Icelandair is a well-liked service for visiting Iceland as a result of its hub, Keflavik Airport (KEF), is about 31 miles from Reykjavik. Icelandair is well-known for its low fares, and lots of vacationers use the airline to journey between the U.S. and Europe whereas making the most of a stopover in Iceland.
Nonetheless, for those who’re the right way to use factors and miles to fly Icelandair, you may shortly uncover the airline is not a part of a significant airline alliance. Though the airline has interline and codeshare agreements with many airways — together with Emirates, Southwest Airways and Turkish Airways — you possibly can’t at present redeem rewards from most of those airways’ loyalty applications for Icelandair flights.
Nonetheless, you do have a number of choices if you wish to redeem factors or miles for Icelandair flights. So, let’s dive in.
Redeem Icelandair Saga Membership factors
Icelandair has its personal loyalty program referred to as Icelandair Saga Membership. The dangerous information for rare Icelandair flyers, although, is that you may’t switch any of the key U.S. transferable rewards to Saga Membership. As such, most U.S.-based vacationers can have hassle incomes a major steadiness of Saga factors.
Fortunately, you needn’t have sufficient Saga factors to cowl your complete Icelandair flight reserving. You should utilize any quantity of Saga factors you want to e book a seat on any scheduled Icelandair flight. You’ll be able to even redeem Saga factors to cowl the taxes and charges on Icelandair flights.
For instance, on a pattern $651.53 round-trip reserving, I used the service’s slider device to pick out numerous mixtures of factors and money.
I may redeem 136,224 factors to cowl my complete reserving, giving me a worth of 0.48 cents per level.
Or, I may redeem a mix of factors and money for the reserving.
You will not get outsize worth when redeeming Saga factors for Icelandair flights. Nonetheless, it is a good choice if you wish to pay utilizing a mixture of factors and money and you’ve got a number of additional factors in your Saga Membership account.
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Redeem Alaska Airways Atmos Rewards factors
Alternatively, you possibly can e book by way of Alaska Airways to redeem Atmos Rewards factors for Icelandair flights. Whereas Atmos Rewards nonetheless publishes a associate award chart, the charges listed are solely beginning charges for nonstop award flights.
Nonetheless, I discovered award charges for nonstop Icelandair flights do start on the listed beginning charges. For instance, I may redeem 27,500 factors and $139 for a one-way Icelandair flight from Seattle to Reykjavik. The gap between Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) and KEF is 3,622 miles. Nonetheless, the Alaska-operated flight on the identical route is inexpensive on the date I checked, and one Icelandair-operated award choice is far more costly than the opposite.
In the meantime, flying 2,413 miles from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) to KEF on an Icelandair-operated flight begins at 22,500 factors plus $139.
Atmos Rewards factors might be troublesome to earn, as the one main transferable currencies that may be transferred to this system are Marriott Bonvoy factors and Bilt Factors. Nonetheless, you possibly can snag one of many following Atmos Rewards bank card welcome gives for those who’re enthusiastic about incomes factors in your purchases:
Associated: Atmos Ascent vs. Atmos Summit: Which is greatest for Alaska and Hawaiian flyers?
Redeem JetBlue TrueBlue factors
You too can redeem JetBlue TrueBlue factors for Icelandair flights. The pricing is dynamic, so you may must seek for award flights in your particular route and journey date to see what number of factors you may must redeem.
For instance, I discovered one-way award flights from Boston to Reykjavik beginning at 17,000 factors plus $102.
And I discovered one-way award flights from Seattle to Reykjavik beginning at 32,000 factors plus $102 in financial system and 104,000 factors plus $102 in enterprise class.
JetBlue TrueBlue factors are comparatively simple to earn, as you possibly can switch American Specific Membership Rewards factors, Chase Final Rewards factors, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards factors and Wells Fargo Rewards factors to this system. You too can earn factors with cobranded JetBlue bank cards.
Associated: Tips on how to switch Chase Final Rewards factors to JetBlue TrueBlue
Redeem by way of a bank card journey portal
You’ll be able to e book Icelandair flights with factors or miles by way of the journey portals of most main applications with transferable currencies. Nonetheless, you may normally solely get 1 cent per level or mile when redeeming your factors or miles for flights booked by way of these portals.
This being stated, you may get greater than 1 cent per level for those who discover an Icelandair flight eligible for Chase Factors Increase. In that case, Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see charges and charges) cardmembers can rise up to 2 cents per level, relying on the precise redemption, when redeeming by way of Chase Journey℠ (see your rewards program settlement for full particulars). Likewise, Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card (see charges and charges) and Ink Enterprise Most popular® Credit score Card (see charges and charges) cardmembers can rise up to 1.75 cents per level, relying on the precise redemption, when redeeming by way of Chase Journey (see your rewards program settlement for full particulars).
Alternatively, chances are you’ll come out forward by buying a paid Icelandair flight together with your Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card or Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card. By doing so, you may earn miles in your bank card buy. Then, inside 90 days of your buy, log in to your Capital One account and redeem miles to cowl your latest journey buy. You will solely get 1 cent per mile when masking latest journey purchases, however at the least you may earn miles if you pay on your flight together with your card.
Associated: Crunching the numbers: Is it dearer to e book flights by way of a bank card journey portal?
Backside line
Although Icelandair does not belong to a significant airline alliance, you possibly can nonetheless redeem factors and miles for its flights. Your best-value choices for redeeming factors or miles on your Icelandair flight are Atmos Rewards factors or JetBlue TrueBlue factors.
Nonetheless, as mentioned above, you’ve got a number of different choices. Particularly given Icelandair’s often-low fares, chances are you’ll discover it possible to e book at a paid fee and save your factors and miles for accommodations or a future journey.
