Icelandair standing in for BMI - anyone flown Icelandair??

Back in the depths of winter, we booked tickets for 5 of us (incl. 3 under 5's) to fly with BMI from Manchester to Washington DC this summer and paid an unfeasibly large amount of ££££s.

Anyhow, we just got a letter from the travel agent to say that this summer, BMI are using Icelandair places to fly the Manchester to Dulles route and that the Icelandair planes do not have all the whizzy entertainment options that BMI have as standard.  We were hoping that BMI's back of seat TV screens would keep the kids relatively calm for the 8 hours on board - I guess we are going to have to be more creative and bring lots of books and colouring crayons.  Yikes, I HATE flying at the best of times.

Anyway, two things:

1) Can BMI do this?? (I guess the answer is yes, 'cos they have); and
2) Has anyone flown Icelandair - any experiences good or bad?? 

Chris

I don't want to make this worse for you, but so far as I know all Iceland Air flights stop in Iceland.  Anything about that on your paper?

Jim

There were some comments here - what - about a year ago about Icelandair ...  someone had used them Minneapolis to Glasgow and return, change at Reykjavik.  Sounded like it was quite a reasonable airline as I recall, except that the interflight time was too little in one direction and too much in the other.

I've not been put off by comments I've read and will be trying them next month - flying with them on 4th July ... are you flying before that or after??

Our flight to the US a couple of weeks ago was on a BMI/Icelandair flight. It was fine. BMI is leasing the planes. They use BMI crews and everything, so the only real difference we noticed was that the plane had labels in Icelandic - but it was fun trying to read "Put tray table up before landing" etc in Icelandic (I'm a bit of an amateur linguist.) It is the normal BMI route - no stops in Iceland (although that sounds like a bonus to me...)

ts true the plane did not have all the personalized entertainment that our flight over did, but we really did not miss it much. Then again, we were tired out from house-hunting and not travelling with small children. That may matter more to you.

Our flight to Manchester was on a BMI owned plane and had all the modern amenities. They seem to use whatever plane is available for flights so you may not know what kind of plane you will be on until flight time. Maybe you could call BMI and see what they have scheduled for your exact flight.

Have a good trip (in whatever language)
David

I've always been fine on my Icelandair flights. If it's BMI staff, you won't even get to hear them speaking Icelandic which is kinda cool.

I'd just plan more activities for your kids or does 'em up on Benadryl and let them sleep! 

I've flown Icelandair a few times, and although it wasn't horrible, I'm not sure they'd be my first choice of airlines. On my overseas flight, the plane was the size of an airbus, which made turbulance more noticeable. Also, there wasn't any inflight entertainment, and very few things come complimentary except tea, coffee and your meal. Also, there's usually a 5 hour wait time in Iceland, on which you have the option to go on the Blue Lagoon tour, which is probably a clever way to get some tourist revenue. I haven't personally done it so I can't tell you what it's like, but you have to pay for it and you probably should bring a bathing suit. If you choose not to go, the prices in Iceland are crazy if you don't exchange your money to krona. So while it's tempting to buy some Icelandic souvenirs while you wait, you'll be severely ripped off (a normal magazine costs £10 for example) and I wasn't sure what the food was exactly. I don't know, I found it an interesting experience to go through Iceland, but I probably wouldn't willingly choose to use Icelandair again if I had the option.

We flew Icelandair to Baltimore via Keflavic airport and they did have some kind of entertainment (can't remember if it was seat back, it may have been screens above).  The lay-over on the way back was only about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, the ultimately destination was Baltimore (BWI).  I thought it was a pretty good flight, and they are one of the cheapest trans-Atlantic airlines.

We tend to go British Airways because they are the only direct flight to Baltimore and flying direct is the most wonderful thing in the Universe.

Matt

Forgot to mention, the Blue Lagoon is one of the most wonderful places, it's on the way from Keflavic airport to Reykjavic and it is like a giant man-made hot tub.  I think it ranges from about 97-103 degrees and you get these nifty face-masks I got to put on DW's face in near freezing air temperatures.
Iceland is one of the most strange, interesting and bizarre places on planet Earth.

Matt

I felw Iceland Air with my students to UK for a Shakespeare tour last april and I must say I was not impressed.  The flight itself was fine but the attendants and food were appauling. The people were rude and made great efforts to show their pains at my dietary restrictions (vegetarian).  I prefer KLM a great deal more and the stop over in Amesterdam is so much nicer.  I'm going to try Aer Lingus in August. We'll see how that goes... but stopping Dublin for lunch is a nice idea.

Chris - Sorry to hear about BMI's switcheroo on you.   Normally, I love flying BMI (on their regular planes, etc) as you've probably heard me mention before.  However, I had no idea that they do this.  I have nothing to offer on Iceland Air.  Keep us posted on how it works out though.

Carolyn