3 ways to fly Icelandair using points and miles

Icelandair is a popular carrier for visiting Iceland because its hub is Keflavik Airport (KEF), an airport located about 31 miles outside of Reykjavik. Icelandair is well known for its inexpensive flights, and many travelers use the airline to travel between the U.S. and Europe while also taking advantage of a stopover in Iceland.

However, if you’re looking at how to use points and miles to fly Icelandair, you’ll quickly discover the airline isn’t part of a major airline alliance. Although the airline has interline and codeshare agreements with Emirates, Turkish Airlines and JetBlue, you can’t currently redeem rewards from these airlines’ loyalty programs for Icelandair flights.

In short, you can’t redeem many types of points and miles to fly on Icelandair flights.

But you do have a few options, so let’s dive in.

Related: Watch us fly Icelandair 2 different ways: Business class versus economy

Redeem Icelandair Saga Club points

Icelandair has its own loyalty program called Icelandair Saga Club. The bad news for infrequent Icelandair flyers, though, is that none of the major U.S. transferable points currencies work with Saga Club. So, although you can earn Saga points on Expedia bookings, JetBlue flights, Alaska Airlines flights, Hertz car rentals and more, most U.S.-based travelers will have trouble earning a significant balance of Saga points.

Luckily, you don’t have to have enough Saga points to cover your entire Icelandair flight booking. You can use whatever amount of Saga points you wish to book any seat on any scheduled Icelandair flight. You can even redeem Saga points to cover the taxes and fees on Icelandair flights.

For example, on a sample $593.50 round-trip booking, I used the carrier’s slider tool to select various combinations of points and cash.

I could redeem 137,337 points to cover my entire booking, a redemption that would give me 0.43 cents per point in value.

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Or, I could redeem 57,781 points and pay $343.80 for the $593.50 round-trip booking.

You won’t get outsize value when redeeming Saga points for Icelandair flights, but it’s a nice option to have if you want to pay using a combination of points and cash and you have a few extra points in your account.

Related: How to get to Iceland on points and miles

Redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles

Alternatively, you can redeem Alaska miles for Icelandair flights. However, according to Alaska’s partner page for Icelandair, the program has temporarily suspended business-class award bookings on Icelandair-operated flights “due to a high rate of booking failures.” Since Icelandair removed its premium economy product in 2018, economy class is your only option when redeeming Alaska miles for Icelandair flights.

While Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan still publishes a partner award chart, the rates listed are only starting rates for nonstop award flights.

However, I found award rates for nonstop Icelandair flights follow the listed starting rates. For example, I could redeem 27,500 miles and $137 for a one-way Icelandair flight from Seattle to Reykjavik. The distance between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and KEF is 3,622 miles.

If I departed a few days earlier and connected in Portland, Oregon, I could redeem 22,500 miles and pay the same $137 in taxes and fees.

Meanwhile, flying 2,413 miles from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to KEF would cost 22,500 miles plus $137.

Interestingly, I could add a flight onward to Dublin without paying any additional miles. However, I’d need to pay $192 in taxes and fees for this one-stop award.

Finally, due to Mileage Plan’s friendly stopover policies, I could even book a weeklong stopover for the same number of miles. However, I’d need to pay slightly higher taxes and fees.

Alaska miles can be difficult to earn since the only major transferable currencies that transfer to Mileage Plan are Marriott Bonvoy and Bilt Rewards. However, you can sometimes snag a good welcome offer on the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card or the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card, both of which let you earn Alaska miles on your purchases.

Related: These are the best times to visit Iceland

Redeem through a credit card travel portal

You can also book Icelandair flights with points or miles through the travel portals of most major transferable points currencies. However, you’ll usually only get 1 cent per point or mile when redeeming your points or miles for flights booked through these portals. The primary exceptions where you can get more value when redeeming points or miles through a credit card portal are:

If you have the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, you may come out ahead by purchasing a paid Icelandair flight with your 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 points to cover your recent travel purchase. You’ll only get 1 cent per point when covering recent travel purchases, but at least you’ll earn miles when you pay for your flight with your card.

Related: How to use hotel points in Iceland

Bottom line

Even though Icelandair doesn’t belong to a major airline alliance, you can still redeem points and miles for its flights. Your best value options to redeem points or miles for your Icelandair flight are Alaska miles or booking through the Chase Travel portal with your Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred.

However, as discussed above, you have several other options. Especially considering the often low fares for Icelandair flights, you may find it feasible to book a paid rate and save your points and miles for hotels or a future trip.