without tea or coffee or anything.

The seats on the Air Europa aircraft do actually recline, but it was about 4 hours into the flight before I figured out where the control was - it's a small lever underneath the seat cushion. On the three seats I checked, it was on the right hand side close to the edge, but I don't know if it's different on other seats. I too thought the legroom was actually quite generous for a LCC. I probably wouldn't splurge on the XL seats, but might spend the money for a seat assignment just to make sure I don't end up in a middle.

On my return flight, also WOW, I used one of the kiosks to checkin and thus there wasn't even an opportunity for someone to weigh my carryon.

BThumme

Thanks so much for sharing. Iceland is definitely #1 on my list of places I want to go.

ironmanjt

Thanks so much for posting this - I haven't really seen any Iceland reviews here. I'll be taking a group of about 35 people there for my "Last Country Trip" in a couple months so great to have this preview!

757

Great report and interesting to read and see photos of your experience with Wow! I certainly thought "Wow" when I saw your food on your flight to KEF for $31 ... Expensive prices!

My family and I visited Iceland and the Blue Lagoon in 1996 - so it was good to see photos again, as I don't remember much of it now, 20 years later.

Thanks for sharing!

puls

Thanks for reading, HomerJay!

Thanks, iluvdoco! The Blue Lagoon also makes a great layover stop, just a quick bus ride from KEF.

We took tours everywhere. Cabs are pretty nominally priced, but the airport is really quite far from the city, so you're talking a ton of money for a cab ride. Rental cars are the way to go if you're going around the country, but as long as we were staying in Reykjavík, it didn't make sense.

The Flybus is 2200 ISK ($18) one way or 4000 ISK ($32) round trip. The tours were quite a bit more.

Thanks for reading, rob_flies_ua. After half a million miles of flying, there are fewer and fewer things that I've never seen before on a plane. This was definitely one of those cases.

Thanks for reading, BThumme. We met several friends from the US in Iceland; seems like everybody is going these days!

Thanks, ironmanjt! I take it you're referring to "last country" as in the last country in the world you haven't visited? Dare I offer my congratulations in advance?

Thanks, 757! Everything is super expensive in Iceland, given the relative collapse of their currency half a decade ago and their total reliance on imports. It wasn't just on the flight there.

FlyerTalker6245

Great report!

DanielW

An excellent and very insightful TR, puls. I'm tagging along for ironmanjt's Iceland trip on my way back from Greenland so it is very helpful. The Blue Lagoon looks a treat, although I've settled for the mere 55 euro Blue Lagoon package .

miko2a

Thank you for the trip report. I also got one of the intro $99 fares from WOW but, I don't fly until September. And like you I'm flying Icelandair back. I've been curious about the WOW experience from SFO. Especially in regards to seating. Looks like I may just pay for a regular assigned seat. I'm taking it as a personal challenge to only take 11 lbs though. Of course I'm bringing a coat with lots of pockets.
I'm curious if you just stayed at the airport until you caught the bus to the Blue Lagoon? The 4 am arrival has me stressing out more that it probably should.
I didn't know the Centurion had a sparkling water tap! I guess I never get water there. I am going to need to find that.

offerendum

Iceland is beautiful, no question! I must visit in the future.....

puls

Thanks, andset1191!

Thanks for the comment, DanielW! The trip was a lot of fun, though really I've got nothing on your amazing TRs that come in over and over.

Hi miko2a, and thanks for reading. We did just stay at the airport until the first bus to the Blue Lagoon. It was a couple boring hours of trying to keep our eyes open, to be sure, but KEF is far from a quiet place at that hour. There's a juice bar/coffee shop where we plopped down and had some smoothies and coffee while we waited; there's also a couple of other options for where to hang out.

We weren't the only people coming off of super early US arrivals and waiting for the Blue Lagoon bus, either; there were probably a couple dozen other people doing the same thing.

It's hard to say what the seating will be like on your plane, especially if they're still using a different seating chart on each of their planes.

Thanks for reading, offerendum! I must visit in the future, too.

Billiken

Thanks for the great report and pictures.
My wife and I were in KEF in mid-March.

Was great to see your pictures of places that, when we saw them, were covered with ice and snow.

(We did not go to the Blue Lagoon.)

Iceland is on our "Return List" with a side trip to the Faroe Islands.

Thanks again!!

flylonghaul

Great report.
Thanks for posting!

Wow doesn't look so bad, although no recline on a long sector makes me shudder.

lkar

Fantastic trip report!