Icelandair is a popular airline for visiting Iceland because its hub, Keflavik Airport (KEF), is about 31 miles from Reykjavik. Icelandair is well known for its low fares and many travelers use the airline to travel between the US and Europe taking advantage of a stopover in Iceland.
However, if you’re looking for how to use points and miles to fly with Islandair, you’ll quickly discover that the airline is not part of a major airline alliance. Although the airline has interline and codeshare agreements with many airlines, including Emirates, Southwest Airlines and Turkish Airlines: You cannot currently redeem rewards from most of these airlines’ loyalty programs for Islandair flights.
However, you have a few options if you want to redeem points or miles for Islandair flights. So, let’s delve deeper.
Redeem Islandair Saga Club points
Icelandair has its own loyalty program called Icelandair Saga Club. The bad news for Iceland’s infrequent travelers, however, is that they can’t transfer any of the major US transferable rewards to Saga Club. As such, most US-based travelers will have trouble earning a significant balance of Saga points.
Fortunately, you don’t need to have enough Saga Points to cover your entire Islandair flight booking. You can use any number of Saga points you want to reserve a seat on any scheduled Islandair flight. You can even redeem Saga points to cover taxes and fees on Islandair flights.
For example, on a sample round-trip booking worth $651.53, I used the airline’s slider tool to select various combinations of points and cash.
I could redeem 136,224 points to cover my entire reserve, which would give me a value of 0.48 cents per point.
Or you could redeem a combination of points and cash for the reservation.
You won’t get excessive value when redeeming Saga points for Islandair flights. However, it is a good option if you want to pay with a combination of points and cash and have some extra points in your Saga Club account.
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Redeem Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Points
Alternatively, you can book through Alaska Airlines to redeem Atmos Rewards points for Islandair flights. While Atmos Rewards still publishes a partner award table, the fares listed are only initial fares for non-stop award flights.
However, I discovered that award fares for Iceland non-stop flights start at the listed starting fares. For example, you could redeem 27,500 points and $139 for a one-way Iceland flight from Seattle to Reykjavik. The distance between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and KEF is 3,622 miles. However, the Alaska-operated flight on the same route is less expensive on the date I checked, and one Iceland-operated award option is much more expensive than the other.
Meanwhile, flying 2,413 miles from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to KEF on an Iceland-operated flight starts at 22,500 points plus $139.
Atmos Rewards points can be difficult to earn, as the only major transferable currencies that can be transferred into the program are Marriott Bonvoy points and Bilt Needles. However, you can get one of the following Atmos Rewards Credit Card Welcome Offers If you are interested in earning points with your purchases:
Related: Atmos Ascent vs. Atmos Summit: Which is best for Alaska and Hawaii travelers?
Redeem JetBlue TrueBlue points
You can also redeem JetBlue TrueBlue points for Islandair flights. Pricing is dynamic, so you’ll need to search for award flights on your specific route and travel date to see how many points you’ll need to redeem.
For example, I found one-way award flights from Boston to Reykjavik starting at 17,000 points plus $102.
And I found one-way award flights from Seattle to Reykjavik starting at 32,000 points plus $102 in economy and 104,000 points plus $102 in business class.
JetBlue TrueBlue points are relatively easy to earn, as you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards points, and Wells Fargo Rewards points to the program. You can also earn points with co-branding JetBlue Credit Cards.
Related: How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to JetBlue TrueBlue
Redeem through a travel portal with a credit card
You can book Islandair flights with points or miles through most major travel portals programs with transferable currencies. However, you’ll typically only earn 1 cent per point or mile when you redeem your points or miles for flights booked through these portals.
That said, you can earn more than 1 cent per point if you find an Islandair flight eligible for Pursuit Point Increase. Then, Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) cardholders can earn up to 2 cents per point, depending on the specific redemption, when redeeming through Chase Travel℠ (See your rewards program agreement for full details.) In addition, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees) cardholders can earn up to 1.75 cents per point, depending on the specific redemption, when redeeming through Chase Travel (see your rewards program agreement for full details).
Alternatively, you can come out ahead by purchasing a paid Islandair flight with your Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card either Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. By doing so, you’ll earn miles on your credit card purchase. Then, within 90 days of your purchase, log into your Capital One account and Redeem miles to cover your recent travel purchase. You’ll only earn 1 cent per mile when you cover recent travel purchases, but at least you’ll earn miles when you pay for your flight with your card.
In a nutshell
Although Icelandair doesn’t belong to a major airline alliance, you can still redeem points and miles for their flights. Your best value options for redeeming points or miles for your Islandair flight are Atmos Rewards points or JetBlue TrueBlue points.
However, as mentioned above, you have several other options. Especially given Iceland’s often low rates, you may find it feasible to book on a paid rate and save your points and miles for hotels or future travel.
