Icelandair Reviews 471

I recently flew with Icelandair (booking reference BVF9LO), and this was my second trip with them in the past seven months.

First, I want to highlight the crew, who were consistently excellent on both flights. The staff were friendly, attentive, and highly professional, making the overall journey very pleasant. This level of service is clearly one of Icelandair’s strongest assets.

However, there is one area that could benefit from improvement: the inflight entertainment system. While there is a reasonable amount of content available (movies, series, and music), the way it is organized makes it difficult to navigate. Categories feel mixed together—different genres such as drama, action, and anime appear in the same sections, and the same applies to series and music. This makes browsing unnecessarily confusing.

Additionally, the system feels somewhat outdated. I noticed the same issues during a previous flight seven months ago, which suggests that it may not have been reviewed or updated recently.

Overall, the experience was positive thanks to the outstanding crew, but improving the structure and usability of the entertainment system would significantly enhance the passenger experience and better reflect the high standards of the airline.

Landed KEF airport after overnight flight from New York. Transferred onto KEF to LHR flight. We were stuck on plane for more than 4 hours before we were told flight cancelled . We were not provided with any food or communication from Icelandair which was a breach of duty of care by airline. We were then stuck in baggage reclaim for more than 5 hours and still no food or communication by Icelandair. Eventually transferred by coach for evening meal but no drinks provided so had to buy own drinks. Eventually taken to hotel where we were going to stay night. Not taken directly to hotel and told had to walk last bit with our own luggage. This was very dangerous as steep hill which was very icy . This again was a complete lack of duty of care and our safety was put at risk. When back in UK complained to Icelandair. It took more than 12 weeks for a response.

Hard to understand how this company is allowed to exist. Scammed me out of $900+ and stranded me in Iceland. My layover in Reykjavik was impossible to make due to the wait at border control. After having to respond to the accusatory service representative, she informed me my return flights were cancelled and would not be refunded.

Avoid at any cost! Embarrassment of an airline, unwelcoming staff, horrible and outdated seats, no blankets, no earphones ( pay for them ) no meal, only one time “service” if we can even call it service, pay for junk food on a long haul flight or stay hungry and dehydrated, how this horrible airline can be called a national carrier of Iceland?! NEVER EVER AGAIN! They don’t even deserve to be called low cost, simply DISGRACEFUL!

Deceptive business practices and lack of professionalism
​Subject: Arbitrary cancellation to speculate on prices. Stay away!
​I am writing this review to warn anyone considering flying with Icelandair. My experience has been nothing short of disgraceful, revealing a level of customer management that is unprofessional at best.
​Here are the facts:
​The Bait: I booked a ticket well in advance, taking advantage of an attractive offer. The transaction was confirmed, and payment was processed.
​The Switch: Without any valid technical or operational reason, the airline decided to unilaterally cancel my flight.
​The Harsh Reality: Checking their website just days after the cancellation, the exact same flight is still available for sale, but at a price four times higher than what I originally paid.
​It is crystal clear that Icelandair uses "offers" as bait-and-switch tactics to secure immediate cash flow, only to cancel lower-priced seats and relist them at a massive premium when demand peaks. This is not the policy of a serious airline; it is a form of legalized scalping.
​If you are looking for reliability, look elsewhere. An airline that cancels a purchase contract simply because they regret a low price does not deserve a traveler’s trust. Saving a few euros initially isn't worth the stress of being left stranded.

I bought a ticket for $600, and less than 10 minutes later, my plans changed so I cancelled the flight. According to the 24-hour rule, they are required to refund the full amount. However, they only refunded $28 out of the $600. They are showing about 500% of the ticket price as taxes and fees and refusing to refund them.
Definitely do not use this airline.

Paid for a window seat, checked in online the day before with that seat still selected. Printed boarding pass at the airport and now I'm in a middle seat, what the? They won't do anything because it's the same value seat or whatever, and I was moved due to a family or something. The family can pay their own money to sit together, instead of checking in late and getting to sit together for free.

They suddenly cancelled my trip, not even pick up my calls after 2 hours waiting.
This company easily can be one of the worst airlines in the world

Virtual chatbot put me in a queue to speak with a human agent, and took me out of it when I got to the end. Tried again with the same result as I got to position 1 in the queue. A total of 6 hours wasted and no useful information gathered or any contact at any point with a human agent. Disgraceful.

Traveling with Icelandair was the single worst travel experience I've ever had. My wife and I were visiting Iceland for a short trip for a wedding. We planned far in advance, showed up early to the gate, and were told, oops, we overbooked the flight and only have 1 seat. One of you should fly and only one of you will receive compensation. I booked the hotel and rental car for arrival, so I should just go? How can I go and leave my wife behind? They told us too bad, refused to let us on the plane, and the gate agent left. We were rebooked 24 hours later and it took Icelandair months and countless emails back and forth before they gave only 1 of us the minimum compensation required by law. It was a nightmare and they should be ashamed of treating people so badly.

They cancelled my flight withouth explanations. They only have a useless virtual agent. The human agent is available after a fake queque of over 200 people (there is a program that every 6 minutes update the queque just for you). When you reach the position 1st in queque (usually after 3 hours or so) they close your session (happened to me 6 times). So it's basically a scam

Left baggage with no protection from snow storm for over an hour before loading on plane totally soaked luggage damaged contents. There answer luggage should be made to withstand it service is not there thing

Not a good experience - neck surgery in January - bought their "Standard Protection" based on advice of agent and cancelled flight with agent who stated the refund should be no issue. Submitted documentation for "protection" - and within one day - it was rejected.

By the way - when I submitted the claim business-class.com's attitude changed - and they even stated to me "Standard Protection" is not insurance and it is up to the airline to agree - so what did I ay an addition $600 for - pathetic grifting. And I plan to talk to the insurance commissions in both FL and CO.

After the email on the rejection by business-class.com - I called them. They told me "Icelandair will not do anything". But I am not sure if they were ever contacted - so I called Icelandair as well. They said there was no contact noted in my file.

They told me to call the agency and have them do a 3 way call with me and Icelandair. I called business-class-com and asked them to do this. They said no that is not allowed. And they suggested that I call Icelandair and have them do the 3 way call - called Icelandair ... nope not allowed. I asked Icelandair what I should do - and they said it was up to the travel agency - but clearly Icelandair with over $7000 in their pocket are looking for me to spend more money. Am I on Twilight Zone?

So after over 60 emails, 5 phone calls with business-class.com (and another 5-10 emails to Icelandair and 5 phone calls) I gave up. I have to pay an additional $2000 and my original trip including stops in Paris, Prague, Stockholm, and Iceland is now a direct to London and costing me another $2000 over the $7000 I have already paid. Both Icelandair and business-class.com are awful at customer support.

We booked round trip tickets from RDU to KEF and selected our seats, paying extra for the privilege. Less than a week later we get an email saying with had "gotten off the wait list." We were never on a wait list. I went back and checked the booking and our seat assignments had disappeared for the outgoing leg, and we had double seat assignments for the return. I tried to call, but got a recording saying caller volume was so high they could not respond. I tried the online chat, but after twice waiting more than 2 hours, I was "timed out" just as my number was coming up. This is the worst customer service we have ever experienced. If you are flying to Iceland, avoid Icelandair!

Our flight was disrupted due to bad weather in Iceland. But one would expect an airline in Iceland to be prepared for such an eventuality. When we called, the voicemail said a 10 minute wait. After more than an hour, we hung up. The music they play seems to be deliberately adverse, with siren sounds and pauses that make you think you will be connected, then the unpleasant sounds resume. After many hours, we finally got a confusing email that ultimately we were booked on Delta, and needed to work with them. The Delta customer experience was much better. On a minor note, on the flight out they only provide free coffee, tea or water. No sodas or snacks. Unlike most other transatlantic flights with a full meal. No more Icelandair flights for us!

I had a decent flight to USA connected in Iceland and then over to Dulles.
The staff were helpful and friendly
The food was ok and the plane was clean and comfortable. It had TVs in the seat backs and earphones were the €3 if you wanted them. Nothing is free drinks and food are all paid for but we knew that (kind of!)
For the money I’d recommend Iceland air. No frill as such but if you take food and water it’s ok.
The confusing thing was buying and paying for 2 exit seats that was sat in pending in my bank the day before we flew so I didn’t know if we actually had them and the chat wasn’t helpful in resolving this. We did have an exit seat in the end but I wasn’t sure until we got to the airport. I don’t known why they don’t take the money & confirm as it was paid for? This is slightly stressful just before a long flight home. No one really checked the hand luggage in this instance but we did have cases that fitted into the luggage test box.

The initial diversion wasn’t the airline’s fault. After three aborted landing attempts due to bad weather, we were diverted to Reykjavík Airport instead of Keflavík International Airport. Unpleasant? Yes. Understandable? Also yes.
What wasn’t understandable was what happened next.
We sat on the tarmac at Reykjavík Airport for four and a half hours with almost no information or updates. No food. No proper drinks. Just one small cup of water offered the entire time. People were tired, stressed, and confused, and the lack of basic communication made everything worse.
Eventually, we were flown in terrible weather on the 15-minute hop to Keflavík, only to be told: “Get on the bus, you’re going to a hotel and dinner will be provided.” Everyone reasonably expected a short ride to an airport hotel.
Instead, the bus drove nearly two hours north of the airport — literally passing the airport we had just spent 4.5 hours stranded at. No warning. No explanation. Just a two-hour ride in the middle of the night with no water provided. Are you serious?
When we finally arrived, the hotel had not been told to provide food. To their credit, the staff tried their best and scraped together a sandwich and a drink. That was it.
So now you have elderly passengers, kids, exhausted travelers who hadn’t eaten or properly drank in 10 hours, put on a 2-hour bus ride with no warning, no water, and no real plan communicated. By the end of the day, I had eaten one sandwich and had one bottle of water I bought myself. I also missed my connecting flight to Toronto.
To top it off, I was given no clear information about how or when I’d be taken back to the airport the next day. I’m apparently supposed to wait for another mystery bus for another two-hour ride back. The whole situation felt chaotic, disorganised, and shockingly indifferent to passenger wellbeing. I was nearly passing out from dehydration on the bus.
Bad weather happens. That’s life.
But leaving people without information, food, water, or a basic plan is not okay. This was a complete failure of care, communication, and basic human decency.

I’m always having pleasant flights with Iceland air . One time my flight got canceled and I got refund for the extra day of stay , taxis to the airport and back and also for the cancel itself .

I had an extremely negative experience with Icelandair at Miami International Airport and would strongly advise travellers to think twice before flying with them.

At the check-in desk, a staff member claimed that my carry-on bag was too large. However, there was no sizing rack available to verify this. When I asked for a way to measure the bag against Icelandair’s carry-on limits, the request was refused.

At the boarding gate, the same issue was raised again, but only with me and my cousin. Staff demanded payment for our bags and told us that if we did not pay, we would be denied boarding. I was charged $200 for my carry-on bag, and my cousin was charged $200 for a personal item.

At the same time, several other passengers were boarding with visibly larger carry-on bags and personal items without being stopped or charged.

When my cousin tried to point out the inconsistency, staff became hostile and told us to stop talking or we would be denied boarding altogether. We were initially refused boarding and were only allowed to proceed after apologising for raising the issue.

We paid the charges under pressure because we were told we would not be allowed to board the flight otherwise.

After the trip, I contacted Icelandair customer service to report what had happened. The response was dismissive, and the airline refused to investigate the incident or refund the unfair charges.

Based on this experience, the treatment we received was unfair, unprofessional, and extremely disappointing.

I would not recommend this airline for the following reasons:
1. In coach not even a soft drink is free, only a cup of water.
2. Carry on baggage criteria is the worst I have ever seen--we had to purchase carry on bags specifically for this flight as the dimension requirements are far harsher than any other airline.
3. Entertainment is the worst I have seen. Movie choices are so bad and limited as to be bizarre.
4. Business class is a letdown-seats don't recline enough.
5. Staff is non chalant at best.
6. Nickel and diming erodes any cost savings.
7. In our particular case we paid for upgrades to Business Class and were not assigned seats together. When we inquired, staff was rude and basically said tough luck.