IcelandAir

My husband lives in France. My 12 year old son and I live in America. You can imagine we have done some of traveling to be together. This is my first experience where there was NO ONE at the ticketing counter and dealing with Icelandair was a nightmare and costed an additional $3500.

Husband bought 2 tickets in August 2016 through orbitz for my son and I to travel during the Christmas holiday to be with him. I checked both my son and me in online. We are about 2 hours from the airport and took a bus. The bus was due to be there 2 hours prior to our flight but got delayed. I figured we should be OK because we checked in already, so they should know we were coming? We got there with 2 suitcases, because this was a 3 week long trip for us.

There was NO ONE at the counter to help and there was NO HELP to be found any where. Using 2 phones, I called both orbits and Icelandair. Neither company wanted to help us. Icelandair said it was on Orbitz, Orbitz said it was on Icelandair and neither couldn't do anything (more like didn't want to). It took over 30 minutes to get on the phone with Icelandair. She kept me on the phone just until the flight took off and then said, well, it's too late now, there's nothing I can do and you'll be marked as a no-show. (NO SHOW? How did we no show? We were right there!?) She said for me to wait until tomorrow and the supervisor would be able to do something for me.

So, my son and I checked into a hotel. Next day comes, still, NO ONE at their counter. I had to call them again and wait 30 mins before speaking to anyone, but Icelandair took their words back. They no longer wanted to help me. They claimed I never even checked in (but I had proof I did). They gave me the run around. They wanted me to pay an additional $3600. I spent the entire day at the airport with my exhausted son, just trying to get him to see his dad for Christmas and his birthday.

Day 2 at the airport now. Icelandair did NOTHING for us. Their customer service agent even made fun of me and said I wasn't an exception, why would they put me/my son on another flight? She pretty much said why would they do that for any of their customers and I wasn't an exception. They had a flight that same day going to France, but they wanted me to pay $3600 for it despite being told the night before they would help me. I have never missed a flight, but I never imagined they would make me buy 2 new plane tickets during Christmas time because there was no one at the counter to take our 2 suitcases? I would have happily paid what other airlines charge (which I know is not $3600).

We spent 2 days at ORD, and 2 nights at a nearby hotel. Orbits did right by us and gave us a refund for our plane tickets (after we made a video posted on Facebook public reaching over 5,000 views in just a few hours) plus I'm sure it helped to have many friends and family members call them and Icelandair (Icelandair is the worst). I will never ever ever ever fly Icelandair again. My slogan for them is "We're as cold as Ice, like our name impiles, and it froze even our hearts".

On a positive note, at least there was no one to beat us and drag us like another airline did recently to someone else. Though, the way the treated me over the phone, they may as well have.

We had a great experience in Saga class on a recent trip to Europe. The Saga Lounge in Iceland is wonderful. However, on the return flight, our flight was cancelled due to weather. We spent 4.5 hours on the tarmac waiting to disembark. It was a chaotic scramble to find where to go for accommodations. Hours in lines, we rented our own room, but the weather was too bad to risk being dropped in central Reykjavik to find our lodging so we spent the night on the cold cement floor of the airport. The airline has not reimbursed us as promised and the only communication through customer service was an apology for the late response and if there is anything else I need contact them. Not even addressing my issues. I'm really astonished that Saga class - or anyone - is dismissed like this. And our luggage arrive at our home 3 days later. Turns out these cancellations happen all the time in winter, so why hasn't the airline gotten a good plan together. Also, other people we spoke with said when their rooms, they were either sold out, closed, or otherwise denied. Beware.