• Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
  • Advertising Disclosure
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
  • Advertising Disclosure
Home  >  Flight Reviews • Icelandair  >  Review: Icelandair 767-300ER Business Class
Flight ReviewsIcelandair

Review: Icelandair 767-300ER Business Class

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 2, 2019May 10, 2020 9 Comments

If you’re looking for a lie-flat bed, Icelandair’s “Saga Premium” business class is certainly not for you. But if you’re looking for excellent service at a good price point, Iclelandair is worthy of consideration.

A $512 fare drew to me to Icelandair. That was more than fair for a nine-hour flight from Reykjavik to San Francisco, but I cannot see myself paying much more for what amounts to an upscale premium economy seat.

The aircraft was parked at a remote stand, so passengers queued up in the gate area to board a bus to take us to the aircraft. The bus was delayed, trapping a gaggle of passengers in essentially a small holding pen in the gate area for far too long.

Icelandair 863
Reykjavik (KEF) – San Francisco (SFO)
Tuesday, August 20
Depart: 05:oo PM
Arrive: 06:55 PM
Duration: 08hr, 55min
Distance: 4,204 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER
Seat: 5A (Business Class “Premium Saga”)

Jumping off the bus, I sprinted up the stairs in order to capture a few pictures of the business class cabin before it filled with passengers.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Seats

Icelandair’s Premium Saga Business class features 25 seats, spread over five rows in a 2-1-2 configuration. Seats are really more like premium economy class seats…recline is very limited and legroom is sufficient, but not generous. In short, the seat is like a domestic first class seat in the USA or Australia or a premium economy seat on British Airways.

That said, there were certainly some business class touches like a very comfortable blanket and pillow.

I was not able to sleep/nap on this flight, though the daytime hours of the flight also contributed to this. This seat would be a no-go if I wanted to sleep on an overnight flight in the opposite direction.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Cleanliness

The cabin was not very clean. I found trash, including food, around my seat.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Lavatory

I changed into my pajamas on this flight, giving me a chance to check out the lavatory shortly after takeoff. While very spartan, it was clean. When I changed out of my pajamas toward the end of the flight, the lavatory was still clean.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class IFE + Wi-Fi

Seatback monitors provide a selection of movies, TV shows, and music. A total of 55 movies were available and there was only I found interesting that I had not already seen: V is Vendetta…all the way back from 2006.

Business class passengers receive free wi-fi onboard. I was looking forward to high speed internet onboard this flight and it did work well…for the first two hours. Then it cut off and remained off for the rest of the flight. With a fairly limited IFE library, I actually had a few moments to pull out a book in read.

Not because I did not have work to do, but because the in-seat power port did not generate enough juice to keep my laptop charged. This is a recurring problem with my three-prong laptop plug. I was able to find a workaround by plugging in my adaptor into the plug, then using a USB C to USB C cable between my laptop and the adaptor. While that was not sufficient to charge my laptop up, it did stop the drain (at 18%).

Noise-cancleling headphones were provided.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Meal Service

Icelandair offers all passengers the chance to pre-order meals up to 48 hours before the flight. Economy class passengers receive a 10% discount when they pre-order versus pay onboard.

Unfortunately, I blundered in failing to pre-order a meal for this flight, even though I booked months in advance. I was really looking forward to trying Icelandic lamb, but wound up with a choice between a cold tapas platter or beef short ribs. Here’s the menu for the flight:

Service began with a choice of beverage and cheese biscuits. Preparing for the red meat, I ordered a glass of red wine. A hot towel was also offered.

Meals, like in premium economy class, were served on a single tray with appetizer, main course, and dessert. No salad or soup was offered.

The appetizer was lemon-marinated Arctic char with pickled fennel and dill seed aioli…the best part of the meal.

Braised beef short ribs can be hit or miss on an airplane. If they are stringy and tender, it’s one of the better airline dishes. If well-done but not tender, it is one of the worst. I won’t say the main course was horrible, but let’s just say I preferred the potatoes, mushrooms, and green beans to the beef.

I skipped the chocolate and caramel mousse for dessert, but drank a cup of coffee.

Flatware:

Snacking

Dinner after takeoff was the only formal meal service of the flight. Throughout the rest of the flight, snacks were available, including:

  • Olives
  • Cheese
  • Pringles
  • Nachos
  • Almond/cranberry mix
  • Protiene bar
  • Stroopwafel
  • Chocolate

Business class passengers can also request food from the economy class buy-on-board menu.

Five hours into the flight I was hungry once again and ordered some junk food…including potato chips, a stroopwafel, and a tapas box that included meat, cheese, breadsticks, and bruschetta.

To go back to my theme, this was more like a premium economy offering than business class. I should not have eaten this junk food…it gave me a pretty back headache soon after.

A couple hours before landing, I requested a pizza from the back. It was soggy, but tasty.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Amenity Kit

An amenity kit included hand lotion, lip balm, and moisturizing spray from Hannes Dottir, an Icelandic brand. Contents also included a dental kit, earplugs, eyeshades, socks, and “do not disturb” stickers.

Icelandair “Icelandic” Touches

Icelandair offered many Icelandic touches, including the catering, bottled water, Hannes Dottir products, and instruction in the Icelandic language on pillows, blankets, and seat covers.

Icelandair 767-300 Business Class Service

I won’t say it made up for everything, but service was very nice, especially by flight attendant Lara. She was kind and attentive. I really appreciated her wonderful smile and her dutiful monitoring of the cabin throughout the flight.

Service is such a critical aspect to the business class experience and I appreciate so much when flight attendants do not just disappear between meal services but keep an active eye on the cabin.

We landed on-time in San Francisco.

CONCLUSION

Check your “business class” expectations at the door and you’ll enjoy friendly service. Pre-order you meal and you can enjoy a genuine Icelandic speciality. But don’t expect a lie-flat seat or even generous recline…that’s not the Icelandair model.

Previous Article The Hero Who Stopped ORD Runaway Catering Truck
Next Article Next Up: British Airways World Traveller Plus

About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

Related Posts

  • private jet Omaha

    Private Jet Data May Point To Regional Bank Survival Plan

    March 19, 2023
  • gild hall thompson suite bedroom

    Review: Gild Hotel, A Thompson Hotel (New York City)

    March 19, 2023
  • JetBlue spirit merger NEA

    JetBlue-Spirit Airlines Merger: DOJ Drags Feet On Suit

    March 5, 2023

9 Comments

  1. Francisco Reply
    October 2, 2019 at 7:56 pm

    Your reviews are probably the best out there, and are pretty interesting. However you’ve been posting in disorder (yerevan, then out of knowhere you are in bali, then you are in SFO, then you are in germany, etc.)and it makes it less interesting. Just an advice, i know it’s your blog and you post as you see fit.

    • Matthew Reply
      October 2, 2019 at 8:01 pm

      Thanks for reading and fair point. I’ve been traveling very erratically lately and the trip reports are not so much out of order so much as me just choosing not to post the same old United or Lufthansa reviews that I have posted so many times in the past.

      For example, this trip was BUR-SFO-FRA in United Business, then FRA-VIE-EVN on Austrian, then EVN-ATH-TXL on Aegean, TXL-CPH-KEF on SAS, KEF-SFO on Icelandair, and finally SFO-BUR on United.

      This was just a couple weeks after I did LAX-BNE-DPS on Virgin, DPS-SIN on KLM, SIN-SFO on United…

      Oh, and there was a BUR-SFO-LHR-MAD-BCN-IAD-DEN-BUR flight in between those two trips.

      I’m curious, are you interested in the reviews on the European segments, where there is not much to write about?

      I’ve just been focusing on flight segments I think readers will find more interesting (or I feel like writing about).

      • Francisco Reply
        October 2, 2019 at 11:49 pm

        Thanks for your answer. I’m from Colombia so for me is pretty much flying Avianca all the time. Therefore i would be interested on the European flights since it tells you what to expect. Early this year i got the chance to try Ryanair and easyjet. I never expected that Ryanair would be more comfortable than easyjet, so yes, i would be totally interested. I understand that a lot of your readers maybe are not though.

  2. Paolo Reply
    October 3, 2019 at 7:25 am

    I find it very odd indeed that they only offer 1 meal on a 9 hour flight, requiring J passengers to make do with that awful junk from Y.
    The whole show looks very ‘cheap and cheerful’, and I agree that this is a day flight only choice.
    It’s very similar to Jetstar ( Australian LCC) business class.

  3. Ak Reply
    October 3, 2019 at 11:40 am

    interesting, but…

    Most of us care about the hard product and the elephant in the room is the middle single seat.

    Business class is half about leg room plus direct isle access for u and no one climbing over u.

    Next time u have a chance to review this cabin, it would be interesting how those middle seats work out and how much disruption there is by having two isles and no direction to lean in to avoid isle traffic.

    Also, cushion width, total width and obviously seat pitch would be helpful if looked on as mandatory metrics. These are not subjective and thus, very helpful. And no, SeatGuru doesn’t always get it right.

    • Matthew Reply
      October 8, 2019 at 9:16 am

      If you want a single middle seat review from another airline (United), see below:

      https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2019/09/10/united-airlines-767-400-business-class-review/

    • profan Reply
      October 8, 2019 at 5:24 pm

      it would probably be better to have the seats in 2-2-1 configuration for direct isle access from 4/5th of the seats (instead of 3/5 as is now)

  4. David Cleveland Reply
    October 8, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    My spouse and I flew Icelandic Business Class from Paris to Iceland to San Francisco in the summer of 2019, Your description of the aircraft and service matches our own – not much legroom, not a lie flat seat, but decent food/beverages, entertainment, and very good to excellent service. Our major disappointments were with with the ridiculous check in process at CDG, the unorganized boarding processes, and the crowding at both CDG and Iceland gates.

  5. syble Reply
    October 25, 2019 at 2:52 pm

    Worse airline I have ever flown with

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

Recent Posts

  • United Airlines Adds Château d’Esclans Rosé Wine To Polaris Business Class March 23, 2023
  • United Airlines 737-700 Business Class Review
    Review: United Airlines 737-700 Business Class March 22, 2023
  • Southwest Airlines Helicopter
    Southwest Airlines Flight Nearly Collides With Helicopter March 22, 2023
  • Copa Club Bogota Review
    Review: Copa Club Bogota (BOG) March 22, 2023

Categories

Popular Posts

  • American Airlines unaccompanied Minor Predator
    American Airlines Flight Attendant Freaks Out After Man Offers His First Class Seat To Child February 25, 2023
  • Kayleigh Scott United Airlines
    The Tragic Death Of A United Airlines Flight Attendant March 21, 2023
  • United Airlines Domestic First Class Menu
    United Airlines Refreshes Domestic First Class Menu February 28, 2023
  • Southwest Airlines Wife Slap
    Enraged Husband Attacks Man On Southwest Airlines Flight After He Bumps Wife March 8, 2023

Archives

March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Feb    

As seen on:

live_and_lets_fly

The new United Polaris Lounge at Washington Dulles The new United Polaris Lounge at Washington Dulles is the most beautiful of all Polaris Lounges. Stay tuned for a detailed look and many more photos on the blog tomorrow. Well done @united.
@malaysiaairlines just announced it would retire i @malaysiaairlines just announced it would retire its A380 fleet. While not surprising, it is sad to see the growing list of carriers retiring this superjumbo jet. On Malaysia Airlines, I flew the #A380 once from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to London (LHR) and had the entire first class cabin to myself (full review on the blog). It was a beautiful flight that I will always remember.
Welcome to @fly_bur @aveloair! I am so excited tha Welcome to @fly_bur @aveloair! I am so excited that a new carrier, Avelo, has launched, especially from an airport just 12 minutes from my home!
I greatly miss the @lufthansa #747-8 at @flylaxair I greatly miss the @lufthansa #747-8 at @flylaxairport. Hopefully this summer it will return.

.
.
.
.
#Lufthansa #FirstClass #747 #747-8 #StarAlliance #Miles #Points
I recently spent a weekend at the @ventanabigsur. I recently spent a weekend at the @ventanabigsur. This is not only a lovely, all-inclusive resort, but one of the best properties to use your @hyatt World of Hyatt points.
.
.
.
.
#Hyatt #BigSur #California #WorldofHyatt #CA-1 #Points #Hotels
In terms of a spacious first class product, the @E In terms of a spacious first class product, the @Emirates suite on a 777-300ER is hard to beat. My preference is Suite 2K.

.
.
.
.
#Emirates #777 #firstclass
Nearly five years ago, I took a “break” from I Nearly five years ago, I took a “break” from Instagram ahead of the birth of my first child. Goodness, how time flies. While I’ve enjoyed catching up on others over the years, now it is time for me to return to Instagram. In this first post, I highlight two joys in my life, my two children, whom I trust will grow up to be prolific travelers that circumnavigate the globe as ambassadors of love and respect.

.
.
.
.
.

#travel #airplanes #airlines #miles #points #familytravel #human #integrity #honor
United Airlines' new Polaris seat is a huge improv United Airlines' new Polaris seat is a huge improvement over UA's current business class seat. Check out my blog at liveandletsfly.com for 70+ photos of how @united is transforming its entire business class experience starting this December!
The perfect @flysas name tag for #Longyearben! The perfect @flysas name tag for #Longyearben!
Spotted four #polarbear outside of #longyearbyen - Spotted four #polarbear outside of #longyearbyen -- oh, and I love 40°F summer weather!
One of the best crews I have ever had the pleasure One of the best crews I have ever had the pleasure of flying with in all my years of flying. Thank you @flysas SK940 on 11 Aug 2016
Next stop ARN! But dear @flysas , next time if I a Next stop ARN! But dear @flysas , next time if I assign a window seat months in advance, don't move me to a center seat "for my convenience" with no way to get my original seat back... 😞
Ready for #PIA from #MAN to #JFK -- we will be rac Ready for #PIA from #MAN to #JFK -- we will be racing the #Delta flight to JFK at the gate next to us, which also departs at 12:45p. With @onemileatatime
Another room with a beautiful view... #hyattregenc Another room with a beautiful view... #hyattregencycasablanca #cassablanca #hyatt
Enjoying #shanghai with @onemileatatime from the i Enjoying #shanghai with @onemileatatime from the inside of the @grandhyatt_shanghai ... It is 40°C outside! 😓
From my front gate to my boarding gate in 15 minut From my front gate to my boarding gate in 15 minutes flat. I ❤️ #bur #burbankairport
@malaysiaairlines #747 out of retirement and in se @malaysiaairlines #747 out of retirement and in service at #kul -- beautiful livery!
View from my 61st floor room at the beautiful bran View from my 61st floor room at the beautiful brand new @parkhyattguangzhou -- look for a full review coming soon on the blog #hyatt #parkhyatt #guangzhou #parkhyattguangzhou
Will miss the @united #globalfirstlounge at #ord, Will miss the @united #globalfirstlounge at #ord, which closes tomorrow and the Queen of the Skies #747 which will be retired in 2018.
The colonial #architecture of #mumbai is stunning. The colonial #architecture of #mumbai is stunning. If you're ever here, get up at 5am and have a walk around the city before it gets busy. You can hear the birds instead of honking horns.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
facebook twitter instagram rss

This site is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

 

Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Outside of banner ads published through the Boarding Area network, this compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site. While we do try to list all the best miles and points deals, the site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners.

 

Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.