Here's my experience, thus far. Having not even set foot on the plane (which any googling will tell you, is a dilapidated and cramped excuse for a flying bus).
Last summer, was when i made the original booking. I was flying on a business trip to Europe, and me and GF had been talking about seeing Iceland for a long time. We decided that on my home from Europe, i’d take a detour and we would spend a week in Iceland. At the time, Iceland express was flying out of Winnipeg, Canada, which is easy to get to. The good Icelandic carrier (Iceland Air) flys out of Toronto and Halifax. Which would have been much more expensive for us to get to initially.
So we though, GREAT, this is handy. It’s close to 1000$ cheaper than Iceland air for the flights. So we booked it. I was to meet her in Iceland and we would fly home on the return flight together. Here’s where all the bullshit started. About a month before the trip, they – Iceland express – cancelled my girlfriends inbound flight for no reason. They have a “no cancelling, no refund – unless we’re doing the cancelling” policy. So luckily she got both legs of her flights cancelled. However, because i was only booked on the return leg – which wasn’t cancelled, they would not refund my MY money, just because my girlfriend wasn’t going to be able to meet me. We looked at finding another alternative, but it would either have been 1,200$ more money at that late notice, or a 29 hr milk run through half of Europe and Canada – and she’d arrive a day and half after me. So, according to their “no refund” policy, i was forced to conveniently change my flight. Which cost 50$. They wouldn’t actually issue me a credit, they forced me to change my flight. This was last August, I didn’t want to go in the fall or the winter – only the summer time. So of course they didn’t have flight schedules that went out more than 6 months. So i was forced to “rebook” on a London to Rekyjavik flight at a cost of 50$ in order to not lose the 500$ i’d already paid for my ticket. Fast forward to today. We’re rebooking our trip. I have a 500$ flight from London to rekyjavik. I called to change it back to a Winnepeg/Rekyjavik flight as the summer schedule is now out. Guess what? It’s now 50$ to change the airport OR the date. So it’s now 100$ to change it back to the flight i originally booked ($500 flight is now $650). So furious about this, and the heinous Iceland bitch is about as rude as can possibly be. Basically, the entire conversation was toned with “you’re fucked, because you have 2 choices – cancel entirely and lose your 500$ or pay the extra 100$, there is nothing we’re willing to do for you” This was the exact same response i got when i pleaded with them the year before to refund my ticket after they cancelled my gf’s ticket. So i’m on the hook, so i take it up the ass and pay the fee, booking another leg, and a trip for my gf. We then booked our trips from our town to Winnipeg via points on Air Canada (300$ in taxes).
All in, we’re sitting at 2,700 + 50,000 points for this trip. But we’re still feeling ok. Because the only reason we went with these guys was because Iceland air (the good carrier) was still like 3,500. And here comes the punch the fucking balls.... which i only found out after i hung up the phone on the ice queen....
Iceland air, has in the last year a) revamped their booking system, and b) apparently made some local carrier deals. I whipped over to their new website, and low and behold. My home city is on there. So i plug it in, for the exact same dates as Iceland expres.... 2,200 fucking dollars. Not direct though, one extra stop, and an extra 2 hours to the flights, but still.
So now i’m just livid. I can’t cancel Iceland express because they’re cunts who’re trying to be cute. I’ve googled their planes, and their reviews and unbelievably bad.
I’m willing to accept the responsibility of not doing fully detailed research and of biting the bullet of “you chose a discount carrier, this kind of shit happens” I’m livid, but i’m chalking this one up to life experience and moving on. I’m really just putting this out there, because, in my life time, i want that airline to go down. I’ve NEVER had a worse customer experience WITH ANY CORPORATION, in ANY INDUSTRY, as with Iceland express.
Just a heads up world travellers, sometimes the discount carriers aren’t worth it in the end.
/rant
TL;DR - Icleand express blatantly fucked me out 200$, and arguabley cost me about 1000$ in extra costs to visit Iceland. They’re the most obstinate and uncompassionate company i’ve ever dealt with.
This is posted on reddit as well, hence the vague references to Canadian geography.
http://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comme...a_flight_with/