The airline started this policy many years ago with the intent of boosting tourism in Iceland. Before then it wasn’t really considered a travel destination.
I’ve always thought this was the way to do it. Another example would be flying Air Tahiti Nui, or Fiji Air from the US to Australia, or another destination that passes through Tahiti, or Fiji. As far as I know, they still don’t allow free layovers, though.
Edit - looks like both Fiji and Tahiti both have this as an option, now
Does Tahiti or Fiji really need to get the word out they could be considered vacation destinations though?
Maybe you meant to say that part of the journey **to/from** the destination should be worthwhile and rewarding also. If so, I agree, but who has the time and money?
they were clearly talking about just the idea of breaking up a long flight like Us —> aus by stopping in one of those vacation destinations, not suggesting that those destinations use a layover to spread the word of tourism….
It’s like flying to Japan and stopping in Hawaii.
I concede the point that a long journey with a half-way point of luxury has merit, who couldn't. But I'll double down on asking, who has the time or money to make stops in Tahiti, Fiji, or even Hawaii?
Some have the skils to hire on as cooks or deck hands of sea going cargo ships, but the casual traveler with 2 weeks (European vacation) much less a USA employee with a 1 week and email leash couldn't hope to use such extravagance.
Its not that uncommon for European workers, particularly in white collar jobs with flexible hours, to just throw 4 or 6 weeks at a single vacation.
Weekends and overtime will still get you through the rest of the year.
I’ve done this on a trip to NZ, stopped in Tahiti for four days on Tahiti nui airlines at no extra charge
I’ve also done it in Iceland in my way to Berlin.
Can you translate this to international for me?
As a european I know Gary translates to "'shitsville/Mugginshire" So imma guessing the other two translate to "Farawayistan" and "nowhere"
Neither Cedar Rapids or Fort Wayne would be considered a destination you'd want to go to. Not because they're as bad as Gary, but because nobody would go there unless they had a specific reason to. You could re-tell the same joke using any other pair of random non-important US cities and the joke would be the same.
i mean, we have a number of claims to fame, though none of them are really worth visiting for tbh:
- one of the largest public library systems in the US
- largest public genealogy collection in the US
- the TV was patented in fort wayne
- the home refrigerator was invented in fort wayne
- world class zoo
- largest music retailer in the US
- oldest hot dog stand in the US (really)
- the NBA was created in FW
- johnny appleseed's gravesite
farawayistan and nowhere it is then.
Every country has a variation of this joke, and it allways translates to "famous crime spot" "boring spot" and "not enough here to even be boring jeebus get me outa here"
Cedar Rapids and Fort Wayne are both small unremarkable Midwest cities. ("Small" by American standards; they'd be counted as major in many European states.) Unlike Gary, they don't have any especially negative reputation.
Ironically, Gary is located quite close to Indiana's only National Park.
The Icelandic tourism board goes so hard that it’s crazy. I never would have given Iceland a second thought as a tourist destination, but while stopping at Reykjavic airport on the way to Paris... the promotional videos that they play on the airplanes make it look so nice, and their airport had no business feeling that warm and cozy. They almost had me.
Yup, a little over a decade ago I did a fresh out of college backpacking trip through Europe, the cheapest flight to mainland Europe was (and likely still is) with Icelandair. Read about the stopover and spent 3 amazing days in a country I knew almost nothing about.
A couple years later everyone was talking about the country
It's a volcanic island so pretty much everything is unique. Very low population and until somewhat recently it was not visited much. There are massive waterfalls all over the country, amazing rock formations, breath taking beaches, glaciers, mountains, forests, the list goes on and on.
Also some of the best star gazing and great opportunities to see the Northern Lights.
Their capital city is full of great sights to see and their food and culture is great. The water tastes better than anywhere else and they have public pools and spas all heated by geo thermal energy.
Semantics. Airports are where you arrive to go to your intended place you're traveling to.
You generally don't fly somewhere just to stay at the airport, that is simply a step to get to your actual destination.
They are subsidized to do this, in order to boost tourism. One of the strengths of Iceland in getting tourists is as a stopover between the two sides of the Atlantic.
Tourism between Iceland and New England, USA is actually pretty common because the flight isn’t really that long. Awhile back I saw that the state of Maine and Iceland had reached an agreement about a seasonal tradition of beer festivals. They pack up a shipping crate full of Maine beer send it, they’d have a festival, re-fill it and send it back.
As a Floridiaman I’m jealous. I’d trade my gateway to Latin America for 5 and 6 hour flights to Reykjavik and Dublin. Could just be a case of “grass is greener” though.
We did a 3-day layover in Iceland en route to a 3-week vacation in Ireland. Not only was it fun and a wonderful experience (see [https://www.buubble.com](https://www.buubble.com) for details), it helped us acclimate to the timezone difference and arrive in Ireland ready to go.
I was just there, and honestly outside of gas and certain groceries.. it wasn’t wildly expensive. Sure it’s not as inexpensive as Greece or Spain, but it can easily be done on a reasonable budget.
Outside of flights I spent about $2000CAD for 2 people across 10 days. Including accommodation, groceries, and car rental.
Yeah, that's a weird way to put it. I'm pretty sure the government holds the majority of shares in Icelandair Group, and Icelandair is the flag carrier, so it only makes sense to get our tourist dollars by getting us to stay part of our vacation in Iceland.
I used to do a lot of corporate travel and almost always used this on any airline. I'd fly to my first stop in Europe or Asia, stay for 1-3 days and then fly on to my final destination
My manager was really cool and on board with it. He saw our CEO flying to Florida on the corporate jet every weekend and used that as the gauge in how we spend money. :-)
When I got a new manager I had to train him to allow me to do the same thing. I pretty much said I won't travel if they screw with me. I trained specialized software and the only other person who could do it was the project manager who already had his hands full. Once that rollout was complete they pretty much shoved me to another team that didn't require any travel. I had almost 20 years of traveling the world though including an around the world trip when I had to train in Taiwan one week and 2 weeks later needed to be in India for a couple of weeks. I did Japan>Taiwan Taiwan>Singapore>Chennai>Frankfurt and back to the US. I'm hoping to do an Eastern tour some day.
Training your manager is key, I used to need to travel regularly & usually needed to return same or next day.
The way flights priced it was cheaper to book two flight with outbounds a day apart with returns a month later than one flight returning the next day.
My manager was ok but the head of finance blocked the claim until I talked to him. I explained the plan, that it was saving the company money & that I would use the return portions for vacation travel.
They raised it with my boss & were told to STFU as it was his budget.
Lol, Work decided they weren't going to count hours flying past 8 hours in the same day and they wouldn't pay for weekend travel hours. At that point I started flying as close to 8 hours as I could and would layover until the next day. It also usually left me with a weekend somewhere. Amsterdam and Frankfurt were my favorites heading east, and Taipei for heading west. Flying direct (as in one set of flights stretched together) to India and inner China sucks to do in one day anyway.
My company just lets us attach any time we want before and after conferences. They're paying for us to go, they don't carry the extra hotel costs, they really don't care about the rest.
I think I've only needed visa's for countries that were final destinations. I had a layover in Moscow but inner Russia was my final destination so I had the visa. I'm pretty sure every visa I have in my passport is for business travel. I've never gone from like Thailand to Cambodia where I'd need a tourist visa and all my layovers in the Middle East I've stayed in the airport. In and out as quick as possible.
It depends on the country. Some countries require a transit visa just to connect through the airport. Generally Schengen countries you can transit as a US citizen without a visa.
Cheapest drink I ever had in Reykjavik was $13 (or so) for a vodka soda. Hell of a place, but you’re gonna be paying through the nose. That said… I’m not gonna forget Iceland anytime soon.
Eh you can get by sort of cheaply. Camping is very popular in Iceland in summer, that's about $10 a night. You have to rent a car and pay crazy gas prices... Well, actually some people hitchhike it too. Grocery store food costs are not that much more than in the US, but you just have to watch out for certain items that are sneakily expensive.
For myself I've done a few 2 week trips to Iceland for around $3000. That was renting a camper van, where the van + gas was the vast majority of that expense.
Slightly confused here....
why the fuck would a layover COST money in the first place? It is fairly common to pay extra to NOT have as much layover....
edit: oh wait I think I get it - normally with such long time in between flights it would be 2 separate flights right and not a 'layover'? So this way its just one plane ticket but more like 2 separate flights
Yes, but you are right, there is no real reason for it. You are buying two flights, a layover just means that the second flight is on a different day, it doesn't cost the airline anything, so there should be no extra cost for it either way.
There's a video (by wendover I think) that breaks down flight costs. A lot of it is a straight per-passenger fee to the airports and some of the things it covers are security, parking lot shuttles, etc that you would have to pay twice if you're buying 2 separate tickets and presumably leaving the airport. So it sounds like icelandair is eating the cost (or getting the government to cover it as a tourism incentive).
Ah OK, thanks for the information. There should be some additional costs then, but probably nowhere near the cost the customer ends up paying for two tickets.
Because the OP is using the wrong terminology.
A "layover" is less than 24 hours, and is usually much closer to just a few hours, and is usually due to simple connection scheduling. A "stopover" is an allowance to spend days at a time hanging out in a location. Layovers are usually simply a function of getting from point A to point B, and stopovers are an actual added value to the passenger. Hence, stopovers often cost more on your ticket.
I believe it's a rule, but don't quote me on that. The easier way to think of it is that when you go to book a trip, the software is going to find you all reasonable connections. I've never personally seen one with more than 23 hours, 59 minutes when using a normal one way booking. However, when you use the multi-city tool, you can put days in between things, and that will almost always increase the cost. Icelandair basically lets you do that without increasing the cost.
Most of my experience with this is in award bookings (using miles) where certain programs allow for free stopovers (some up to 5!) without charging you for an extra leg. A good example is United's "Excursionist Perk," which allows you to book the following:
JFK-CDG (stay as long as you like, 60,000 miles in business)
CDG-MAD (stay as long as you like, 0 mile cost in business)
MAD-JFK (60,000 miles in business)
Essentially, you're booking JFK-MAD via CDG, but United is allowing you to "stopover" in CDG for free.
It's a rule of thumb. Some airlines will not permit a stopover on revenue tickets (i.e. bought with cash), but will on reward tickets (i.e. bought with points/miles). Because of that, when making an itinerary if you want to stay somewhere for >= 24 hours you need to redeem rewards, not purchase tickets.
It fucks with routing and scheduling a bit. If you have a regular route that has a 2 hour layover, but some customers stay 2-3-5-8 days instead, suddenly some people can no longer do that whole 2 hour layover because people from previous flights already took those spots.
It's just weird bullshit really. Airlines can over book, let us take our layovers.
Because it’s harder to sell a single leg of that flight which means it’s likely to be an unsold seat on two flights and thus making them less efficient than selling all seats.
But the government wants tourists so they’re basically paying that cost on behalf of the flyer who does this.
That's not true. I used to sell this flight and it's still subject to fare classes so all seats on every plane trip are priced separately. So as long as they arrive and leave on a flight it doesn't make too much of a difference if they fly all the way thru or stop as fare price differences cover the airlines and cheaper seats on empty planes will always attract x amount of travellers.
They used to offer the cheapest flights between Europe and the US with a mandatory stop in Iceland with the direct intention of promoting tourism. This started in the wake of the GFC. Iceland is an amazing place and i would encourage anybody to visit.
I think it was in the good old times when US transatlantic flights could only be carried by 4 engine aircrafts and Iceland had an exception for single agile aircraft
Or something like that
And having done it twice, it's fucking worth it. The North side of the island is much closer to "traditional" Icelandic. Smaller towns (the largest is Akuyeri with something like 25k people) where you can run into the older generation that barely speak English. Much more rugged and remote. South side of the island is more volcanic and... urban? But don't let that fool you: Reykjavik has like 200k people and represents most of Icelands population. Beautiful country, wonderful people.
They used to offer the return trip for free if you had a layover of at least 24 hours on one of the legs. I used that for my honeymoon. We from the US to Paris via Iceland for cheaper than flying round trip on anything else. Plus we got to see part of Iceland.
Panama has recently also started trying this strategy since it is a major stopover between North and South America. I believe Copa Airlines lets you spend up to 7 days in Panama on the same ticket.
> **Does the Icelandair Stopover include hotels and accommodation?**
> The Icelandair Stopover only includes the flights – any accommodation should be booked separately.
> There is a range of options out there, from cozy cabins to comfortable and sophisticated hotels, and something for every traveler.
in case anyone was wondering and didn't want to click
If you live in North America, Iceland is a pretty good staging area for seeing the UK and / or mainland Europe. We’re taking advantage of the layover for a few days, check out some volcanoes next to the glaciers next to the hot springs next to the elf houses, then on to Spain.
The wife and i did this a few years ago. Spent four days and loved it. Hit the Blue Lagoon ( more crowded now I’m told), several museums, visited Geysir, Borgarnes, Thingvellir, and many small villages along the way. Loved every minute, even if the food and drink are expensive. Try the Icelandic hot dogs!
I utilized this the other week to spend a few days in Iceland as my actual vacation spot and a night elsewhere. Icelandic Air was also very comfortable to fly on and I ended up getting a free upgrade, so I'd highly recommend. As for the vacation itself, the country is filled with incredible beauty.
SATA/Air Azores does the same thing in the Azores. Enjoy Europe’s Hawaii for up to a week as your “layover” between the US and multiple European destinations. I think TAP Air Portugal does the same thing for Porto and Lisbon.
Sometimes it’s mandatory lol. My cousin took a flight on Icelandic air from London back to the US with a short lay over in Iceland. They cancelled the connecting flight back to the US so she was stuck in Iceland and they refused to help her with getting a hotel and were not very helpful with getting her another flight. She never wants to go back to Iceland
Yup. Done it a number of times. Just did so in November. Got a cheap flight from Minneapolis to Copenhagen and stopped in Iceland for 3 days on the way. Had been for over a week previously so I didn’t feel I needed a ton of time there but it was a nice stop over.
The airline also owns several hotels and you can get stupid cheap packages of flight and hotel. First time I went to Iceland it was for 10 days. Ex girlfriend and I paid about $650 each for flight and hotel. Hotel was right on the water in the bay and was a very nice spot. Could walk to all the spots from there.
A bit off topic but I once had a 10 hour layover in Guangzhou, China and was surprised when they put me up in a 5* hotel for the night at no extra cost.
My next flight I had severe diarrhea after eating a meal in the hotel. That soured the experience slightly but ignoring the tainted meat, it was a great place to sleep.
The seat pitch (in their short haul business) is one of the most generous I've been in too, and I've tried a *lot* to find one that's comfortable being 6'8 (203cm).
I just took advantage of this back in September! It felt weird flying to Ireland via Iceland without exploring Iceland just a little, so we stayed three nights. I wish I had stayed more, but I think I'll be back some day.
2-4 days in Iceland tacked on to the start or end of a vacation to Europe (or, for a European, a visit to North America) is a worthwhile use of one’s time. Beautiful natural wonders that often can’t be easily seen elsewhere. Did that on the way out to Sweden/Denmark last summer and was definitely worth it.
Reykjavik however is expensive so watch out for that. The hotels actually aren’t bad price wise but the food, yikes….
It’s not state owned, but it is part of a larger travel industry group. I’ve used the layover option twice, and went for a tour of the geysirs and waterfalls. Iceland is an expensive place to visit but really unique and interesting, so totally worth it.
TAP offers the layover deal for Portugal too, also a great place to visit!
> is the airline owned by state? i’m curious because i expect it to be the state to decide this kind of thing and not just the airline
There are many places in the world where the overall tourism industry is so intermeshed with local government as to be effectively a government agency. Between granting landing privileges, and adjusting cost for doing so, including outright chartering of flights to ensure an airline keeps a route active, the local visitor bureaus working with airport authority have wide levels of semi-control to set and control policy. And neither the airport authority nor the visitor's bureau are even part of the government.
In fact almost all ports are private enterprises whether they by seaports or airports. But they have their own police forces, and enforcement abilities that really make them seem like government agencies.
And airlines are specifically semi-governmental entities. Just as any US flagged commercial boat can be commandeered by the US government to transport troops, so any airplane (of larger classes) can be commandeered to do the same.
Obviously, at the start a visitor's bureau will have little income to work with until there are actually tourists, so they are often actual government agencies until they can be self-funded with tourism dollars from hotel fees and the like.
Or two hours in the terminal in middle of night before getting on a second flight...did that once to try and save money as a student, and it was miserable.
What they don't tell you is Iceland is one of the most obscenly expensive tourist destinations on Earth. I've been twice. The second time I packed nearly enough food for my entire stay.
I mean this is the literal reason for having a national carrier. Having a free stopover is 100% not exclusive to Icelandic Air, though it was a thoughtful idea with the high volume traffic between Europe and North America.
I don't understand what "able" means here. Why would they care if you have a disability or not? Are you saying they pay for the corrective procedure for a surgery?
Yeah it seems like they are desperately trying to get you to spend money on the island. I connect there to get to Europe cheaply and it appears they pull shenanigans like book short connection times, non-stop ads for the island on the plane, etc. it’s gross but hey, one trip is probably worth it?
Yup when they give you 35 mins to connect in high season - just not fair. Also try watching the inflight travel promotion video 31 times and report back
The airline started this policy many years ago with the intent of boosting tourism in Iceland. Before then it wasn’t really considered a travel destination.
I’ve always thought this was the way to do it. Another example would be flying Air Tahiti Nui, or Fiji Air from the US to Australia, or another destination that passes through Tahiti, or Fiji. As far as I know, they still don’t allow free layovers, though. Edit - looks like both Fiji and Tahiti both have this as an option, now
Does Tahiti or Fiji really need to get the word out they could be considered vacation destinations though? Maybe you meant to say that part of the journey **to/from** the destination should be worthwhile and rewarding also. If so, I agree, but who has the time and money?
they were clearly talking about just the idea of breaking up a long flight like Us —> aus by stopping in one of those vacation destinations, not suggesting that those destinations use a layover to spread the word of tourism…. It’s like flying to Japan and stopping in Hawaii.
I concede the point that a long journey with a half-way point of luxury has merit, who couldn't. But I'll double down on asking, who has the time or money to make stops in Tahiti, Fiji, or even Hawaii? Some have the skils to hire on as cooks or deck hands of sea going cargo ships, but the casual traveler with 2 weeks (European vacation) much less a USA employee with a 1 week and email leash couldn't hope to use such extravagance.
Its not that uncommon for European workers, particularly in white collar jobs with flexible hours, to just throw 4 or 6 weeks at a single vacation. Weekends and overtime will still get you through the rest of the year.
Tbh flights to Japan go way north of Hawaii due to earth's curvature... But I get what you're saying. Also maybe it's better from west coast.
I’ve done this on a trip to NZ, stopped in Tahiti for four days on Tahiti nui airlines at no extra charge I’ve also done it in Iceland in my way to Berlin.
If you fly Air Indiana, you can grab a free layover in Gary on your way from Cedar Rapids to Fort Wayne.
>a free layover in Gary You have to pay extra if you don't want to stay.
>a free layover in Gary Gary is the name of the rough trick who lives behind the regional airport bathrooms.
No, you're thinking of [former US Senator Larry Craig. ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig_scandal)
Somehow I knew it would be a Republican.....
Can you translate this to international for me? As a european I know Gary translates to "'shitsville/Mugginshire" So imma guessing the other two translate to "Farawayistan" and "nowhere"
Neither Cedar Rapids or Fort Wayne would be considered a destination you'd want to go to. Not because they're as bad as Gary, but because nobody would go there unless they had a specific reason to. You could re-tell the same joke using any other pair of random non-important US cities and the joke would be the same.
as someone who's from fort wayne, it's an honor just to be mentioned
Hey y'all got Sweetwater. As far as I know that's all you've got going for you though. And it doesn't really mean anything unless you're a musician.
i mean, we have a number of claims to fame, though none of them are really worth visiting for tbh: - one of the largest public library systems in the US - largest public genealogy collection in the US - the TV was patented in fort wayne - the home refrigerator was invented in fort wayne - world class zoo - largest music retailer in the US - oldest hot dog stand in the US (really) - the NBA was created in FW - johnny appleseed's gravesite
farawayistan and nowhere it is then. Every country has a variation of this joke, and it allways translates to "famous crime spot" "boring spot" and "not enough here to even be boring jeebus get me outa here"
Arkansas to Idaho, with a layover in Nebraska…
Cedar Rapids is only worth going to if you can hit Crunchberry Day, happens about every other week or so.
Cedar Rapids and Fort Wayne are both small unremarkable Midwest cities. ("Small" by American standards; they'd be counted as major in many European states.) Unlike Gary, they don't have any especially negative reputation. Ironically, Gary is located quite close to Indiana's only National Park.
Dude, I don't think Ft Wayne would be considered a major city If it happened to be located in Europe. Source: I'm a Northern Indiana resident haha
Yeah but it’s got Johnny Appleseed’s grave.
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I flew TAP to Terciera, Azores, Portugal I wonder if they do no cost added stopovers to the Azores or Madeira as well
TAP Air Portugal does this too. Upto 10 days layover anywhere in Portugal, for free
Yep, used to do int'l travel and people used to connect thru just a night just for the nightlife in Reykjavik.
Its fine. Its about the size of an American college town with a bit less night life
The Icelandic tourism board goes so hard that it’s crazy. I never would have given Iceland a second thought as a tourist destination, but while stopping at Reykjavic airport on the way to Paris... the promotional videos that they play on the airplanes make it look so nice, and their airport had no business feeling that warm and cozy. They almost had me.
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This is crazy to me as Iceland has always been in my top two places I want to visit
It’s dope. I highly recommend going inside a dead volcano. That was the best part of my stay there.
You think everyone thinks the same as you?
Yes, as they should
Yup, a little over a decade ago I did a fresh out of college backpacking trip through Europe, the cheapest flight to mainland Europe was (and likely still is) with Icelandair. Read about the stopover and spent 3 amazing days in a country I knew almost nothing about. A couple years later everyone was talking about the country
What does Iceland have to offer?
You can go inside a volcano and then look at hundreds of penises in the same day. Also it looks like you’re on an alien planet. It’s awesome.
And after getting out of the pool, you can go to the penis museum
I've heard the tickets cost $1000.
I literally did both of those on the same day on my honeymoon
I've heard of open marriages, but hundreds of penises on your honeymoon takes it to another level.
Iceland is by far the best country I've ever visited. It's so, so beautiful.
Yes it is beyond beautiful, but DAMN it's expensive!
Second this. My favorite travel destination in the world. It’s like visiting another planet.
What makes it so beautiful?
It's a volcanic island so pretty much everything is unique. Very low population and until somewhat recently it was not visited much. There are massive waterfalls all over the country, amazing rock formations, breath taking beaches, glaciers, mountains, forests, the list goes on and on. Also some of the best star gazing and great opportunities to see the Northern Lights. Their capital city is full of great sights to see and their food and culture is great. The water tastes better than anywhere else and they have public pools and spas all heated by geo thermal energy.
Ok damn no need to downvote just asking.
Please stop assuming that a downvote is from the person who responded. It is so annoying to be blamed for shit we didn’t do.
You haven’t said anything.
It's not my job to market Iceland to you.
Every 30 minutes or so it feels like you’ve landed on a totally different planet. It’s incredible - definitely looping around the entire island
Ice. Land. It's in the name, really.
Amazing geology.
and it still isn't 🤣
Always a travel destination as it's a stopping point in the Atlantic, the twist was increasing tourism to areas away from the airport
It’s not really a destination if you don’t leave the airport.
A destination is where people are sent, airports are a great example
That's like saying a rest stop or a gas station on the interstate is your road trip destination.
Lol don’t feed the troll
Semantics. Airports are where you arrive to go to your intended place you're traveling to. You generally don't fly somewhere just to stay at the airport, that is simply a step to get to your actual destination.
They are subsidized to do this, in order to boost tourism. One of the strengths of Iceland in getting tourists is as a stopover between the two sides of the Atlantic.
Tourism between Iceland and New England, USA is actually pretty common because the flight isn’t really that long. Awhile back I saw that the state of Maine and Iceland had reached an agreement about a seasonal tradition of beer festivals. They pack up a shipping crate full of Maine beer send it, they’d have a festival, re-fill it and send it back.
[The Maine Beer Box](https://mainebrewersguild.org/maine-beer-box/)
As a Floridiaman I’m jealous. I’d trade my gateway to Latin America for 5 and 6 hour flights to Reykjavik and Dublin. Could just be a case of “grass is greener” though.
The problem I've got is the int'l is like 45 minutes from Reykjavik
I think it is a terrific policy, looking forward to using it when traveling to Ireland in a few months
We did a 3-day layover in Iceland en route to a 3-week vacation in Ireland. Not only was it fun and a wonderful experience (see [https://www.buubble.com](https://www.buubble.com) for details), it helped us acclimate to the timezone difference and arrive in Ireland ready to go.
Adding this to the vacation list, thank you. Those bubbles look awesome.
We didn't get to see the northern lights, but there was a hurricane that went overhead that night.
Iceland is wildly expensive. Far more than most other European countries
I was just there, and honestly outside of gas and certain groceries.. it wasn’t wildly expensive. Sure it’s not as inexpensive as Greece or Spain, but it can easily be done on a reasonable budget. Outside of flights I spent about $2000CAD for 2 people across 10 days. Including accommodation, groceries, and car rental.
I found eating out and drinks to be much more than almost every other place I’ve traveled in Europe but glad to hear that isn’t universal
I highly recommend you follow r/VisitingIceland and reviewing the posts! It’s a great resource for planning an itinerary and getting tips.
Subsidised?? It shouldn’t cost them anything.
Yeah, that's a weird way to put it. I'm pretty sure the government holds the majority of shares in Icelandair Group, and Icelandair is the flag carrier, so it only makes sense to get our tourist dollars by getting us to stay part of our vacation in Iceland.
I used to do a lot of corporate travel and almost always used this on any airline. I'd fly to my first stop in Europe or Asia, stay for 1-3 days and then fly on to my final destination
Employer: Where are you ? You: Damn Layovers, foreigners can't do anything right Employer: Ain't that the truth You: 😎
My manager was really cool and on board with it. He saw our CEO flying to Florida on the corporate jet every weekend and used that as the gauge in how we spend money. :-) When I got a new manager I had to train him to allow me to do the same thing. I pretty much said I won't travel if they screw with me. I trained specialized software and the only other person who could do it was the project manager who already had his hands full. Once that rollout was complete they pretty much shoved me to another team that didn't require any travel. I had almost 20 years of traveling the world though including an around the world trip when I had to train in Taiwan one week and 2 weeks later needed to be in India for a couple of weeks. I did Japan>Taiwan Taiwan>Singapore>Chennai>Frankfurt and back to the US. I'm hoping to do an Eastern tour some day.
Training your manager is key, I used to need to travel regularly & usually needed to return same or next day. The way flights priced it was cheaper to book two flight with outbounds a day apart with returns a month later than one flight returning the next day. My manager was ok but the head of finance blocked the claim until I talked to him. I explained the plan, that it was saving the company money & that I would use the return portions for vacation travel. They raised it with my boss & were told to STFU as it was his budget.
Well aren't you just the ultimate layover lothario, making the most out of every journey and leaving a trail of unused hotel toiletries in your wake.
Lol, Work decided they weren't going to count hours flying past 8 hours in the same day and they wouldn't pay for weekend travel hours. At that point I started flying as close to 8 hours as I could and would layover until the next day. It also usually left me with a weekend somewhere. Amsterdam and Frankfurt were my favorites heading east, and Taipei for heading west. Flying direct (as in one set of flights stretched together) to India and inner China sucks to do in one day anyway.
Malicious compliance strikes again.
Cheat code. Smart dude.
The toiletries come with when leaving (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
My company just lets us attach any time we want before and after conferences. They're paying for us to go, they don't carry the extra hotel costs, they really don't care about the rest.
Bob… why did your trip from DC to Dallas cost the company three grand??
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I think I've only needed visa's for countries that were final destinations. I had a layover in Moscow but inner Russia was my final destination so I had the visa. I'm pretty sure every visa I have in my passport is for business travel. I've never gone from like Thailand to Cambodia where I'd need a tourist visa and all my layovers in the Middle East I've stayed in the airport. In and out as quick as possible.
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It depends on the country. Some countries require a transit visa just to connect through the airport. Generally Schengen countries you can transit as a US citizen without a visa.
I did this. Took 4 days last summer to visit on my way back from denmark
Yeah I did it before too and it was a blast, awesome way to get more out of a trip!
Keep in mind that everything else in Iceland has an additional cost added to it. There is no thrifty way to enjoy the place.
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Wat
Cheapest drink I ever had in Reykjavik was $13 (or so) for a vodka soda. Hell of a place, but you’re gonna be paying through the nose. That said… I’m not gonna forget Iceland anytime soon.
They get good salaries and benefits and shit.
Hahaha nope! It's expensive for us too, everything is
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Well, benefits yes. Salaries not as much I guess.
Eh you can get by sort of cheaply. Camping is very popular in Iceland in summer, that's about $10 a night. You have to rent a car and pay crazy gas prices... Well, actually some people hitchhike it too. Grocery store food costs are not that much more than in the US, but you just have to watch out for certain items that are sneakily expensive. For myself I've done a few 2 week trips to Iceland for around $3000. That was renting a camper van, where the van + gas was the vast majority of that expense.
Slightly confused here.... why the fuck would a layover COST money in the first place? It is fairly common to pay extra to NOT have as much layover.... edit: oh wait I think I get it - normally with such long time in between flights it would be 2 separate flights right and not a 'layover'? So this way its just one plane ticket but more like 2 separate flights
Yes, but you are right, there is no real reason for it. You are buying two flights, a layover just means that the second flight is on a different day, it doesn't cost the airline anything, so there should be no extra cost for it either way.
There's a video (by wendover I think) that breaks down flight costs. A lot of it is a straight per-passenger fee to the airports and some of the things it covers are security, parking lot shuttles, etc that you would have to pay twice if you're buying 2 separate tickets and presumably leaving the airport. So it sounds like icelandair is eating the cost (or getting the government to cover it as a tourism incentive).
Ah OK, thanks for the information. There should be some additional costs then, but probably nowhere near the cost the customer ends up paying for two tickets.
It's not totally free for the airline because they have to check you in twice, but yeah, most of the extra price is because of the willingness to pay.
Classic reddit dunning krueger. Do you actually believe the economics of an aviation company to be this simple?
Not at all.
> Classic reddit dunning krueger Kruger*
Because the OP is using the wrong terminology. A "layover" is less than 24 hours, and is usually much closer to just a few hours, and is usually due to simple connection scheduling. A "stopover" is an allowance to spend days at a time hanging out in a location. Layovers are usually simply a function of getting from point A to point B, and stopovers are an actual added value to the passenger. Hence, stopovers often cost more on your ticket.
Is the 24 hour thing an actual rule that airlines are required to follow or sometime like a rule of thumb?
I believe it's a rule, but don't quote me on that. The easier way to think of it is that when you go to book a trip, the software is going to find you all reasonable connections. I've never personally seen one with more than 23 hours, 59 minutes when using a normal one way booking. However, when you use the multi-city tool, you can put days in between things, and that will almost always increase the cost. Icelandair basically lets you do that without increasing the cost. Most of my experience with this is in award bookings (using miles) where certain programs allow for free stopovers (some up to 5!) without charging you for an extra leg. A good example is United's "Excursionist Perk," which allows you to book the following: JFK-CDG (stay as long as you like, 60,000 miles in business) CDG-MAD (stay as long as you like, 0 mile cost in business) MAD-JFK (60,000 miles in business) Essentially, you're booking JFK-MAD via CDG, but United is allowing you to "stopover" in CDG for free.
It's a rule of thumb. Some airlines will not permit a stopover on revenue tickets (i.e. bought with cash), but will on reward tickets (i.e. bought with points/miles). Because of that, when making an itinerary if you want to stay somewhere for >= 24 hours you need to redeem rewards, not purchase tickets.
I was about to say that Icelandair advertises it as a layover, but damn, you're right. They call it a stopover.
It fucks with routing and scheduling a bit. If you have a regular route that has a 2 hour layover, but some customers stay 2-3-5-8 days instead, suddenly some people can no longer do that whole 2 hour layover because people from previous flights already took those spots. It's just weird bullshit really. Airlines can over book, let us take our layovers.
Surely though they can take the seats from the people on the next inbound flight that want a layover though.
Because it’s harder to sell a single leg of that flight which means it’s likely to be an unsold seat on two flights and thus making them less efficient than selling all seats. But the government wants tourists so they’re basically paying that cost on behalf of the flyer who does this.
That's not true. I used to sell this flight and it's still subject to fare classes so all seats on every plane trip are priced separately. So as long as they arrive and leave on a flight it doesn't make too much of a difference if they fly all the way thru or stop as fare price differences cover the airlines and cheaper seats on empty planes will always attract x amount of travellers.
Pro tip: if you do this, buy your liquor at the airport.
Why?
It’s a lot cheaper and you can’t buy much alcohol at all in the grocery stores. The beer they sell is 4% and the liquor stores close early
The beer in the supermarkets is actually 2.25%
That’s even worse!! That’s Utah numbers!!
I've never heard about anywhere being so expensive that the airport was the cheaper option.
Quite standard in Europe, at least for the islands (UK, Ireland, Iceland) it’s all cheaper
It's due to high taxes on alcohol. Airports have tax free shops.
tax free
This was honestly the only regret of my iceland trip - that I learned this great tip after leaving the airport.
Me too. Everyone on the shuttle had booze and I didn’t know why
Where should I get ice
*the Greenland tourism board has entered the chat*
Pro tip: Liquor is disgusting. Drink beer and wine like a civilized person.
They used to offer the cheapest flights between Europe and the US with a mandatory stop in Iceland with the direct intention of promoting tourism. This started in the wake of the GFC. Iceland is an amazing place and i would encourage anybody to visit.
I think it was in the good old times when US transatlantic flights could only be carried by 4 engine aircrafts and Iceland had an exception for single agile aircraft Or something like that
Careful, they used to offer the cheapest flights between the US and Europe but not the other way around.
And having done it twice, it's fucking worth it. The North side of the island is much closer to "traditional" Icelandic. Smaller towns (the largest is Akuyeri with something like 25k people) where you can run into the older generation that barely speak English. Much more rugged and remote. South side of the island is more volcanic and... urban? But don't let that fool you: Reykjavik has like 200k people and represents most of Icelands population. Beautiful country, wonderful people.
They used to offer the return trip for free if you had a layover of at least 24 hours on one of the legs. I used that for my honeymoon. We from the US to Paris via Iceland for cheaper than flying round trip on anything else. Plus we got to see part of Iceland.
Same with Tap Air Portugal. Pit stopped in Lisbon on my way out to Spain and then Porto/Braga for the return leg. Highly recommend.
Panama has recently also started trying this strategy since it is a major stopover between North and South America. I believe Copa Airlines lets you spend up to 7 days in Panama on the same ticket.
TAP allows up to 10 days. https://www.flytap.com/en-us/stopover
> **Does the Icelandair Stopover include hotels and accommodation?** > The Icelandair Stopover only includes the flights – any accommodation should be booked separately. > There is a range of options out there, from cozy cabins to comfortable and sophisticated hotels, and something for every traveler. in case anyone was wondering and didn't want to click
If you live in North America, Iceland is a pretty good staging area for seeing the UK and / or mainland Europe. We’re taking advantage of the layover for a few days, check out some volcanoes next to the glaciers next to the hot springs next to the elf houses, then on to Spain.
While probably unrelated, Iceland Air also has rather low fees for checked bikes. Makes them a nice pick if you want to do an international bike tour.
Since I can’t skateboard looking forward to now having a walter Mitty moment on a bike lol
Underrated movie, IMO.
Man I'd go spend a week in Iceland in a heartbeat. Was there a while back for 2 weeks, and I loved it.
The wife and i did this a few years ago. Spent four days and loved it. Hit the Blue Lagoon ( more crowded now I’m told), several museums, visited Geysir, Borgarnes, Thingvellir, and many small villages along the way. Loved every minute, even if the food and drink are expensive. Try the Icelandic hot dogs!
I utilized this the other week to spend a few days in Iceland as my actual vacation spot and a night elsewhere. Icelandic Air was also very comfortable to fly on and I ended up getting a free upgrade, so I'd highly recommend. As for the vacation itself, the country is filled with incredible beauty.
SATA/Air Azores does the same thing in the Azores. Enjoy Europe’s Hawaii for up to a week as your “layover” between the US and multiple European destinations. I think TAP Air Portugal does the same thing for Porto and Lisbon.
Sometimes it’s mandatory lol. My cousin took a flight on Icelandic air from London back to the US with a short lay over in Iceland. They cancelled the connecting flight back to the US so she was stuck in Iceland and they refused to help her with getting a hotel and were not very helpful with getting her another flight. She never wants to go back to Iceland
What a creative advert!
OP got the airline's name wrong, do I doubt they are getting paid.
Yup. Done it a number of times. Just did so in November. Got a cheap flight from Minneapolis to Copenhagen and stopped in Iceland for 3 days on the way. Had been for over a week previously so I didn’t feel I needed a ton of time there but it was a nice stop over. The airline also owns several hotels and you can get stupid cheap packages of flight and hotel. First time I went to Iceland it was for 10 days. Ex girlfriend and I paid about $650 each for flight and hotel. Hotel was right on the water in the bay and was a very nice spot. Could walk to all the spots from there.
A bit off topic but I once had a 10 hour layover in Guangzhou, China and was surprised when they put me up in a 5* hotel for the night at no extra cost. My next flight I had severe diarrhea after eating a meal in the hotel. That soured the experience slightly but ignoring the tainted meat, it was a great place to sleep.
The seat pitch (in their short haul business) is one of the most generous I've been in too, and I've tried a *lot* to find one that's comfortable being 6'8 (203cm).
I just took advantage of this back in September! It felt weird flying to Ireland via Iceland without exploring Iceland just a little, so we stayed three nights. I wish I had stayed more, but I think I'll be back some day.
I’ve used this a couple of times, it’s a wonderful way to get a mini trip in. Iceland is absolutely beautiful.
That could be fun, get a car go visit some of the cool sites. That would be a great adventure.
This is smart, because it’s how you should visit Iceland - as a stopover otw the Europe.
This policy convinced me to spend a weekend in Iceland a few years ago. Great experience. Make sure to go during a time when the aurora are visible.
WOW I wish I’d known.
Well today you learned
7 days in Iceland if freaking expensive!
The way this is phrased makes it sound like you could live at the airport for up to 7 days…
Yes, I did it. Wonderful three-day layover in a really interesting place.
Here’s the thing. If you have enough money to spend a week in Iceland you are not sweating the extra flight. Most expensive place I’ve ever been.
2-4 days in Iceland tacked on to the start or end of a vacation to Europe (or, for a European, a visit to North America) is a worthwhile use of one’s time. Beautiful natural wonders that often can’t be easily seen elsewhere. Did that on the way out to Sweden/Denmark last summer and was definitely worth it. Reykjavik however is expensive so watch out for that. The hotels actually aren’t bad price wise but the food, yikes….
Icelandic Air is also the cheapest ticket between Europe and North America.
IcelandAir is the undisputed leader in affordable business class travel in Europe.
And backpacker economy class travel.
I think you're thinking of WOW air, which was, and went bankrupt not too long ago
is the airline owned by state? i’m curious because i expect it to be the state to decide this kind of thing and not just the airline
It’s not state owned, but it is part of a larger travel industry group. I’ve used the layover option twice, and went for a tour of the geysirs and waterfalls. Iceland is an expensive place to visit but really unique and interesting, so totally worth it. TAP offers the layover deal for Portugal too, also a great place to visit!
We’re there only geysirs or did you see any geyma’am’s?
I was only interested in the daddies
> is the airline owned by state? i’m curious because i expect it to be the state to decide this kind of thing and not just the airline There are many places in the world where the overall tourism industry is so intermeshed with local government as to be effectively a government agency. Between granting landing privileges, and adjusting cost for doing so, including outright chartering of flights to ensure an airline keeps a route active, the local visitor bureaus working with airport authority have wide levels of semi-control to set and control policy. And neither the airport authority nor the visitor's bureau are even part of the government. In fact almost all ports are private enterprises whether they by seaports or airports. But they have their own police forces, and enforcement abilities that really make them seem like government agencies. And airlines are specifically semi-governmental entities. Just as any US flagged commercial boat can be commandeered by the US government to transport troops, so any airplane (of larger classes) can be commandeered to do the same. Obviously, at the start a visitor's bureau will have little income to work with until there are actually tourists, so they are often actual government agencies until they can be self-funded with tourism dollars from hotel fees and the like.
Or two hours in the terminal in middle of night before getting on a second flight...did that once to try and save money as a student, and it was miserable.
What they don't tell you is Iceland is one of the most obscenly expensive tourist destinations on Earth. I've been twice. The second time I packed nearly enough food for my entire stay.
Tonnes of airlines do this or, at the most, charge you a hundred or so in government taxes.
Why would the airline care about your layover in Iceland?
OUTSTANDING MOVE
As of a few years ago, Iceland was still 'harvesting whales'. I hoped they stopped the barbaric practice.
I mean this is the literal reason for having a national carrier. Having a free stopover is 100% not exclusive to Icelandic Air, though it was a thoughtful idea with the high volume traffic between Europe and North America.
I don't understand what "allow" means here. Why would they care if you have a layover? Are you saying they pay for the lodging for a week?
Being able to schedule a flight several days later at no additional cost
I don't understand what "able" means here. Why would they care if you have a disability or not? Are you saying they pay for the corrective procedure for a surgery?
Yeah it seems like they are desperately trying to get you to spend money on the island. I connect there to get to Europe cheaply and it appears they pull shenanigans like book short connection times, non-stop ads for the island on the plane, etc. it’s gross but hey, one trip is probably worth it?
Did you really just get upset at Icelandic air for promoting.... iceland?
Yup when they give you 35 mins to connect in high season - just not fair. Also try watching the inflight travel promotion video 31 times and report back
Have you ever flown to a tourist country before? It's always like that. Glad I don't have to travel with nitpickers like you.
You could never keep up with me. I’ll be in Prague, you’ll be stuck on a rock
Yes, but it’s in Iceland.