Iceland travel
 

Looking to book a trip to Iceland in the near future and wondering what my options are to get there. Fro what I can tell my only real option would be to collect Alaska Air miles and then convert to Iceland Air at a rate of 75k for buisness. Is there any other options or routes/airlines out there? I know the Alaska card only yields 25k and can supposedly be churnable but that would still take 9 months for one ticket if they in fact approved it each time. For a little more info I'd be flying out of JFK most likely but my home airport is BDL.

DL does fly there from JFK now. It is seasonal and not sure when it starts up for the year but when it does it is one RT a day on a 757.

Especially if you go on the shoulder season or off season, Iceland Air sometimes has some pretty cheap flights at least from the east coast, FWIW. Never flown there but have researched it in the past and the prices (Economy) were cheap enough I would've paid rather than used miles.

Thanks for the responses. I didn't really think there were too many options for miles use and travel to Iceland and it seems I was correct. Good call on the flights not being to to pricey. Econmy class special rate goes for about $600 during certain times which isn't horrible. Still wish there were more options for a business class redemption.

Also, beware FI's business class. It's 39" seat pitch; barely more than E+ on most US domestic airlines. That's really not worth the miles, and probably not worth the cash price, either. Personally, with my aversion to crappy seats, I'd probably take BA to London and hop over from there!

Icelandair can be an option if you're considering a trip to one of their European destinations because they'll allow a stopover in Reykjavik without increasing the fare. You could combine Iceland with another city to make your dollars go further.

Business class on Icelandair, though, isn't much to write home about. No fully flat beds; instead, the seats look similar to BA's World Traveller Plus seats. The flight's only six hours to Reykjavik so not the worst flight you could take, but if you're paying yourself, economy class or their economy comfort, with 2x2 seating rather than economy's 3x3, is probably a better value.

Has anyone found a site or service to check FI award availability online?

Even logged in through their own site it appears the only option is to submit a full manual reservation request incl credit card or call. I looked through expert flyer & KVS and unless I missed it, I don't see it listed there either...

btw - Is it weird that I am SO averse to calling anyone, like Alaska Mileage Plan, to check for availability that I've spent probably an hour cumulative searching online instead of just picking up the phone?

Being a KVS Tool member, you can check FI Award Availability in C -- please see:
http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes

Sorry - I forgot I did see that C availability was doable. Any possibility for Y in the near future? Per the comments upthread, I'm not in any hurry to burn miles in FI C. Thanks for the reminder.

I went to Reykjavik for spring break a couple years back and I bought a revenue fare on Icelandair.

The best reason to do this is because you get a free stopover in Iceland with continued travel to over 20 destninations in Europe.

I did Iceland and Stockholm for just over $700 R/T.

I thought it was worth it.

Not a bad deal.

At the moment, there are no known sources for FI Y Award Availability.

This is quite helpful. I am considering a trip to Iceland for next year. Hopefully the IAD direct flight will still be going then. I was considering splashing out for business class but will certainly consider the economy comfort now instead.

ExpertFlyer does show Business Awards for FI:

Results from ExpertFlyer.com

I would just purchase rev tickets for FI. Their business product is not that impressing.

I've been in Y on FI and seen J and completely agree. Iceland is totally worth the trip though! We did it in the winter to see the Northern Lights. What an amazing thing to see.