Icelandair is a popular airline when visiting Iceland because its hub is Keflavik Airport (KEF), an airport located about 31 miles from Reykjavik. Icelandair is known for its low-cost flights and many travelers use the airline to travel between the United States and Europe while also taking advantage of the stop in Iceland.
However, if you’re looking to learn how to use points and miles to fly Icelandair, you’ll quickly discover that the airline isn’t part of a major airline alliance. While the airline does have interline and codeshare agreements with Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and JetBlue, you can’t currently redeem rewards from these airlines’ frequent flyer programs for Icelandair flights.
In short, you cannot redeem many types of points and miles to fly on Icelandair flights.
But you still have a few options, let’s find out.
Related: See us fly Icelandair in 2 different ways: Business Class vs Economy Class
Redeem Icelandair Saga Club Points
Icelandair has its own loyalty program called Icelandair Saga Club. However, the bad news for infrequent Icelandair flyers is that none of the major U.S. points conversion currencies work with Saga Club. So while you can earn Saga points on Expedia, JetBlue flights, Alaska Airlines flights, Hertz car rentals, and more, most U.S. travelers will have a hard time earning a significant amount of Saga points.
Luckily, you don’t need to have enough Saga points to cover the entire cost of your Icelandair flight. You can use any number of Saga points you want to book any seat on any scheduled Icelandair flight. You can even redeem Saga points to cover taxes and fees on Icelandair flights.
For example, for a round-trip booking of $593.50, I used the carrier slider tool to select different combinations of points and cash.
I could redeem 137,337 points to pay for the full cost of the booking, at a redemption value of 0.43 cents per point.
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Or I could redeem 57,781 points and pay $343.80 for a round-trip booking worth $593.50.
You won’t get huge value redeeming Saga points for Icelandair flights, but it’s a good option if you want to pay with a combination of points and cash and have a few extra points in your account.
Related: How to get to Iceland with points and miles
Redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles
Additionally, you can redeem Alaska miles for Icelandair flights. However, according to Alaska Partner Page for IcelandairThe program has temporarily suspended business class award bookings on Icelandair-operated flights “due to high booking failure rates.” Since Icelandair eliminated its premium economy product in 2018, economy has been your only option when redeeming Alaska miles for Icelandair flights.
While Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan still publish partner award chart, listed rates are only Starting price for non-stop award flights.
However, I found that the award prices for direct Icelandair flights were consistent with the listed starting price. For example, I could redeem 27,500 miles and $137 for a one-way Icelandair flight from Seattle to Reykjavik. The distance between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and KEF is 3,622 miles.
If I had left a few days earlier and connected in Portland, Oregon, I could have redeemed 22,500 miles and paid $137 in taxes and fees.
Meanwhile, flying 2,413 miles from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to KEF would cost 22,500 miles plus $137.
Interestingly, I was able to add a subsequent flight to Dublin without paying any additional miles. However, I had to pay $192 in taxes and fees for this one-stop award.
Finally, due to the friendliness of the Mileage Plan stopover policyI can even book a week stopover for the same miles. However, I have to pay slightly higher taxes and fees.
Alaska Miles can be difficult to earn because the only major transferable currencies that can be transferred to the Mileage Plan are Marriott Bonvoy Hotel And Bilt RewardsHowever, sometimes you can get a good welcome offer on Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card or Alaska Airlines Visa® Business CardBoth allow you to earn alaska miles when buying
Related: This is the best time to visit Iceland
Redeem rewards through travel portals with credit cards
You can also book Icelandair flights using points or miles through the travel portals of most major airlines. currency exchange pointHowever, you typically only get 1 cent per point or mile when you redeem your points or miles for flights booked through these portals. The main exceptions where you might get more value when redeeming points or miles through a credit card portal are:
If you have Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit CardYou might have an advantage if you purchase your Icelandair flight with your card. That way, you’ll earn miles for your credit card purchase. Then, within 90 days of your purchase, log into your Capital One account and redeem points to pay for your recent trip. You’ll only get 1 cent per point when you pay for recent travel purchases, but you’ll at least earn miles when you pay for flights with your card.
Related: How to use hotel points in Iceland
Last line
Even though Icelandair isn’t part of any major airline alliances, you can still redeem points and miles for flights on the airline. Your best options for redeeming points or miles for your Icelandair flight are Alaska miles or booking through the Chase Travel portal with Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Preferred Business Ink.
However, as discussed above, you do have some other options. Especially considering the generally low fares on Icelandair flights, you may find it feasible to book the paid fare and save points and miles for future hotels or travel.
