Bidding for an upgrade on Icelandair

I have not done this, but I have seen it discussed on the air travel forum at trip advisor. You might check there.

I did this on my first trip to Europe. I bid $100 outbound (Seattle - London) and $100 inbound (Paris - Seattle). My outbound bid was accepted and my inbound bid was laughed off the surface of the planet.

The plusses:

1. Really cool VIP lounge at SeaTac -- your lounge milage may vary. Seriously, VIP lounges are tre' cool.
2. My "upgraded" seat was a normal airline seat on the exit row, which meant a lot of leg room.
3. I was offered booze, but in keeping with The Rick Steves' Way, I declined ("thou shall not drink booze on international flights lest one experience increased jet-lag").
4. Even with the extra money I paid the total cost came out to be less than the stated ticket price for normal Economy Comfort.
5. I got this cool chocolate bar that was part chocolate, part licorise.

The minuses:

1. We had to leave the lounge and get on the plane, where the level of comfort was far less.
2. My "upgraded" seat was next to the loo -- the loo with the slamming door that could jerk a coma patient out of sleep. And slam it did -- for all 7 hours, 45 minutes of the flight.
3. There was an eclipse of the moon the night of my flight, and because my seat was on the row with the most space, my window became the de facto observatory for the plane. This isn't Icelandair's fault, more the universe as a whole.
4. After receiving my chocolate/licorise bar, the stewardess vanished never to be seen for the rest of the flight. When they hand you that bottle of water while you're getting on the flight, TAKE IT! The Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia has more water available than an Icelandair flight after take-off.

BTW, get ready to WALK once you land at Heathrow -- for some reason, Icelandair parks their planes east of nowhere and you're pretty much left to your own devices to figure out where to go once you enter the terminal. Also, make sure to fill out your little "You're visiting our lovely little isle wot on account of . . ." card -before- you get off the plane. They get a bit pissy at border control if you don't have it filled out in advance.

As always, hope this helps somewhat,

-- Mike Beebe

Mike, that's very helpful. Thank you! You have a good sense of humor, BTW.