mitelsp

Hello,this company will start seasonal summer service from Canada(Winnipeg) and New York to Europe via Reykjavik. They do have very attractive prices but as I never heard of them I am not sure if this is a reliable company or you could find yourself that they went under ruining all your plans. Does anybody have any experience with them?
thank you

Braniff

Tourism is booming in Iceland and I think both Icelandair and Iceland Express are doing relatively well. Iceland Express has been around for a number of years. You may however want to purchase travel insurance to give you piece of mind.

Winnipeg is also home to a large Icelandic-Canadian community and I believe I read someplace that over 60% of the seats had already been sold to Canadian tour operators.

I'd strongly recommend a stop-over in Iceland on your travel to Europe.

Braniff

They've just loaded their schedule on the Reykjavik - Winnipeg route.

02JUN10 to 28AUG10:

5W483 KEF1630 – 1740YWG 73G Wed, Sat
5W484 YWG1840 – 0550+1KEF 73G Wed, Sat

Yes, it's a Boeing 737 !

Donna49

I've never flown Iceland Express, but they have been around for several years.

I don't think they are a real airline in the sense of owning their own aircraft and crews; I think everything is wet-leased from some low cost carrier in Europe.

There has been some concern over flight cancellations when loads are down. That would not be a problen in the heavily traveled tourist season, when they will operate to North America, but it does make you wonder.

See this forum link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...Reykjavik.html

B747-437B

Iceland Express is owned by Eignarhaldsfelagid Fengur hf, which also owns among other things Astraeus Airlines in the UK. All IEX flights are operated by Astraeus aircraft - there are 2 73Gs dedicated to the operation year-round with additional lift provided by 752s as required during the peak seasons. IEX has been around for some years now and has very strong financial backing.

They are a very friendly and trendy organisation so I don't doubt you would enjoy your flights with them. I know their CEO and their principal shareholder quite well and both of them are committed to making their North American routes a success, so the route will definitely not be lacking for resources.

u600213

I don't know if he's still there but Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden was a pilot for them:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ing-.-.-..html

mitelsp

Thank you for all this useful information.

B747-437B

Bruce is very much still around and now a captain on the 757 fleet. Indeed, he is one of the ETOPS qualified captains so will undoubtedly show up regularly on the IEX routes to NYC/YWG this summer.

As an FYI though, he uses his real name (which isn't "Bruce Dickinson") when flying so you won't find out its him by listening for the captain's name. He does have an EXTREMELY distinctive style with his PA announcements though which often gives him away!!!

seat_1a

Expect low-cost airline style of flying with limited legroom, ads everywhere in cabin, and BOB concept.

It's NOT Ryanair, however. It's the civilised version of low-cost, so a luggage allowance is included, a seat will be assigned at the airport (no free seating here), and no extra charges for checking in at the desks.

And they're nice people! Just don't expect luxury...

You can see a few photos here... TEST: Iceland Express

YVR Cockroach

More specifically, Gimli on the shores of Lake Manitoba.

Look at the logo and slogan of the town:

http://www.gimli.ca/default.asp

ThanxsisC

I was excited by the cheaper pricing for a EWR - KEF flight on Iceland Express compared to Iceland Air so I went ahead and booked my ticket. After reading TripAdvisor posts, it looked like there were many last minute cancellations on this airline so I went back to Iceland Express' website to check to see what flight availability was on both legs of my flight two weeks ago. I discovered that they were no longer offering my return flight which I assumed was because it was already a full flight. Just last night, I received an email from Iceland Express stating that they are canceling my return leg of my flight (I am due to leave on the trip this Monday) and that all they could offer was to fly me out on a different day or to a different place on another Iceland Express flight or get a full refund. I thought it was extremely unprofessional how they canceled this trip especially since it seemed like they knew weeks ago that the leg was going to be canceled and waited less than a week before my itinerary started to notify me of the cancellation. If you are ever going to Iceland, do not use Iceland Express, it is worth the extra $$$ to fly on Iceland Air just for comfort that there will be no last minute cancellations. Better yet, fly Delta to Iceland in 2011 when they are up and running!

tcook052

Any more updates from FTers on this airline lately? I've noticed some really good deals and don't mind a tighter seat pitch but hope they are reliable. It's the middle of the summer season I'm planning so you'd think cancellations would be fewer, but maybe it still happens. Any recent input?