Iceland Air personal items

I just flew with them last month. Had a normal, rolling carry-on suitcase, a decent sized cross body messenger bag (large enough for a laptop or a couple of kilos of stuff) and also had my winter coat/scarf/gloves.

My messenger bag had my food for the trip, i-pad, iphone, cables, wallet, earphones (unless you want to buy theirs, and bring your own food unless you want to buy the limited and rather pricey Iceland Air food)

Their website describes the "small personal item" as "such as a handbag or a laptop computer." Looking at the description on this website of the Ravenna daypack I'd guess it might be oversize by Icelandair standards -- it holds a laptop plus a lot more. So you might be running a risk of having to check your larger bag. The good news is that this is free on Icelandair unless you're in "economy light" class.

It's been several years since we flew Icelandair and we check our main bags anyway, so I can't help you with actual experience.

Thanks, both of you. Ms Jo's experience sounds promising. I'll be traveling in September, so there is a while to figure out packing to make the day pack as small as possible. It actually looks like a pretty small bag when you see it live, but definitely not a "small purse."

Traveling from SFO, Iceland Air gets you to Amsterdam around 1 p.m. The rest of the options arrive after 5 p.m., and some very late. Arriving in broad daylight is appealing. But I'm really hoping not to have to check a bag.

I flew four flights with them last month; and it seemed to me that no bags were measured at the gate, and everyone brought the usual huge carry on bags to stuff into the overhead, taking up more than their fair share of space.
I travel a fair bit, and in 35 years have only seen a carryon bag measured once, and that was on EasyJet at Gatwick in 2008.
Time for the airlines to be more strict with the size of cabin baggage.
I am appalled sometimes when I see what passes as carryon!

Agree about too many oversized bags. My main bag is an Eagle Creek Load Warrior International. So no worries on that score. I just don't want to show up and find out that it has to be checked because the day pack counts as the main carry on. It's sounding like that's not going to be a problem. This is my first time using airline miles, so I don't know if paying to get a bump up to a more premium economy class will be an option.

I will say that when we checked in at the Icelandair counter at SeaTac in September, the folks next to us were asked to place their carry -on (looked to be around 22 in.) in the sizer, and it did not fit, so they had to check it. We , with our Eagle Creek International Load Warriors, were not asked to size ours. My husband also had a small daypack, and I had a Tom Bihn Co-Pilot, all of which passed muster for Saga class. When we boarded for the return trip in Bergen, we were able to bypass the counter with online boarding passes, and the gate agents didn't look at anyone's bags - it was a bit of a free-for-all!

Thank you Shelly. The Alaska mileage plan page isn't showing any available flights for Iceland Air above what looks like standard economy. In Saga class you get two carry-ons. I'll try to find out if it would be possible to book those, and then pay extra for an upgrade. Or also practice packing some stuff that would normally be in the daypack in the load warrior, or the pockets in my jacket, which are pretty roomy. And also play around with paying for that flight over via Reykjavík with cash, and flying back from Paris using airline miles on British Airways. My main thing is using carry-ons and getting to both Amsterdam and back to San Francisco in daylight, as I have a commuter bus trip North from San Francisco.

Just found several Twitter posts from Icelandair that say as long as it fits under the seat, it qualifies as an acceptable personal item. That works.

They seem to be inconsistent. Flew out of Seattle last July and they were very strict about carry on size and making everyone put their bag in the sizer. I don't remember them doing the same at Reykjavik though.

Elissabi, thank you. I'm going to do some more research. It looks like there is limited space under isle seats on their 757-200s. I would not want to be squished into a middle or window seat for a trans-atlantic flight and there may be better options from other Bay Area airports.

I flew four flights with them last month; and it seemed to me that no bags were measured at the gate, and everyone brought the usual huge carry on bags to stuff into the overhead

I guess it depends on who's working that day, and maybe how full the flight is. Two years ago, flying Icelandair from Boston, I was just about to board when I was pulled over to have my bag measured. It was close, and I tried to nudge it in; one employee told the guy in charge: "it's OK, let it on." He said no, so I had to gate check it. I didn't see the bag for 4 days.

Thanks, I really appreciate the information. Did anyone have trouble fitting a small bag under an aisle seat? I've heard the seats are pretty cramped and would definitely want to sit on the aisle. But there have been reports that the space under those seats is limited. I may just fork out an extra $200 each way and fly BA out of Oakland.