#55 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
74 reviews
This was my 60th flight with Icelandair.
I choose business class for this flight from Paris to Keflavík as the price difference compared to economy was only ISK 20,000 (about 130 €).
Icelandair uses Terminal 2B at Charles de Gaulle - Roissy (CDG). Many passengers from Paris connect to the US (or Canada) as Icelandair is almost always cheaper than the direct flights; most of the remaining pax are either French tourists visiting Iceland or Icelanders visiting Paris.
The queue at check-in was long. We were waiting for 20 minutes in the business line and our check-in took 10 minutes. The line for economy class check-in was much longer and it looked like some passengers had to queue for an hour or so. The agents checked passport, vaccination certificates and the covid registration forms. They worked efficiently.
Terminal 2B is quite nice. I asked the Icelandair call center before departure if priority security control (Accès numéro 1) was included and they were unable to give me an answer. The check-in agents told me it was not included. We were however allowed in with our business class boarding passes. Security control was quick and hassle-free.
View of our plane after security: TF-ISJ is a B757-200 aircraft built in 1999. It was previously used by Iberia, Varig, Kras Air and I-Fly.
Here are the departures from Terminal 2B and 2D.
Although Icelandair offers lounge access at almost all its international destinations it does not do so in Paris. No comment.
I went to the Starbucks "lounge".
Boarding was easy. Priority boarding was available.
Most of you probably know that Icelandair offers US Domestic First Class type business class seats in a 2+2 configuration. This is more comfortable than what most European airlines offer in business class for their intra-European flights but less comfortable than what the same airlines offer in intercontinental business class. There were a total of five rows of business class seats in this aircraft. Load was 19/20.
Legroom is good.
There was no welcome drink but water was distributed before departure.
Reasonably good quality headphones were also offered.
Push-back was at 13.24 for a scheduled departure time of 13.15. We taxied for some time behind a Kuwait Airways A330 (9K-APE) and we took off at 13.39.
The view right after take-off.
We got a printed drink menu shortly after take-off.
But what meal will we get? There was no meal menu.
Some amuse-bouche and drinks were served.
The meal didn't come for a long time so I had plenty of time to enjoy the outside views.
The meal was served a full hour after take-off. It was a cold meal so I'm not sure why we had to wait so long. The main course was some cold roast beef with butter, sauce and vegetables. It was actually tender and very tasty. The cake served on the side was OK.
A small chocolate was offered after the meal. Surtsey is an island that was born in 1963 after an underwater volcanic eruption.
Let's have a look at the in-flight entertainment.
There are 44 different movies in various categories.
I watched Judas and the Black Messiah - it was quite good.
We reached Iceland at 15.41.
The view over the town of Keflavík just one minute before landing.
We landed at 15.47 for a scheduled arrival time of 15.45.
This was the fourth time I flew back to Iceland between September and November 2021. Arrival procedures (checking the covid registration form and free PCR test for Icelandic residents - note that tourists must have an antigen or PCR test before departure) took only about 15 to 20 minutes for my first three flights. They took one hour and 20 minutes this time as many Icelandair flights arrived at the same time.
Thank you for reading my flight report. Please feel free to comment.
This flight was far from perfect: lack of information on whether priority security was included; no lounge access; no welcome drink; no choice of meals; only a cold meal at lunchtime. All these made this flight less good that a typical Icelandair business class experience pre-Covid. On the plus side the meal was very tasty and the seats are comfortable for a daytime flight within Europe. The cabin crew's work can be described as neither good or bad; they just did their job.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 28 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Paris (CDG) → Reykjavík (KEF).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Icelandair avec 7.3/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 3 heures et 33 minutes.
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2 Comments
That just sounds so weird to me. I'm so used to FI being at T1 since forever!
They used to offer lounge access in T1. I'm not sure if there just aren't any options due to so many lounges still closed.
I don't know what the deal is with lounges at CDG...AF lounges are all open, but it seems 3rd party lounges and other airline lounges is hit or miss with so many still closed due to Covid--I assume due to lack of staff since there is no current sanitary rule keeping lounges closed like there were in 2020. I found it frustrating flying out on AA from 2A a few months ago that neither of the oneworld lounges were open 1.5 years into the pandemic.
Too bad for lack of options, but a surprisingly really nice meal for a cold meal.
Despite the inconsistencies, FI Business remains better than the competition on European route.
Thanks for sharing!
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