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Iceland Air has amazing last-minute deals every so often (round-trip from JFK to Reykjavik for under $400! wtf?), but sadly they only fly out of the east coast of the US. Which means to take advantage I'd have to find my way cheaply from the San Francisco bay area to Boston or JFK, which ends up costing as much as the flight to Iceland itself. Any suggestions for finding very cheap east-west cross-US flights so I can continue on to Iceland?
(I've looked at southwest & jetblue so far, both in the $300-400 range.)
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SF Bay Area
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 10:45 AMWell, America West often has RT tickets to JFK from SFO for less than $300, but their service is so-so at best. American has some deals, too. You can also check with STA Travel and with consolidators (those people with ads in the back of the weeklies)... basically, sniff around the same places you look for cheap international fares. I've often had better luck talking to airlines directly over the phone rather than booking via websites.
Saving money will be important, I suppose, given that eating, drinking, and sleeping in Iceland are all FANTASTICALLY expensive (a weak local beer will set you back $11, a cocktail in a fancy joint will be close to $20). The Economist ranked Reykjavik the third most expensive city in the world after Oslo and Tokyo. -
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 11:05 AM<The Economist ranked Reykjavik the third most expensive city in the world after Oslo and Tokyo.>
insane. especially since most icelanders tend to be piss-poor. -
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 11:33 AMReally? That doesn't seem right to me.
The country is #2 on the UNDP's Human Development Index rankings (which take into account not just income, but also social development factors), and #5 in the world in terms of per capita PPP (purchasing power parity, basically an index of how much people can afford). Oh, and it's also the European nation with the second lowest "risk of poverty" rate... all this seems to indicate that it's quite a rich country.
Folks in rural areas may be somewhat cash-poor, because of the high cost of living? But beyond that, I don't see it. -
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 11:45 AMi'll read more on it and ask a friend who goes there regularly, but i've always heard that there's not much work and a HIGH incidence of alcoholism. -
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 11:59 AMAlcoholism is definitely a problem... it is in all of northern Europe. And underemployment may be a big deal--it's a tiny country, with a population of less than 300,0000, so there's not that much to do there. And I bet seasonal work in the biggest industries like fishing and agriculture leaves some people strapped for cash during the looooong winter. But officially, at least, the government claims an unemployment rate of less than 2%, which is extremely low.
I can't pretend to be an expert with a history of one brief stopover a couple of years ago to my name. But I do know that Reykjavik is about the most expensive place I've ever gone out to a bar.
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Re: kinda international question
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 12:13 PM
Yep, I expect to spend a LOT on lodging/food/drink/transport once there, so the more I can save on actually getting there the better.
(Though Icelandair.com seems to also gives some discount rates on lodging, and some nice-sounding package deals, looking into it...) -
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Unsu...
Re: kinda international question
Fri, February 23, 2007 - 10:57 PMI just caught up with this thread now. Mella I am from Iceland but live in L.A. I cant tell you of any cheaper flights to the east coast, I would use jetblue or delta myself. Ironically Icelandair just recently discontinued their SF route. But basically - yes everything is going to be really expensive especially now when the exchange rate is not in our favor. The Icelandic krona has been really strong for a while for really weird reasons. Personally, next time I go home Im trying apartment swapping. Thats something to look into.
Mr. bird - I dont know where you get your information from but Icelanders arent generally poor at all. Just the opposite actually.
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