Aug 12, 2019, 9:37 am
Last edit by: Prospero
AA established DFW-KEF / Keflavik International Airport for Reykjavik, Iceland, a seasonal route, on 7 June 2018 using a 75L (international, lie flat seats) model 756-200.
AA announced the changing of this flight to PHL-KEF effective 4 Jun 2020 with the same 75L aircraft type.l
Philadelphia Keflavik, 10:15 pm 8:00 am, Flight AA232
Keflavik Philadelphia, 11:00 am 1:30 pm, Flight AA231
AA announced the changing of this flight to PHL-KEF effective 4 Jun 2020 with the same 75L aircraft type.l
Philadelphia Keflavik, 10:15 pm 8:00 am, Flight AA232
Keflavik Philadelphia, 11:00 am 1:30 pm, Flight AA231
Seasonal Route DFW-KEF Reykjavik B757 > PHL-KEF Jun 2020
Jul 25, 2018, 11:21 am
#121
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: UA, DL, LH, Marriott, Amex
Posts: 554
Regardless, the point (IMO) is AA wants to be a thorn in the ULCC's side at DFW, not at ORD etc. ORD has a billion airlines flying to Europe while DFW has the OW JV (AA/BA), LH and the the ULCCs/leisure targeting Icelandair and WOW. AA wants to kick the Iceland crowd out of DFW to stop them from depressing yields.
Personally I would much rather they add capacity to an Iberia hub than having everybody on the planet flying to Iceland.
Jul 25, 2018, 12:48 pm
#122
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Austin, TX - AUS
Programs: AA Platinum, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott
Posts: 1,625
Where are you getting the LF data from?
Regardless, the point (IMO) is AA wants to be a thorn in the ULCC's side at DFW, not at ORD etc. ORD has a billion airlines flying to Europe while DFW has the OW JV (AA/BA), LH and the the ULCCs/leisure targeting Icelandair and WOW. AA wants to kick the Iceland crowd out of DFW to stop them from depressing yields. There is no benefit to trying to get into a losers battle at ORD or JFK.
If WOW decided to enter PHL, I expect AA to respond pretty similarly.
Regardless, the point (IMO) is AA wants to be a thorn in the ULCC's side at DFW, not at ORD etc. ORD has a billion airlines flying to Europe while DFW has the OW JV (AA/BA), LH and the the ULCCs/leisure targeting Icelandair and WOW. AA wants to kick the Iceland crowd out of DFW to stop them from depressing yields. There is no benefit to trying to get into a losers battle at ORD or JFK.
If WOW decided to enter PHL, I expect AA to respond pretty similarly.
I'm hoping for DFW-DUB, at least seasonally during summer.
Last edited by Austin787; Jul 25, 2018 at 12:55 pm
Jul 25, 2018, 4:31 pm
#123
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Programs: AC 75K, Hertz Presidents Circle, Accor Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 10,069
If anyone is considering a visit to Iceland beware that hotels are $300+ in Reykjavik, a weeks car rental easily $600+ and a burger and fries in a pub $25! Gas costs about $8 a gallon 
Plus its hard to find accommodation. Beautiful place but way over priced and frankly now overrun.
PS - Iceland is part of the EU airline regulations (but are not an EU member) so any delays out of KEF are eligible for consideration.
Plus its hard to find accommodation. Beautiful place but way over priced and frankly now overrun.PS - Iceland is part of the EU airline regulations (but are not an EU member) so any delays out of KEF are eligible for consideration.
Jul 25, 2018, 8:42 pm
#124
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: I 35 south bound, finally stopped
Programs: LT Plt, 4mm, *A GLD, burned out medical provider, executing our estate plan
Posts: 1,665
If anyone is considering a visit to Iceland beware that hotels are $300+ in Reykjavik, a weeks car rental easily $600+ and a burger and fries in a pub $25! Gas costs about $8 a gallon Plus its hard to find accommodation. Beautiful place but way over priced and frankly now overrun.
PS - Iceland is part of the EU airline regulations (but are not an EU member) so any delays out of KEF are eligible for consideration.
Plus its hard to find accommodation. Beautiful place but way over priced and frankly now overrun.PS - Iceland is part of the EU airline regulations (but are not an EU member) so any delays out of KEF are eligible for consideration.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobs.../#6cf5c4991b43
Be sure to go down in to the volcano, and you can skip the blue lagoon unless you really enjoy swimming in industrial wastewater.
Jul 25, 2018, 10:42 pm
#125
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: PIT
Posts: 759
PHL hasn't seen nearly as much interest from European/Icelandic ULCC's as NYC, Chicago or Dallas. This is a case where AA probably benefits from PHL lying in the shadows of NYC, which is a much larger tourism draw. Speaking anecdotally as someone who manages Airbnbs in Philly, the majority of our European guests fly into JFK/EWR.
Jul 25, 2018, 10:55 pm
#126
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum
Posts: 1,894
Exactly. Airfare is only the start of the huge outlay of money you'll spend on a trip to Iceland. I enjoyed my visit very much and I did think it was worth it. You eventually realize, though, that cutting costs just isn't going to happen. You have to make your peace with that.
Jul 26, 2018, 4:24 pm
#127
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Programs: AC 75K, Hertz Presidents Circle, Accor Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 10,069
Icelandair and WOW are often targeting the US outbound traffic from underserved markets like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and even my home town Edmonton, Canada . There will be some inbound traffic as well but I think the goal is largely to serve places non-stop that otherwise do not have such service.
. There will be some inbound traffic as well but I think the goal is largely to serve places non-stop that otherwise do not have such service.
Jul 26, 2018, 4:49 pm
#128
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: PHL
Programs: AA
Posts: 343
If tourism draw is the criteria for Icelandic and Wow U.S. city selection, then why do they fly to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Portland, etc. ? Not exactly hot tourist destinations. Icelandic does fly to Philadelphia.
Iceland flies 4x weekly, seasonal in a 737. PHL has no Wow, Level, Norwegian etc. There is some reason for this, right? Read on.
The number of international tourists to Philadelphia who rent houses/apartments (Airbnb), rather than stay in hotels, during their typical 2 - 3 day visits is minuscule and certainly doesn't represent your implication that a majority of visitors to the City fly into NYC. Why would they, PHL directly serves nearly an equal number of European destinations as NYC.
Correct!
Aug 10, 2018, 9:01 am
#129
Join Date: May 2017
Location: DFW
Programs: AA Plat Pro, HH Gold, National Exec
Posts: 41
I recently returned from Iceland after taking the AA232/AA231 leaving on 7/31 returning 8/9. Outbound was listed as diverted before we even took off, counter staff had no idea why. Once we got on the plane they said it was because it wasn't the correct 757 and this one was not rated to fly all the way to KEF. We ended up being diverted to JFK and landing about 1am after an 8:45pm or so departure. Originally they said we would just move over one gate and take off from there at 2am. At about 2:15am the board changed and said 2pm and then shortly after the announcement was made that we would not leave until 2pm on Wednesday 8/1. Explanation was the pilots were out of time. Vouchers for transportation and hotels were handed out and we were told to pick up checked luggage outside of security.
The hotel they gave us a voucher for ended up being about 35 miles away in New Jersey so we opted to leave security and grab our bags and just go back through security since it was now well past 3:30am and head to the admirals lounge. We wanted to be at the airport in case they messed around with departure time again. Going through security was a major hassle since they did not issue new boarding passes and told us we had to use our same boarding pass which obviously said DFW-KEF. Pre check would not allow us to use their lane due to the boarding pass so we had to go through normal security. Required a TSA supervisor to show up to allow us to get past the first TSA agent to go through security. The staff at the Admirals lounge was amazing at 4:30am though. They knew about our flight and checked us into the flagship lounge. Showed us to the showers and where the quite room was. After a much needed shower we went into the quite room and managed to get some sleep.
Finally took off a little after 2pm which put us in KEF at about 12:45 am the day after we where supposed to arrive(scheduled arrive was 9 something am on 8/1 ). Arrived at our Air B&B at about 3:30am so a long couple of days. A fairly terrible experience considering it was supposed to be a direct flight and it wasn't weather or mechanical that caused the issue. AA issued 15,000 bonus miles the day we arrived in Iceland with an apology email. I will still be emailing customer service although I doubt it will do any good.
Side note, I know it's been discussed in this thread but Iceland really is that expensive. $25-35 average for a lunch. $9-18 for a beer. It was about $110 to fill up the rental Kia with diesel. If you want liquor get it at duty free when you arrive. A $20 bottle of something like Jameson or Jack Daniels in the US is $70-$85 at the government run liquor stores. Absolutely amazing country but probably the most expensive I have ever been to.
The hotel they gave us a voucher for ended up being about 35 miles away in New Jersey so we opted to leave security and grab our bags and just go back through security since it was now well past 3:30am and head to the admirals lounge. We wanted to be at the airport in case they messed around with departure time again. Going through security was a major hassle since they did not issue new boarding passes and told us we had to use our same boarding pass which obviously said DFW-KEF. Pre check would not allow us to use their lane due to the boarding pass so we had to go through normal security. Required a TSA supervisor to show up to allow us to get past the first TSA agent to go through security. The staff at the Admirals lounge was amazing at 4:30am though. They knew about our flight and checked us into the flagship lounge. Showed us to the showers and where the quite room was. After a much needed shower we went into the quite room and managed to get some sleep.
Finally took off a little after 2pm which put us in KEF at about 12:45 am the day after we where supposed to arrive(scheduled arrive was 9 something am on 8/1 ). Arrived at our Air B&B at about 3:30am so a long couple of days. A fairly terrible experience considering it was supposed to be a direct flight and it wasn't weather or mechanical that caused the issue. AA issued 15,000 bonus miles the day we arrived in Iceland with an apology email. I will still be emailing customer service although I doubt it will do any good.
Side note, I know it's been discussed in this thread but Iceland really is that expensive. $25-35 average for a lunch. $9-18 for a beer. It was about $110 to fill up the rental Kia with diesel. If you want liquor get it at duty free when you arrive. A $20 bottle of something like Jameson or Jack Daniels in the US is $70-$85 at the government run liquor stores. Absolutely amazing country but probably the most expensive I have ever been to.
Aug 10, 2018, 10:17 am
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,498
Reasonable Compensation for 16 hour delay, diversion and lost bag
Aug 10, 2018, 11:05 am
#131
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Ma๎tre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
AA 232 / 231 31 July 2018 was a genuine mess, a concatenation of things gone wrong. Here it is:
First, ALL AA Rolls Royce powered 757-200 “L” aircraft are ETOPS rated. Additionally, though the AA 756-200 is ETOPS 180 rated, the FAA only allows them to fly with ETOPS 138 under FAA operating specifications. This restricts routings that can be used. (An ETOPS flight is defined as any flight conducted over a route that contains a point where the aircraft can safely land further than 60 minutes flying at the approved one engine inoperative cruise speed, generally 400 knots for a 757/767.)
Another problem is if the more intense maintenance schedule required for ETOPS rating is missed, or more likely the more rigorous MEL (minimum equipment list) isn’t satisfied (it can be an instrument, a working RAT - Ram Air Turbine backup electric generator - etc.) required to be operating for ETOPS - the MEL basically is a “this is the minimum required equipment that must be operational to fly passengers” and ETOPS is more demanding. Then the aircraft can fly, say DFW-JFK in hopes the malfunctioning equipment can be repaired or replaced.
In this instance, adding further complications, though repairing and flying apparently were possible, the cockpit crew declared that though they had enough “clock hours” left to fly to REK they were experiencing fatigue - so the JFK-KEF sector was further delayed. Nobody can (thankfully) overrule such a decision. And of course KEF with its variable weather can be a touch challenging - sitting out there exposed on the Reykjanesbๆr can mean high winds as well as fog, rain, etc. And other potential 757/767 crews (they’re both covered by a common type rating) may have been timed out as happens frequently by the end of the month, as AA has a very lean active flight crew list.
Speaking for myself as a onetime pilot and very frequent passenger, if the flight crew tells they’re fatigued, good for them, because possibly the last thing I want to do is to fly with fatigued pilots.
It was a mess with huge inconvenience and delays for the outgoing and returning passengers, and I only hope a similar issue doesn't occur in a few days when I’m flying on that particular route. (OTOH, this is precisely were giving ourselves three nights of “buffer time” to make our Reykjavik - Greenland - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Manhattan cruise.) But though these concatenated delays don’t happen frequently due to much more reliable equipment we have today, they can still occur.
First, ALL AA Rolls Royce powered 757-200 “L” aircraft are ETOPS rated. Additionally, though the AA 756-200 is ETOPS 180 rated, the FAA only allows them to fly with ETOPS 138 under FAA operating specifications. This restricts routings that can be used. (An ETOPS flight is defined as any flight conducted over a route that contains a point where the aircraft can safely land further than 60 minutes flying at the approved one engine inoperative cruise speed, generally 400 knots for a 757/767.)
Another problem is if the more intense maintenance schedule required for ETOPS rating is missed, or more likely the more rigorous MEL (minimum equipment list) isn’t satisfied (it can be an instrument, a working RAT - Ram Air Turbine backup electric generator - etc.) required to be operating for ETOPS - the MEL basically is a “this is the minimum required equipment that must be operational to fly passengers” and ETOPS is more demanding. Then the aircraft can fly, say DFW-JFK in hopes the malfunctioning equipment can be repaired or replaced.
In this instance, adding further complications, though repairing and flying apparently were possible, the cockpit crew declared that though they had enough “clock hours” left to fly to REK they were experiencing fatigue - so the JFK-KEF sector was further delayed. Nobody can (thankfully) overrule such a decision. And of course KEF with its variable weather can be a touch challenging - sitting out there exposed on the Reykjanesbๆr can mean high winds as well as fog, rain, etc. And other potential 757/767 crews (they’re both covered by a common type rating) may have been timed out as happens frequently by the end of the month, as AA has a very lean active flight crew list.
Speaking for myself as a onetime pilot and very frequent passenger, if the flight crew tells they’re fatigued, good for them, because possibly the last thing I want to do is to fly with fatigued pilots.
It was a mess with huge inconvenience and delays for the outgoing and returning passengers, and I only hope a similar issue doesn't occur in a few days when I’m flying on that particular route. (OTOH, this is precisely were giving ourselves three nights of “buffer time” to make our Reykjavik - Greenland - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Manhattan cruise.) But though these concatenated delays don’t happen frequently due to much more reliable equipment we have today, they can still occur.
Aug 10, 2018, 4:02 pm
#133
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Ma๎tre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Aug 11, 2018, 1:51 am
#134
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL - DM, Charter KM; Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 1,355
KEF - Lounge for AA Flights?
According to the oneworld lounge finder, KEF lounge is only for BA and FinnAir. Traveling AA as an EP in J. Anyone know if the website is perhaps outdated and I'll have access?
Traveling with two companions who will be in coach.
https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-...eaccess/KEF/-1
Traveling with two companions who will be in coach.
https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-...eaccess/KEF/-1
Aug 11, 2018, 4:42 am
#135
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,498
According to the oneworld lounge finder, KEF lounge is only for BA and FinnAir. Traveling AA as an EP in J. Anyone know if the website is perhaps outdated and I'll have access?
Traveling with two companions who will be in coach.
https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-...eaccess/KEF/-1
Traveling with two companions who will be in coach.
https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-...eaccess/KEF/-1
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...7-200-a-8.html