Icelandair Reviews 

The customer service ground crew and ticket agent were lacking knowledge and communication skills and were not able to relay information we were constantly waiting for text and email that were delayed because we were flying internationally.
I would give them a 0 but there flight crew was amazing very intentive and informative.
If you have the extra time the in flight was great but if you need to be on time I would not recommend Icelandair
Patrick

I have a simple standard industry request on my reservation, which was confirmed months ago. Yet, for the past two weeks, I have been bombarded with requests for the same information from their HQ. They make a fortune in the US, and nobody speaks Icelandic around here. They should hire some staff who read English. Reservations (in Philippines, not US) says request is confirmed, yet I keep getting these emails from them requesting same information: 4 times now. I'm sorry I picked this airline. It will be last time.

This used to be the most affordable and easiest way to travel from NYC to the EU. I just traveled to and from Berlin via Icelandair, arriving back home to NYC yesterday. What a complete nightmare in both directions! On the way there we were given 40 minutes to get to our connecting flight to Berlin. But first US citizens need to go through passport control in the Reykjavik airport. It was 6:00 a.m. and the line was at least 100 people long. Instead of just checking passports and verifying identity as they do in JFK (which takes about 10 to 20 seconds.) The passport control people at that airport take anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes for each individual. This includes lengthy questioning sometimes calling a supervisor on the phone or something. Meanwhile, everyone online is getting more and more stressed out and sweating. By the time I got through passport control my flight was about to close boarding. The flight back to JFK from Berlin was even worse. We were given a 1 hour connection time for our flight to in Reykjavik, which is totally doable. However, Icelandair sat on the tarmac at the Berlin airport without even moving and with no explanation for over 40 minutes after our departure time. Finally, the captain explained that this was because they were delayed loading luggage onto the plane. So, basically they were telling us we were going to be late because they were incompetent. The flight attendants assured nervous passengers who are worried about their connections that everybody would make it to their connecting flights. Passport control was much faster to get through on the way back, but I literally had 5 minutes to catch my connecting flight to JFK. I'm a 62 year old woman with arthritis and I literally had to run as fast as I could through the airport to get to the gate just in time to get on the plane. It was extremely painful physically and seemed so unnecessary. If only this airport could plan realistic connection times. To make matters worse when I arrived in JFK my luggage didn't appear at baggage claim. After searching for a while I found an Icelandair customer service person holding a clipboard. I explained the situation, showed him my boarding pass and as soon as he saw my name he said "Oh yes, your luggage was not loaded onto the plane to JFK. Apologies for the inconvenience." So, the airline knew that my luggage and the luggage of three other people was not loaded onto the plane by the time we arrived in JFK. Why didn't I receive an email notification or text message explaining that as soon as they were aware of the issue? Why did I have to sit for 30 minutes waiting for my baggage to show up after a long flight, when they already knew it wasn't even on the plane? What an inconsiderate lack of customer service. Unbelievable really. Now they tell me they have located my baggage, and it will be on its way to New York City. But they can't tell me when that will happen. They said they hope" it will happen "sometimes" within the next 36 hours (this is over 12 hours after I had filed a delayed luggage claim with the airline, so 48 hours in total I'll be waiting for my luggage I guess.) I will never fly on this airline ever again. It used to be a great airline but it's gone horribly downhill. It was honestly the worst flying experience I've had and I've had some pretty bad flying experiences in my 40-plus years of traveling all over the world. What a shame. I used to really enjoy flying with this airline and had done so many many times.

My experience with Icelandair was extremely disappointing and poorly handled from start to finish.

My checked bag was lost upon arrival, and I reported it immediately that same night. I even provided a tracker screenshot showing the exact location of my luggage, yet it still took an entire week for the airline to recover and return it. During that time, communication was minimal and frustratingly slow. I was repeatedly told that everything had to be handled via email, with no option to speak directly to someone who could actually help move things forward.

To make matters worse, I was told my carry-on was too large to bring onboard, even though I had already flown with the same bag earlier in my trip without issue. Staff initially said it was too heavy, but when I offered to remove items, they said it wouldn’t matter because it was “too big.” When I asked to measure it, they refused. I was also the only passenger required to pay for a carry-on, while others received it complimentary. The inconsistent enforcement of policies felt disorganized and unfair, and added unnecessary stress.

Overall, the lack of urgency, poor communication, and inconsistent policy enforcement made this a disappointing experience. I would not choose to fly with Icelandair again.

Paid 2300 for a flight (two different flights) from Paris to Boston. Absolutely awful. Charged for water and food. TV and movies were older. Wait staff was rude and made a point to constantly ask every single person to show they had buckled their seat belt. Um, excuse me WTF?! Will never use them again and honestly — off putting to even go visit Iceland now.

I will never fly with Icelandair ever again and this is why you shouldn’t either.
The hostess are ALL very very rude and mean, they will do absolutely anything they can to make sure you will pay extra fees for your suitcase, if it’s 1cm bigger or 200gr more than it should, you are screwed. On a night flight from Chicago to Reykjavik we didn’t get served dinner nor a miserable snack and I am 100% sure about it since it was not possible to sleep at all. The seats are ridiculously small and uncomfortable, no WiFi free, no dinner, no snacks, no drinks, no headphones. Literally nothing.

I wish I had seen the reviews on this plant form before booking. Had the utmost racist experience with their agent at Stansted airport and they have been unwilling to address this after making me wait well over a month before responding to my initial complaint.
Racist and incompetent customer service that harassed me at check-in up until before boarding for my work trip. As a Black woman, I would NOT recommend this company. If you can book with a different company do so, even if it’s a bit more expensive. The discomfort and blatant racism and dismissiveness after isn’t worth it. I’m still pursuing an appeal. Horrible horrible company. Never again.

Arrived at Kevlavik (national airport of Reykjavik) en-route to New York. My ESTA was not accepted and I missed my connecting flight. Spent a night at the deserted airport and after a new ESTA arrived the next day, I was asked to fork out 1,500 EUR for another ticket. That flight was then delayed and I missed my connecting flight from New York to San Fransisco. Another night at an airport. That things don't always work out is fine, but to charge again, after I had already paid for the ticket?! Grubby, money hungry and distasteful - in my opinion. It looks like Iceland Air needs the money more than I do, which means AVOID AT ALL COST! They probably don't have the funds to pay for anything that may go wrong with your flight.
There was definitely no reimbursement to me! A decision they arrived at after several attempts to contact their customer service.
This was not my first flight with Iceland, but -barring compelling circumstances- certainly my last!

Absolutely disgraceful experience with Icelandair. I was forced to check in a 9kg cabin bag that was fully within the 10kg allowance and then charged £66 for it. To make matters worse, staff tried to charge me again for the same bag on my inbound flight, falsely claiming I hadn’t paid — completely absurd.

The staff were rude and dismissive, and the supervisor was particularly unhelpful and arrogant. I was told there was “no space” in the cabin, yet the flight was nearly empty with plenty of overhead storage clearly visible. Blatant dishonesty.

On top of that, my flight was changed, forcing me to pay for an extra hotel night — with zero accountability from the airline.

Easily one of the worst travel experiences I’ve ever had. If I could give zero stars, I would. Avoid at all costs.

Arbitrary charges for “excess” weight for checked bags, while other passengers carried on multiple bags. No inflight meals, very limited options for purchase, crowded/cramped interiors, terse staff. The worst flight experience I’ve had in a long time! Would not fly Iceland Air again.

Iceland air added a leg to our journey on a cheap airline (TAP Portugal) which charged us to get seat assignments on a flight we didn’t want and left 3 hours earlier than we wanted to leave. Then they wouldn’t allow one of our small bags as carry on, insisting that they can “check it for free.” When we made it clear that it was super important that the bag didn’t get lost, they literally lost it and were no help finding it. We still haven’t gotten our bag and our trip is not off to a great start. I would NOT recommend this airline.

I had an extremely disappointing experience with IcelandAir.
I arrived at the airport fully compliant with Iceland Air published carry-on baggage policy. Despite this, a check in agent imposed weights limits that do not appear anywhere on Iceland Air website, claiming that my carry-on must weight exactly 6 kg and my personal item 3 kg. these rules were applied arbitrarily and only to me.
as a result I was - forced to pay £69 for check in baggage, made to repack my belongings in front of other passengers! out in a stressful and humiliating situation.
At the airport before boarding I checked with staff - and they confirmed that the rules are: 10 kg for carry on bag + personal bag!! And been advised to reach out to customer support for refund. Idid it - straight after flight, requesting ti review the case. Iceland air refused any escalation, refused to review staff conduct, and stated that airport staff decisions are final even if they are incorrect or based on made up rules!!
This was clearly not the case for me of breaking the rules (I fly too often to not know the rules, this was my 5th flight in April!!) - it was a case of staff misapplying or inventing them, and Iceland Air standing behind that behaviour without accountability.
Extremely disappointing customer service, lack of transparency =, and no willingness to correct a clear error.

Terrible company and policies. On the way to JFK they departed 1.30h late and didnt even comunicate to the connecting flight about us and many others, mind you it was another Iceland air flight. The food is terrible, even for plane food standards. On the way back said my carryon was too big even tho on the way there was perfectly fine and does easly fit under the sit. Generally terrible customer services, especially for a company that argues to be better then easyjet ecc. but it might be worse.

Icelandair made a huge campaign based on showing GREAT PRICES. Now you look for a ticket from USA to Europe and it's EUR 1800 one way. So was the campaign of good prices a lie? This makes you unreliable.

Icelandair is the most ghetto airline I’ve ever bee on- worse than frontier.
The gate agent kept my passport cover and wouldn’t acknowledge me when I tried to get her attention to ask for it back. The stewardesses wouldn’t help either. The only complimentary drinks they had were water, tea, and coffee. The tea was disgusting and even though they offered cream and sugar they only gave cream. No complimentary snacks at all, even on the long overnight flight. The tray table was visibly soiled and disgusting. The passengers were even worse. They were hella loud and obnoxious during quiet hours, and wouldn’t bring the volume down even after being asked bc there were babies around us trying to sleep. Needless to say, they woke up the babies who then screamed for a lot of the flight.

Iceland air operates a virtual monopoly and seems utterly unconcerned with addressing its poor customer service.

This is in stark contrast to the country itself which is highly organised, cooperative and safe.
I dearly wish to visit Iceland again but I would rather swim there than use Icelandair.

My review to Icelandair customer service has of course been ignored.

Account of the disastrous flight below if anyone is interested.

Waiting for take off on our return flight from Keflavik to Dublin, the towing arm could not be detached, the air craft was damaged in its attempted removal. We were told to disembark.
No Icelandair staff were present to guide us on where or how long to wait. Apparently, an announcement was made before the apron busses returned to us to the terminal.
Staff at the Iclenadair desk were not helpful. Two further delays to departure were announced. I explained this meant we would miss our connecting flight to Liverpool in Dublin. Staff were unconcerned that I would be stranded with my Autistic daughter. She had a DPNA notice, at no point was any consideration given to this. Staff refused to transfer us to a later flight to Manchester.
When we eventually left, over two hours late, the onboard staff were at least sympathetic and allowed us to disembark first at Dublin, we had however, missed our connection.
Icelandair representative at Swissair desk in Dublin, offered no help. By this time my daughter was growing increasingly anxious that we would be stranded in Dublin, with no accommodation or flight.
Credit to Ryan Air for finding the last two seats on a flight to Liverpool that evening although this cost me a further e200.

The outward flight was also delayed, which meant we missed meeting our host at the accommodation, meaning a long wait outside in sub zero temperatures.

While travelling to Amsterdam from Toronto we faced significant delays. While returning from Amsterdam airport, Icelandair did not open their service desks on time, giving us no time to ask questions, ask why our bags weren’t going through their self service checks, we got delayed at customs, security etc despite being at the airport well before 3 hours of the flight departure. Considering the long travel ahead of us, the least that could have been done is to have a service desk available! We are frequent flyers and this was one of our worst airline experiences. Completely ruined the start and end of our trip!

airline staff is so rude. we were entering the bus zone to go into flight in fco and when i am scanning mine and my kid boarding pass my another kid ran thru the gate along with my first one after scanning one of the kids pass and one staff member came shouting at us saying how could you let them in you have to hold him with you in offensive way. i felt its very racistic as well. they are kids of course they will fight to get inside first. instead of shouting they could have just come and ask nicely to hold them with us or verify boarding pass again.

Booked an excursion and it was cancelled and they damaged my suitcase and wouldn't reimburse either.

The worst handling of luggage i have ever expended i fly frequently and in my business especially. I fly with SAS brittish,american airlines etc and always have the exact same bags with me, I haven't even experienced this in Ryanair (which by now i value more than icelandair after this experience) weighing base by the gram and by the centimeter it was an absolute joke and im more than happy to pay for what I should and I really do but this was horrible. Never using Iceland air again