redmumba

Iceland Air recently changed their economy fare structure (or at least, the presentation) from Economy/Economy Comfort to a three tier system: Economy Light, Economy Standard, and Economy Flex. However, their site still lists the old names, attached to specific fare classes. I recently booked a flight using Economy Standard, but it got put into the P fare class--which Alaska Air says won't earn miles.

I haven't seen much discussion with regards to Alaska/Iceland, but this seems weird since as far as I know, this is a normal, standard fare and isn't special. It's booked for November. It is part wife's birthday, part MVP Gold earnings, so getting miles on this is essential. I am currently on a (long) hold with Iceland Air, but was curious if anybody here had any experience recently.

Mauibaby2008

redmumba

Yeah, it's just strange that Economy Standard (not "Economy Light") is exempt. I contacted Alaska and they basically said they hadn't received a new fare sharing contract from IcelandAir since they made the change in April, so as far as the listing on their site goes, it's accurate based on fare class. I'm worried that this could be buried in some bureaucratic process. I've been on hold with IcelandAir for 2.5 hours (ouch), so we'll see what they can tell me.

redmumba

Yeah, just got off the phone--they seem to just have severely devalued the mileage earning o Iceland Air--which is too bad. Fare was around $511 per person to SEA-KEF-CPH, but to get just 25% miles, it would have been $700 per person. To get 100%, it was $2000 per person. We flew IcelandAir a few years ago and got 50% on a reasonable fare.

Oh well... time to hit Matrix ITA and find other options for miles (and birthday ideas!).

notquiteaff

Single_Flyer

I would use google flights to search for the flight and then click through to Expedia (rather than Icelandair) as Expedia will show you the fare class. I am mostly seeing W class which doesn't earn a single mile with Alaska.

If you go through to Priceline or Orbitz, you can pay for Economy Flex or Standard, but it still shows up as W class. What a mess...

For the time being I would not count on earning any AS miles when flying Icelandair.

notquiteaff

Single_Flyer

It seems the new highest class on Icelandair is A (Saga Flex). That only earns 125% of miles on Alaska.

If anyone can find higher classes, let me know. Maybe if you were to book only a few days out you would get bumped into a higher level?

rustykettel

Fare availability for tomorrow's FI680 SEA-KEF from Expertflyer:

C4 D4 J4 A4 Z0 Y4 R4 E4 M4 B4 K4 Q4 T4 V4 H4 L0 W0 S0 I0 O0 X0 N0 U0 P0 G0 F0

Cabins from Fare Availability:
First: F
Business: C D J Z I
Premium Coach: A Y R E
Coach: M B K Q T V H L W S O X N U P G

Cabins from Fare Information
Business: C D J A
Economy: Y R E M B K Q T S V H L W


Obviously there's some conflicting/out of date information there.

mausmaus

Nope. C/D/J are still the highest fare classes, and they still earn 150% miles on AS. They're just very difficult to book.

Whether FI is reorganizing its fare classes or it's just reallocating seats to discounted classes to further devalue the AS redemptions is currently anyone's guess, because they're not saying.

nearlysober

As important as fare class is these days to earnings and status - I'm surprised more carriers aren't just publishing the information clearly while you're shopping.
There should even be a "shop by fare" option online... I know much of the public just wants to buy the easiest/cheapest ticket... but many of us would like to be able to browse the different fares for earning rates.

I just flew Saga on FI and it will be interesting to see what rate I get with AS. I booked right when they eliminated their Premium Comfort class. Whatever they did when they eliminated that class meant that suddenly they were selling Saga seats at Economy Comfort prices. Not a bad deal.

My original booking said I was in 'A' Class - which would earn at 125% but my tickets show C class, which is 150% EQM + 100% bonus.
For tracking towards 50k this year, I'm only counting on getting the A rate, but C would be a pleasant surprise.

Flying for Fun

Checking ExpertFlyer, it appears the cheapest West Coast FI flights book into W while the East Coast flights book into S. W is not listed on the AS Partner charts for Icelandair while S is listed at 50%

If flying from the West Cost consider AS to YVR to connect to FI. The cheapest fare also books into S (50%) and the base fare is lower than SEA/LAX.

ie November 7th, one-way base fare, SEA-KEF, is USD $237.00 fare class (W)ODLT no AS credit. YVR-KEF USD $183.00 fare class (S)ODLT 50% credit to AS.

Fees & Taxes will be higher out of YVR. If you connect with AS to YVR you will earn the minimum 500 EQM.

All in, SEA-KEF $335.40 Earns Zero MP miles
All in, YVR-KEF $380.91 Earns 1772 MP Miles

Add SEA-YVR for $94.83 Earns 500 EQM.

James

Single_Flyer

Saga is about 1/2 the price flying out of YVR than out of Seattle.

QT31415

I thought I'd post my experience so far with Iceland Air. I booked a super cheap flight SEA-KEF-CDG in economy lite, $379 r/t. Found it on google flights about 2 months ago and thought, "hey, mileage run". Then I found this very depressing thread, and thought that I was headed for a painful trip in coach that garners zero miles. Was about to cancel when I got the Class Up notification. Did some flyertalk research, saw that if SAGA seat availability was greater than 5, my chance of a low bid getting accepted on Class Up was high. I bid just over minimum, around $500, and the bid was accepted about 72 hours prior to flying. So at least I'll get 125% miles and a more comfy seat, plus lounge access and luggage (Winter sales in Paris, lol). IMHO it's still a good fare to CDG, even if it's a subpar business class.

nookanaya

Nice. Is that $500 R/T or just for the outbound? Both outbound segments?