RobS

FI has comparable fares on some days, but not the ones you picked. WOW, meanwhile, just announced AMS end-of-summer fares about $400 r/t.

RNE

Anecdotal evidence is notoriously unreliable. But to add to yours, I was on FI's inaugural (16 May) flight from CLE. It was full. The return flight (20 May) had 40 passengers. Pathetic.
So, you're saying what? Wow and Icelandair are longterm fixtures at CLE?

RNE, not so sure.

JimInOhio

I'm guessing those are fares for CLE - AMS on Sept 5 with the return on Sept 12. Personally, I'd have to check fares on a few more dates to get a feel for which airlines are really charging more than others.

RNE

I picked those dates at random, but you're right; it's just one date. Still, that's a huge fare difference and it's inexplicable on any day. After all, FI hardly has reason to command a premium on a popular route the US majors cover well. Aside from price, all FI has going for it is that KEF is easy to connect at. Apparently FI at CLE thinks that's worth a $200+ premium, at least on some days. Methinks not.

RNE, saying I'd only fly FI because it's cheap. How about you?

JimInOhio

CLE - AMS and return
Sept 18 - 25: $520.84 on Icelandair

Is that cheap enough?

moops380

sept 10-24 on icelandair is $350 rt cle-ams. haven't seen it that cheap until today.

RNE

When we connected at KEF, we were bused out to the 767 that FI uses to/from AMS. The bus stops a football field's width away from the airplane stairs that one must trudge to before climbing. (KEF's windswept outer tarmac reminds one of Tolkien's Northern Wastes. We would have welcomed Smaug's attack just for the warmth of his fiery breath.) Once at the stairs, it was a slow, long-exposed ascent while the line of passengers already on the plane took their sweet time blocking further access by messing around with overhead bins and whatnot. And, this was in relatively mild mid-May weather. One shudders to contemplate the conditions during the late-October dates you present. Three hundred fifty dollars may not be so cheap for a tarmac boarding near the Arctic Circle.

RNE, just sayin'.

moops380

Sept 10-24, plus thats bookable via the chase portal for 23,327 PTS r/t cle-ams. By all means fly other ways, but thats a heck of a deal. They fly a 757 as well at the same time, and if that is on a jetbridge more reliably, go with the 757. All of my WOW experiences have been jetbridge only thus far, I just don't like round trip tickets so I haven't pulled the trigger on this deal yet.

RNE

I don't know about WW, but with FI, even our KEF-CLE flight (737 Max 8) didn't have a jet bridge. Anyway, I totally agree the Iceland-based airlines can be a good value for NEO'ers and good for the city of Cleveland. ^ But when they're not lower cost, they've got little going for them versus the majors. My gut's telling me FI won't play their cards right and won't be hanging around CLE for long. WW? They may be smarter. Dunno.

guy44134

My gut is telling me the opposite. FI has committed to year-round service to CLE, while WW is only seasonal. They offer a more traditional airline experience and have other airline partners (like B6) that might be useful. Their flight times are much more humane than WW, and they offer a premium product. My inflight experience on FI was absolutely fine, and the connection at KEF painless, even after a delayed arrival, despite having to use remote stands on 2/4 segments. On those two non-jetway segments, the bus dropped us off right at the covered stairs and boarding was painless (on a 737 and 757, used both front and rear stairs, speeding the process). I liken FI to Southwest and WW to Spirit. Both have their place in the market. If only one survives in CLE, I sure hope it's FI.

RNE

Don't get me wrong. I like FI. Wasn't perfect, but it got us to Europe inexpensively and comfortably. Nevertheless, I posit that FI is not always inexpensive (a key leverage against the majors), and, worse, is failing to market itself sufficiently. Too many Clevelanders don't know Icelandair exists. They would dismiss it out of hand if it even happened to appear on their search engines. If I'm right, then flight times, jet bridges, and cabin comfort won't matter because Joe Blow from Parma won't ever experience it.

And the scant advertising they do do totally misses the mark. FI needs to stop touting Iceland and instead tout the cities it connects to. How many people want to go to Reykjavik vs. Paris? FI should present itself as a European carrier and not mention Iceland at all, unless they're marketing to Elsa and Anna tweens. Sheesh!

RNE, telling FI to stop running ads showing volcanic swimming holes and start showing Av. des Champs-Élysées!

FreqFlyerCLE

moops380

Agree to disagree. The flight times, for me, limit jetlag. I like to be very very tired when flying so 12:30am works well and on the return, specifically from AMS at 6pm is great. I get a kick out of the $170 o/w tickets, but i wish WW was bookable with chase points. Also WW uses airbus which are slightly wider seats and sometimes one way is exactly half of r/t, which FI does not do. WW has lower prices which drives down the cost of the major airlines too. My main alternative is flying united (singapore pts) but all the flights are quite early leaving AMS (and cle for that matter). But I'm not a morning person and appreciate one way flights. So ymmv. For now I think they can both stay, connections and immigration in KEF are pretty easy, and there must be a major fuel savings due to geography.

lincolnjkc

Interestingly the flight is being sold on ua.com as a 737-800 (!) but shows the 767 seatmap -- though there's something suspicious about it parking all the way over on A... are none of UA's gates or the ostensibly common use gates on C wide body capable?

Something's funny with the seat map vs. availability: Seat map on booking shows 0 F seats, and only a handful of Y seats available, while flifo seatmap shows 3 F open. Expert mode is showing 7F and great availability in all Economy fare classes (F7 A7 JN7 C7 D7 Z7 ZN7 P7 PN7 R7 RN7 IN7 I7 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G9 N9 XN9 X9) -- if I wasn't heading to Reno tomorrow [with a leg on a 788] I'd probably try to get myself on it.

moops380

Interesting indeed (737/767 and A gates). Lots of C gates can take 767s no problem. Look at the concrete, they measure out all the aircraft that can park there and where they are meant to stop.