We live in Iceland and went to Costa Rica for a holiday in November 2024. Flights from Iceland to outside of Europe are usually cheaper if booked separately, i.e. if we book first a flight to Oslo, Paris or Madrid, or sometimes to Toronto when going to Latin America, and then we book another flight from there, but this time there was a very reasonably priced deal in business class in one booking with BA/AA on the following itinerary:
Keflavik to London Heathrow, British Airways
London Heathrow to Miami, British Airways
Miami to San Jose, American Airlines
We arrived to the airport about 1 hour and 20 minutes before departure. The good thing about flights departing around noon is that the airport is almost completely empty.
We could not check on-line but there was a separate lane for business class check-in so there was no waiting time for us. The check-in agent was quite surprised to see passengers flying from Iceland to Costa Rica.
Fast track is available for business class passengers.
We didn't have to queue but only one channel was open so it took some time to go through security.
The terminal was almost completely empty.
An unusual sight at Keflavík: an ITA Airways plane before departure to Bologna on a charter flight.
There's only one lounge at Keflavík Airport, the Icelandair Saga Lounge.
It's large, comfortable, and as there were no Icelandair flights leaving around this time it was almost completely empty.
There's an apron view from the lounge.
There's a small food selection. It was around 10.30 in the morning so I don't expect neither a large breakfast or lunch offer.
The drink selection is the same all day.
We only had about five minutes at the lounge.
There was no waiting time at passport control.
I like this display. Keflavík used to be a US military base.
Boarding had already started by the time we got to gate. Priority boarding was however available so we got through seamlessly - until we were blocked in the jetbridge for a few minutes.
Our plane today was G-TTNI, an A320 built five years ago.
Icelanders usually prefer Icelandair, so, even though the flight was full, there were not many Icelanders on board. Most passengers seemed to be British tourists, but there was also a large tour group from Singapore.
Business class had 8 rows of business class in the usual Eurobusiness configuration: regular economy seats with the middle seats blocked. It's quite normal to have a large business class section on this flight. I didn't take photos this time as the cabin was full by the time we boarded.
The flight was quite full and felt crowded, even in business class.
The view from my window seat:
Boarding was completed by 11.35.
There was no welcome drink but a printed menu was distributed.
An expected flight time of two hours and 40 minutes. The captain also announced that due to bad weather in England and air traffic restrictions we expect a delay of 1 hour and 30 minutes at departure.
Water and later snacks were distributed as we didn't leave on time.
The captain kept us informed during the wait.
We got suddenly clearence and push-back was at 12.37 for a scheduled departure time of 11.50. After a very long taxi we took off at 12.54 from runway 01, almost an hour after scheduled departure time.
The town of Keflavík seen right after take-off.
A distant view over the current volcanic eruption (no danger to the airport).
We turned right shortly after with great views of the volcanic eruption.
Let’s have a look at the menu.
Drink service started 20 minutes after take-off. I had some Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.
A salted rosemary snack mix was offered with the drinks.
I pre-arranged a special meal. It was chicken in tomato sauce with rice and broccoli: it was quite good. It came with a salad and a dessert; both of them were good.
I had some South African white wine which was also quite good.
The cabin crew was excellent as it is almost always on British Airways' flights.
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I had some coffee after my meal.
The Wi-Fi was not working for most of the time but was towards the end of the flight.
I saw Swiss' Zurich to Chicago flight quickly flying below us.
I had a nice chat with the cabin crew. I asked them if they prefer short-haul or long-haul - one of them said he prefers a mix of the two. The other crew member said she had worked in first class for 25 years but now prefers short-haul flights. They also said they had never been to Iceland - I recommended them to go in May which is almost summer but is not crowded yet.
It was very cloudy during approach.
We landed at 15.48 and were at our parking position at 15.55 for a scheduled arrival time of 15.05 - the delay was not as bad as it had seemed before departure.
A lot of BA aircrafts during taxi. The weather was very typical weather in November.
