Let’s just put it right out there. Iceland is expensive. It’s considered part of Scandinavia, and as such the prices on this tiny island follow suit. That being said, not everything about your trip to Iceland has to be expensive. While you can’t do much about the cost of living, you CAN try to save money when purchasing your flight. From error fares to low-cost carriers to price aggregators, let’s look at all the ways you can find cheap flights to Iceland.
How to get cheap flights to Iceland – Low-Cost Carriers
WOW Air is probably going to be your best bet for affordable flights to Iceland. The budget Icelandic Air carrier offers cheap plane tickets to both Europe and Iceland, including their famous $69 one-way fares from 2017. (P.S. They’re back!). You can also find some good deals on the Icelandair website. They are Iceland’s national airline and offer pretty reasonable airfare.
Another popular low-cost transatlantic carrier is Air Europa. I’ve used them several times when crossing the Atlantic for vacation. While they don’t fly directly to Reykjavik, you could book a flight to one of their 45 European destinations and then book a cheap flight with WOW Air or EasyJet (from the UK and Switzerland only).
How to get cheap flights to Iceland – Error Fares
Oh, these are so awesome. What are they exactly? Well, they go by different names. Error fares, mistake fares, glitch fares, etc. Whatever you call them, they basically all mean the same thing. Somewhere along the line, there has been some sort of technical or human error at the airline and airfare is being sold for relatively low prices. That $700 flight to Iceland from Boston or NYC is only $300. Facebook pages such as Airfarewatchdog, The Flight Deal, and Secret Flying will keep you up-to-date on the latest error fares and cheap flights. Bucket List Beasts and Girls Love Travel are also great Facebook travel pages to follow when looking for error fares.
How to get cheap flights to Iceland – Price Aggregators
Everybody loves a good price aggregator. They give you a good idea of the landscape of prices for airfare and hotels. You can also view different dates in order to get the cheapest fare. The most popular airfare price aggregator at the moment is probably Skyscanner. Kayak, Mobissimo, and Momondo should also be bookmarked in your internet browser when scouting for cheap flights. Google Flights is also quite useful when looking for affordable airline tickets. And of course, they are always the old standbys of Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity, and the like when looking for economical fares.
How to get cheap flights to Iceland – Fly during shoulder season
Everybody knows to avoid flying in high season, and most people think going during the low season is best. It’s true that flights to Iceland are generally less expensive during the winter months. However, natural phenomena like the Aurora Borealis do still make people want to visit Iceland in the winter. So why not come during shoulder season, when the country is transitioning between the 24-hour days of summer and the never-ending nights of December, January and February? Shoulder season in Iceland is late fall and early spring, so booking in October or March might net you some great deals on airfare.
How to get cheap flights to Iceland – Best Tips and Tricks
These are just some of the ways we’ve found to fly to Iceland on the cheap. What about you? Have you ever booked an error fare? Is there some secret website for finding cheap airfare that you’d like to share with us? We won’t tell, we promise.