5 ms·

I'm headed there Thursday, here's hoping it can hold off a few more days. On a related note, is WOW Air actually running flights below cost in some sort of pro

by jboggan 10y ago

I'm headed there Thursday, here's hoping it can hold off a few more days. On a related note, is WOW Air actually running flights below cost in some sort of promotion for Icelandic tourism? I know a lot of people in my social circle in LA who have all independently booked trips there solely because of the ridiculously cheap direct flights. I wonder if fermented shark tastes good with poisonous ash.

yaur 10y ago
I believe that it's subsidized by the government. What we found was that getting there was cheap but being there was ridiculously expensive.
- alistairSH 10y ago
  Renting a small flat in downtown Reykjavik using AirBnB was quite reasonable (I think around 95 USD/night). Car rental, gasoline, and food were all pricey. If you drink, check the rules for Duty Free at KEF - I believe it's local tax AND duty free, so you can buy when you arrive and carry into the country for much less than buying elsewhere. We didn't bother as we were only planning to drink a few bottles of wine.
- ajmurmann 10y ago
  Food isn't cheap. I recommend going to a super market like Bonus and by skyr, pastries (ideally kleinur), bananas and maybe some dried fish and just eat that for most meals. However, there are some well priced places. Cafe Haiti which has great lamb soup or C is for Cookie come to mind. Even Dill which has world class prix fixe is well priced for what it is. Interesting enough I've found most fish restaurants to be overpriced.
M_Grey 10y ago
It tastes best with some kind of catastrophic injury to the olfactory centers of the brain.
ajmurmann 10y ago
I've been to Iceland several times and totally love it. Make sure to rent a car and get out of Reykjavik. Even driving around randomly to see there landscape is incredible.
ubernostrum 10y ago
I don't know for certain, but I'd guess WOW does the same thing Norwegian does: hiring staff on short-term contracts from places where labor is cheap (IIRC Norwegian hires its flight-deck crews from Estonia and cabin attendants from Thailand) in order to get low wages and avoid the overhead of full-time employment, registering most business operations in places like Ireland with favorable tax situations, and then ensuring most flights pass through at least one second-tier airport with low fees. Combine with being able to take advantage of half-in, half-out type EU pseudo-member benefits and you've got the makings of a profitable low-cost carrier. WOW also appears to make do with a shoestring fleet -- they have only three long-haul planes, total, at the moment and seem to be relying on the range of much smaller A321s to do a lot of their US/Canada destinations.
- throwaway7767 10y ago
  > I don't know for certain, but I'd guess WOW does the same thing Norwegian does: hiring staff on short-term contracts from places where labor is cheap (IIRC Norwegian hires its flight-deck crews from Estonia and cabin attendants from Thailand) in order to get low wages and avoid the overhead of full-time employment, registering most business operations in places like Ireland with favorable tax situations, and then ensuring most flights pass through at least one second-tier airport with low fees. Every time I've flown a WOW air flight, the attendants were Icelandic. So I don't think that's true.
arianvanp 10y ago
Please refrain from eating shark, puffin or whales. The only reason why we are still killing endangered species is solely tourism. The local population does not eat them. Please try lamb soup instead. Or one of the amazing Iceland hotdogs. OT: Both WOW air and Icelandair promote iceland as a great "stop" on your way to eurotrip. A lot of people I met there in the rykjavik hostel were people who were just staying in iceland for 4 days to tour around quickly and then fly further to amsterdam. Apparently there is some promotion that there is no additional cost to stay in iceland a few days if you book a trip to europe through them. If you're there on a budget, I highly suggest hitch hiking. It's one of the last european countries where you can really properly do this. Longest i waited for a hitch was 3 hours in the rain in a mountain range. But I think the mean waiting time has been 15 minutes. There is only one main road, so you cannot really go into a wrong direction, just keep going right and you end up going all around the island back to rykjavik. I did it clock-wise, whilst most tourists did it counter-clockwise I think. The upside was that we mostly hitched rides from locals and we really got to know the country and its people this way. It took me 20 days (with no rush) to cruise around the entire island this way. Must admit, we spent most of our time in the myvatn area, as it's just beatiful. The landscape changes every 20 metres and it's just gorgeous.
- Sir_Substance 10y ago
  >Please refrain from eating shark, puffin or whales. The only reason why we are still killing endangered species is solely tourism. The local population does not eat them. Please try lamb soup instead. Or one of the amazing Iceland hotdogs. I feel compelled to point out that none of the species are endangered[1][2][3] and that the hot dogs are honestly not that amazing[4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_puffin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_puffin [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark [4] Citation needed
  - arianvanp 10y ago
    Endangered is indeed the wrong word I guess. What i was trying to convey is that the only reason to whaling seems to be tourism[1], and if you think whaling is a bad thing (which I think it is, as it is pretty cruel), you as a tourist can have a direct effect on this economy by refraining from participating, and going on a whale sightseeing tour instead Also, must admit, I have had some really horrible hot dogs as well in random gas station ;) [1] http://us.whales.org/campaigns/visiting-iceland-help-us-keep-whales-off-dinner-menu http://us.whales.org/campaigns/visiting-iceland-help-us-keep...

by jboggan 10y ago

yaur 10y ago

I believe that it's subsidized by the government. What we found was that getting there was cheap but being there was ridiculously expensive.

alistairSH 10y ago
Renting a small flat in downtown Reykjavik using AirBnB was quite reasonable (I think around 95 USD/night). Car rental, gasoline, and food were all pricey. If you drink, check the rules for Duty Free at KEF - I believe it's local tax AND duty free, so you can buy when you arrive and carry into the country for much less than buying elsewhere. We didn't bother as we were only planning to drink a few bottles of wine.
ajmurmann 10y ago
Food isn't cheap. I recommend going to a super market like Bonus and by skyr, pastries (ideally kleinur), bananas and maybe some dried fish and just eat that for most meals. However, there are some well priced places. Cafe Haiti which has great lamb soup or C is for Cookie come to mind. Even Dill which has world class prix fixe is well priced for what it is. Interesting enough I've found most fish restaurants to be overpriced.

M_Grey 10y ago

It tastes best with some kind of catastrophic injury to the olfactory centers of the brain.

ajmurmann 10y ago

I've been to Iceland several times and totally love it. Make sure to rent a car and get out of Reykjavik. Even driving around randomly to see there landscape is incredible.

ubernostrum 10y ago

I don't know for certain, but I'd guess WOW does the same thing Norwegian does: hiring staff on short-term contracts from places where labor is cheap (IIRC Norwegian hires its flight-deck crews from Estonia and cabin attendants from Thailand) in order to get low wages and avoid the overhead of full-time employment, registering most business operations in places like Ireland with favorable tax situations, and then ensuring most flights pass through at least one second-tier airport with low fees. Combine with being able to take advantage of half-in, half-out type EU pseudo-member benefits and you've got the makings of a profitable low-cost carrier. WOW also appears to make do with a shoestring fleet -- they have only three long-haul planes, total, at the moment and seem to be relying on the range of much smaller A321s to do a lot of their US/Canada destinations.

throwaway7767 10y ago
> I don't know for certain, but I'd guess WOW does the same thing Norwegian does: hiring staff on short-term contracts from places where labor is cheap (IIRC Norwegian hires its flight-deck crews from Estonia and cabin attendants from Thailand) in order to get low wages and avoid the overhead of full-time employment, registering most business operations in places like Ireland with favorable tax situations, and then ensuring most flights pass through at least one second-tier airport with low fees. Every time I've flown a WOW air flight, the attendants were Icelandic. So I don't think that's true.

arianvanp 10y ago

Please refrain from eating shark, puffin or whales. The only reason why we are still killing endangered species is solely tourism. The local population does not eat them. Please try lamb soup instead. Or one of the amazing Iceland hotdogs. OT: Both WOW air and Icelandair promote iceland as a great "stop" on your way to eurotrip. A lot of people I met there in the rykjavik hostel were people who were just staying in iceland for 4 days to tour around quickly and then fly further to amsterdam. Apparently there is some promotion that there is no additional cost to stay in iceland a few days if you book a trip to europe through them. If you're there on a budget, I highly suggest hitch hiking. It's one of the last european countries where you can really properly do this. Longest i waited for a hitch was 3 hours in the rain in a mountain range. But I think the mean waiting time has been 15 minutes. There is only one main road, so you cannot really go into a wrong direction, just keep going right and you end up going all around the island back to rykjavik. I did it clock-wise, whilst most tourists did it counter-clockwise I think. The upside was that we mostly hitched rides from locals and we really got to know the country and its people this way. It took me 20 days (with no rush) to cruise around the entire island this way. Must admit, we spent most of our time in the myvatn area, as it's just beatiful. The landscape changes every 20 metres and it's just gorgeous.

Sir_Substance 10y ago
>Please refrain from eating shark, puffin or whales. The only reason why we are still killing endangered species is solely tourism. The local population does not eat them. Please try lamb soup instead. Or one of the amazing Iceland hotdogs. I feel compelled to point out that none of the species are endangered[1][2][3] and that the hot dogs are honestly not that amazing[4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_puffin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_puffin [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark [4] Citation needed
- arianvanp 10y ago
  Endangered is indeed the wrong word I guess. What i was trying to convey is that the only reason to whaling seems to be tourism[1], and if you think whaling is a bad thing (which I think it is, as it is pretty cruel), you as a tourist can have a direct effect on this economy by refraining from participating, and going on a whale sightseeing tour instead Also, must admit, I have had some really horrible hot dogs as well in random gas station ;) [1] http://us.whales.org/campaigns/visiting-iceland-help-us-keep-whales-off-dinner-menu http://us.whales.org/campaigns/visiting-iceland-help-us-keep...