Iceland has been super smart since the country's economic crash, pivoting to make Reykjavik a major hub between Europe and North America and dramatically ramping up tourism in the process. They've practically made it as vital as Anchorage used to be on flights that had to circumvent China and the USSR. (Different reasons, of course.) Plus, the stopovers!
Their price are $200-$300 cheaper compared to Aer Lingus too. Which is an Amazing deal, especially with free checked baggages on standard economy fares.
@@NeelHippalgaonkar Hey y'all got a direct to Rome Italy iirc send some of that our way lol. Really hoping for a Germany flight from RDU soon, lots of business travelers due to Germany and RTP's major life sciences industries.
@@gabrielort3531 - Cheap connecting flights to Europe without having the logistic nightmare to guess viable non-stop flights to European destinations from Raleigh.
@@gabrielort3531 Thanks to the Research Triangle Park just able every major Tech Company does or will have a presence in the area in the next 5 years. One of the fastest growing areas in the country.
In airline terms, is an upgrade watching your videos. Very Professional Person, Positive Attitude, Very Detail Oriented, Sharp Looking and all the above. Congrats Jeb, you make a HUGE difference!
Interesting video on and airline i've always seen as a sort of mid-level carrier. Not an LCC, but not quite in the same league as most other long-haul carriers (at least in terms of their "business" class product). Was cool hearing that your aircraft had connected in from my home airport - Glasgow - before operating the inaugural flight. Certainly an airline I want to give a go at some point, so this was really helpful.
It’s a quarter of a century since I flew from GLA to BOS via KEF with Icelandair. Back then it was a 737-400 to KEF and the 757 to BOS was fairly new! Routing via KEF from Glasgow to North America is very handy.
My first ever trip across an ocean was from Seattle to Glasgow via Keflavik, in Saga class. Glasgow is a beautiful city! The Upper Decker lounge was closed so I was directed to the other lounge, which had very nice airport views. Unfortunately, the "friend" from Tongue I was supposed to spend the weekend with stood me up so I arrived with no plans, but a friend a little south of Newcastle invited me over so I explored Glasgow, explored a bit of northeastern England, then back to Glasgow for a little more.
Icelandair has done a great job of using Iceland's location to their benefit besides being a beautiful country in itself. Looking forward to trying the airline out myself.
I flew back from Reykjavik to Dulles years ago, and probably my favorite thing was the stretch right over the southern tip of Greenland. Mountains and glaciers everywhere, and in this land that is so remote and barely visited by anyone. It was so neat to see it exist for real.
Since Raleigh is my home airport, i was able to spot it coming in. It was one of the coolest things I have seen. I have been waiting for this video! Good Job!
Wow, as an international traveler at times it would have made me tear up a little to see such hospitality to American travelers & our homeland. That's really awesome and a great gesture by Icelandair
Sitting in a 17 in width seat for 6+ hours isnt that great of a experience if you cant afford the front of the cabin. I dodnt see any PE being offered.
@@briangasser973 I flew Iceland Air premium economy when they had it, and it was a really good experience. Priced nicely between coach and saga. Saga really is more like a slightly tuned up version of premium economy from say Air Canada with just a hair more room. It’s a bummer they dropped premium economy. I really need the leg room to be neven remotely comfortable with 6’ 2.5” height. I can’t sit in exist row as my wife is handicap. I still am hoping to make another trip back to Iceland in the near future. Super friendly staff. Last time we traveled through KEF they had undergone insane growth and construction was happening all over the airport. A friendly attendant met us at the end of the gangway and rolled my wife through the airport at a seriously fast pace. Before we knew it we turned a corner and were lined up with customs, then off to the gate. They were using mostly airplane pads and stairs back then due to capacity restrictions at the main terminal. They offered a lift for my wife which she didn’t need (she can get up the stairs once to get in and once to get down. After that she wouldn’t be able to walk through the terminal). Everyone I ever dealt with at the airport from cabin crew to customs have been friendly and professional.
The deadly boeing 737 Max is not a solid replacement for the 757. The 757 had a good sfety record while the 737 max killed 346 people when it was new. Boeing needs to come up with a new airplane perhaps a 797 that will really replace the 757. The Boeings 737 Max's image is already tarnished and many people prefer not to set foot in it ever!
The new international routes coming to Raleigh (my home airport!) is really exciting! Maybe if I weren’t so broke I’d take advantage of them more. Would LOVE to see Iceland!
Big fan of Iceland as a country and the airline. It’s great that they are connecting Iceland to lesser served locations and although not mind blowing, the cabin is perfectly adequate for a flight of this length.
I live in Raleigh and am planning to try Icelandair for a trip to London this summer. Really glad we have this option at RDU now - having to connect stateside at a big hub is a pain.
A thought about contents of the IFE: licences for movies and TV shows can be very costly. I simply load up my iPad with Apple TV shows I bought, and Netflix stuff for offline viewing.
Jeb, I love all your videos. You have such a positive outlook, professional camera work, great narratives. Your videos are of such high quality. Easily my favorite travel channel.
Icelandair is one of my favorite airlines. I've flown them multiple times to/from Europe (with and without stopovers), and I've always had great experiences.
This just popped up on my feed, hope you enjoyed your time in Iceland. Being Icelandic and having lived on mainland Europe for several years I always feel good walking through KEF airport, it's just a nice place to be at
Icelandair is my choice of airline when flying to Europe. Also as a person with a physical disability, their staff at check-in, ground staff, and flight crew are top notch at making if easier for me to travel.
I would have figured they’d fly to charlotte before Raleigh, but it’s definitely neat for a smaller airport to get such a unique direct international opportunity.
Icelandair has been our "secret" airline for about ten years now as we could count on getting very well priced business class tickets to Europe from NY, in comfortable seats with good food, as well as that wonderful Keflavik lounge. Add on the possibility for no additional airfare stopovers in remarkable Iceland, if we wished, on any particular trip. I kind of regret that the secret is out!
Give a chance to Gol Linhas Aéreas longest max 8 route from Brasilia BSB all the way to Orlando MCO at approximately 8 hours of flight time. They are suppose to improve their business class for this route but I am not sure if they already did it or is just a planned thing.
Jeb, Yesterday our family watched the Goodyear Blimp depart in our hometown of Tulsa, OK following the PGA. I thought of you and how you need to get a seat on the Blimp. The website says they offer rides by invitation only. Surely with your channel you could get a seat and make a video. I will post some footage in a separate comment.
You should try the night time flight from the east coast to Keflavik. On approach on the right side of the plane if you are lucky you have a amazing view of the sea ice with the perfect amount of clouds with the moon reflecting against the water. It is absolutely spectacular. Mother Nature is so pretty.
I flew Iceland air in the 80’s on a trip to Europe. Affordable, comfortable enough for economy and good food. Bought a nice wool sweater in the airport too! 🥰
Flew RT from BWI last month. Pretty much agree completely. The airline is a great in-between luxury and economy. New AC, 737 max very comfortable. KEF kind of a quirky airport, flightaware gave us a heads up to what our gate would be, you line up in the hallway helps if you have carry on bags. The country is well worth the visit!!
Thank you so much for all the time you spend making these interesting and wonderful videos of your trips . I think at 82 years old I'm learning some geography I didn't learn in school. I look so forward to watching your videos .
I was at the Keflavik airport the same time as you, I was heading back to Edinburgh. In typical fashion I arrived far to early for my flight. Keflavik is a good airport, easy to get around. I'm flying Icelandair in October to Vancouver and flying back to Iceland via Seattle. Looking forward to my 4 night layover in Iceland before I head back to Scotland
You can try to checkout and book one of Copa Airlines first class lie-flat seats in their 737 MAXs. I don't know exactly which routes they serve, but it will be an interesting comparison with JetBlue's mint suites.
The near-polar route across the Atlantic was a common way of transporting aircraft from America to England during ww2. We should have remembered that later on because it's actually a really great way to go and several airlines have rediscovered this. Even the flights are usually smoother because the polar air mass is very stable most of the time.
This is the promise of the combination of location and equipment. The location, Iceland, makes for an enormous number of city connections between North America and Europe with a single stop. The aircraft, the long-range single-aisle 737 Max, provides both the endurance and lower operating cost to make thinner routes profitable. When I lived in NYC, I never really considered this, there were non-stop flights to almost anywhere. Now that I live in a small-market city, the promise of an Iceland Air flight direct to Keflavik is extremely appealing. Couple that with the Saga class product which sits between premium economy and business with a corresponding price tag and, I think, it makes for an attractive travel future. I suspect that this is part of Iceland Air's plan to become a major carrier. They see the growth possible in these smaller-market US cities.
Back in the 1970 Icelandair was the cheapest way to travel to Europe though KEF with an optional free stop over and then on to LUX with bus services to cities like Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Now flights to Europe during the summer cost a fortune even just to Iceland
Seeing the bar at KEF brought back memories, last beer of my vacation before flying back to EWR (on a WOW A320...not the most comfortable flight ever!)
Very nice video of the FI inaugural to RDU. During the off-peak months, FI usually flies their MAX's to SEA in lieu of the 757's. They are mostly MAX 9's, but they had flown in some MAX 8's.
You had much better on board service than they offered last year due to COVID. When I was in Saga last year there was no amenity kit, and food was a cardboard box with a cold snack in but not much more. The lounge at Keflavik is great though, as were the service. One of my favourite airlines to fly.
Back in 1993 when I was assigned to the US Naval Base at Keflavik, for my mid-tour leave I flew Icelandair (757) First Class to BWI. Little pricey but I wanted to treat myself and it was well worth it. I could definitely get used to flying First Class.
REcalls Icelandic flights back in the 60s when it was the cheapest way to Europe for college students and other impecunious travelers - connecting thru Keflavik to Luxembourg.
Can't wait to use this route in the future as I live in Raleigh! Unfortunately I'm flying to Europe this year from Los Angeles due to scheduling but for sure I will look into flying back via this route if it's an option in September. And of course I will consider this route for future trips to Europe! I hope there's more international flights coming to RDU other than the current 5ish.
Most adult and reliable airline, flew on its Loftleidir in 1965. Hope my son will fly on this wonderful airline and it's beautiful country on his way to Eorope.
I took advantage of an Icelandair sale to make my first ever transoceanic trip in Saga class. Yes, your average business class lie-flat seat is much better, but Icelandiar is often so much cheaper that I'm satisfied with their offering. And the flights between Seattle and Keflavik, Wow! Schedule your eastbound trip close to a new moon to enjoy the aurora! Westbound, your views of the ocean, Greenland, and northern Canada are incredible!
Great vlog as always! How about including the price of the ticket in the score if possible? FI has semented it image since 1946 to be the cheaper alternative across the Atlantic. They have always been lower in price than the legacy airlines, and the reason I think they could get away with it in eyes of the law is because you had change planes at KEF.
"In the eyes of the law". Hence in the restrictive IATA era (decades past) the airline used to fly out of Luxembourg (rather than other main European airports) to the US via Iceland.
Excellent video Jeb. I've been to Iceland and their cuisine is outstanding. I was so happy to see their food in Saga. Of course, I'm usually in economy. I wish them well on this new route.
Great video Jeb! Will be taking a trip to Iceland this summer in August, after 3 cancellations in the past two years due to Covid. Flying with Delta this time (from MSP, they had a better deal than Icelandair this time around plus medallion status) great look at the airport!
I was going to fly this route and this video was perfect to know what to expect, thank you so much for doing a wonderful job. Very excited! Just subscribed and looking forward to more great content.
Hi Jeb, Will you be covering the Breeze Airways inaugural flight from San Bernardino to San Fransico on August 4th? It’s the airport first ever commercial passenger flight.
Great vid - was following that flight from work at Nuuk Flight Information Center in Greenland. Speaking of, if you ever get into Nuuk, give me a heads up. I´ll do my best, to show you the sights :o) New International Airport, is under construction. So in the near future, we will get wide bodies into our little Greenlandig capital.
