My experience on Icelandair

Sandra, when was this return flight? Friends of mine flew Icelandair from Manchester to Seattle this past weekend, said a job action by air traffic controllers at KEF delayed their departure from there by an hour or more, with an airport scene like what you described. They'd had no trouble on the flights to Europe, this happened on the way back. We've never had an experience like this with Icelandair, our changes at KEF have been smooth if a little rushed. The controller delays at KEF might have caused the airline to delay your Gatwick departure. Just a guess.

There is an air traffic controller work to rule strike that has been going on since April 6th which is disrupting travel through Keflavik. The Icelandic government is meeting and plans to intervene to force a legal solution to this situation. I am watching this situation closely as we will be traveling to Iceland in a few days.

I flew Icelandair last month. To Europe it was Seattle -> Keflavik -> Brussels. Return was Trondheim -> Keflavik -> Seattle.

I had no issues on any of the flights. No delays, no malfunctions.

The one thing that does happen when coming home is all the connecting flights from other European cities converge on KEF, and then all the flights to North America leave at or close to 5pm, so you have huge crowds waiting in a space not nearly big enough to accommodate them. I wonder what that must be like for the people who work at that airport. I imagine it's pretty quiet there except for the two hours or so between 3 and 5pm every day.

This was my second time going to Europe on Icelandair. First time, four years ago, I included an Iceland stopover. That made it especially worthwhile.

Living in Seattle, my options for direct flights to Europe are limited and generally involve large airports that require several hours to make connections. With Icelandair, you can connect in under and hour without any problem. Of course, delays can happen and are sometimes out of the airline's control.

Dick, it was this past weekend, Sunday, to be exact. So maybe that's the explanation!

Chances are that you and my friends were there at about the same time!

I guess KEF gets crowded, even under normal conditions, early in the morning when the eastbound flights from US and Canada connect with those to Europe, and again late in the afternoon when the reverse happens. We've flown only eastbound on Icelandair, unable to return via Reykavik because of volcanic eruptions in separate years. But both times the airline did a great job getting us on alternate flights the same day.

You're right, Dick, it happens in the morning too. But in the morning when people arrive from North America, they go through passport control and then are scattered throughout the airport (if they're not staying in Reykjavik). Departing passengers to North America are crowded into a very small area that is within the passport-controlled zone, where all the gates are for flights out of the Schengen zone, so from the point of view of a passenger it always feels much worse heading west.

Flew Icelandair CDG=>KEF=>SEA last week.

No check in kiosks at CDG. We weren't that far back in line but the line grew very long behind us without moving up because there were only two agents checking people in, and one spent at least 35 minutes with ONE problematic couple. Add to this that the only other agent kept constantly going over to help with whatever the situation was. Finally a third agent came but then, of course, one agent kept helping the Saga class customers who went into their line and then were helped after a 30 second delay (I may be exaggerating; I was pretty annoyed, it was very early, and due to the sluggish line I'd had no coffee, a very dangerous situation for me). Finally got checked in which took approximately 2 minutes (no exaggeration). Unfreakingbelievable.

There were FOUR flights leaving KEF at exactly the same time from adjacent gates. I can't describe the ludicrous situation. No announcements. No sanity. No idea where the queues were or what flight they were for. Suddenly the possible line for SEA started moving. They herded us all into yet another waiting area, where we...waited. Then we were herded upstairs, but both the escalator and stairs were blocked by everyone trying to get onto the gangway... which was blocked by all the passengers who were, inevitably, in the front of the plane but were the first to board (goes without saying there was no orderly boarding by rows, although we had experienced boarding by rows on other Icelandair flights). Movement was at a snail's pace. Honest to bob, I wanted to hurl myself onto the tarmac and if I hadn't been in an enclosed gangway, I may well have done so. Add it was approximately 90ºF on the gangway.

The saving grace? A super attentive flight crew. They were amazing and calm. And the bathrooms stayed very clean. I had bought a sandwich at Keflavik so at least I had food (plus the small bottle of water they gave me) and I bought a Skyr, because that stuff is the bomb.

Oh, Icelandair. Four legs of travel, every one a very different experience. You need some improvement.

I have used Iceland Air for 2 trips to Sacramento from Frankfurt and have few complaints. Last trip was in March, with my daughter. We liked bringing our own food, the movies worked well, and the seats were comfy. Only flaw was an overly large woman who they seated next to me on the flight from Seattle to Iceland, who not only really oozed into my seat space, but who also smelled awful. This wasn't the fault of the airline though.

The airport in Iceland could use a few more toilets, the lines were quite long when we got off the flight from the US. Other than that, the quick layover and short flight to the US will keep me using them.

The airport in Iceland could use a few more toilets, the lines were quite long when we got off the flight from the US.

I have a feeling that will improve in the near future. We recently flew Icelandair to and from Paris, and it looked like a huge amount of work was going on in the airport. I assume that the expansion of Icelandair service and low-cost startups has overwhelmed a tiny little airport in a tiny little country.