We often see cheap flights on PLAY airline with a 1 hour 25 minute layover at Reykjavik/Keflavik airport? Is this reasonable? We typically allow 3 hours for a layover.
Comments about PLAY airline are appreciated, too.
Thanks for feedback, especially from those who have done this airline and layover.
Posted by
Southeast US
4046 posts
PLAY is a relatively new entity. Its inaugural flight to the US was April 20 of this year, so I don't know how many PLAY flyers you will find at this point. PLAY's leadership team is the old WOW Air leadership team that ran that airline into the ground. The leadership team promises it learned from expanding WOW too rapidly. WOW was the master of tight connections at Reykjavik's airport. It usually worked out well. But occasionally that discount airline thing where they run less-than-daily schedules to destinations resulted in WOW taking a day or two or three to get passengers on the next flight to their final destination if for some reason their inbound flight arrived late.
Incidentally, WOW's name and assets were purchased after it ceased operations by an investor group led by Michele Ballarin AKA Michelle Lyn Golden AKA Michele Roosevelt Edwards (as I have previously stated, things are unlikely to end well for the airline based on the lead investor's number of aliases alone). Ms. Ballarin faked owning a $30 million mansion for an interview. The true owner of the mansion denied knowing Ms Ballarin and wondered how she got into the place to do the interview.
More than you wanted to know, of course, but like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of transatlantic discount airlines.
Posted by
San Francisco/Marin County
9436 posts
We flew WOW r/t to Paris from SF and liked the airline and especially the flight attendants. I’d fly PLAY if they flew out of SF. I think 1 hr 25 min at Keflavik is plenty of time. Great airport btw.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
I flew Play in August to Berlin from Stewart Airport in New York. The flight arrived in Rek. around 5am local time and the airport was deserted. So the 90 layover is very doable. Flight was fine back and forth. I posted my experiences to the forum on this thread: https://tinyurl.com/54ajbyu4
My only real issue was the seats were very uncomfortable with very little padding. It bothered my back. But it wasn't an issue with anyone else I was traveling with.
Posted by
San Francisco/Marin County
9436 posts
Michael, thank you for the link to your thread, i enjoyed reading it. Just fyi, we flew out of Heathrow this past Sunday with no problems at all.
Posted by
Southeast US
4046 posts
Hopefully, you are looking around at other websites for info on Play, too. There are a lot of positive reviews, but one consistent complaint I have seen is the lack of a customer service line to call if things go awry. Everything is done through texting, which some flyers report is not very helpful. One reviewer reported having to extend her stay in "a foreign city" for 4 days because her departure flight was canceled (see "that discount airline thing" in my post above). Of course, pretty much any airline can subject you to travel disruptions these days.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
One reviewer reported having to extend her stay in "a foreign city"
for 4 days because her departure flight was canceled
Play is currently a tiny airline with only six planes. So if a flight gets canceled due mechanical reasons it's very difficult for them to shift passengers to other flights. So an extended stay is something to consider if choosing this airline.