cyberwolf777

Without a major press release, Icelandair has completed a complete overhaul of their class, fare, and points structures.

Starting April 12, Economy Comfort/Y+ will be gone (it hasn't been sold anymore since Apr 5), essentially meaning that there will only be two cabin classes moving forward, Economy and Saga Premium. Saga Premium is just the new name for the Saga Business Class; they've already dropped the Business a while ago, and now also drop the class, so I'm guessing this is about managing expectations, as the quality of transatlantic business class products has just increased drastically, and Saga Premium is now more like Norwegian Y+ (at least the hard product, the soft product is still a notch above most premium economy classes I believe). This is going to simplify Icelandair's operations, as they move from flexible to fixed cabin configurations. No need to re-seat people after boarding because they decided last minute to enlarge the Y+ cabin by a few rows (any frequent flier with them knows what I'm talking about).

Economy fare classes have already been somewhat restructured recently, but the fragmentation now has been more increased: Economy Light now only earns 50% points, Economy Standard 100%, and Economy Flex 100%. As of today, Economy Flex passengers also get priority boarding and free WiFi.
There are now two Saga Premium fares, Saga Premium (earning 200%) and Saga Premium Flex (earning 300%). I have seen some pretty cheap Saga Premium fares that represent a significant price decrease for certain markets, e.g. KEF-ARN/OSL around $600 for a return trip (around half), and I can definitely see that the Saga cabin will be fuller than it used to be. Icelandair has already published new ads for the Icelandic market promoting Saga Premium; this is an interesting development as Icelandair has not made much of an effort in the past to market their premium product.

When it comes to earning points in the Saga Club program, there is no longer any distinction when it comes to sub-regions, so Europe 1 and 2 have been merged into ISL-EUR, and US/CAN 1, 2, 3 merged into ISL-US/CAN, earning 1700 and 2400 points respectively, making it an improvement for those who travel a lot to Scandinavia, LON, and the US/CAN Northeast, but a devaluation for everyone else. The system has been further simplified in the way that miles earnt are now all a percentage of the Economy Standard fare. The devaluation is the worst for those travelling on Economy Light, as Economy Light used to earn as many points as Economy Standard but now only 50%.

The good news for Saga Gold members is that the complimentary upgrades are still available, and that we are now being upgraded from Economy to Saga Premium. However, due to more affordable Saga Premium fares, and the aggressive marketing of Class Up, I expect the availability of upgrades to decrease, particularly between Iceland and North America during the high season. Other than that, the Saga Club program remains unchanged. Whether it will now be easier or more difficult to obtain status really depends on your travel patterns, these changes don't seem to be a clear devaluation of the program, just a simplification where some will win, and some will lose.

_kurt

Thank you for the nice summary. I wasn't aware of the changes until Icelandair emailed me today. This is a bit sad for me, as I found Economy Comfort to be a great sweet spot in FI fares. You paid a decent bit more than economy, but in return got Saga Class seats (usually, but not guaranteed of course), as well as food and beverage free of charge. That beats paying business class prices for recliner seats. The extra baggage allowance didn’t hurt either.

Now, if this leads to a more realistic price point for Saga Class (I hope closer to where Economy Comfort prices used to be), I will be fine with that. Fly in the same seat plus earn more miles and get free wifi.

From what I read in the 2017 annual report Icelandair was not performing well financially. Revenue and profit had dipped sharply. 2017 EBIDA was 170,225 thousand USD vs a peak of 226,666 in 2015. I guess it was time to face up to competition from WOW and Norwegian. I hope the changes turn out positive for Icelandair and for those of us willing to buy premium fares.

Braniff

All in all, I like these changes. One of the few times that "enhancement" does not mean a serious devaluation.

I like your point about dropping 'business class' to manage expectations.

Smiley90

I booked an "Economy Standard" trip and was able to select seats for free, including the "extra legroom" rows 7-10 which (used to?) be Economy Comfort. Not sure what exactly is going on there but I won't complain? Do they just still have the seats but not make a distinction as far as selecting them in advance anymore?

cyberwolf777

That's correct. That being said, there are no more extra legroom seats in the new 737MAX anymore

Donna49

Braniff, it all depends on where you live. For you and others in Europe and Iceland who fly Icelandair on a regular basis, it seems like these changes will benefit you. But if you live past the east coast of North America, as I do, these changes are devastating

But first, I'd like to thank cyberwolf777 for an excellent initial post that really does explain the changes. As he/she mentioned, this change came without warning, due to problems such a major change like this will cause.

It is not just the elimination of the Economy Comfort class/fare, it is the total change that FI has made to their fare structure and FF program.

I'm in Seattle, and the cheapest Saga class fare has gone from $2600 SEA-ARN (return fare) to over $4000 (with a 42 day advance purchase requirement, and change fees). And this fare earns the same points as a $2100 Saga fare out of EWR.

Talk about a game changer...at least for those of us on the west coast of NA. If I were to sum it up, for us out here, it is "A lot less, for a lot more".

I still have my Saga Gold status, and will appreciate the upgrades, as I have for 20+ years, but I sense this is coming to an end, at least for the west coast stations.

What I find so very strange with the changes to the FF program, in addition to making all NA stations the same point value, is that Alaska airlines flights now earn card points, the points needed for Gold card status. I can make Gold Card next year much cheaper by flying a lot on Alaska, rather than FI. This makes no sense to me.

But neither does anything FI has accomplished with this change. Unless their intention is to concentrate on Europe-Iceland and East Coast-Iceland, which is why, Braniff, we have such differing feelings about the changes.

I really hope Icelandair has not made a bad decision with this change, but in the US/Canada, if you are not on the East Coast, this is just a change that results in, for the consumer, less for more.

But this does affect me in a way I never expected. I have worked hard to maintain Saga Gold card status over the decades.I hate to see this go, but things do change


.

boxo

Does this also apply to B763 seating? I am flying ex-SFO in December and have currently chosen 20D and 20F, but if former E+ seat pitch will still be available, I'd rather have a window seat.

garethlewis

tcook052

I was just trying to figure that out and the answer seems to be that instead of fixed award levels they've changed to allow members to use some or all of their banked Saga Club points to book a flight. That would help me reduce my out-of-pocket cost on a future ticket if I used 12,000 points, for example, to save $300 but without walking through and trying to use your points I don't a chart of how much redeeming my points would work out to as a partial payment.

As I only fly FI every 2 - 3 years and given points expire after 4 years I might just use the little points I have for onboard shopping from the Saga Shop.